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Back from Ireland! Pictures!

Aw Haven I'm so glad you enjoyed it so much! Your excitement is infectious. I love seeing Ireland through a visitors eyes, it gves me a new appreciation. Your pictures are fabulous.

Come back soon!
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Haven - Good Lord, woman!!! Your pictures are incredible, and your words so compelling that I read every word of your travel log. You made me feel as if I was there with you, and your pictures captured such a lovely view of a country I''ve always adored. I even teared up a bit when you mentioned you and DH renewed your vows through the Ogham stone. So sweet!

I''m so glad to see you had a wonderful time! Please post more pics (I know you have them
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Haven - I so aspire to go to Ireland. you have really captured it beautifully in your photos. It sounds like you had a fantastic time!

Do you mind (once you are settled) sharing a bit about the old churches?
And also describing the farmer''s market (for a food junkie who loves local markets)?

Did you see many people riding ponies?


I just love the picture of (is it your SO?) the guy on the cliff!
 
Haven, it sounds like you guys had a blast! I would love to go to Ireland. It''s good to know the PS family will be here to guide me if I ever go! Thank you for sharing your pictures... I wouldn''t mind seeing more!
 
Glad to hear that you had a great time over here!!! Your pictures are fab. You were so lucky with the weather-it hasn''t stopped lashing rain since yesterday!
 
What a trip! So glad you had a good time. You can understand now why after visiting many many countries, Ireland still ranks as my favorite.
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Wow, Haven! The photos are simply amazing and I loved reading about your trip. Sounds like a fantastic time and now I''m definitely putting Ireland on my "list"!
 
Haven, that looks like such an amazing and fun trip. Your pictures make me want to go there - and eat fish and chips lol.
 
Awww, thanks for all the photo love, everyone! I was so sad that it is impossible to capture Ireland''s beauty on camera, and I feared that I''d get home and have 1,000 horrible pictures.

I have to run in to meet with people at my new job today (YAY!) but I''ll definitely come back to share details about the churches and farmer''s market, Dragonfly, I promise!

And LTP, thank you! You''re so sweet. Your pictures put anything I could ever capture to shame!
 
Is it possible to be homesick for a place I''ve never been?

That''s what your pictures make me feel.

I''ve been to Dublin but we got rained out and never made it further than that. (Was studying in England and thought we''d get back but never did.
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Beautiful pictures and story. Thanks for sharing Haven!

What kind of camera do you use? Your shots are so crisp.


Oh and I thought that little girl was just a really tiny old lady!
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Wonderful pics of what seemed to be an amazing trip!
 
Date: 6/8/2010 4:12:35 PM
Author: ChinaCat
Is it possible to be homesick for a place I''ve never been?


That''s what your pictures make me feel.


I''ve been to Dublin but we got rained out and never made it further than that. (Was studying in England and thought we''d get back but never did.
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Beautiful pictures and story. Thanks for sharing Haven!


What kind of camera do you use? Your shots are so crisp.



Oh and I thought that little girl was just a really tiny old lady!
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China
To answer your question. yes it is possible to be homesick for a place you''ve never been. I am homesick for Italy every single day.
 
Haven, your pictures are just stunning! Ireland looks amazing - I had never even considered wanting to go there some day, but now I have to add it to my list of "places I want to visit in my lifetime"! So happy you had such a great time! Thanks so much for sharing some of your pictures - I LOVE looking at vacation pictures!
 
Haven, glad to see it all went well for you -- it does my heart good to see your lovely pics
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Love the stony threshold snap, it has flava
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Haven, your photos are incredible and the trip sounds fabulous. You''ve totally inspired me to put away some extra pennies for some far away travels. So glad to hear you and your DH had a great, memorable trip!
 
The last time I was in Ireland was in 2000 and I was single. Now I would love to take DH there for a vacation...your post has be now checking sites to see if we can go next summer! Can you post more about the places you stayed and if you liked/ didn''t like them? I would love that info! So glad you had a wonderful time and post more pictures! they are gorgeous!
 
