Thursday 18th April 2019

Whoever decided it was a great idea to leave London and fly to Dublin at 8am I have no idea! Sounds ideal right? - perhaps coming from a small town like Christchurch New Zealand where you can literally drive to the airport in 15 minutes. But lets be honest that hasn’t been our reality for quite some time now so we should have realised that in order to make an 8am flight we would need to be leaving the house at 5am. We flew Ryanair out of  Stanstead Airport and it was rather strange after having 3 months “off” travelling to be back at it in the visa check queue with our small plastic bags filled to the brim with essential liquids. We always said we would never pay Ryanair’s stupid fees for priority and 2 cabin bags but with the recent change to how they do things in order to bring more than a mere handbag on board you have to. The plane was late with no apparent reason as to why it should have been and Lew and I were separated from one end of the plane to another. I had a pretty cool seat mate called Josie who was living close to us in London but was originally from Wales so of course I picked her brains as to the best places to go in Wales! Her and her bf were of course separated much like Lew and I and with a spare seat in our row he came down to join us also. We chatted about travel with them being equally adventurous and their next big trip being to Japan. We also passed the short flight time by playing crossword! As the plane landed Dublin looked very similar to Stanstead even with the fog so we wondered if we even left the UK! We went out separate ways and I added Josie on Facebook to send her a few of our favourite travel places in Europe! Lewis and I picked up our brand new Nissan from Sixt - just a quick note for y’all out there….we HAD to have a credit card in order to put the damage deposit down for the car. Ridiculous right but just a heads up as luckily Lew carried his NZ credit card so we were able to use that. Currently adding getting a UK credit card to out list of things to do as we speak!

Plans for the day:

• Grab some food at ‘The Fumbally’ in Dublin before we head south!

• Drive to Glendalough National Park for a stroll

• Head further south to Kilkenny with a 5km time-trial included!

• Grab some dinner at a local Thai restaurant

• Check into our Airbnb near Waterford
  

Dublin

Ok we may be bias but holy moly if your in Dublin you HAVE to go to The Fumbully!! The place is pretty hipster and sells fresh fruit/veggies/bread and coffee along side its shared tables. The special for the day was 100% what I was into with Vietnamese pork meatballs with noodles whilst Lew went with the steak sandwich. We also added in a hot chocolate and home made blood orange kombucha. WOW we were fully impressed and this is somewhere we would come back to! From what we could see with our short drive Dublin looked like a pretty cool spot to visit! But its such an easy place to pop across for a weekend adventure from London we figured we should get to some of those harder to visit places with our car instead. So we headed out on the motorway leaving Dublin untouched with our music blasting and Google maps directing us into the unknown countryside!

Glendalough National Park was out first taste of nature for quite some time since we live in the concrete jungle called London! This is a stunning spot for a wander around the lakes with the old monastery ruins and graveyard next to the fast flowing river. The air smelled fresh and the lambs were out running through the paddocks. This was such an ideal way to break up the journey south!

