Usually I wouldn't write a blog on a personal trip, but I believe this one is an exception. My wife Danielle and I got married on December 12, 2009, though because of her profession of being a teacher and having a limited amount of time to take off, we decided to take our honeymoon over the summer months. We wrote down places we both had in mind and both came up with Ireland. We both have Irish backgrounds, so why not go somewhere that you wouldn't go to every year. With the help of a few people, we decided to book a guided tour since neither of us were ever abroad or to Ireland. We wanted to learn alot about the country, which I feel you wouldn't learn if you did it yourself. We booked our guided tour through CIE International Tours.
The guided tour we chose was called the Legends Tour, which was a ten day tour that included travel days to and from Ireland.
Now my goal on our honeymoon was not to indulge in taking too many photographs, because this in fact was our honeymoon and a brief break away from my work, but that changed very quickly once we started touring the Republic of Ireland.
Day One
A red-eye flight from JFK in New York to Dublin, Ireland.
Below, our Aer Lingus airliner sits at the gate prior to boarding.
Day Two
Upon arriving in Dublin, Ireland early in the morning with roughly about an hour and a half of sleep, it was time to collect our luggage and pickup our transportation to our hotel.
Upon our arrival to the hotel by our CIE tour guide Jim Lynch, we received the keys to our room and then took a much need nap!
Later in the afternoon, we took a guided tour through the city of Dublin.
Below, the most photographed door in Dublin.
During the city tour, we stopped and toured the Kilmainham Gaol. Kilmainham Gaol played an important part in Irish history, as many leaders of Irish rebellions were imprisoned here and some were executed in the prison by the British and most recent in 1923 by the Irish Free State.
Below, are a few photos from the Kilmainham Gaol.
Below, the front of the prison where hangings were done for the towns people to witness.
Below are more photos from the inside and outside of the prison.
Below, along this wall is where the Irish Free State executed multiple prisoners on November 22, 1917.
Below, a cross marks the location where the execution took place for the leaders of the 1916 rising in Ireland.
After touring the Kilmainham Gaol, the tour ended back at our hotel where Danielle & I then went downtown into the city of Dublin.
Below, the River Liffey runs through the city of Dublin.
Below are a few different photos from downtown Dublin.
Day Three
Day three started off with a journey north of the city of Dublin to Newgrange, a 5000 year old megalithic tomb.
Once leaving the visitors center, it was a bit of a walk to catch the bus to the megalithic tomb.
Below, are a few pictures of the countryside on our walk to catch the bus.
Once arriving to the tomb, we had to wait our turn to venture inside because only 24 visitors plus one tour guide are allowed inside in the tomb due to the limited amount of space. So we along with a few other people on our tour walked around the tomb where we came across fields of grazing sheep.
Below, a panoramic (made up of 16 photographs stitched together using Adobe Photoshop CS4) of the sheep grazing in the fields around Newgrange.
Once leaving the visitors center, it was a bit of a walk to catch the bus to the megalithic tomb.
Below, are a few pictures of the countryside on our walk to catch the bus.
Once arriving to the tomb, we had to wait our turn to venture inside because only 24 visitors plus one tour guide are allowed inside in the tomb due to the limited amount of space. So we along with a few other people on our tour walked around the tomb where we came across fields of grazing sheep.
Below, a panoramic (made up of 16 photographs stitched together using Adobe Photoshop CS4) of the sheep grazing in the fields around Newgrange.
Below, the entrance to Newgrange. Like I mentioned before, it's listed as a megalithic tomb, but there is still speculation as to what it was built for. It did in fact house remains inside from the dead, but it's also been speculated that Newgrange was used for worshiping the sun in hopes of a good crop growth the following spring because once a year on the winter solstice (December 21st) the sun lines up with the opening of the tomb and shines a beam of light into the chamber for 17 minutes.
Upon completing the tour inside the tomb (where no photography was allowed), I ventured out to the field in front of the tomb to capture an overall shot of Newgrange with the beautiful sky.