Gorgeous pics, Haven
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im glad you had a great time! If SOs health is ok we''ll hopefully go to one of his uncles wedding there in october - and id like to see a few of the spots you went to that i didnt (SOs family are on the west coast so i saw a lot of that but not the east). Fingers crossed we can go
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Sadly, and sorry to threadjack, we were hoping to live there for a few years down the track (seeing as he''s a citizen and all) but with this health stuff i dont know that it''ll happen now...

But yay for holidays there (for both of us!)
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Haven-WOW! Your pictures are amazing! It sounds like an awesome trip-glad you had such a great time!
 
Haven, I just keep coming back to this thread. Great pictures, and you''ve got a knack for making writing about your travel interesting (which is rare - as much as I love travel, I''ve found that few people can make a list of things they did engaging).
 
Blackpaw--I'm so sorry to hear about your DH's poor health. I hope he's better soon. You two will be in my thoughts.

dragonfly--I was going to type things up about the old churches but realized I'd just be plagiarizing what I'd read in the guidebooks. Kilmalkedar was my favorite to visit. The link has some great info and mentions other interesting sites, as well. The graveyard next to the monastery had some of the oldest tombstones I've ever seen. It was pretty awe inspiring to be there.

The farmer's market was very small but VERY good. I made a beeline to the woman selling all of the typical Mediterranean food--hummus, olives, feta, etc. That's what we ate growing up and I still love it. There was a fresh cheese cart, a fresh bread cart (the soda bread was PHENOMENAL), fresh baked goods, fresh meats and salamis, fresh fruits and veggies (we bought a tomato and ate it on the way, delicious.) It was just so nice to eat fresh food and to be able to talk to the people who made it.

When I first walked up to the olive cart there was a (very good looking) young man who told me that I'd have to one hunk of feta per person plus one extra if I wanted it to last more than a day. He was hilarious, and he told me how amazing the feta was. After going on about the cheese for over five minutes the young lady standing behind the cart said "This isn't even his food! Run along to your own cart!" and rolled her eyes at him. I thought he was trying to sell me his feta (and really, you don't have to ask me even once to buy ANY kind of cheese) but really he's just a big fan. It was pretty funny. And he was right, too. I only bought one hunk of the feta (it was huge!) and it was completely gone within an hour after we first hit the road.

I didn't actually see anyone riding a pony. We did see a lot of ponies, though, just no riders. The horses were gorgeous, all around. An interesting thing about the animals there is this: The cows do not look like the cows we have here in the states. The cows in Ireland were lean and they moved around with much more grace than I've ever seen. In fact, they were so lean and healthy looking that from afar DH often thought they were horses. Seriously. It made me very depressed about the way we treat our cattle here at home.

And yes, the guy on the cliff is my DH. I loved those shots, the light was just right. That was in The Burren, one of my favorite places.

bee*--I heard that the weather went downhill after we left! We really did luck out. I love your country. I'm not exaggerating when I say I want to move there. DH knew he was in for it when we first started driving out of Dublin and caught our first glimpse of the countryside. In the very least, I'm pretty sure we'll be back again next summer.

Tgal--That doesn't surprise me one bit. I don't think I've traveled to as many places as you have, but I've spent a fair amount of time in many of the places I have visited, either studying there or spending a summer away. Ireland has been my shortest trip yet at only nine days. Still, it's my favorite of Greece, Turkey, Israel, Egypt, Poland, England, France, Mexico, the BVI, and the USVI.

Curlygirl--Do go! It's amazing.

Monkeypie--Seriously, I am missing my fish and chips. And I don't even eat fish at home! I gained 2.6 lbs on the trip, by the way. It must have been all the chips and all those Bulmer's.
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ChinaCat--I studied in England, too! Loved it. I only made it to France while I was studying in England because I kept on going back to Stratford for long weekends. I couldn't get enough.
I use a five year old Canon Powershot SD630. (It says "Digital Elph" beneath all that. No idea what that means.) Seriously, the camera isn't that great, it's the subject that gets all the credit in this case. I usually lament the fact that my camera doesn't take great shots, but I think Ireland is too beautiful too look anything but gorgeous on film.

