E: It all seemed to match the description perfectly. Third turn on the left after leaving town. Big white house in the countryside. Gate at the end of the long driveway.
At least, that’s what we thought. The darkness made it too hard to tell.
We parked our car, gathered our backpacks and knocked on the front door. A young child answered the door, and we introduced ourselves. After a long day of sightseeing and navigating harrowing roads on our Irish road trip, we were relieved to finally arrive at our Airbnb for the night.
But the kid’s face signaled a problem. Our hearts sank when we realized we were definitely at the wrong place.
For a few seconds, nobody knew what to say.
But then the boy offered a smile and a wave once he realized we were looking for the place next door — assuring us it wasn’t the first time someone wandered onto their property by mistake.
We meandered on to the right property just down the road. And our lovely host welcomed us to one of the most charming, hospitable Airbnbs we’ve ever experienced.
Jetlagged and exhausted, we fell fast asleep — dreaming of all the adventures we’d already had during our first day in Ireland.
. . .
T: We arrived in Cork after a quick flight over from Amsterdam and confirmed the logistics of our trip. That’s one of the crazy elements of our trips — sometimes the hotel and car reservations don’t really click into place until we’ve made the flight to our final intended destination. That sounds ridiculous, and is ridiculous, but we’re used to it at this point.
Cork is naturally a much smaller airport than the bustling Dublin airport, which made it a nicer welcome to the more quaint, countryside aspect of Ireland we were looking for. We cleared customs quickly and picked up our rental car to begin our Irish road trip.
Renting a car internationally makes me nervous already. But renting a car in Ireland was a whole new ballgame. It was my first time driving on the left side of the road, and the whole country is full of big buses and trucks on small, narrow highways. There’s a reason that some credit cards don’t cover your rental car in Ireland, and I was nervous of having to deal with a claim (thankfully, we didn’t).
It takes some getting used to, for sure. But after a while I got the hang of it. Roundabouts flow clockwise, you pass on the right and in many cases the turn signal is on the other side of the steering wheel. Actually, the most important thing I learned (before I caused an accident, don’t worry) was to look right into oncoming traffic before turning right. Beyond that, driving is not much different. But it can be quite nerve-wracking on the narrow roads that seem to lead to all of the major tourist destinations in Ireland. It certainly was helpful to have onboard navigation, too, even if it continued saying “take a half-right” in a British accent.
We started the trip by heading down to Cobh. Cobh is a beautiful little seaside town with a towering church on the hill. After a quick lunch and a little stroll around town to refresh, we headed north toward Blarney Castle and the infamous stone.
. . .
E: Kissing the Blarney Stone was just one of those bucket list experiences I knew I wanted to have. It was right on the way to our Airbnb, and with no crowds to stop us, we braved the rain and climbed to the top of Blarney Castle.
Apparently there’s only one way to kiss the Blarney Stone. It involves laying on your back, tipping your head backwards and planting a kiss on a giant stone as two people assure you that you won’t fall through a large gaping crack in the castle wall. It’s a bit terrifying, but worth it.
The grounds of Blarney Castle are worth a stop, even if you don’t plan on kissing the Blarney Stone.
. . .
T: I am a curmudgeon when it comes to these things, so, not being Irish and somewhat concerned with the hygienics of it all, I skipped the Blarney Stone myself and assumed the role of photographer.
The Castle itself was neat enough. As you’ll find out traveling through the countryside, there are castles and castle fragments all over Ireland. Some are little more than a pile of stones. Some are just a single tall tower. A small portion of them, like the Blarney Castle, are fairly well restored and fit for climbing up into. It is a quintessential part of the Irish experience to walk inside one and imagine what life was like in these medieval fortresses.
As is usual for us, parts of the grounds and castle were closed for restoration work, but most of it was open. We reached the castle after a short stroll through the expansive gardens, crossing over several trickling streams to get there.
There were just a few people waiting for the chance to kiss the stone, allowing us some time at the top to view the surrounding rolling hills and woods and picture a different era. After a five-minute wait at the top, it was Elizabeth’s turn. I took lots of pictures as the two volunteers lowered her backwards into a large hole in the floor to allow her to grab the handles along the wall and kiss the stone upside down.
