Our big trip this summer was to Ireland and Northern Ireland!
We took the ferry across from Wales to Dublin. We had to drive a few hours to the port and then it was a bit of a long and crowded ride across to Ireland. Once we arrived, we headed straight to our Airbnb and ordered some dinner there.
Day one: Dublin
We took the train in, since we were staying outside of the city center. As usual, the train was a major highlight for the boys.
When we left, the line to get in to Trinity College was so long that it wrapped around to the other side of the quad- so we were very glad that we had both booked our tickets ahead and arrived first thing in the morning!
Our next stop was the archeology museum. We had a bit of a wander through the main floor before we found the bog bodies. I'm not sure why I find these so fascinating, but I do! There was a lot of other neat stuff in the museum too, but the kids have little patience for museums where you can't touch anything so we didn't stick around here for too long.
We stopped for lunch and did some shopping before heading over to Dublin Castle. I had wanted to do a guided tour (because that's the only way to see some areas of the castle) but they were sold out until much later in the afternoon so we did the self-guided option. It was a really beautiful castle, and we ended up tagging along with a guided tour for part of it, so we still got some of the commentary.
After hanging out for a snack in the castle gardens, we set off to find Molly Malone. We snapped a few pics and then headed back to our apartment for dinner and bed.
Day two: Dublin
We started our day at St Patrick's Cathedral. It was crowded, but a large, beautiful Cathedral with some activities for kids and, beautiful stained glass, and artifacts from Jonathan Swift. (We had a rather unpleasant encounter with a lady who felt our children were being disrespectful for using the provided activity while there was a service going on. Very frustrating because my kids were nicely building a cathedral as quietly as possible with the wooden blocks, and there wasn't actually a service going on.)
Next we walked over to Dublinia, which is a fun and interactive museum about the Viking and Medieval history of Dublin. It was fun! The climb to the tower at the end yielded an underwhelming view of the city, but oh well!
Dublinia is connected to Christ Church Cathedral, so after a picnic break in the courtyard we headed into the Cathedral to check it out. They had a really neat kids' activity packet where they looked for clues in the cathedral to answer questions. Down in the crypt we saw the mummified cat and rat (which were pulled from the organ when they cleaned it), costumes from The Tudors, and lots of fancy servingware.
We spent the rest of the day wandering around to see some landmarks of the city and do some shopping. We walked across Ha'Penny bridge, went to the Spire, and checked out the Custom House. We also made a quick stop at Penneys (which is called Primark in England). We also picked out a Claddagh Ring, which I love.
Day three:
We left Dublin in the morning and headed north. First stop was Down Cathedral in Downpatrick. This is where St Patrick is buried. It's a small church, compared to all the large cathedrals we've seen, but it was pretty.
On we went to Belfast. We did our best to see as much as we could before dinner- the big thing we didn't have time for was the Titanic museum (which I would have loved to see!).
After dinner we went to the Dark Hedges, filming location for Game of Thrones. We were definitely not the only ones there, but there weren't huge crowds either. It was such a cool view and we got someone to snap a family photo for us. After the Dark Hedges we went to our Airbnb, which was a great little cottage in Cloyfin.
Day four:
This was one of the stops we were all looking forward to the most- The Giant's Causeway! It's quite a downhill hike and the parking situation on site is highway robbery (so we found alternate parking), but it was so worth it! The day was sunny and beautiful right up until we stepped out onto the main part of the causeway and then it suddenly downpoured. Haha, the kids immediately wanted to get out of the rain, but there is no shelter down the hill. Oh well! We got off the stones (they were getting slippery) and when the rain slowed we started the hike back up. Of course the sun came back out before we even made it back to the top, but by then we were soaked so we continued back to the car. There was a burger stall near where we parked so we got some food to go and went back to our cottage to change and eat.
After lunch we went out again, this time to Dunluce Castle. It's a ruined castle on the water. It had a fantastic view of the cliffs.
Last stop of the day was the Mussenden Temple. It was actually a much larger estate than we had expected so we were there until closing time. They even had a cool obstacle course that the kids did on our way out.
Day five:
We only made one stop on this day (other than a spontaneous stop for some roadside photos).
Bad Eddie's Shipwreck is a ship that ran ashore in the 1970s and is still sitting on the beach today. The day wasn't especially sunny or hot, but we spent a few hours picnicking on the beach, wading in the water, and climbing on rocks. Our timing was good though, it started raining right after we got everyone changed and buckled into the car.
Day six:
When I was in high school, I participated in all-state choir. One year we sang a song called "The Lake Isle of Innisfree." I loved that song, so when I realized that this Ireland itinerary would take us near Innisfree I knew I wanted to work it into the plan. We took some winding roads and finally found it! We were pretty much the only ones there, and while we couldn't actually go over to explore the island, it was such a peaceful place.