Thanks Kata and Lilac and Sunseeker and Pils and Thing!

Sarahbear--Ooh, I hope you make it there next summer!

In Dublin we stayed at ABC Guesthouse. It was very clean, sparse furnishings but it was absolutely fine for what we needed. The shower had amazing water pressure, which can make or break a stay somewhere for me. Peter and Mary are excellent hosts. Peter took a lot of time to help us figure out how to do what we wanted to do with our short time in Dublin. I have to give them major credit for having our room ready for us at 8 AM because they knew we were flying in at a ridiculously early hour, AND for giving us the quad for both nights but only charging us for a triple the first night. (My sister's FI didn't fly in until our second day there.) They're just super nice. We bought four tickets for the hop on hop off bus our last full day there, and since the tickets are good for two full days we asked Mary if she wouldn't mind seeing if any of her other guests would want our four tickets. (They were 14 euro a piece so we thought it would be nice to save someone else the money, if possible.) She was SO WONDERFUL about taking them and passing them on to four other people for us, which was nice.
The breakfast was good--tasty, nothing extraordinary, but definitely not bad. Eggs and sausage or bacon and toast and cold cereals. The coffee was so strong that I had to ask DH if I'd sprouted hair on my back after drinking it.
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But I found that to be the case all over Ireland, so I don't think it was unique to ABC.
It's a healthy walk into city centre. DH and I walk our dog several miles a day so we're fast and competent walkers, and I still think it took us 25 minutes to get there. It was nice to walk in and take in the neighborhood, but once my sister and her FI came in we took the bus because they weren't having anything of it. The bus stop is literally right outside their front door, so that was really nice. It was only a 1.60 euro bus ride into city centre, so easy and cheap.
If we return to Dublin we'll stay at ABC *if* we want to stay at a B&B. It's more likely that we'll stay at the Westin, though, because it's right in the middle of city centre, and my best friend works for Westin so we get killer rates wherever we stay. For a B&B, ABC was lovely. The clean factor is most important to us, and it was spotless.
They also had a hair dryer in the room, which I didn't expect.
We paid 30 euro per person per night.

In Dingle we stayed at The Greenmount House which is easily the nicest B&B I've ever stayed in. EVER. Our room was huge and gorgeous, the view of the bay was amazing. John and Mary Curran are so extremely accommodating and friendly. It was a joy to stay there. It's a quick five minute walk to the center of Dingle Town, so that was really nice. The walk back to the B&B includes a bit of a hill up the drive to the actual house, so anyone with trouble walking uphill might have a problem.
The breakfast was delicious. Easily restaurant quality. They have a real menu for hot items, with a special every other day, and a wonderful array of cold cereals, fresh fruit, baked goods, cheeses, and hot porridge. I really miss my Greenmount savoury omelettes, I'm not going to lie.
We saw more of John than Mary, and he was really wonderful to us. He sat and talked to us for a very long time about being in the B&B business and how they got there, about Dingle, about so many things and he just made us feel at home.
My sister and her FI were ecstatic that they had WiFi (?) in the entire house so their iPods were able to get onto the Internet.
The room had a scale and a hairdryer and a big luxurious bathtub. The water pressure was, again, amazing. I was starting to think I wouldn't be able to leave just because the showers were so wonderful.
The house is decorated beautifully, it looks like a picture-perfect B&B, in my opinion.
They have a great library of current guidebooks available to borrow. Two beautiful sitting rooms. Several little sitting alcoves to use to curl up with a good book. My favorite stay of the trip.
We paid 40 euro per person per night.

