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Dublin

We flew into Dublin and spent our first night there after picking up our Fiat Punto from Dan Dooley Car Rental. We were very hungry from the trip and immediately found the world's largest bowl of Lamb Stew after checking in to the hostel.

After dinner we headed to the Temple Bar area of Dublin and walked around. We really wish that we had taken more time here and had stopped at some of the pubs that had live Irish music. We wouldn't realize until the end of the trip that finding good Irish music at a pub would be very difficult.

Hill of Tara

The Hill of Tara was our first stop when leaving Dublin after our first night in Ireland. The Hill of Tara is the ancient seat of leadership for Ireland, there is a lot of history and mythology related to the area; sometimes its hard to separate the two.

This is also supposedly where Saint Patrick challenged the authority of the pagan gods that the Irish worshipped before the spread of Catholicism.

The Mound of the Hostages is an ancient site where hostages were kept.

From the top of this hill a HUGE area is visible.

Trim

Trim has a rather large castle site, but it was closed when we got there. Note to anyone traveling to Ireland on vacation: don't go before April. Aparently part of Braveheart was filmed at Trim Castle.

Galway

We spent our second and third nights in Galway and used it as a base for our third day's travels.

Athenry

Our third day in Ireland started with a visit to Athenry. The town is littered with medieval ruins with the Athenry Castle at the center of it. Again: don't go Ireland before April! :)

Dungaire Castle

Dungaire Castle holds medieval banquets in the summer, of course they weren't open while we were there. It was still a neat site to visit and the marshy land around it was amazing.

Right beside Dungaire Castle is a river that flows from nowhere. It's very hard to describe, but a river was flowing from the ground straight out into the sea.

The Burren

Also during day three in Ireland we visited the Burren. The Burren is a very interesting area where limestone rock is exposed to the elements. The rock has been eroded greatly, creating all kinds of channels and grooves.

In The Burren is the very old (think 6000+ years old) Poulnabrone Dolmen. This was the first dolmen we saw in Ireland, but NOT the last!

There is a relatively well preserved Ring Fort that I didn't get any good pictures of in the Burren. Admission cost, but fortunately, it was open!

Cliffs of Moher

The Cliffs of Moher are very amazing sea cliffs near the Burren.

On our way back from the Burren we picked up a hitchhiking couple from Poland and saved them a few miles of walking.

We also saw an amazing rainbow on our way back towards Galway. With all the rain in Ireland there were OFTEN very pretty rainbows.

Connemara
On day four we packed up our bags and left the hostel where we were staying in Galway. We saw the Connemara area and visited Connemara National Park, which is dedicated to preserving a part of the rapidly diminishing bog lands. We've never seen anything like the bog lands, but a picture does not do it justice. A bog is an area where plants are constantly growing and dying, but never have the chance to decompose. People will then come and cut the bog (peat) and let it dry. Dried peat is an excellent heating fuel and insulator, but this habitat is rapidly diminishing.

The wind and rain were threatening, so we did not stay very long before deciding to move on.

Kylemore Abbey

Kylemore is a castle like building that was converted into an abbey. It is in the most amazing and beautiful setting right on the edge of a lake. We stopped and took some pictures, but did not tour the abbey.

Coffin Ship

The coffin ship in Murrisk is a memorial to all of the people who tried to escape Ireland during the great famine. The ships were overcrowded and not well maintained, and many died as they desparately tried to get somewhere with food.

Ballymote

Ballymote was once a formidable castle. It is mostly in ruins now, but the structure is impressive.

Innisfree (Inishfree)

Aparantly Yates spent some time on the Lake Isle of Innisfree. Now, we didn't know anything about that, but they say many people come to the lake where the island is and are TERRIBLY disappointed by the fact that it's just a tiny little island in the middle of this lake. We did chase down the signs to find a place to view it from, but that is because Jen knew of the island from a Celtic Woman song.

Parke's Castle
Parke's Castle is on Lough Gill (the same lake that Inishfree is on). Technically it's a fortified manor house. Like most historical sites in Ireland (and Scotland), the site was built and used by native Irish people, taken over by the British, left to fall into disrepair, and then restored by the government in the 19th or 20th century.

Sligo
We spent night five in Sligo. I (Jason) was feeling pretty sick at this point so we didn't enjoy the city as much as we might have, but it was the first city that I actually enjoyed being in in Ireland. Now, I know my standpoint was biased because I was doing all the driving and driving was VERY frustrating to me. Sligo is a small enough city that it was pretty easy to navigate and we didn't hit very much traffic. I could move to Sligo I think.

Queen Maeve's Grave
Day six was a day of visiting ancient (circa 4000 BC) stoneage sites. We started by trying to get to Queen Maeve's Grave. (The legendary warrior Queen Méadbha is said to have been buried standing up, looking out over her lands.) The cairn is huge - you can see it for miles around. The road up the mountain is very narrow and steep, with someone's all-too-authentic cairn terriers guarding the parking lot. From the parking lot, there was a 45 minute hike up to the cairn, and given the weather and our colds, we decided not to bother.

Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery
Carrowmore is a very large cemetery which at one time may have had as many as 200 tombs (passage tombs, cairns, dolmens, stone circles, etc). There are still about 20 sites intact, one of which is a partially excavated cairn. The picture below shows the largest dolmen at the site.

Creevykeel Court Cairn
A court tomb is was a new type of tomb for us, and this one is VERY large. We could not get any pictures that accurately showed its size. There is little infomation at the site and no entry fee - it's pretty much just a little stop on the side of the road, but it was worth the stop.

Donegal Castle
We entered Donegal Town early enough on day six with time to see the Donegal Castle. It was worth the money. One thing: we generally chose to not take a tour even though they were free. This is something that I would suggest you do. Plan to have enough time to take the free tours. You learn a lot more than you do just walking around the site.

Donegal County
We spent day seven driving around Donegal County and saw some amazing scenary.

Day 8
We really really wanted to spend a night in the northern part of County Donegal, in the gaeltacht region, but we couldn't find a good place to stay.

(Hostels are few and far between in this area.) We found a couple of scary places... We ended up driving until we got to the border of Northern Ireland and spent the night at a B&B that was recommended by a random guy at a sweater shop in Donegal Town.