Republic of Ireland - September 2024
In September of 2024, Felicia and I took another long ride around Ireland to get out of the crazy Dallas heat. Our travel partners Susie and Larry could not make it this year, so we took a tour of southern Ireland with Trafalgar Tours. We have driven around Scotland and Ireland before in 2019, but this time we had a driver. Also, it was our 33rd anniversary on this trip.
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We flew directly from DFW to Dublin, spent 2 days in Dublin, then a week driving around the south of Ireland and ended back in Dublin for a day before going home. I loved the cool temperatures, the green countryside and the fun friends that we met on the trip. I also liked not doing the driving and not doing the planning work of finding places to stay and to eat.
We started our tour by spending a few days in Dublin and ended up back in Dublin for another day. During the week we drove in a counterclockwise loop around the south half of Ireland. We visited Galway, Limerick, the Cliffs of Moher on the West Coast, took a ferry boat across the mouth of the Shannon River, spent a few days at Killarney and driving around the ring of Kerry, went to Blarney Castle and kissed the Blarney Stone. We stayed in Waterford and took some good history tours, as well as getting a tour through the Waterford Crystal factory.
Pictures of downtown Killarney in Southwest Ireland, which was my favorite stop. People are very nice and friendly, like our Texas accents and are glad to talk and answer questions.
Lots of cool things to see when driving through Ireland – it is so very green there. But one of the things that I liked the most is that there are old castles or ancient ruins or very old stone buildings everywhere. We visited several old castles and drove by dozens.
My list of breweries and distilleries to visit in Ireland is complete now:
Guinness Storehouse
Tullamore DEW Distillery
Jameson Distillery
Another thing that is obvious while driving through Ireland is the numbers of pubs and bars in every small, medium and large town. We visited a few a got our taste of Irish beers and whiskeys several times a day.
At Malzards Pub in the small town of Stoneyford, we learned about the ancient Irish sport of hurling and got to try hurling, listened to a lot of good Irish songs and the owner let us pour our own beers – Felicia had another Guinness and I had another Smithwick’s Irish Ale.
The Cliffs of Moher on the west coast of Ireland. These are about 800 feet tall and 15 miles long. Southwest of Shannon and Galway. We walked about a half mile to get to the edge. It was very windy and pretty cool, but that is why we went to Ireland, to cool off some.
These photos were taken in Waterford, which is supposedly the oldest city in Ireland, started by the Vikings because of its protected port. See the Viking writing on the low boat. That later became “Waterford”.
Its is always fun to see so many sheep in the green fields. Some of these sheep also have great views of the ocean south of Ireland.
Lots of good art and murals on the walls in Galway and Dublin. James Joyce wife above.
I would recommend taking tour anywhere in Europe with Trafalgar. This was our fourth trip with them. We have driven around Scotland and Ireland before on our own and had a great time. We had a great time on this trip without the stress of driving, finding parking finding a place to stay. This trip was Trafalgar Tours Irish Highlights. I was told that there were 9 different tours through Ireland. This one was all to the south of the Republic of Ireland. Our tour director was Sally and driver was Mike, both were very professional and I learned a very lot about Ireland from them.