Wow so I haven't gotten back to this like I have wanted to. Well here I am again, finally to finish my tale of my trip to Ireland. :)
So my last post was on our arrival into Ireland and the beginnings of our adventure.
Day 2 in Ireland, Wow that was probably our busiest day by far. This day our final destination was Ventry, Dingle Peninsula, Co. Kerry. This was also day when we really found out how long it can stay light in Ireland.
So after spending the night in Kilkenny, we were up and on the road early. I think I got MAYBE 5 hours of sleep.
We headed right for Waterford, Co. Waterford, to the Irish Handmade Glass Company. I recommend stopping in here, definitely have you GPS direct you. We parked in the Public parking lot along the water and walked to the building. It was a small little showroom with their working area in the next rooms where you can stand and watch them work. Very sadly we were on too tight of a schedule to stay and watch. The men that started the Irish Handmade Glass Company were originally trained and Masters at the Waterford Crystal Factory before they downsized and moved the factory outside of town. But when they started this they were so excited to be able to now add color to their work. The glass is still handmade, mouth blown and etched by hand. I picked up a small bud vase, one from their Wild Atlantic Way line.
I wish we had had more time to look around Waterford but we had to keep moving. I highly recommend having individual booklets/pamphlets for each town, so that you can quickly locate and see what you don't want to miss.
Next we were headed to Dungarvan, Co. Waterford, where we were meeting up with new friends. Dungarvan is a town/village right on the coast and the couple we visited lived right off the water in a house that was older than our country I want to say.
Our new friends, Tom and Margaret, whom I met via Ancestry.com. While researching our Irish families I was linked to his family tree. Come to find out his wife and my dad have a mutual cousin. Dad is a cousin through the paternal line and she is a cousin through the maternal side. So they aren't related but they share the same cousin. I noticed that his profile said that he lived in Belfast but while we were emailing he said that he'd send me a packet of family history info but once they were finished moving. Once I received the packet I noticed the return address said Dungarvan, Co. Waterford! So when I wrote to thank him for the packet I asked about any things to not miss on our drive through Co. Waterford. I had thought to ask about meeting for coffee but thought that might be to forward. When he replied he listed a few items and then he said that they would love for us to visit them if we had time. So that is how that all began. We had a wonderful time visiting with them and hearing a little about their family. We would never have guessed it but they were in their mid 80's. They were a real friendly and hospitable couple.
After our visit in Dugarvan we headed right to Cork City, Co. Cork and met up with our cousin. She is actually from the States too and is/was working over there for a year. It had been about 22/23 years since we had seen her. She and my brother are close in age and we saw her last when they were like 6 months old. It was so much fun getting to visit with her. It would have been so much fun to get more time but we still had a 3-4 hour drive ahead of us. Thankfully she it shouldn't be too hard to visit with her again some day. :) She showed around the English Market, the oldest continuously running markets, I want to say the world...started in like the 1600 or 1700's. There is so much to see in Cork. It and Cobh are definitely on my list of places to explore someday. Cobh being one of the main departure ports for Famine emigrants, you will usually see it listed as Queenstown from that time.
Once we said good bye we made our way out of the city and into the country headed for the Dingle Peninsula. This night was our first night to get to stay at a B&B. The one we chose was in Ventry at the Garvey's. You'll find it on Ireland's B&B website. Mrs. Garvey was really kind and friendly. She even noticed that she could adjusted the room we had when she saw that we were brother and sister which was great.
Once we were settled she Highly recommended that we continue on out to the end of the peninsula that evening and see the sunset and also because there was a film crew out there that had just finished 6 weeks of filming on the next Star Wars film. Not that we are Star Wars fans but hey that sounded cool. We ate dinner at a local seafood restaurant, which was really good and then headed down the coast.
The drive was great, the views were beautiful and the landscape was wild. First off the road was CRAZY! Once you are south of the Ventry area you are mainly driving on what LOOKS like a single lane road. Nope it's a two lane both direction road. If you meet a car coming in the opposite direction, one of you backs up till the road is wide enough to pass. Thankfully we didn't have to experience that. :) Once we were out to the end of the peninsula, my brother got me to pull down into this beautiful little cove area. The water was so clear and blue. It was also just about 10 o'clock at "night" and the sun was Just setting! That was crazy but we loved it, it came in quite handy for traveling around.
The next morning we ate our first real Irish Breakfast, eggs, bacon, sausage, scones and Toast (they like their toast over there). This is also where I started to enjoy their tea every morning, it was so light and refreshing. We then had to head out, Sadly we only booked one night there in the Dingle area. It would have been nice to have the full day to explore the town of Dingle. Oh well it's on the list for next time.
That folks ends Day 2 and starts Day 3. Yeah Day 2 was Full. Wish we would have spread that out a few days but in the end it all worked out. Just means I'll have to do it again someday and actually see more of those areas.
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