After our tour was complete here at Newgrange, Jim, our tour guide with CIE Tours, dropped us off in the city of Dublin to do more touring on our own.
We toured Trinity College, the oldest university in Dublin, the Guinness Brewery and last we toured St. Patrick's Cathedral.
Below, the alter of St. Patrick's Cathedral, the burial site of famous author Jonathan Swift.
That evening, our agenda included dinner at Abby Tavern, just outside of Dublin. Following dinner, we were entertained by some irish music and irish dancers.
Day Four
We left the very populated capitol city of Dublin and started our journey west through the country of Ireland. On this day we would travel to Kildare to the Irish National Stud and Japanese Gardens. The Irish National Stud is a Thoroughbred horse breeding facility.
Below, a trainer walks retired race horse Invincible Spirit. He was a very successful race horse in his prime, but is now used as a stud to produce more race horses.
Below, the trainer shows off another stud to owners who may bring their horses to the facility to mate.
That pretty much wrapped up our touring of the facility because it started to rain (a.k.a "Liquid Sunshine" as it's called by the locals).
We then ventured west to Kilkenny, a medieval city. While in the city, we toured the Kilkenny Castle, which was built in the 13th century.
Below, are a different perspectives of the castle.
The day wrapped up with all of us on the tour staying at multiple Bed and Breakfast's just outside the city of Kilkenny.
Day Five
We started the day out with a stop for photos at the Rock of Cashel, which is a collection of ruins perched on a rocky hilltop.
Below, the ruins of the Rock of Cashel.
After the brief stop, we continued to Cobh, the main port of emigration in Ireland from the 18th to mid 20th centuries.
Below, John F. Kennedy Park along the Port of Cohb.
Below, a statue portraying Annie Moore and her two brothers. Annie Moore was the first immigrant to be processed at Ellis Island in New York City.
The Titanic and the Lusitania are just two of the many ships that stopped at the port of Cohb. In fact, Cobh was the last port of call for the RMS Titanic on April 11, 1912 before it set sail for the Atlantic Ocean.
While in Cohb, we took the Titanic walking tour.
Below, a memorial for the Lusitania which sank in off the shore of Cobh after it was struck by a German torpedo on May 7, 1915. It sank in just eighteen minutes killing 1,198 of the 1,959 on board.
Below, a memorial for the RMS Titanic.
As the tour continued, we walked to the old White Star Line building that registered the passengers for the Titanic, which docked out in the harbor.
Below, a general view of the harbor.
If you were standing in this exact location on April 11, 1912, this is where the Titanic would have been as it entered the harbor to turn around before exiting for the Atlantic Ocean.
Below, I used Adobe Photoshop to illustrate this.
After completing our Titanic walking tour, we left Cobh to drive to Blarney, home of the Blarney Castle which holds the famous Blarney Stone.
Below, a view of Blarney Castle. Currently they are restoring the wall of Blarney Castle, so that is why the green netting is in place on the entire wall. (It also ruined an awesome shot!)
The view from atop the Blarney Castle.
While on top, I did kiss the Blarney Stone. Danielle opted not too because of her fear of heights.
After touring the castle, Danielle and I walked through the Rock Close. I found a nice waterfall and wanted to use a slow shutter speed to make the water look silky. In order to capture this, you need a tripod (which I didn't have due to the amount of luggage allowed on the trip) to avoid camera shake. I positioned myself in a corner on the walkway to keep my arm steady. For not having a tripod, I believe the slow shutter speed worked for this image.
After touring the castle the Rock Close, everybody on the tour got back on the bus as we headed to our hotel in Killarney for dinner. After dinner, most everyone on the tour including ourselves attending the Liam O'Conner Live show at our hotel, the Killarney Avenue Hotel. Liam O'Conner is an Irish accordionist who has set the record in the Guinness Book of Record for the "Fastest Fingers in the World" by playing 11.64 notes a second on the accordion to his song "Tico Tico". The show included himself along with his band and Irish tap dancers.
I was able to find a clip of this song on Youtube.com
Day Six
Many of us on the tour started out the morning on carriage rides through Killarney National Park. Along the way, we stopped at Ross Castle
Below, Ross Castle which was built in the 15th Century.