Once we had wandered a sufficient amount we continued to Kilkenny where we arrived at 5.30pm and alas Kilkenny Castle has closed for the day. We parked up outside of it and admired it from the outside. Lew was incredibly distracted as there was a 5km race happening shortly that they were setting up for. Most of the next hour of paid parking time was wandering up and down the streets trying to work out how to get him entered into the race! He stated that he needed to do a 5km time trial tonight anyways as part of his London marathon training and this picturesque small town with its bright coloured buildings, clear blue river and mild evening temperature was the perfect spot! He was the first “international” runner to sign up and the organisers were incredibly excited they even gave him a free t-shirt! The race was going to begin at 7.30pm so we re-parked the car off the main street and went to join in on the start/finish line atmosphere. We had no clue what we would do for dinner as we still had an 1.5 hour drive to our Airbnb! But I agreed we made the right choice as we hung around the gathering crowd as the sun begun to lower in the sky. Lew was super amped although I was struggling to be quite as excited after working three 12 hour shifts back to back and then being up at 4.30am this morning! Just before 7.30pm the racers were all herded to the start line with the professional looking athletes at the front jumping up and down preparing themselves mentally and physically. Lew stood there with a smile on his face and caused a bit of a stir since no one recognised him! They all took off like a stampede and I made my way to the bridge to watch them come through the loop. Lew was easily in the top group but wasn’t pushing himself with the London marathon coming up next week! He had told me that he wanted to run less than 17 minutes as his record is 15 minutes and 30 seconds when he was at his peak back in Colorado. I positioned myself at the finish line and the first guy came through at 14 minutes and 14 seconds and not long after Lew came up the home stretch not pushing himself and a big smile on his face crossing the line at 16 minutes and 13 seconds! He was over the moon with this as he knew he had more in the tank and he also hasn’t been doing any speed work to run a 5km! Such an awesome confidence booster with the upcoming marathon and man it couldn’t have been a better back drop with the sun setting on the castle behind us! We made a quick exit to get on the road and shortly realised there wasn’t much food in the area we were driving to! Our Airbnb host gave us a place called “The Hollow” but they were closed. We drove past a Chinese restaurant and decided to put in a takeaway order for this as our options were dwindling the later it got. Little did I know that there were two restaurants with the same name in Ireland and after waiting 10 minutes for the order to be ready I excitedly bounded up to the counter and of course discovered I had ordered food at the place in Northern Ireland….I got a new order in before sucking it up and ringing the other restaurant too apologise. The women I had spoken to earlier had such a strong accent and made no effort to slow down for me to understand her and of course she had said the name of the town the restaurant was in. But with it being our first 12 hours in the country that town name could have been street name or even just an  Irish greeting and I was so sick of asking her to repeat what she was saying only for her to repeat it at the same speed so I had just agreed with her. Never mind! we were excited to finally have some food and I demolished the prawn crackers like I hadn’t eaten in days despite them being not overly pleasant. Finally arriving into our cute Airbnb we were shown to our room by the lovely Kane. The room was absolutely gorgeous and he helped us get a plate and cutlery for our small almost midnight picnic! Man were we thankful for some food and a hot shower although we did stink the place out a little bit. Im sure you know that Chinese takeaway smell!

Friday 19th April

We ended up being out of the accommodation by 10am after having a chat to our lovely host Vanessa who was working a late shift at a local diner when we arrived last night so we hadn’t met her. She was making this sacrifice so that she could be home to “rear” her 11 month old - we loved this Irish term of looking after your children!! But this made me think of how thankful I am for Arbonne as this could easily be me working night shifts so I can be home with our future children (and I have met many nurses who do, bless you all!!). But now I’m setting myself up to have a business I can run from anywhere - whether that’s on a beach in Greece, a bus in Egypt or at home with a baby on my hip. Vanessa was the absolute sweetest and gave us many of her favourite places to eat at and visit along our journey. We actually realised we even had a mutual friend who is a nurse that I work with and someone she went to school with! So if any of your are wanting to do a similar trip to us a urge you to book in to stay with these genuinely kind and hospitable couple!

Plans for the day:

• Breakfast at ‘Grow HQ’ and explore Waterford City

• Drive to Cobh to explore the colourful seaside town and final stop of the HMS Titanic