Once the blood rushed back out of her head, we climbed back down through the castle and continued our walk through the gardens of the Blarney Castle. Eventually, we grew tired of being wet and cold so we returned to the car and continued our Irish road trip.
E: By the time we reached the town of Cahir, it was suppertime. We were probably the only tourists in the entire town, and our goal was to find some place out of the rain that had warm food.
That’s when we found it: the quintessential Irish pub.
This is the place you think of when you think of Ireland.
After the regulars got over the initial shock of seeing two naive Americans walk into their hangout, we were welcomed to grab a table in the narrow pub. We waited for a bit. Judging by the actions of those around us, we realized we needed to be finding “Mary” if we wanted to order any food.
But Mary was quite busy. The older woman seemed to be running the place entirely on her own, and the locals all knew her by name.
“Mary, where’s my food!” … “Mary, over here!” … “Mary, you forgot my beer!”
At one point, a gentleman got up, went behind the counter and poured his own beer.
We felt a bit guilty about distracting Mary from her busy evening, but really wanted to order some food. Things got even more complicated when I wanted to order a plate of fries. She insisted they didn’t have any, and she didn’t quite understand what they were. I found that hard to believe. That’s when the man at the table next to us enthusiastically chimed in.
“Chips, Mary! She wants chips!”
Mary still insisted I could not just order fries, so I settled on a bowl of soup. (Side note: I came down with a pretty gnarly cold on the plane ride over to Ireland, so I wasn’t feeling up to eating much throughout the Irish road trip.)
Soon after, we received our food. The only problem? I didn’t have any silverware. We tried calling Mary’s name again, but she couldn’t seem to hear us over all the others trying to get her attention. At one point I thought maybe I could just drink the soup, but the bowl was much too heavy and still steaming hot.
Determined to find a spoon, I finally got up and started looking around behind the counter like everyone else seemed to be doing. The man at the table next to us could sense something was wrong.
“Mary! You gave her soup without a spoon!”
Poor Mary finally gave me a spoon, and we enjoyed our food in the quaint little Irish pub.
As the man at the table next to us got up to leave, he bid us farewell in a slow, serious tone we’ll never forget.
“Enjoy your holiday,” he said. “Normally, in Ireland, we give you a spoon with your soup…”
. . .
E: Speaking of food — we’ve got to talk about the breakfast at the Airbnb.
On our first full morning, we woke up to the smell of something wonderful, and walked downstairs to the cutest little spread of everything we could have ever wanted.
Our host had set the dining room table with fresh orange juice, coffee, toast and cereal. And then she brought us each a plate filled with farm fresh eggs, and a bunch of yummy Irish foods, which we later learned were called rashers and bangers.
We sat there in the front dining room — enjoying our breakfast as the wood burning stove kept us nice and warm on a chilly February morning.
. . .
T: We spent that day of the Irish road trip traversing the country over to the Cliffs of Moher. It was nearly a two-hour drive — partially on the motorway around Limerick and Shannon and partially on narrow, winding two-lane highways.
This was one of the most harrowing drives of the trip, as the roads gradually got narrower and narrower — but with just as many tour buses passing by. Finally, with our mirrors spared, we reached the Cliffs of Moher.
The Cliffs of Moher area is obviously one of the key tourist attractions of Ireland, and as a result the area is relatively commercialized once you make it there. The parking lot is right off the highway, and a short walk takes you to the visitor’s center, which is built right into the side of the hillside.
We spent most of the time just strolling along the coast to catch as many vantage points as we could. Each curve framed the vast ocean and coastline differently — and occasionally, the sun peeked out too.
One thing that stands out about the cliffwalk was the lack of handrails or any other safety devices along most of the trails. It certainly made for some crazy vantage points and untainted photo opportunities, but also became rather treacherous along the narrower parts of the trail.
After making it as far north along the trail as we could, we tried going south for more views. But we didn’t make it very far. The dirt paths to the south were impossibly muddy. Attempting to navigate sloppy, muddy, narrow paths with a fence on one side and a 400-foot cliff on the other became impossible, and so we turned around and found some lunch.
