Miserable Weather, but “Hey, it’s Ireland!” Part 2

We both decided the wind won after a few hours into the Rock of Cashel visit, so we retreated to the car and headed to our last destination for the day - Bunratty (about an hour west). At Bunratty there was another castle and an interactive folk park. However, we arrived after everything was closed for the day. As we were driving around looking for a place to stay, we found something we were not planning on - one of the few wineries in Ireland, the Bunratty Winery (now Bunratty Mead & Liqueur Co. Ltd.). This just solidified our motto of “don’t plan everything,” because we lucked into being the only people there.

Scott and I like wine, and we like talking to people, so this side-trip meant talking to the guy at the front doing the tastings for over an hour. (Scott: Wine people can be hit-or-miss when it comes to “personality” and this is one reason why I tend to prefer beer people... but this guy was definitely fun.) Apparently there is a small market in Ireland for wine, so the winery was only producing two things during the off season:

1. honey mead (yum!) and 
2. Irish moonshine, called potcheen. 

 It's a shame we could only bring back 2 liters of alcohol on the plane...

My hubby and I also antique, (Scott: she antiques) and do you know what you get when you talk to a local wine connoisseur for an hour? A really cool discontinued mead jug for only 5 Euros that was not even for sale...ha! We also made sure to buy a liter of mead for ourselves that we were not planning on bringing home. Darn.

Bunratty revolves around the tourism of the castle and folk park, and we were able to stay at a cute B&B, the Courtyard, which was within walking distance of food and drinks (1 km max). We decided the closer we stayed to restaurants and pubs, the less driving we had to do within town, which was a positive thing for both driver and passenger. (Scott: Since Sam “doesn’t drive in Ireland” that left me with the choices of drinking, driving, or drinking/driving/getting arrested in Ireland. Not a big fan of getting arrested in foreign countries.) I do have to say though at this point of the Honeymoon the side-seat driving on my part was definitely improving and Scott’s ability to not scare the crap out of me while driving was also getting better.

Travel Tip #1: 

Communication with humor and a calm voice = good vibes in the car.

Our evening consisted of the following and we would recommend this itinerary to anyone:

• Walked 8 minutes from the B&B to dinner at The Creamery Bar where we had another amazing hake dish! 
• Walked dessert and drinks were down the road at J.P. Clarke's Country Pub. It was the perfect pub atmosphere - dark, real fire going, and the drinks were extremely reasonably priced! 

 Our walking map of Bunratty.

Travel Tip #2: 

Scott and I made a good move with lunches and dinners, we decided to only order a single dish and then split it. That way we (1) did not have to deal with leftovers or gorging ourselves and (2) always had room for drinks and dessert! If we could not decide on one dish together, he picked one meal and then I picked the next. (Out of the whole trip I think we had two sub-par meals and they were both bar food - the Irish really cannot fry food. Two bad meals over two-weeks was not too bad though.)

Miserable Weather, but “Hey, it’s Ireland!” Part 1

When we decided to go to Ireland for our honeymoon in March we knew the elements would be...interesting. This is a warning that it was pretty miserable weather-wise that time of year, HOWEVER, it's Ireland, so you can't complain too much.

We suggest packing layers that cover the following:

• rain
• freezing rain
• wind
• cold 
• did we say wind?

Scott and I are outdoorsy people, so we’re use to dealing with the elements, but it was definitely something else to plan a day of outside touristy activities/sites when you’re freezing and did not plan on it. There was no way we were pouting around and missing anything though, and that was one thing I thought Scott and I did really well. Even though it was crazy weather and neither one of us wanted to be out, we were both determined to make the best of it. So, we bundled up and hit our first site of the day - Cahir Castle.

Cahir Castle is one of the largest and best preserved castles in Ireland and dates basically from the 12th century. This was what I had in mind as a castle, and we were definitely the ONLY people there which made the tour that much more awesome. See, crappy weather is good for one thing - nobody else wants to be out in it either, so you get an entire castle all to yourself!

Cahir Castle

(It was so much fun to have this entire thing to explore all on our own!)

We left Cahir and went north west to site #2 - the Rock of Cashel (pronounced like “castle” with an “sh” instead of “st,” not “ca-shell”). We arrived around lunch time and when we got out of the car the wind just hit us. Note to anyone going to the Rock of Cashel, it is on its own hill, meaning it is extremely exposed. We made it half-way up the hill to the entrance and we both turned to each other and said, “scratch this for a while, let’s go get food and beer.” We walked a way into town to get out of the wind and found the coolest little family owned restaurant, Ryan’s Daughters, where we split the best meal I think I had of the trip - chicken and mushroom pie with mashed potatoes and pureed squash. And again, we were the only people there - we were so spoiled!  (Scott: I don’t even like mushrooms and it was REALLY good.) Unfortunately, we cannot figure out if the restaurant is still open which is a bummer. If anyone knows anything please comment below.

It was a little windy! 

 

Yes, that's a piece that fell off and it was taller than Scott.