• Check into our Airbnb in the heart of Cork

• Run the cobblestone streets of Cork

• Dinner at ‘Liberty Grill’ with drinks at the next door pub
  

Grow HQ/Waterford

Waterford city was a quaint seaside town and we were beginning to notice a tread with all these towns - well looked after, colourful and full of amazing looking pubs! Since we were so starving I had spent most of the car journey hunting for a good brunch spot - and there were a few to decide between! We went for a place called Grow HQ and GUYS make sure you come to this place! Im absolutely in love with what this place stands for! Making people more aware of where their food comes from and educating the community on how to grow your own food with workshops and cooking classes. Not to mention all the food supplied in their cafe is locally grown, seasonal, organic, free range, chemical free and so damn good!!!! Writing about our discovery of this place makes me smile from ear to ear and how I love the idea of having a huge veggie garden myself and being able to cook with everything from our own garden. One day…I don’t think our garden in London will quite make the cut. So massive high five to the Grow HQ team!!! Lew and I both had the Irish breakfast with some good old black pudding sprinkled around…no I’m going to choose not to Google this to remind myself what it is. All I can tell you is that it tasted fab! I had a nosey around the cook books - my absolute weakness and if we weren’t limited by Ryanair’s carry on luggage policy one or many of them would have come back to London with us. Does anyone else get this overwhelming feeling of joy holding a new cookbook and the possibilities inside of it? When we left this incredible place we realised Waterford itself was a little special once we begun wandering around the streets and discovering some incredible street art bringing the city to life everywhere we looked. 

Cobh

This small city used to be called Queenstown and it is famous for being the last stop of the HMS Titanic. The initial presence of the city is quite something with its incredible cathedral looming over the coloured shop fronts of the main city street below - making it rather a hit with instagram also. When you search any sort of social media there is no doubt in my mind you will get a particular photo pop up and somehow we needed to find this particular spot on our journey. It was a stunning afternoon as we strolled down past the cathedral and along the city front admiring all the locals out getting some vitamin D. It was gorgeous and we decided we couldn’t bare to leave the sunshine and head into the Titanic museum but instead wandered down the waterfront breathing in the fresh air and slowing down. We realise when we leave the thriving metropolis they call London that we are always in such a rush no matter what we are doing. They do say when you tire of London you tire of life but Lew and I beg to differ. After wandering aimlessness we came upon a small park down a street of many cute symmetrical houses with a few tourist pointing their cameras up into the sky. We found it. That photo that is able to sum up the city of Cobh with a click of a small button. 

Cork 

Oh my goodness! I can’t believe we haven’t come to this small town sooner! As we drove the streets of the central city the lush trees and cosy pubs surrounded us! The River Lee runs though this university town that’s also situated close to the ocean. To park on the streets here you need a “disk” which is something you can purchase from a local convenience store and is basically so there doesn’t need to be parking meters anywhere. We literally needed to pay for parking for 30minutes and I would have totally winged it but Lew on the other hand didn’t want to take the risk. Our Airbnb host had given us some in-depth instructions to find the place and after a few drive byes we spotted it with its red door and ivy lined exterior. Parking up and working out how to set the disk up we knocked on the door to be greeting by the charming Pat. He shows us to our room up three flights of stairs in their family home thats now been converted into an eclectic spot for visitors from all over the world to call home for their short stay in Cork. With it being beautiful weather and the lively noise of the gin festival at the Cricket Club behind us we decided to get out and explore the cobblestone streets in the form of a run! Running through the parks and rivers was so peaceful and we scoped out a few good places for dinner which we had been recommended! Once we had cleaned ourselves up it was about 9pm and rather late again for dinner! The place we had decided on was called Liberty Grill down the Main Street. Even at 9pm this chic (but affordable!) restaurant was full and the waiter sent us next door to the pub Joseph S. Cuddigan & Co. and said he would come and collect us when the table was ready! Im still amazed that the pubs in NZ have such a bad rep where as here the UK and many other places we have been to they are the best placed to get a feel for the local cuisine! We ordered a locally made beer and cider and relaxed in our first traditional Irish pub and sure enough the waiter came to grab us after 20 minutes and we hopped next door with our drink in hand ready for some food. I mean really ready…things were starting to spin a little!! Lew had decided long ago that fish n chips was on the cards for him and I chose the speciality fish dish with dukkah crusted cold and cous cous. We were over the moon that they even had an option for a dairy free Sunday and no matter how full we were this was 100% coming our way! Once again my cheeks hurt from smiling and laughing as we consumed this Sunday and I vowed to add Sunday making onto my weekly routine with fresh raspberry compote and nuts!!! We left rather intoxicated and full to the brim of incredible food!!

