Crossing the Shannon Estuary

On Thursday we left our hotel in Killarney climbed aboard our tour bus and headed north where we took a ferry across the Shannon Estuary.

Cliffs of Mother

After traveling through lots of farmlands we headed to the Cliffs of Moher.  These are awesome cliffs that rise 700′ high over the western coast of the Atlantic Ocean.  They are truly beautiful.

 

There was a castle built on the cliffs hundreds of years ago.

Then we traveled through more small towns and farmlands on our way to Bunratty.

Durty Nellie’s Pub

In Bunratty we pulled into the Bunratty Hotel where we spent the night.  Once I got settled in I headed to the Durty Nellie’s Pub just across the way.  This is a pub that has been there since 1625.  It is a great old wooden building with lots of little rooms everywhere.  This was on my list of the things to do while in Ireland.  I went in and had a pint of Guinness (naturally) and just relaxed for a bit.  Then went across the street to check out the Woolen Mills store.  Lots of great items but expensive.

Bunratty Castle Medieval Dinner Show

For dinner we were treated to  a Medieval Dinner Show at the Bunratty Castle.  It was a great dinner with lots of wine and good conversation.  Then we were entertained by a super bunch of singers dressed in Medieval attire.  I didn’t have my camera so you will have to just take my word that it was a very fun time.  Then it was back to the hotel to sleep it off. HA!

Connemara Marble Factory

Then next day we visited the Connemara Marble Factory in Moycullen on the outskirts of Galway.  It is a family owned Marble Factory that has been in the Joyce family for centuries.  They showed us the different types of marble all found in areas of Ireland.  Much of this marble is very old and extremely beautiful.  They also showed us how they cut it, drill it and form it into many pieces, many of them used in jewelry. We were also treated to lunch at their store across the street.

 

On to Galway

We then drove on to Galway and we were able to shop and eat lunch.  Lots of great shops here and very busy.

After Galway we made our way across to Dublin and our final destination.  We stayed in a different hotel.  A bunch of us got together in the hotel dining room where we had fun talking about our experience in Ireland and our homelands as well.  Then we started drinking wine, wine and more wine.  Nobody was up too late as many of us had to get up very early to head to the airport.

Saturday my flight took off at 7:30am to fly directly to Vancouver B.C. where I landed on Sunday.  Then I got on a short hop to Portland and headed home.  I was dead tired due to the 9 hour time difference.

My Tour

I booked my tour through CIETours and would highly recommend them to anyone interested in visiting Ireland, Britain, Scotland or Wales.  They were very attentive to detail and their drivers and tour directors were the best.  They have modern coaches that were very comfortable and we stayed at 4 star hotels at each stop.  I also got to meet a lot of wonderful people from all over the world.  It was a blast!