We made it, we arrived safely in the wilderness of Ireland The flight was a quite pleasant one and the natives are very politely, none of them tried to eat us alive after leaving the airport. But one thing remains: Everybody just drives on the wrong side and nobody cares! See my reaction to this madness:

And here are the rest of the pictures we've taken in chronological order, documenting our trid from Dublin airport to Arklow:

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We were woken up during the night by heavy rainfall. Still halfway in our sleep we mumbled goodbye to our hike in the Wicklow Mountains scheduled for this morning.

We went back to sleep and were surprised to see an almost clear blue sky when we looked out the window after getting up. Never ever trust the Irish weather forecast or how our host put it: "Four seasons in five minutes!"

Traditional Irish breakfast was served and it proved to be as delicious as I was told. A bit greasy and hot but surely the right stuff before starting a hike. We drove up to Glendalough and parked our car at the Visitor Center. Right behind it is the ancient monastery site, consisting of several ruins of a monastery involuntarily founded by someone named Kevin From there our hike took us past the first and smaller lake,  Lower Lake,  to a Waterfall, just a short but steep path above the eastern end of the Upper Lake. We then followed the white trail to the cliffs above the Upper Lake, passing the old Miners Village beneath us and descending back down to the Woodbridge. Now our trail brought us back down the valley passing right through the ruins of the Miners Village we saw from above before. During this hike we were only once hit aby a short but intense rain shower. It started just in a few seconds and disappeared only 60 seconds after it began. All in all it was just enough to get both of us wet After this, sunshine and clouds alternated about every 5 minutes. Oh, and before I forget, one of the few things I did not expect in Ireland happened to me: I got a slight sunburn, especially on the back of my neck. Yep, sunburn in Ireland, that's it.

Our hike was done in about 3 and a half hour, just like the guide told us. As we still had some time left we drove northwards to Enniskerry heading for the Powercourt Estate. The roads there were the narrowest we faced so far here in Ireland, it a mind-blowing experience, driving your car on the wrong side of the street that is only wide enough for 1 and a half car. Be prepared to move back once you face opposing traffic. At Powercourt Estate (we parked our car in front of the Ritz Carlton, bazinga!!) we were informed that they will close in 45 minutes and so we decided to take our chances at the nearby Powercourt Waterfall, the highest one in Ireland. Some more narrow roads later we arrived there and I have to say, the scenery was beautiful. We took pictures of each and help a local couple by taking pictures of them in front of the waterfall.

Back at the parking lot they asked us if we could give them a ride back to Dublin. We agreed to take them to Bray where they would take the bus back to Dublin. We had our first long conversation with them while driving to Bray and we enjoyed it very much. After dropping them of at the station we headed back to Arklow and went straight to the next Pub, drinking Cider. A good end for our first whole day here in Ireland I believe.

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On our fourth day here in Ireland we started it off with a visit to the Cahir Castle which is located just around the corner off our B&B. The castle itself is situated on a small island in the middle of the river. There are two exhibitions inside the castle walls: One about the siege of the castle and one about aspects of medieval life. After leaving the castle we set off for the "Swiss Cottage" which has been a playground farm for the rich owners of Cahir Castle. It's about a 30 minute walk away from the castle and must be entered through a small tunnel, the former servants entrance. We were trapped at the cottage for a few minutes because one of those sudden Irish rain showers kicked in.

Back in the town of Cahir we send off some postcards and had Christa's sunglasses repaired Then we left for Cashel to see the Rock Of Cashel which is a bit north of Cahir. The Chapel on top of the rock formation is partially destroyed and is currently undergoing reconstruction but most of the site is accessible and the scenic view around the ruins is definitely worth a visit. Just beneath the Rock of Cashel there is the restaurant "Chez-Hans", which we only approached to get frightened away by their prices. Trust me, they are lunatic!

Going back south to Cork, our next B&B, we stopped by at the Mitcheltown Caves. They are really worth the detour and the guided tours are very informative (our tour guide seemed to be a regular in those caves as he was able to show us some blind cave-dwelling insects).

We arrived in Cork at about 16:00 and walked into the city to see the English Market in the central part of the city. Taking a taxi back to our B&B we are now waiting for a local dance festival to start at the nearby Lough.