Saturday 20th April

Plans for the day: 

• Blarney Castle 

• Drive the Ring of Beara

• Admire a cablecar connecting the mainland to Dursey Island

• Lunch on a roadside pub in Allihies 

• A drive through Killarney National Park

• Walk the streets of Kenmare 

• Stay the night in Glenbeigh

We had very ambitious plans as we realised that Blarney Castle was also in the vicinity and we would need to somehow squeeze that into the day along with driving up the coast around the Ring of Beara! Breakfast was included in our stay and we found the dining room laden with tasteful old cups and saucers with fresh fruit from the garden, warm scones, home made muesli and jams. Man were we feeling spoilt! Maria, Pats wife was our hostess and she turned up apron on and glasses half way down her nose with all sorts of tales and tribulations of her upbringing and life! She even pulled out some soy yoghurt and vegan bagels for me and wanted to learn about what kind of butter I could have - she wanted me to send her a photo of what I use at home and later in the day she messaged me saying she found it in the supermarket! There was also fresh chocolate cake and she chatted away to us about some of the history between the UK and Ireland as she made a pot of tea. She was a wonderful storyteller that made us leave an hour later than expected but with some fantastic advice on driving the less busy Beara Peninsula as opposed to the tour bus filled Ring of Kerry.

Blarney Castle

We didn’t quite realise how stunning this place was and the fact that you could spend all day in its elaborate gardens! Blarney Castle was the stronghold of the McCathy clan and was built around 1446 and is given the nickname “Tower house”. A tower house us a typical fortification built by Gaelic Lords between the 14th and 16th centuries. The tower is actually stabilised using 18 feet thick walls that slope inwards as they rise. The castle would have used to be covered in plaster and whitewashed to aid in protecting it which would have been rather starting on a day such as today! But all we knew when we showed up was that there was a rock we must kiss in order to gain the gift of eloquence i.e. the gift of the gab. The staircase leading up to the top of the castle was rather small and well worn and it was hard to imagine people living in such a place or climbing it in tight dresses! The view from the top of the castle over looked the grounds with cattle grazing on the outer fields and the gorgeous Blarney House in the background. There was quite the line of people ready to pucker up and I was amazed to see signs before we climbed up stating the wait to kiss the Blarney stone was 90 minutes from that point! - WHAT! Thats a long time to smooch a stone? Thankfully it wasn’t that busy for us and as our turn came up we begun removing all items which could fall off as you have to lie down backwards, hold onto a couple of poles and reach for the bottom rock to plant that kiss. It was a lot less scary than what it was in the past where people we held by their ankles and were lowered down the side of the castle. It was very safe and controlled and you are held by a castle employee but also there are bars below you so if you really did fall you wouldn’t go far. Heres hoping that one kiss does give us the gift of the gab as opposed to meningitis or glandular fever! - we did laugh at the dettol wipes and spray next to the rock! Clearly a necessity when the queue is 90 minutes long! We had much to do in the day so once we had pecked the famous rock we journeyed onwards.

The Ring of Beara

The famous Ring of Kerry was going to be rather packed full of tour buses with it being such a sunny clear day and we were encouraged to instead drive the smaller peninsular next to it called the Ring of Beara. It was still going to be a lot of driving but the view out the car window made this pretty easy going. There were multiple bays with people kayaking the rippled water and it just looked so damn peaceful as we wound around the coastline! We ended up right down the bottom of the peninsula where you can take a cable car across to Dursey Island which is the only cablecar in Ireland. This small island was used as a place to hold prisoners during the Viking age in 800-1150 AD before they were shipped off to Scandinavia. We didn’t have enough time to do the 2 hour walk but the cable car was pretty impressive as you can see from the photo. The small town of Allihies is what caught our fancy next as the pub spilled out onto the road side with people basking in the sunshine. The houses were well kept and colourful, cows were munching on crisp green grass and it just seemed like the most perfect place to stop for a bite to eat. All along the way we kept seeing signs for fresh fish n chips so it was an easy decision as to what we were having at the O’Neils pub! The fish we have noticed is breaded as opposed to battered which is what we are used to but it makes it feel a little healthier/more sophisticated to be honest! Continuing up the coast was stunning and as the sun was setting (aka the golden hour) we stopped to take photos of the cliff and seaside as it was too beautiful to resist- hopefully you find the same place with its curved rocks from years of rough seas carving it away. We chose the route that went though Killarney National Park and we wished we had more time to do some hikes within the area - my advice to you is make sure you add in another night between Cork and Galway - one is not enough!