T: From the Cliffs, we made our way back east, slipping through small Irish towns and past the hundreds of castles big and small that dot the Irish countryside. We eventually made it to the Lough Derg, a downright charming part of the Irish landscape, even if it’s nothing you’ve ever heard of.
We drove as far as Mountshannon, a small hamlet along the lake that offered some cool views of the vast lake and surrounding countryside. Then we stopped in the picturesque town of Killaloe, a brilliant and beautiful town draping the hillside along the River Shannon.
The star attraction is the Killaloe Bridge. It’s a link across the river to the town of Ballina, which has existed in some form for a thousand years. Today it’s a stone arch bridge with only one lane of traffic. We ended up parking on the Ballina side for a while, strolling across the bridge to catch glimpses of both towns. We also strolled through town a little ways and made it to St. Flannan’s Cathedral, which has kept watch over the river for hundreds of years. Little displays all over town helped understand Killaloe’s role in the history of Ireland, even as its glory has faded in contrast to the nearby Ennis and Limerick.
. . .
E: Ireland was every bit as charming as we had imagined.
You know when you’re just meandering through life and it feels like you’re in a movie? That’s what Killaloe was like — complete with charming accents, cobblestone streets and a beautiful lake that captured the reflection of historical homes and churches.
It felt like we were the only people in town, and I could have stayed for days.
But it was getting late, and we decided to continue our Irish road trip and head toward our Airbnb in search of some supper. Limerick seemed like a good place to stop. It had tons of pubs and restaurants to grab a bite, and we wandered around for probably way too long as we tried to decide what we wanted.
We settled on The Locke, which was perfectly cozy and Irish-vibey.
I had some lamb stew, which was good after a chilly day outside — but I think that’s when I realized I really don’t care for lamb. It’s just not my favorite meat. But the atmosphere in the pub was perfect.
E: We tend to gravitate toward quaint, less-crowded towns on our trips, but we decided to make time to explore Dublin on our last day in Ireland. Dublin was also the easiest way to nonrev out of the country, so it made sense for us.
But on our two and a half hour drive from Emly to Dublin, we made a pitstop in Cashel to visit a castle. Yes, a castle in Cashel (try saying that five times fast), and it was most certainly worth our time.
The Rock of Cashel — as it’s formally known — is a beautifully preserved historical site that offers views of the town and surrounding area. It’s set on a hill and surrounded by a wall, which made it that much more grand-looking from below.
We wandered around the grounds and thought about what life might have been like inside these 12th and 13th century structures. There was no roof to protect us from the ever-present drizzle, but it was still neat to explore.
T: We had limited time on our Irish road trip, and we’ve never really been museum people. So we soaked in all we could by mostly walking around Dublin. We walked up and down the river. We gazed at as many churches as we could — the bustling ones and the quaint ones.
One thing about Dublin in the rain is that it is nearly impossible to find anywhere to duck into. There were countless quaint coffee shops and restaurants in the city centre — and countless people in each one. We kept looking, getting soggier and soggier in the process before finally relenting and stopping in a Costa coffee shop for a while for a hot chocolate.
We wrapped our rainy, walk-filled day where you’re supposed to in Dublin: Temple Bar.
Temple Bar is actually fairly reminiscent of Irish Pubs you’d come to expect in the U.S. — loud, boisterous, touristy bars where the Guinness flows and the live music blares. It’s meant to be embraced, and we did.
. . .
E: It was fun to experience Dublin, though it was certainly different than the “Ireland” we explored throughout our first few days of the Irish road trip.
We spent lots of time watching documentaries and travel shows about Ireland before we left. I yearned to experience that feeling of cozy conversation with people I didn’t even know. I expected to see pubs full of people just talking about their day.
We found that in Cahir. But you know, we didn’t find that true “Ireland” feeling in Dublin. And that’s ok. It’s probably there somewhere.
We’ll just have to go back someday and find it.
. . .
When we went: Mid-February 2018
Where we stayed: Airbnb near Emly, Hilton Dublin Airport
How long we stayed: Three days, three nights (Two nights in Emly, one night in Dublin)
What we wish we knew before we went: Bring an umbrella.