In Galway we stayed at the Almara House. It was clean and it had chic decor. We definitely couldn't walk into city centre, though, which I would have preferred. Matthew and Marie were wonderful hosts. The breakfast was very good. Very clean house. They had a lot of great Irish books laying around all over the place, which was fun for me.
My biggest impression of this B&B was the size of the room. It was TINY. And I mean tiny, as in so teeny tiny that I banged my head against the ceiling when I stood up in a corner of the loo, tiny. We had the quad, though, so we were on the highest floor and I think that had something to do with it. I'm 5'10", which doesn't help, either. The shower was pretty tight, and I kept banging my elbows into the walls. It also didn't have great water pressure. The sink was so small that my big head didn't fit into it to wash my face! I ended up getting water ALL OVER the bathroom each night after washing my face. It was fine, though. Funny, really.
If it was closer to city centre, I'd consider staying there if we ever return to Galway.
We paid 30 euro per person per night.

Sarahbear, let me know if you want to know about anything else regarding the B&Bs, or anything, really! If you can't tell, I love talking about this trip!

ETA:
Princesss--Thank you! That's really kind of you to say. I was actually nervous about posting a mini trip report because I don't have the flair for writing about travel that I see in so many other trip reports that I read. I kept a little journal while we were there to record all my thoughts about each place, but I haven't read it yet because I like to wait a while so I can revisit all those feelings once some time has passed.
 
"The coffee was so strong that I had to ask DH if I''d sprouted hair on my back after drinking it. But I found that to be the case all over Ireland, so I don''t think it was unique to ABC. "

LOL at this! Love Ireland, love the Irish people, but when I was there...yep, baaaad coffee, and it seems not to have changed. Weird. Anyway, after the first couple of tastes, we skipped it and went exclusively for the tea, which was absolutely yummy. Irish tea is what made me begin to really appreciate and search out good teas....
 
Haven, your photos are awesome. And now I really, really, really want to go to Ireland. I''m glad you had a great vacation!
 
The FIRST thing we bought when we moved to Ireland was a coffee maker. DH refused to use the instant coffee you get everywhere. Coffee makers weren''t that hard to find, but brew coffee was nearly imposible to buy. We traveled to Italy, France and Spain while we were living there and DH always stocked up before we went back.
 
Great photos, Haven! They made me even more excited to plan my Europe trip!

Glad you had such a fantastic time!
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I though I''d replied to this thread, but just realize I didn''t! I must have looked at these photos at least 5 times (and showed the hubby). I still don''t know how I overlooked Bruan the Newf!

You take the most amazing photographs, Haven, I really love them. And I''m so glad to hear that you loved Ireland. I don''t know how anybody couldn''t. When we went we stayed in nearly all the places you did--I can''t tell you how much I enjoyed driving through the countryside and staying in B&Bs. I could easily see myself living there as well, I really loved the people there. The minute I got back I started planning a trip to Scotland and rural England, haha. I wanted to do the whole thing again!

So I have to tell you--D and I are selecting a bunch of landscape photos from all the trips we''ve taken over the years so that we can frame them and put them in a sitting room in our new house. Just the other day I was trying to choose a couple of photos from Ireland and D told me I should just steal yours because they were so good, haha.
 
Somehow I missed this Post-Trip report ... but went searching for it when I was reminded in the other "Best Trips" thread. HURRAY!!! Glad you had an amazing trip!!! Now: how to retire to Dingle? Right?!!!
 
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brazen_irish_hussy|1276208028|2606880 said:
The FIRST thing we bought when we moved to Ireland was a coffee maker.  DH refused to use the instant coffee you get everywhere.  Coffee makers weren''t that hard to find, but brew coffee was nearly imposible to buy.  We traveled to Italy, France and Spain while we were living there and DH always stocked up before we went back. 
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Luckily that has changed now. Back in the day, I was horrified to be asked to pay €1.50 for a teaspoon of Maxwell House instant coffee plus hot water plus milk. Most places (even roadside rest-stops*) serve filtered coffee now.

* Just don't go looking for a motorway rest on the way Dublin motorway. Filtered or instant it is hard to get a cup of coffee when the idiots never put in a petrol station/drivers rest on the whole stretch!
 
These photos are fantastic, haven! DH and I have always wanted to go to Ireland and this makes my heart ache for it. Glad you had a wonderful trip--I really enjoyed your writing about it.
 
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