Kenmare 

Maria our host in Cork had raved about the small town of Kenmare and this was on the way to Glenbeigh as it was! Every single town we have been through is SO colourful and we just love that every single shop front in these old buildings is well cared for and unique. We briefly wandered up and down the main street grabbing some ice cream for Lew and a toilet stop for me before jumping in the car and continuing! But this would be an ideal place to base yourself if you interested in spending more time in the National Park.

Glenbeigh 

Finally! We made it here at around 8pm. Wow what an adventurous day! We were staying with the darling Greta and we felt like we were visiting an Aunty she was so welcoming. All we wanted to do was shower and sleep - or in Lews case sneak in a quick run but Greta ushered us into her kitchen and made us a hot drink with a warm hot cross bun. She could see the exhaustion on our faces but it was just what we needed. A bit of mum treatment and food. Especially since we had eaten dinner early at 4.30pm! Lew headed out for a quick 5 km jog and Greta was so concerned about him as it was now dark outside that she lent him her fluorescent top. Super sweet of her! 

Sunday 21st April

Plans for the day: 

• Drive around the Dingle Peninsula

• Slea Head Drive

• Ferry crossing at Tarbet

• Cliffs of Moher

• Galway - Dinner at ‘The Twelve Hotel - West Restaurant’

Its officially 1 week until the London Marathon - something Lew has been counting down to for many months now! Greta made an incredible selection of breakfast items for us including muesli, orange juice, tea, hot cross buns, jams and fresh fruits. Once again we were incredibly spoilt! I think we should be doing these sorts of Airbnb’s more often! She sent us on our way with a few lovely places to visit on our journey up to Galway

Dingle Peninsula

Once again this would be another day full to the brim! The famous part of the Dingle peninsula I had heard about was the lovely Inch Beach. Today was probably the coldest of the days we were in Ireland with a bit of wind and drizzle so the beach didn’t look quite as spectacular as it would on a scorching hot day - does Ireland even get that warm?! We wandered down it to the waters end breathing in the fresh sea air. Passing through the quaint seaside township of Dingle the only stop we made was to the supermarket where Lew could pick up some more chips - Keogh’s is the brand which he has fallen in love and he returned to the car with three in his arms making me laugh and also scold him at the same time. I deliberately don’t let him shop back in London for this reason - the cupboard will be overflowing with the cholesterol packed items! The cliff line was rugged and without us knowing we discovered this coastline is where they filmed Star Wars: The last Jedi. We followed the cars of the other tourists to a car park which allowed us to walk down to the beach and admire the picturesque coastline. It wasn’t the nicest of weather and we were being blown around by the wind and dampened by the rain. Alas we got some beautiful shots of the incredible Irish coastline and it was totally worth it! We were also recommended to do the famous Slea Head Drive but with it being pretty low cloud we didn’t see much other than the occasional peek of a bit of sand and more rocks. 

Tarbet ferry 

Greta has recommended we go to Adare park but this was a little too out of the way and we were planning on cutting across on the Tarbet ferry like she recommended as it bypasses limerick and Shannon. The weather had cleared at this stage and we sat on a nearby beach eating some chips and fresh fruit waiting for the ferry to arrive whilst in the queue. We were loaded up and away we went ending up in the town of Killimer on the other side. I absolutely loved this drive as on either side of us were giant wind turbines which iv never seen so close and have to admit I didn’t realise they were this giant! I am so mesmerised by these and I would have one in my backyard if I was allowed! Lew agreed to a slightly smaller version! The cost of the car ferry crossing was €20 ($34 nzd) by the way and we were able to pay on board with a card. 