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Just a note to yesterdays entry: The local dancing event we attended was lovely! We've never seen such a joyful public event anywhere else. Old and young were dancing alongside the lake (Lough). As must-see for everyone who's coming to Cork.

We started off shortly after breakfast, heading east towards Midleton wanting to visit the old distillery there. Upon entering the visitors center we were informed that the guided tours do not start at 10:00 as announced in our Ireland guide but instead at 10:30. As we would have to wait for a full hour at the entrance we decided to dump the distillery and head back towards Cork to visit the Fota Wildlife Park. There's currently heavy construction going on around the park in order to extend the habitats of the animals there but it never really interfered with the wildlife experience. We were among the first visitors of the park that day and so we had the chance to see a fairly large group of Maras right by the entrance, having their breakfast

Leaving the park we took a 5 minute drive to Barryscourt Castle. It's free to visit and the guided tours that start off about every 15-30 minutes are also free and very informative. We asked one of the guides there for the best place to eat in the area and during the conversation she mentioned that we may be disappointed by our next planned destination: Blarney House. She mentioned a boat-ride to Skellig Rock off the coast of the Ring Of Kerry. So we ditched Blarney House and headed directly to Kilarney. There our hostess at the B&B phoned someone in Portmagge to see if places aboard one of the boats would be available. Sadly all boats were booked out.

Now our plan is to go to Dingle to take the "Fungi" boat-ride there to see some dolphins and then take Connors Pass up to Ennis.

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It's already late and I'm tired after today's trip, so I'll keep it short. We went to Dingle ... got screamed at by loads of little children during the boat trip to see the dolphin: "There he is!!!!" (while pointing at a bird swimming on the waves)

Dingle is okay if you are going there with your own family but for a young couple it's definitely a bit to much screaming, whining and pushing. The drive up to Connors Pass was a quite pleasant one. The scenic view up there is fantastic but heavy winds made it hard to stay out of the car for more than a few minutes. Our next stop was at the ferry across Shannon. We drove up to Doolin to get our luggage into our room at the B&B there and then left for the Cliffs Of Moher to see the sunset. Just look at the last pictures of this post, they were taken during the sunset (around 9pm). Tomorrow we will go and see the cliffs by boat and then visit the Doolin Cave. Our next B&B is in Galway and it's out last stop before returning to Dublin.

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As we had this wonderful experience of watching the sunset at the Cliffs Of Moher yesterday, we decided to visit them again today first by boat and then by walking along the cliff side. We took the first boat in Doolin pier heading to the cliffs. The view up to those towering walls of stone above one was impressive but the boat took a rather quick round, only approaching the northern part of the cliffs before returning to Doolin to pick up the next group of tourists. As it was 10:30 by now we decided that we could visit the Doolin caves before going back up the cliffs for a short walk.

The cave is just 3 kilometers outside of Doolin and is accessible through a modern building. There is a staircase going straight down before one can enter the first cave through a low-ceilinged tunnel. The famous stalactite is really impressive and can easily be watched from nearly every direction.

Once we were back at the Cliffs Of Moher it was about 12:30 and it was crowded, really crowded. There was an emigration of nations going on. From the visitors center we walked south alongside the cliffs but there were "traffic jams" at every narrow passage. And there were people with Flip-Flops walking less then a meter away from the abyss, and those kids with large earphones on ... crazy and crowded as I said.

Then we drove up to Galway through a typically Irish landscape. Once in Galway we found out at the tourist information that there was a Greyhound race to begin just a short walk away from the town center, so we headed there and left  four races later in a completely confused state of mind. We could not figure out how to read their programme and statistics about the partaking race dogs.

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Today we spent all of our time in the city of Galway. No need for driving to the next B&B just strolling through the historic center. The weather was the the best we ever had by now here in Ireland. After the fog was gone at about 9am we could see a clear blue sky and we regretted not taking shorts and skirts with us. It felt like being somewhere on the Mediterranean Sea as we walked along the beach before entering the city center. Not much to say, we behaved like typical tourists, shopping through the city and searching for a good place for lunch. A short visit to the Irish National Aquarium next to our B&B was our last activity for today.

Tomorrow morning we will drive back to Dublin.

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