Next was another of our highly anticipated stops! The Cliffs of Moher! They were featured in the Princess Bride (Cliffs of Insanity) and Harry Potter (Voldy's cave) and they did not disappoint. We could have continued walking farther along the path in either direction, but we decided to not press our luck with the kids' willingness to walk haha.
Day seven:
We started our day in Limerick. We only spent a couple hours here but we saw some neat things- some street art, a beautiful church, and the treaty stone.
On to Blarney Castle! This was actually so much more than I expected. Not only is there the castle with the famous Blarney Stone, but it has massive grounds with gardens, a manor house, and waterfalls. Aaron and I both kissed the stone, although I wasn't quick enough to snap a picture of him while keeping the kids back. We explored pretty thoroughly and Brandon especially was so ready to be done by the end.
Day eight:
We woke up in Cobh (pronounced "Cove," and formerly known as Queenstown) and once we packed up, we walked down the street to the Titanic Experience museum. It's located in the actual White Star Line ticket building. Due to some technical difficulties, our tour time was delayed and they let us into the exhibit (which you normally don't see until the end of the experience) while we waited. It actually worked out really well because it meant that we were nearly the only ones in there and so we had access to all of the interactive exhibits without other people around. Once our tour started, we got a really neat look at what the rooms were like on board the ship, and we even got to stand on the balcony where the first and second class passengers actually stood to wait to board the Titanic. At the end we got to look up the names on our tickets to find out whether they survived or not.
We got some lunch at one of the colorful restaurants (seriously loved how pretty this town was!), did a little wandering and some shopping, and then walked up to the cathedral. The cathedral was huge and pretty and at the top of the hill.
Our last stop of the whole trip was to the Rock of Cashel. This was a really neat place but it was hard with the kids, as it didn't really hold their interest (to be fair, we've seen a lot of ruined churches!) so we had to spend parts of the guided tour just trying to keep them from playing around and being loud. Oh well. It was still a really neat place with a really interesting history.
Day nine:
This was just a travel day- we drove over to the port, took the ferry back to Wales, and then drove home.
We feel like we really packed it in and while we traveled most of the perimeter of the island, there was still a lot of Ireland that we didn't see! There's so much natural beauty there!
Our first stop was Trinity College to see the Book of Kells, which is an illuminated manuscript of the four Gospels. There was a bit of an exhibit before getting to see the actual book (no photos allowed of the book), and then we continued on to the Long Room library, which made my literature-loving-heart so happy. The kids loved looking at all the marble busts and I just soaked in the whole room- spiral staircases, sliding ladders, and so many beautiful books that the roof was raised to make room for them all.
When we left, the line to get in to Trinity College was so long that it wrapped around to the other side of the quad- so we were very glad that we had both booked our tickets ahead and arrived first thing in the morning!
Our next stop was the archeology museum. We had a bit of a wander through the main floor before we found the bog bodies. I'm not sure why I find these so fascinating, but I do! There was a lot of other neat stuff in the museum too, but the kids have little patience for museums where you can't touch anything so we didn't stick around here for too long.
We stopped for lunch and did some shopping before heading over to Dublin Castle. I had wanted to do a guided tour (because that's the only way to see some areas of the castle) but they were sold out until much later in the afternoon so we did the self-guided option. It was a really beautiful castle, and we ended up tagging along with a guided tour for part of it, so we still got some of the commentary.
After hanging out for a snack in the castle gardens, we set off to find Molly Malone. We snapped a few pics and then headed back to our apartment for dinner and bed.
Day two: Dublin
We started our day at St Patrick's Cathedral. It was crowded, but a large, beautiful Cathedral with some activities for kids and, beautiful stained glass, and artifacts from Jonathan Swift. (We had a rather unpleasant encounter with a lady who felt our children were being disrespectful for using the provided activity while there was a service going on. Very frustrating because my kids were nicely building a cathedral as quietly as possible with the wooden blocks, and there wasn't actually a service going on.)
Next we walked over to Dublinia, which is a fun and interactive museum about the Viking and Medieval history of Dublin. It was fun! The climb to the tower at the end yielded an underwhelming view of the city, but oh well!
Dublinia is connected to Christ Church Cathedral, so after a picnic break in the courtyard we headed into the Cathedral to check it out. They had a really neat kids' activity packet where they looked for clues in the cathedral to answer questions. Down in the crypt we saw the mummified cat and rat (which were pulled from the organ when they cleaned it), costumes from The Tudors, and lots of fancy servingware.
