The Land of the Leprechauns: My Four Days in Ireland

If you’ve never had the chance to see Ireland yourself, perhaps you may think this little country off the Northwest coast of the UK is just all about beers, pubs, potatoes, and drunken brawls. Now, don’t get me wrong…. they have AMAZING beers & pubs (the best in the world, in my opinion), but what is so truly magical about this land is the history, the landscape, the architecture, and – most of all – the people. They are possibly the most friendly people you’ll ever meet… ever, plus they use the best professionals from ralcolandscapes.com/landscaping/san-diego/ to take care of their gardens!!

I came to Ireland years ago with a girlfriend and fell in love with it. Deeply, deeply in love with allllll of it. When I decided to embark on this trip with my parents, I knew I wanted to go back and be there with them to watch them enjoy it. And I’m so glad that we did. Justin and my parents loved it just as much as me – maybe even more!! – and I’m sure you can see why. Gorgeous, right??

I ain’t no travel expert, but if you ever head to Ireland, here are some tips from my adventures and my must-dos!! (And a few little stories & photos too…)

MUST STAY/DO/SEE

DUBLIN (our day 1)

Number one… Roam around and roam around some more!!

St. Peters Cathedral

Dublin Castle

Drink Guinness at the Guinness Brewery & Storefront (must, must, must)

Temple Bar – a gorgeous cobbled street from the Medieval times… amazing cultural experience

Gogartys & Temple Bar Pub

What we missed regrettably missed: Trinity College & New Grange

Where to stay: Close to Temple Bar (so you can stumble home…) We stayed at Fitzwilliam. Very reasonably priced and extremely clean. The concierge was AMAZING. He helped us get our car & was so delightful. Another great hotel is the Morgan (where I stayed last time). Both boutique-y in a great location!

**I love staying at little B&B’s and saving mula on hotels, but I always recommend on your first day or two to splurge a bit. It gives you a chance to feel comfy, clean and get a good sleep. So no to jet lag!!**

Gogartys

AFTER DUBLIN

THEN rent a car instead of taking a cross country guided bus trip. I’ve done it twice and think you get to explore so much more if you’re no restricted! If you do your research ahead of time you can see so much. Here is what we did in 2.5 days.

Cliffs of Moher

Vaugns – to eat and stay

Egans – amazing pre-dinner pub

Cliffs of Moher

T. O’Brien  – in my opinion the BEST BAR IN THE WORLD. Tommy O’Brien has been running this bar since he was a kid, it has been in the family since the 1930s and the bar has the BEST Guinness i have ever had.  It’s just Tommy who works there and he opens the bar up every night at around 9:30pm – it’s said he does it for his friend Mike (whom I met) and the two of them have a beer and chat. Usually it’s just the two of them but I crashed the party and the three of us sat in this little closet sized ‘pub’ till about 12:30 am. Now THAT is a real pub. To me, that experience was a MUST.

The best bar in the world

Me & Tommy O’Brien

We cruised around and when to Dingle the next day – a cute little fishing town. We didn’t spend more than 3 hours there which to me was perfect.  On the way in/out of town there is an amazing old watch tower you can walk along the water to get to and we fell in love with the views at this spot!

The Watch Tower

A few other places of note…

Mukross House

Antiquing in Killarney

BLARNEY CASTLE – kiss the Blarney!!

Rock of Cashel & Ruins

Cahernane

Justin at Blarney Castle

Antiquing! Of course..

I could go on all day…. there is so much to explore in the amazing country. Go, go, go at the first chance you get!!

xo Jilly

And a few more of our photos…

Cliffs of Moher Castle

Clover – for good luck!

Dingle

Celtic Cemetery

The end of the rainbow

My mom & I

Egan’s Pub

At Blarney Castle

Kissing the Blarney Stone…. yes, it was worth it….!

Snapping Pics

Mom & Dad