Ireland trip - Kerry & Dingle Peninsula

Its good to be back for the third blog on Ireland trip ! Three blogs in a fortnight !! Happy me 😊

After Dublin city sight seeing, we had planned to venture out to the countryside and after considering various options, we narrowed on Kerry county, southwest Ireland, some 330 km from Dublin. The base location was to be a small village called Anascaul.

Day 1 (10.5.23) - Long drive to Anascaul

We started our drive at 8 am and as I described in my earlier blog (Ireland trip overview), the 330 km drive was a pleasure with well maintained roads (no potholes !!), less traffic and the greenery on both sides. We took about 4 hours to reach Anascaul with one breakfast break at Barack Obama service station.

Anascaul was a beautiful village (one of the several we came across during our trip). Its last recorded population was <400, so it was amusing to see some 5-6 pubs, 2 pizza restaurants, 1 convenience store and (strangely) no pharmacies here! Our Airbnb was this beautiful 5 bedroom house overlooking the hills. It was fully furnished stocked with all necessary gadgets, kitchenware and also some board games. To top this, the host paid us a visit bringing yummy apple pie and rhubard pie tarts. What a beautiful welcome !

After settling in the kids and grandparents, four of us ventured out as the beautiful blue skies were too enticing. 

We drove about 15-20 minutes to reach this awesome, serene lake. There was no one else there (except for the million flies near the waters) and the sights were refreshing. We also spotted a huge rainbow in the horizon overlooking the lake. 

Later we planned to go for an early dinner at 8:15 pm and were surprised to see that they close kitchen at 8 pm (seriously !!). Luckily we found a pizza takeaway spot and had some family wine & dine in the house. 

Day 2 (11.5.23) - Ring of Kerry

Ring of Kerry is a popular 180 km long scenic drive with spectacular coastal landscape. 

We started the ring road drive with planned stopovers for sight seeing. The first such stop was Rossbeigh beach. We couldn't resist the waters and had to maneuver through the pebbles and sand gravel to play with the ice-cold waters. 

Next on the list was Kerry Cliffs. This is touted as the "most spectacular views in Ireland" by some websites and the place aptly fitted the description. The climb up the hill was worth it for the beautiful views, the photos may not do justice !!

We did a couple more stopovers on the Ring of Kerry before returning to Anascaul. Since the next day was planned to be a late start, we decided to play board games. After small kids and grandparents went off to sleep, four of us and Arnav enjoyed games like Cluedo, Uno, Dobble cards till late night.

I have to admit here that while at vacation, the days are spent seeing tourist attractions, however the lasting memories many a times would be of these fun moments spent with family, playing, arguing over 'alleged cheating', celebrating, mocking etc. Even during our other holidays, we ensure to keep Monopoly board or other games packed in our luggage for the post-dinner fun. 

Day 3 (12.5.23) - Killarney

We woke up quite late and then started for Killarney National Park - one of Ireland's extensive and important natural habitat. There are multiple trails inside the park which could take hours to explore, however I thought that inspite of the vastness, one never really gets lost in the wilderness as someone or other would be roaming around exploring the trails. Also we didn't find any animals except for the one deer, which was bit disappointment.

After the National Park, we explored Killarney town which looked very lively with pubs, restaurants and touristy shops. If you are travelling with friends and not with kids, then you should look at staying here instead of villages like Anascaul.

Day 4 (13.5.23) - Dingle and Blasket Islands

It was an early morning start as we had booked a ferry ride to the Great Blasket Islands, the last piece of land on the east coast of Atlantic Ocean. The ferry ride takes about 45 mins and we get to spend ~2 hours on the island. It's uninhabited since several years due to adverse weather conditions. We were lucky to have a good sunny day so we could take in these beautiful views

We met a group of hikers who had camped on the island the night before and they showed pictures & videos of the spectacular starry night, shooting stars amongst sound of the ocean and the seals. Another thing which you could add to your list, if you are travelling solo or in group of friends, without kids.

After Blasket Islands, we spent the afternoon exploring Dingle town. Another beautiful town (like Killarney) especially with the colourful buildings on the coastline. 

Next on the plan was the beautiful Inch beach, it's sandy expanse and the ocean waves were amazing !! We spent about an hour playing in the cold waters. 

By the time, we were back to the house, we were dead tired.

Day 5 (14.5.23) - Sleahead Drive

The last day of the trip before we head back to Dublin. First we had to get the packing done and cars loaded. Then we decided to explore the other most scenic ring route in the county - the 47 km Slea Head Drive. 

