A MAJOR false start and a couple of slight miscalculations, but all in all, not too shabby for a couple of tourists navigating the old fashion way - - NO GOOGLE MAPS! Yikes! The major false start: they really want to keep your money in Dublin, so they don't mark the routes out. Following along nicely, signs in the middle of the city, then all of a sudden the mountains were on our right and not straight ahead. Since we didn't want to end up in the ocean, we decided to turn around. About 20 minutes later, a very nice cabby (yes, I did stop to ask directions, NO GOOGLE MAPS) had us follow him and he got us straightened out and back on the way.
The views are the story here, so here they are:
Co. Wicklow and Co. Kildare line in the Wicklow Mts.
Dungarvin on the road to Cork.
Back roads in Dungarvin
Above Youghal on the Celtic Sea. Up to this point, the most amazing part of the trip for Tam was the ungodly clean windows in all the houses!!! Those of you who know her well will understand why this was a turning point. (small hint: COWS - - for a country girl, the numbers of cows has almost overwhelmed her ;-) ).
And, finally, this is where we are staying in Blarney:
Amazing. And, Gabi, No Gypsies and No NRA. Ha Ha. On a serious note, if you ever plan a trip, use Exploring Ireland. They are super accommodating and very easy to deal with. Very prompt and very willing to get it right.
Walked into town for dinner. Castle Hotel on the square. It was fantastic. Salmon Cakes for Tam, I had an Irish ribeye with mushrooms and a cream pepper sauce. This ain't your fathers potatoes and sausage. What they say about Irish cooking has been, so far, 100% wrong. And, because KevinE told me, I just had to sample yet another unknown whiskey. Inishowen. Delicious!
More tomorrow, I have to dream about a date with a very old stone.
No comments:
Post a Comment