Cliff of Moher 

Now guys I’m going to tell you these are actually FREE! I admit we should have done our research about this but I’m telling you now so that you can. The only thing you have to pay for is your parking IF you park in the official Moher cliffs carpark. There are actually multiple car parks around from what we saw when we were walking that would allow you to do this without paying (probably, not tried and tested). But if your like us and short of time and just want to not have to think about it just park your car and pay the money! We were a little overwhelmed by the amount of cars and buses in the car park after such a peaceful drive around the countryside but it wasn’t that busy. The cliffs - WOW! These are absolutely incredible and well worth a visit! It was the perfect time to see them also with the light dipping lower in the sky and the sunlight painting the cliffs a beautiful golden colour. We made sure to walk down to the left beyond the crowds to get a view back on the cliffs and it was much more peaceful here. The cliffs are a total of 14km long so we didn’t quite get to walk all of it but we sat on the edge taking some photos and admiring the bird life on the cliffs edges gathering food for its young by taking turns to venture out from the rock nest. It felt peaceful and we could have spent hours here but at this stage we still had 1.5 hours left of driving before we reached our final destination for the night - Galway. We of course spontaneously came across a castle on the side of the road and man was it a bit of a mind blowing discovery with the sunlight painting it pink and its reflection in the still water around it. Safe to say we were in love with this country and we understood why so many Irish relocated to New Zealand and felt at home. 
Galway

As we entered into the outskirts of the city I thought it was indeed necessary to blast Ed Sheerans famous jam Galway Girl which gave us a little more energy after such a packed out day! Our Airbnb was a little outside of town with an adorable lady called Pauline and her husband. Once again we felt like we were arriving at a relatives house and Pauline and I had already bonded over text as her son had brought a property in Lyttelton just outside of where we are from in Christchurch. Her story was heartwarming about how her children are spread around the world and  Airbnb is her way of saving up to visit them all. A little bit of extra money on the side of her job at the pharmacy and I love that Airbnb gives people this opportunity. Not to mention she does an incredible job at being a wonderful host! We had been in contact before we had arrived at 9pm and she had rung around the local restaurants to see what their last serving time was. What a darling! We dropped our bags and made the journey 10 minutes down the road to a place called ‘The Twelve Hotel - West Restaurant’ for dinner. Not cheap thats for sure, but have you ever been to a place and literally wanted to eat everything on the menu that your brain is so confused?! In fact in order to make a decision you have to decide what you would be having for lunch when you come back the next day so that you don’t feel like you’re missing out on something good! I went for a fish curry and of course Lew went for the house burger. A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. Thats all I can say, we didn’t quite realise how starving we were! If your staying in the area I would 100% recommend getting yourself here or across the road to Donnelly's of Barna Bar & Seafood Restaurant which Pauline highly highly recommended to us also! 

Monday 22nd April

The itinerary for this area was purely thanks to our amazing host Pauline who sat us down and made sure we were going to make the most of the stunning sunny weather that Ireland was blessed with the weekend we were here. This area was also where her son came back to from NYC in order to propose to his girlfriend which I thought was very cute. She added onto the end of her recommendation…..no pressure as she laughed and looked at Lewis. 

Plans for the day:

• Drive the coastline of Connemara 

• Roundstone to pick up some toasties 

• Kylemore Abbey

• Leenaun 

• Explore Galway city

Pauline didn’t drop the breakfast standards from the previous Airbnbs with all sorts of cereals, home baked muffins, a fresh pot of tea, hot crossed buns and even made us some scrambled eggs with smoked salmon on toast! She had the cutest tea cosy with their president Michael Higgins on it and it was named Michael “Tea” Higgins. Bit of a laugh really! She headed off to swimming and Lew and I packed up the car ready for an adventure in the sunshine.