Below, are more photos of the surrounding area.
After our carriage ride, our tour guide, Jim Lynch picked us up and we ventured towards the Dingle Peninsula.
Below, a general view of Inch Beach, part of the Dingle Peninsula.
And what we believe was a shark right off the coast.
Below, more of the Dingle Peninsula.
At the end of the Dingle Peninsula, we stopped at the Blasket Centre where we learned about the Blasket Islands where people used the land to farm and the waters to fish. The last person left the island in 1953.
From here we drove, we went into the small fishing town of Dingle.
Below, are a few photos of Dingle.
We then returned to Killarney for free time to tour the town on our own.
Day Seven
We left the city of Killarney and made our way north to the small town of Foynes. Foynes became the center of the aviation world from 1939 until 1945. It was in Foynes where the Yankee Clipper, a flying boat landed after completing the first commercial passenger flight from the USA to Europe.
Below, a few photos of Danielle and I inside the Yankee Clipper.
After the tour of the Flying Boat Museum, it was off to the Cliffs of Moher. The cliffs rise almost 700 feet from the Atlantic Ocean in County Clare.
Below, are different perspectives of the Cliffs of Moher.
And of course a panoramic (made up of 24 photographs stitched together using Adobe Photoshop CS4)
Oh, and a photo of Danielle and I by the cliffs.
After a short visit at the Cliffs of Moher, we made our way along the shores of the Galway Bay. However, before reaching our destination of Galway, we made a quick stop at the Burren. The ground here is completely covered with large boulders.
Below, a wide view of the Burren.
Below, looking from the Burren into Galway Bay.
After leaving the shoreline of Galway Bay, we traveled inland before reaching Galway.
Below, some scenery of the inland on our way to Galway.
Once arriving to our hotel in Galway, we ate dinner and enjoyed the company of others on our tour.
Day Eight
We left for our cruise to the Inis Mor, the largest of the three Aran Islands. If you want to hear Irish while in Ireland, you have to go to the Aran Islands. Irish is their language here as English come next. Anyways, it was very foggy on the cruise over, so no photos.
Once docking, we left the boat and jumped in a couple of mini buses for a tour of the island.
Below, the ruins of the Seven Churches on the island.
From here we went to Dun Aengus, a hugh pre-historic fort on high cliffs overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. This was a bit of a hike to the fort, but was well worth it. Once to the cliffs, you could literally walk right the cliff of the Atlantic Ocean because there were no barricades holding you back.
Below, the edge of Dun Aengus overlooking the Atlantic Ocean 300 feet below.
From here we spent an hour or two on the island before catching the ferry back to the mainland. Once back to Galway, again more free time to journey out and tour the town.
Day Nine
We left Galway and headed east back towards Dublin. Though along the way, we stopped in the town of Strokestown, home to the Strokestown Mansion and National Irish Famine Museum.
Below, a panoramic of the Strokestown Mansion (made up of 26 photographs stitched together using Adobe Photoshop CS4).
Below, a few photos from inside the mansion during the tour.
While touring the outside of the Strokestown Mansion, I noticed a few nice bushes of Hanging Fushsia. This is native to Ireland and is very colorful flower.
Below, the Hanging Fushsia
After completing the tour of the famine museum, we all got back on the bus as we continued our drive east to the small village of Dunboyne, just northwest of Dublin. Here is where we had our farewell dinner. Following Dinner, we tracked down our tour guide Jim Lynch and sang to him the limerick that all of us on the tour made. After that, we enjoyed each others company in the pub before heading to bed for an early rise to catch our planes in the morning.
Day Ten
The last day was finally upon us. Our tour guide, Jim Lych would transport us the Dublin Airport where we all caught our different flights back to the states. Our trip and honeymoon was over.
We loved Ireland and all of the beauty that came with it. Though it rained everyday for a short period of time, the weather was nice and not too hot. Our plan is to go back to Ireland in a few years and tour some more of this beautiful country.
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