We took 2 halts - one at Dunmore Head viewpoint and other at DunChaoin Pier. I am running out of adjectives here so I would simply share few pictures of the views there !!

After lunch at Dingle town, we started our return journey to Dublin, reaching home by evening 8 pm. 

And that's the wrap of our holidays and my blog. It was a 14 day holiday, 2 days spent on aircrafts and 2 days unpacking & packing and 10 days of Irish sightseeing. 

Please share you views and comments below. 

Cheers

Ireland trip - Dublin leg

Dublin, the capital of Republic of Ireland would be the first port for most tourist entering the country. After having spent hours at other large city airports in London, Frankfurt, Paris, Madrid etc to get through immigration, I had budgeted 90-120 mins at the airport. But I was pleasantly surprised in Dublin to breeze through immigration and was out in 30 minutes! So much that we had to wait for 30-40 mins for the taxi driver to take us home, enough time for some selfies!! 😁

Brother's home was 25 km away in Maynooth, in adjoining county Kildare, close to a beautiful sprawling Maynooth University campus. Since it was already late evening by the time we reached home, we hit the beds early. 

Day 1 (Thursday) - roamed around Maynooth. 

The charming little town reminded me of Ealing (London UK) & Pitshanger Lane where we had stayed for 4 years.. the pubs, bakeries, cafes, convenience shops around the Main Street.. There was a beautiful water body flowing by, which i came to know was part of 130 km long Royal Grand Canal Greenway stretch. (https://www.independent.ie/news/a-game-changer-130km-royal-canal-greenway-launches-as-irelands-longest-greenway/40230958.html)

The roads were so tempting so I couldn't resist a 10 km run exploring the town, after dropping family back home.

Day 2 (Friday) - Dublin City tour:

We bought Hop-on Hop-off bus tickets to explore Dublin city. These buses have 24-26 scheduled stops/ places of interests. I had tried these earlier in London, Vienna, Barcelona where there were multiple lines and involved lot of planning to cover maximum places. In Dublin, it was a single bus route and infact 18 places out of the 26 stops were situated within walking radius. So if it was a small adult group, it may make sense to save the €28-30 per ticket and explore the city walking (though you would miss the commentary about the city history). 2 of the farthest points in the bus route were Phoenix Park and Dublin zoo which we anyways require a full day by itself.

A quick overview of our city tour in the link : #dublincitytour

Dublin City tour

Dublin night life

In the evening, both of us brothers & better-halves decided to explore the famous Dublin night life.. so we took off leaving the kids in safe hands of grandparents !!

Dublin by night was completely amazing experience. We went about pub hopping trying out different pubs across temple Bar and Camden street. The whole atmosphere was so lively with Irish music being played by bands at most pubs. 

After food and few more drinks at Porterhouse with some amazing live Irish music, we headed back late night hailing a cab as the buses were too crowded and infrequent. 

 

Day 3 (Saturday) : Dublin Zoo and Phoenix Park

After adults-night out, it was now kids turn. We spent most of the day at Dublin Zoo and Phoenix Park. We may have walked 10-12 km the day seeing animals, clicking photos, that by the end of it, we were dead tired !

All in all, a day well spent !

(Wellington Memorial at Phoenix Park)

Day 4 (Sunday) : St Catherine's Park

Put few green trees together and Mumbaikars would be happy 😄 !! So walk across the St Catherine's park was heavenly !! The huge park is spread across 2 towns of Lexlip and Lucan in Kildare county. 

Day 5  (Monday) : Dublin City tour continued

I found it amazing how much Irish people were fond of their history. Every corner of Dublin had a history associated with it, some famous world personality having their genetic ties there. The 2 good places to immerse in the history are Jeanie Johnston ship tour and EPIC museum. These 2 places (situated next to each other near Customs House) tell stories of the tragic Irish Potato Famine of 1845-1852 which resulted in deaths of 1 million Irish residents and 2+ million immigrating to other countries notably to the USA. These immigrants faced the hardships on  their journies through rough seas by boats like Jeanie Johnston and of societal acceptance as they established in the new countries. They are the same ancestors who gave us several distinguished leaders, businessmen, artists etc. The combo tour of Jeanie Johnston boat and EPIC would take about 3-4 hours depending on your interest. 

(Statues depicting the tragic famine on the walkway)

After these 2 places, we roamed around Grafton Street, had our hot chocolates at Butler's, spent some time at St Stephen's Green park. 

