Idyllic Ireland

We spent eight nights on Ireland, having a car for four of those, which allowed us a bit of flexibility as we drove from Dublin to Belfast and back. Having driven on the left in Japan last year, it wasn't hard to get accustomed to it here, but the narrow roads in the countryside were a bit challenging at times, though there was little traffic outside the cities and towns. We rented the smallest car available and it did the job.

After stopping at Newgrange (below), an impressive prehistoric passage tomb, we spent the night in Dundalk. The next day we crossed into Northern Ireland on the highway with no customs checks. Europeans are used to this, but it was the first time I had driven across an international border without stopping to speak to someone. 

To elaborate on the geographic terminology: the entire island is Ireland (the Emerald Isle); the independent country is the Republic of Ireland, while Northern Ireland is a part of the UK (which stands for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland). Ulster, meanwhile, is one of four historical provinces of Ireland, consisting of nine northern counties, six of which comprise Northern Ireland. Counties are the primary form of regional government, with Ireland having 26 of them, and the word county comes first, as in County Dublin.

My wife was able to use an AI agent to scrape a list of tourist spots and then overlay those on Google Maps, which made for easier planning of the driving routes. There were over 300 of these sites and we found a few that were off the beaten path, such as Murlough National Nature Reserve just north of Newcastle, which includes a desolate, windswept beach on the Irish Sea and almost no other visitors (above). We spent over an hour here just wandering along, with our daughter enjoying the seashells and rocks. It is probably more popular in the summer.

Just a few minutes away is Dundrum Castle, a ruin from the 13th century. It's free to visit and you can climb to the top of the keep (the round structure above), which provides great views around the area (below). There are no signs warning you about the dangers of walking up a narrow circular staircase, which is the way it should be. I found this to be one of the most amazing things I have seen on my travels and made renting the car well worth the expense.

We then drove to Downpatrick, where the grave of St. Patrick can be found. It's marked by a large stone in a graveyard next to Down Cathedral.

After a day in Belfast (the Ulster Museum is a great spot to learn about The Troubles), we continued north to Giant's Causeway, the World Heritage site of large basalt columns. It was wet, windy, and cold so not ideal conditions, but still an incredible place to visit. There are day tours here from Dublin that also stop at other nearby attractions

Just south of here is the town of Bushmills and its whiskey distillery, the oldest in the world, having begun operations in 1608. We were too late for a tour, but you can still walk around the grounds, which have some ancient contraptions used in the distilling process. There's also a bar here but as we had to drive another hour to the hotel, I did not imbibe. Fortunately, the gift store had some smaller bottles that served us well over the rest of the trip.

On the way back to Dublin, we made a final stop at Trim Castle, where Braveheart was filmed. The top of the keep is only accessible via a guided tour, but the rest of the grounds are free to roam. Ireland is filled with these ruined castles and they are really quite incredible.



We dropped the car off on the outskirts of Dublin and spent the rest of the trip touring the city on foot. Of course, I had to go to the Guinness Storehouse, where you embark on a self-guided tour of the premises, learning about the brewing process and the history of the firm, before enjoying a pint on the 7th floor, with views all around Dublin. Below is a distant shot of Croke Park, which I had visited a couple of days before. The only problem with this tour is that everyone visiting Dublin has to go, so it gets quite busy, especially at the end as there are not enough tables for everyone to sit down to enjoy their pint.

Naturally, we spent quite a bit of time in Irish pubs, with Lincoln's Inn (below) my favourite. It is just across from the National Gallery, which has a Caravaggio work with an interesting backstory. Murray's on O'Connell Street is another good one as they have a restaurant down below and a sports bar upstairs; it was here that I watched the end of the Olympic hockey final. Having not lived in Canada for 30 years, I was not too upset that they lost, but the reaction up north to the events afterward was pretty embarrassing.

Anyway, that's a brief summary of our trip, which was extended by a day thanks to the blizzard. As I write this a week later, all the snow is gone and spring is around the corner, so baseball will soon return. I'm hoping to get to 11 new stadiums this year (seven here, four in Japan) so it should be an eventful spring and summer. As always, check back for updates. 

Best,

Sean