Connemara Area

This area is off the charts stunning. It was very different to the rest of Irelands coastlines that we had seen so far with its white rocks and sandy beaches. We popped into the small town of Roundstone where Pauline recommended we grab something for lunch from the local place O’Dowd’s over looking the seaside. With a couple of toasted sandwiches and a smoothie we headed down to a picnic table by the waterside where we could enjoy the view. Lunch was certainly nothing special and all il say is that some home made chutney or even a bit of salt and pepper would have done wonders! Im sure the rest of the food in the restaurant is better as every other place Pauline has recommended has been given the tick of approval. There were some ridiculously beautiful beaches around here with soft golden sand but we did wonder whether Ireland even got warm enough to make the most of them? If you want to check out some of them they are called Dogs Bay, Gurteen Bay, Dunlaughin and White Strand to name a few. But basically between Roundstone and Derrygimla we spotted a few with a lot of locals out walking their dogs and enjoying the long weekend.

Kylemore Abbey and Victorian Walled Garden

If you have done your research on this area I’m sure that you have come across pictures of the stunning Kylemore Abbey. This castle was originally built back in 1867 as a romantic gift to Margaret Vaughan Henry from her husband Mitchell Henry as their family home. Mitchell Henry was the son of a wealthy Manchester Cotton merchant of Irish Origins and he himself was a skilled pathologist and eye surgeon owning a Harley Street Practice (London). Once his father died he inherited a large sum of money and quickly quit the medical profession and turned to liberal politics hoping to change the world and begun building the Kylemore Abbey. The Castle has 33 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, 4 sitting rooms, a ballroom, billiard room, library, study, school room, smoking room, gun room and various offices and domestic staff residences, as well as gardens, walks and woodlands which eventually covered 13,000 acres of land. Walking through the interior of the castle you could tell that Margaret Henry has an eye for beauty as the small details of every room gave it such a unique feel. A few years after the castle was built the Henry family departed Kylemore for a luxurious holiday in Egypt when Margaret became ill with dysentery and after two weeks of suffering died in Cairo. There is a red brick mausoleum where her body and also her husband’s body lies. What a sad ending to such a sweet story! The Castle was purchased in 1920 by the Benedictine Nuns after they were forced to flee Yypres, Belgium during WWI and they opened up an international boarding school for girls which closed in 2010. We wandered around the the side of Pollacapall Lough enjoying the birds chirping and the fresh air. Apologies but I think iv mentioned “fresh air” numerous times through-out this blog but if you live in London you will understand what I mean. A mere stroll down Oxford street will leave you with soot coloured snot. The Victorian Walled Garden is also incredibly fascinating as it was one of the last walled gardens to be built in the Victorian period in Ireland and is the only garden in Ireland to be located in the middle of a bog! This incredible garden was so advanced for its time that it was even compared to Kew Gardens in London. There were 21 glasshouses that were built for exotic fruits and plants which was quite the engineering feat to heat during those times! Three boilers and a complex underground system of hot water pipes measuring 1538 meters in length was required. Today there is no glasshouses as the original ones were left in a state of disrepair and collapsed but the garden does only contain plants that grew during the Victorian times and it was fascinating seeing some that we recognised. 

Leenaun

This was a place Pauline also recommended to us. Leenaun is a small fishing village on the shore of Killary Harbour which is one of the three fjords in Ireland. It was a pretty picturesque place but I think we are perhaps a little spoilt by New Zealand as it really wasn’t as impressive as we were expecting. Although I will tell you now that we didn’t make it out of the car we were so exhausted so I’m sure popping your head into the small stores and the local pub is a relaxing experience if you have more time that we did! We still had to get ourselves all the way back to Galway!