I did a quick Irish Whiskey Tour & had some more Irish coffee too !

On that 'high note', the Dublin leg ends and we start our 5 day trip to the south-west. 

It's been a long post, hope you are still here !! If yes, I love to hear your views and read your comments below. 

Cheers !! 

10 days in Ireland

Céad Mile Fáilte !! (A 1000 times welcome in Irish) to my scribblepad, which has been blank for little over 7 years now !! 10 days spent in this history-loving country made me open my blog again !!

Few facts/ observations from my experience   :

1) Republic of Ireland is the southern part of larger Ireland island, with UK taking up Northern Ireland. There are lot of stories on Irish independence struggle against the British rule which reminds a lot about our Indian history. I am not going there as it's a long one and I am no historian ! 

2) The country has a vast coastline with several small towns & villages dotted across the coast. Blasket Island, Dingle is literally the land's end after which the next city is Boston USA!! 

3) 24 (out of 46) US Presidents claim Irish lineage. I was at a  service station at Moneygall named 'Barack Obama Plaza' and had a museum documenting his as well as President Kennedy's Irish roots to the village. We did manage to get a photo with former Mr & Mrs President too!! 😁

4) Republic of Ireland has seen a surge in corporates moving from UK post Brexit. This has in turn increased the number of migrants coming in for new job opportunities being created. This sudden influx has led to an expanding GDP.

5) Sustainability of this growth needs to be seen though. Public infra still needs catching up to do. Public transport beyond Dublin is still very restricted hence dependence on cars. The housing supply is under pressure from the increasing demand. I also understand there are challenges in healthcare sector too with paucity of qualified doctors and nurses.

6) The quality of roads are amazing. I would have driven over 400km daily at average speed of 90-100km/hr.. even the local city roads are pothole-free and as a bonus, we get a scenic coast line view too!!!

So now about my trip - firstly the reason of choosing Ireland as against Europe trip was because of my younger brother & family who decided to move from God's own country (Kerala for the uninformed) to Dublin in Feb 2022. So on May 3rd 2023, me, my wife, 2 kids and parents flew down to Dublin airport to spend few days there.

Getting there

There are no direct flights from India. We flew Indigo on codeshare with Turkish Airlines via Istanbul. One problem which I realised after booking was that the longer leg Indigo flight (Mumbai-Istanbul) didn't have an entertainment system so keeping children engaged was a challenge.

Visa:

Ireland is not part of Schengen nor UK, and needs a separate visa. It took us 10 working days to get the tourist visa. If you opt for a multiple entry visa, you would get BIVS (British Irish Visa Scheme valid for Indians and Chinese tourists) stamped on your visa which allows you to visit UK (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) while you are in Republic of Ireland.

Cash v/s card :

We didn't carry / use any cash during our trip. ICICI Bank Prepaid forex card worked even in the remote places. The public transport in Dublin did require a Leap card for entry which you get for €5 deposit.

Car rental:

While I used public transport in Dublin, I rented a car for our 5 day trip to South-West Ireland. Hatchback came at €50-60 per day excl petrol costs. The driving is similar to India's except for the discipline followed. Luckily for me, the 4 year stint in the UK helped in driving !

Iterinary :

Our holiday iterinary was split into 2 parts - 5 days in Dublin and the other 5 in Killarney, Kerry, Dingle peninsula. I plan to complete and publish seperate blogs for the 10 day experience and iterinary. Hope I get some love / comments on my return-blog !!

Cheers

SP

p.s. some more trivia / information

- Ireland population (5million) is 1/5th of Mumbai (25 million), while the country economy is 10 times of annual Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) budget.

- If you are going out for night out at pubs, please remember that kitchens close at 9, so ensure that you order food well before. The drinks can continue till late night. 

- While on drinks, the first brand which kind of symbolises Dublin is Guiness beer.. their sprawling factory campus covers a large part of one Liffey river front in Dublin. I was never a fan of dark stout but I liked the taste of Guiness in Dublin, and I was told by its better because it's fresh out of the brewery across the river !!

- There are 4+ million sheeps co-sharing space with these 5 million Irish people. Other than sheeps or other farm animals, we couldn't find many other animals which was strange given the extensive green cover found across parks, forest trails etc. Either I was bad at spotting them or they were smart enough to remain hidden.

There was a lone deer which was ready to pose with my daughter.

Hope to see you soon on my next blog sharing Dublin City experience !!