We spent the rest of the day wandering around to see some landmarks of the city and do some shopping. We walked across Ha'Penny bridge, went to the Spire, and checked out the Custom House. We also made a quick stop at Penneys (which is called Primark in England). We also picked out a Claddagh Ring, which I love.
Day three:
We left Dublin in the morning and headed north. First stop was Down Cathedral in Downpatrick. This is where St Patrick is buried. It's a small church, compared to all the large cathedrals we've seen, but it was pretty.
On we went to Belfast. We did our best to see as much as we could before dinner- the big thing we didn't have time for was the Titanic museum (which I would have loved to see!).
After dinner we went to the Dark Hedges, filming location for Game of Thrones. We were definitely not the only ones there, but there weren't huge crowds either. It was such a cool view and we got someone to snap a family photo for us. After the Dark Hedges we went to our Airbnb, which was a great little cottage in Cloyfin.
Day four:
This was one of the stops we were all looking forward to the most- The Giant's Causeway! It's quite a downhill hike and the parking situation on site is highway robbery (so we found alternate parking), but it was so worth it! The day was sunny and beautiful right up until we stepped out onto the main part of the causeway and then it suddenly downpoured. Haha, the kids immediately wanted to get out of the rain, but there is no shelter down the hill. Oh well! We got off the stones (they were getting slippery) and when the rain slowed we started the hike back up. Of course the sun came back out before we even made it back to the top, but by then we were soaked so we continued back to the car. There was a burger stall near where we parked so we got some food to go and went back to our cottage to change and eat.
After lunch we went out again, this time to Dunluce Castle. It's a ruined castle on the water. It had a fantastic view of the cliffs.
Last stop of the day was the Mussenden Temple. It was actually a much larger estate than we had expected so we were there until closing time. They even had a cool obstacle course that the kids did on our way out.
Day five:
We only made one stop on this day (other than a spontaneous stop for some roadside photos).
Bad Eddie's Shipwreck is a ship that ran ashore in the 1970s and is still sitting on the beach today. The day wasn't especially sunny or hot, but we spent a few hours picnicking on the beach, wading in the water, and climbing on rocks. Our timing was good though, it started raining right after we got everyone changed and buckled into the car.
Day six:
When I was in high school, I participated in all-state choir. One year we sang a song called "The Lake Isle of Innisfree." I loved that song, so when I realized that this Ireland itinerary would take us near Innisfree I knew I wanted to work it into the plan. We took some winding roads and finally found it! We were pretty much the only ones there, and while we couldn't actually go over to explore the island, it was such a peaceful place.
Next was another of our highly anticipated stops! The Cliffs of Moher! They were featured in the Princess Bride (Cliffs of Insanity) and Harry Potter (Voldy's cave) and they did not disappoint. We could have continued walking farther along the path in either direction, but we decided to not press our luck with the kids' willingness to walk haha.
Day seven:
We started our day in Limerick. We only spent a couple hours here but we saw some neat things- some street art, a beautiful church, and the treaty stone.
On to Blarney Castle! This was actually so much more than I expected. Not only is there the castle with the famous Blarney Stone, but it has massive grounds with gardens, a manor house, and waterfalls. Aaron and I both kissed the stone, although I wasn't quick enough to snap a picture of him while keeping the kids back. We explored pretty thoroughly and Brandon especially was so ready to be done by the end.
Day eight:
We woke up in Cobh (pronounced "Cove," and formerly known as Queenstown) and once we packed up, we walked down the street to the Titanic Experience museum. It's located in the actual White Star Line ticket building. Due to some technical difficulties, our tour time was delayed and they let us into the exhibit (which you normally don't see until the end of the experience) while we waited. It actually worked out really well because it meant that we were nearly the only ones in there and so we had access to all of the interactive exhibits without other people around. Once our tour started, we got a really neat look at what the rooms were like on board the ship, and we even got to stand on the balcony where the first and second class passengers actually stood to wait to board the Titanic. At the end we got to look up the names on our tickets to find out whether they survived or not.
We got some lunch at one of the colorful restaurants (seriously loved how pretty this town was!), did a little wandering and some shopping, and then walked up to the cathedral. The cathedral was huge and pretty and at the top of the hill.
Our last stop of the whole trip was to the Rock of Cashel. This was a really neat place but it was hard with the kids, as it didn't really hold their interest (to be fair, we've seen a lot of ruined churches!) so we had to spend parts of the guided tour just trying to keep them from playing around and being loud. Oh well. It was still a really neat place with a really interesting history.
Day nine:
This was just a travel day- we drove over to the port, took the ferry back to Wales, and then drove home.
We feel like we really packed it in and while we traveled most of the perimeter of the island, there was still a lot of Ireland that we didn't see! There's so much natural beauty there!
