Near North Ireland South of the Border

WE started our Northern Ireland Adventure on Monday, June 22. We first drove north of Galway for the first time into Connemara. This is beautiful country. We went through a pass between the Connemara National Park and the Maumturk Mountains, along a gorgeous lake, through quaint villages, and through fields of drying peat. This is what they dig up and use to heat their homes in winter.


Here you can see big Jeff Diging in the Peat Bog

This drive took us into County Mayo…a new county for us! We spent the night in a village (not even a town) at the local tavern/inn/restaurant. We ate a home cooked meal in the tavern and slept upstairs. Very cozy.

BagPipes, Drums & Guinness who needs Roses ?

You will notice in the pictures there are no Tourists.... there is no admission these guys are doing this for the fun... pure and simple

On Sunday, I finally got Jeff to take a walk through our park, and into town. He was surprised that it was so close. He saw our lovely roses, and the park was full of bagpipers! There were groups all over, in alleys, side streets, just like Mariachis in Mexico! They were going to have a big competition, which we watched in the town square. They were great!

Horse Racing The Sport of Kings & Irishmen

We had a very busy “locals” weekend right here in our home town! On Saturday we went to the Castleisland Horse Races. This a neighboring town, just a few kilometers away. They had the races right in a farmer’s field. They had set up a course with rails, and there were bookies there too! They had a winner’s circle where the horses also walked around and around so that you could get a good look at them before the race, and before you bet. It was fun, but we lost on the one race we actually placed money on. We only stayed for 4 races, when they decided that one of the turns was too tight and they were going to change the rails. It was organized like little league Look at the Jockeys they Must have all been under 12 BTW there is a horse betting Bookmaker on every town street.... It was the 100 anniversary for this meet.. but the 1st year they had rails for the track which last week had sheep grazing on it

Vintage Car Rally / Irish Tractor Pull ?

Then we headed up the road a couple of miles to a vintage car and tractor rally. There were a lot more tractors than old cars…I wonder why?! It was fun though, and something different to do

Living in Tralee - Hardly a Grind

Kelly and Gil have gone, so now we’re down to just living in Ireland. So far so good. The condo we moved into has turned out to be a good choice. Jeff has set up his internet (a wireless stick) and I’ve found some great walks right outside our door. Tralee seems to have everything we need…shopping, restaurants, a library, post office, and of course, plenty of pubs. It seems that they alternate pubs and musicians. Every night the music is in a different pub…usually traditional Irish. This consists of some of the following: guitar, banjo, accordion, bagpipe, flute, and drum.

Nothing else exciting to report right now, but soon we hope to take a road trip to Northern Ireland, and we have our cruise coming up in July from Athens to Venice. I’ll update this more as our adventure continues.

Cars & Driving in Ireland

Of course they drive on the other side of the road..... and you gotta shift with your left hand

Everything is stick here If you want an automatic rent-a-car you pay double.... the first three weeks we Drove a SKODA Octiva , a VW Passat built in the Czech Republic... it was a Diesel that got the equivlant of 55 miles per gallon and had all the power and room for 4 adults and their luggage......

Deisel is about 15% cheaper than Petro but still is about $5.75 per gallon...

Now with the kids gone we only needed a smaller car... I was planning on buying one from a Used car dealer for our 3 month stay then selling it back to him when we leave..... I had some deals set up but getting a Irish Driver's lic (even a temp) to keep the insurance down was a three week deal itself and we still needed to pay Road Tax .....so we decided to rent an Opel deisel a German built car part owned by GM......

IT was to late to take Renault up on the best deal for traveling in Europe Lease a new car for as low as $25/day including full coverage insurance and emergency road service.... at the end of the short term lease (21days to 3 months) just turn it in ......no Taxes due .....next time

Back to Base Camp in Tralee -They Wore us out

Kelly and Gil have gone, so now we’re down to just living in Ireland. So far so good. The condo we moved into has turned out to be a good choice. Jeff has set up his internet (a wireless stick) and I’ve found some great walks right outside our door. Tralee seems to have everything we need…shopping, restaurants, a library, post office, and of course, plenty of pubs. It seems that they alternate pubs and musicians. Every night the music is in a different pub…usually traditional Irish. This consists of some of the following: guitar, banjo, accordion, bagpipe, flute, drum.

Nothing exciting to report right now, but soon we hope to take a road trip to Northern Ireland, and we have our cruise coming up in July from Athens to Venice. I’ll update this more as our adventure continues.

Kelly & Gil O'Koury Parting Thoughts

We were so sad to say goodbye to Ireland and the Shanahan's, but it's time to head back to reality. We had an absolutely FABULOUS time and hope to one day return! Next time it's Northern Ireland. We covered 2200 miles and visited numerous towns (not only the ones mentioned in the blog). Although we always seemed like we were on the go, it was a very relaxing trip! We highly suggest Ireland to anyone looking for a getaway. The scenery is spectacular and the people thoughout the country were extrememly hospitable. The Irish are definitely very friendly people! We hope that you enjoyed following us on our journey. We took over 800 pictures, so if your interested in checking them out, you will have to pay us a visit (or visit Kelly's Facebook page soon for additional pics - but not all 800).Cheers!Kelly & Gil

Kids Night Out in Gallway

Even Gil stays up late....... but only for the music He is just posing with that beer.

Ring of Kerry, Cliffs of Moher& The Burren

The Cliffs of Moher (AMAZING!!!), The Burren and then to Galway for a night. The sights are just unbelievable in Ireland, the beauty just doesn't stop. One amazing sight after another!

Two Castles: One we Stay in - the Other We Kiss!

Well, we loved the Rock of Cashel (Castle) so much that we decided to stay the night in one! We headed for Carrigeen Castle in a town called Cashir. We had a lovely host, Peg who showed us to our rooms Down the Hall from the Dungen and made a wonderful traditional Irish Breakfast the following morning.

From there we headed out to Cobh (Queenstowne) where the Irish set off for better land when the Potato Famine hit. This port was also the last stop for the Titanic before it met it's fateful end. We then took a quick walk through Cork and saw some interesting sights and then headed to the Blarney Castle to kiss the Blarney Stone. The Blarney Castle was absolutely beautiful (they get better every time). We toured the whole castle with lots of skinny sprial staircases. At the top of the castle, we finally made it to the Blarney Stone. We are very curious who came up with this whole "Kiss the Blarney Stone" gimmick! What an interesting thing to do! But you have to do it if you are coming all the way to Ireland, right? Well we did! You have to hang upside down and kiss it. Some cute little old Irish man holds while you make a spectacle of yourself! It was fun though.

The Leprechaun Way

(copied from our Kids Blog http://www.thelepechaunway.blogspot.com/ )

A rainy day in Dublin, but that didn't stop us, nor anyone in town. We hopped on the city bus and headed to downtown Dublin. We walked along the streets of Dublin in search for ponchos to keep dry when Gil ran into a statue of one of his Irish Music Icons, Philip Lynott! We then headed to Trinity College to check out the Book of Kells. Due to the rain, we missed the big crowds, which was very nice. We had a great tour guide who made the tour very comical! We then wrapped up our time in Dublin (we will be back on our way out) and headed down the Irish coast to our next stop in Wexford. We stayed in a lovely B & B in Wexford (voted best B & B in Ireland every year since 1996) where our gracious hosts Seamus and Kate pampered us! We had a nice dinner at Taste in downtown Wexford and then headed out to find some traditional Irish music, but there was none to be found on a Sunday. The next morning, we woke up to a lovely homemade Irish breakfast!

1st Night in Dublin with the Younger Crowd