Bellies warm, we made the walk (Scott: leaning trek) up to the Rock of Cashel again and it was amazing! Despite the cold and wind, I was so glad we decided to make the stop. The entire complex is going through a restoration process, so parts were closed off, but you could still go inside the cathedral and you just looked up: 30ft high vaulted arches with complete view of the naive, facade, and choir sections. There were multiple intact relief sculptures as well (yes, art history nerd right here). And what made it even better was that my husband appreciated the art aspect too and I really think that is what makes trips together so nice - I obviously found one with similar interests, huh?

 The entire complex was massive and, as you can see, quite impressive.

 Close up of some of the sculptures inside. 

 Another close up of some of the sculptures inside.

So, if you find yourself in County Tipperary in March, here's our list one more time:

1. Cahir Castle
2. Rock of Cashel
3. And bring layers of clothes!

If anyone has any information on Ryan's Daughters or recommends another great restaurant to recommend near the Rock of Cashel let us know!

Day #2: St. Paddy's Day in Dublin - to do or not to do?

When we found ourselves in Dublin during St. Patrick's Day there was no way we were leaving the city center, but after dealing with the tourists and crowds we think we'd prefer something a little more low-key next time. What's your opinion? 

Here are some of the main points (and lessons learned) from our experience:

• Book your hotel early! We had to stay about 20 minutes outside of Dublin at the Marine Hotel in Sutton. It was a great hotel though and was right across the road from the train station, so we did not mind. 

• Due to the crowds, the main station, Tara Station, was closed, and we had to get off at Pierce (and we did not figure this out until we were already on the train - oops). So, naturally, this meant we were turned around a little when we got off the train, but all we had to do was follow the crowd (Scott: like good little Irish sheep - we will cover that later) and we found ourselves right on the parade route south east of Temple Bar. 

• I think there were more tourists/foreigners in the city than locals, and the people-watching was FANTASTIC! (Scott: and by "FANTASTIC" we mean ABSOLUTELY AMAZING AND HILARIOUS!). 

• Scott and I definitely felt a little "under-dressed" in just our green hat and scarf, but we were at least warm. The costumes were impressive, so if you're the type of person who likes to dress up like a green leprechaun - have at it! 

• We set up on the parade route around 10am and the parade started around noon. The festivities started with just a lot of different groups walking past, then a few bands, and then finally some floats. Honestly, we were more entertained by the crowd than by the parade and at about 1:30pm we decided to make our way to Temple Bar for food and drinks. Did you note that we stood around waiting for the parade for more time than we actually watched the parade?

• Sooooo, getting off the parade route was easier said than done, and we got really close (Scott: think WABAM, mi-bubble-es-su-bubble close) to a lot of people pushing and prodding our way through the masses. It took us a good hour to go about 1/4 mile (Scott: and 15 minutes of which was about 20 ft, thank you stupid/majestic City Hall) and when we got to Temple Bar the lines were out the doors just to get into places. 

• We were surprised that there was not more to do out on the street. I guess part of me was expecting something like Mardi Gras in New Orleans where there are vendors everywhere and food/drink stations/trucks, so Scott and I just decided to go to the first restaurant or pub we found without a line - which happened to be the Hard Rock Cafe. There ended up being a 2+ hour wait for food, but we were able to get drinks at the bar, so it was not a complete waste! After drinks, we thought going off the main street would give us a better chance of finding food and not such a long wait and we ended up walking almost to the train station before we found something. For the life of me, I cannot remember the name of the pub, but we found two openings at the bar and had our second bowl of Irish Stew - yummy!

• By this time, we needed to get away from the crowd and caught the 4:30pm train back to Sutton and the hotel. That night we went into the town of Howth (right down the road from the hotel) (Scott: pronounced like hoe-t, don't ask me where the w or h went) to enjoy a smaller, quieter atmosphere. 
• Howth was the perfect contrast to the morning/afternoon we had downtown and it was exactly what we were in the mood for. We went to The House for dinner and highly recommend it to anyone in that part of town. Howth is a fishing village, so we had to try their local fish, hake. Our dish was over fettuccine and water cress with a light, cream sauce, and it was delicious. The restaurant had maybe 15 tables with 3 staff members and 2 cooks total, so we stayed there for hours just talking and relaxing. (Scott: It took us a bit to realize but we definitely were used to American in-and-out style eating. I strongly suggest soaking in a bit of the European "chill" mentality. It takes a bit to get used to but it is really good for the marriage (assuming you like your significant other!).)

So, all in all, while the experience of St. Paddy's Day downtown in Dublin was fun, Scott and I decided that if we were to do it again, we would like to go to one of the parades in the smaller towns. I think it depends on what kind of atmosphere you enjoy, and we definitely prefer the smaller village feel.

Have you visited Dublin during St. Paddy's Day? What did you think?

Bravin' the St. Paddy's Day crowds on the parade route.

 

A parade is not complete without bagpipes!