Beautiful Ireland

With its quaint harbours,friendly atmosphere, rolling hays and gorgeous coastline, Dingle truly is beautiful. I can totally see myself retiring in a place like this (given that the weather stays as beautiful as it was when we were there). Yeah, after obsessing about it in years, Dingle did not disappoint me at all. Afer cruisin around the small peninsula, we headed back to Dublin to drop off Charlotte. Unfortunately, we were too late for last call but we did enjoy a short walk around Temple Bar. The next day, to avoid getting our car towed, Rudy and I left early in the morning to head to Northern Ireland. First stop was Newgrange, a stone age tomb that predates the egyptian pyramids. Unfortunately, it was still closed when we got there so we had to satisfy ourselves by takin a pic of it from the road. Next stop is Slane Hill where it was believed that St. Patrick lit an easter fire and proclaimed Christianity in Ireland. He also used the shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity here to some Irish pagan king...hence makin the clover leaf a national symbol. After a long drive, we finally made it to the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge...the site we were looking forward to. The bridge itself wasn't that scary (although Rudy did hesitate to cross it for a bit) but the place has spectacular views. Then we went to the Giant's Causeway. It was super cool and very windy there and I almost got blown off several times. We didn't want to stay in Northern Ireland for the night since we didn't carry enough pounds with us so we made the long trek to Donegal. The best part of the trip however was when we spent the night in the car parked on Slieve League...the highest cliff in Europe. Rudy actually thought of putting a rock by our wheels just in case the brakes fail on us. It was amazing!!!

The next day we explored the area around Donegal and went to the Maghera caves where we saw a waterfall and climbed sand dunes to see the clear waters of the Atlantic. Then we went to Sligo known for home of W.B. Yeats and where Rudy and I had a long trek to the top of Knocknarea Cairn where Queen Maeve is believed to be buried. That took us so long that we didn't get a chance to go see some megalithic tombs and had to once again take pics of them from the roadside. After such a tiring day, we decided to splurge and check into a hostel in Galway and enjoy some yummy fish n chips. We also got to see Brazil kick Croatia's ass and enjoy some good live Irish music while enjoying a couple of pints of Guinness.

The next day, we drove a little bit around Galway towards the Connemara area where we also visited an old castle. It was pretty cool coz we actually got to go in and check it out. Then we drove through the Burren, a vry wierd but beautiful landscape of limestones where we visited some crazy stone age tombs. After taking pics, getting lost, oh and climbing yet to another pile of stones (Pollock cairn similar but smaller to Knockanerea) we headed to the cliffs of Moher. At first we tried to go to Hag's Head to see the cliffs from a less touristy spot but they barred teh way and we didnt' feel like trespassing. The area around the Cliffs was so packed and we had to pay 5 euros just to park but it was worth it. Rudolph and I jumped the fences and got real close the the cliff edges....well I did and Rudy stood from afar, took pics and freaked out a little on me coz I was too close to nothingness. hahahha. Last night, we headed back to Dublin to chill with Char and her roomies adn have several pints at the famous Temple Bar and another club near it.

Tired but still up for exploring Dublin, I can't believe the trip is almost over and that we're leaving tomorrow morning. I must say though, we probably saw a lot more of Ireland in a week than a lot of the locals here in their lifetime. Ireland is truly amazing and I'll come back here any day....maybe when I have more cash and can afford to stay in B&Bs and buy some local Donegal wool and tweed!!!!