Galway City

The sun was on its way down and we were absolutely starving. We decided just to pay for a carpark in a building where we could walk to the beautiful main attraction - Quay Street. We were not disappointed by this however - this small street certainly packs a lot of punch. Lively Irish pubs on either side with the famous fish shop McDonagh’s, Murphy’s ice cream, flags, colourful bunting, street performers and people outside enjoying the mild evening. I can see why everyone LOVES Galway and absolutely raves about the experience they have here! We had already planned to go to McDonagh’s for the freshest fish n chips you can get in this city (as per the locals!) but we wandered up and down the street soaking up the atmosphere. McDonagh’s has two different sides - The Fish n Chip bar and the Seafood Restaurant. We chose the restaurant side and the choice of fish was a little overwhelming. The mussels on the menu sounded super tasty with lemongrass and coconut milk and I kept looking back at these thinking perhaps my childhood hate for smoked mussels would be very different to fresh mussels. We decided this was the time to try something new and Lew adamantly told me I would have to eat these all alone as there was no way he wanted some. He ordered the standard Fish n Chips with mushy peas whilst I went for a white fish with new potatoes and pea puree. Surprisingly the mussels were SO fresh and very flavoursome and I even managed to force Lew to try some! He thought they tasted a little like peanut butter…not sure how he came to this conclusion! Our table mats told us a little about the story of the fish shop itself which has been around since 1902 and has been passed down the family since then and is very much a local favourite. A few things I loved about the place compared to the regular fish n chip shop you might come across - All the fish is sustainably sourced from the UK, Ireland and Iceland which is flown in on a weekly basis, fresh local potatoes are peeled and chopped on the day, cooking oils are continuously changed and the waste oil is collected and recycled in biofuel. All of this made me feel a lot more comfortable with what I would consider as your typical greasy take away! Once we had finished eating we spent a bit of time wandering Quay Street joining the growing crowd encircling some lively buskers and of course grabbing ourselves some ice cream from another local favourite “Murphy’s Ice Cream”. Thankfully they had a few awesome vegan options and I can highly recommend the dark chocolate flavour. We were feeling pretty smashed after a busy day full of driving and sunshine and didn’t stay for much longer to soak up the nightlife.

Tuesday 22nd April

We did of course have plans to get up early and see a bit more of Galway but it just didn’t happen as we relaxed and enjoyed our tasty breakfast that Pauline had left out for us along with a cute card thanking us for staying with her and contributing to her travel funds. She also gave us her sons address in Lyttleton for when we are back home. 

Plans for the day:

• Galway for lunch at “The Lighthouse Vegetarian Cafe”

• Drive to Dublin

• Flight back to London

We made it into Galway just in time for lunch. We had done a bit more planning and worked out where we could park for free and walk in which was down by the promenade. We wandered the main Quay Street again and also around what is called Kirwans Lane which is a tight pedestrian lane through rustic stone houses that date back to the 16th and 17th century. There is also Lynch Castle which is a fortified house which could go back as far as the 14th century but got its current design in the 16th century. The Mayor of Galway James Lynch Fitzstephen even hung his own son from a window here for killing a Spanish sailor. This building is now actually a bank of all things! We had been hunting out the best food options before we started our drive to Dublin and decided on a cute vegetarian cafe called “The Lighthouse Vegetarian Cafe”. For starters I was hands down getting the vegan hot chocolate!!! Not a treat I usually have access too unless I make one myself. We also went for the vegan burger for Lew and I got the daily special which was a sweet potato curry. SO SO SO good!!! This place definitely made us leave Galway with a smile on our faces as we walked back to the car saying goodbye to the seaside gem of a city.

Driving back to Dublin really wasn’t that hard at all as we did chose for once to pay for the toll road to cut 45 minutes off of the journey to the airport. I did a bit of work on the blog and my business in the front seat of the car which is the best because otherwise that would have been two hours of wasted time driving along a motorway with not much of a view! We dropped the car back and thankfully came across an awesome place for dinner within the airport called ‘The Marquette Food Hall’. They did an amazing roast and I got a vegan curry which was perfect for our short trip over to London arriving back in late at night.

Wow Ireland you really blew us away! Thank you for being such a fantastic host for us over the st 6 days! Finally both Lew and I have set foot in the country we both have ties to which allows us both to stay in the UK indefinitely.