Why are we not going to Ireland this summer? It was March 2006 when we were having dinner at the Irish Feast Day in Florence and our trip to Ireland began like this. Four months later, my friend Elena and I love travels and I landed in what everyone calls the Emerald Island and that I renamed my Land of Mezzo!
As well as attracting me with its landscapes, culture and traditions, Ireland is also home to my favorite band, the U2! So we decided to organize the trip, trying to combine the interests of both for what would be the first of our trips together.
As was the case for Mexico and Peru, this time too I decided to entrust the reportage to my small portable recorder and to the photographs. Thanks to them I managed to put my memories back in place again.
PLAN YOUR TRIP TO IRELAND
Our trip would last for 9 days and we would leave in mid-July. In order to plan it, we relied largely on the guidance of Lonley Planet and the Irish website, which at that time was already very well told about the customs of this wonderful land.
If I had to come back today, I would also consult the official Irish tourism website, available in Italian and where to find the most famous places to visit with relevant information.
REACH IRELAND BY PLANE
In order to reach Ireland we decided to use the plane which was the most comfortable and fast means of transport. Since we had a few days available, there were lots of offers for Ireland and our choice fell on the home company, Ryanair, with which we found a flight at a good price.
We left in mid-July, taking advantage of the fact that in summer the days have much more hours of light, even than ours and the climate are undoubtedly more favorable. Apart from a couple of days of covered sky and drizzle, he accompanied us with the sun and even returned from the tanning trip!
We departed from Pisa's Galileo Galilei airport. While we were waiting to board, we found a ticket sales point for the bus that would take us from Dublin airport to the city center. I don't know if the sales service still exists in Pisa but allowed to save a few euros compared to the purchase on site.
If you still don't know how to get from the airport to the center of Dublin, on the Dublin Airport website you will find all the means of connection.
B&B: THE BEST PLACE TO STAY IN IRELAND
I found the best Bed and Breakfast of my life in Ireland. The b&bs have been our reference points for the whole trip. They have delicious, clean with good and abundant breakfasts. If you want to visit Ireland and have a great and cheap accommodation solution.
We found the first one in Dublin city, thanks to a quick internet search. We chose the Days Inn, in Talbot Street, now called Dublin City Inn, a very cute and central bed and Belfast, where we booked the first two nights!
Hundreds of cheap hotels and B&Bs can be found in Dublin today. All you have to do is search the various portals quickly!
Among the most beautiful ones, I remember the Tuar Beag in Spiddal, County Galway. It seemed like a postcard, so typical of Ireland. In addition, the breakfast tables were adorned with beautiful flowers called fuchsia, which we discovered to be the flowers typical of Connemara. Tuar Beg was a great base for visiting Connemara and the Aran Islands.
In Tralee, on the other hand, in Kerry County, we chose the small but very nice B&B Ahaore, in a great location to visit the Dingle, Ring of Kerry and Killarney Park.
The Ahaore also had a delicious winter garden where you can take your tea or make a herbal tea before going to sleep after a long day on the road.
DISCOVERING IRELAND BY CAR
To travel to Ireland we decided to rent a car.We didn't book from Italy, but we decided to evaluate the cost of renting a car once we arrived in Dublin. I don't remember the name of the car we hired but I remember that the price they offered us was not exorbitant, and it was less than what we would have spent booking online.
In any case, if you don't want to take risks or even just to get an idea of rental prices, just make a quick search on the internet.
The only doubt we had was left-handed driving. We were afraid it would be difficult. I will not say that it was just a walk but just a little exercise and above all a bit of calm to get used to.
I would also point out that at the time, rather than the motorways to which we are used here in Italy, there were two-lane freeways in Ireland, for which a toll was paid.
Crossing through Ireland by car was fun and quite simple, even for the indications, usually in two languages, English and Gaelic.
The only problem we had in Dug Lahoire, on the morning of the penultimate day, when on the windscreen of the car, at 8.20 a. m. we got a fine for the prohibition of parking... we had arrived twenty minutes after the shot of the parchymeter count!
If you want to learn more about how the guide in Ireland works, I recommend the post written by Francesco for his blog Dublin Facile: you will find us a lot of useful information!
9 DAYS IN IRELAND: WHAT I SAW
With only 9 days at our disposal, we couldn't think of visiting all of Ireland: we decided to take a tour in the southern part of the country, taking Dublin as a departure and arrival point (so that we would also pay less for air travel).
Here is the itinerary we followed:
July 17 - Arrival in Dublin around 18:00. Dinner and first tour to discover Temple Bar.
July 18 - Dublin Day: Visit to Trinity College, St. Patrick's Cathedral; lunch in the meadows of St. Stephen's Green Park (as true Irish!); visit Dublin Castle; stroll around Temple Bar in search of Wall of Fame and Clarence Hotel (owned by Bono and Edge)
July 19 - Car rental and departure to the city of Galway; visit Connemara.
July 20 - Excursion to Aran Island: unfortunately we had the opportunity to visit only the largest island, Inishmor, with the fantastic Dun Aengus, the fort overlooking the sea. To visit the island we rent bicycles.... it was a real blurry!
July 21 - Departure for the city of Tralee. Visit the beautiful Dingle peninsula with dinner in the homonymous capital, Dingle.
July 22nd - Day dedicated to the Ring of Kerry that we have covered entirely; I know for lunch in Valentia's Island in a rustic little restaurant overlooking the cliffs and where I ate one of the finest velvety of my life.
Visit the fabulous Killarney Park (and here I thought JRRR Tolkien had to have visited places like this to imagine the Middle Earth);
Sunset at the castle of Killarney, which unfortunately was already closed; hiking evening for the center of Kerry.
July 23rd - Departure for Kilkenny and visit to the Japanese Gardens
Departure for Killieny in search of Bono's house exits at Dun Laoghaire for the night with evening in the truest Irish pub I've ever seen (and of which, alas, I don't remember the name)
July 24 - Return to Dublin, visit to Hannover Quay Studios and the foundations of the U2 Tower (a project that was abandoned a few years later because of the high costs);
Afternoon shopping afternoon for the centre of Dublin.
25 July - Last hours around Dublin and departure.
Every country I visited left me with wonderful memories and the desire to come back to get to know it Ireland better even more than others. Its green landscapes, nature, the intense blue of the sea, its fantastic food, its fabulous beer, sky wondering in my personal ranking comes first.