This blog to be continued discuss on our favorite places from our recent trip to Ireland. You can see our first blog post, Our Ireland Trip - Part 1.

Cobh

I’ve not heard of this gorgeous coastal town, very close to Cork, in Ireland until I saw the picture from a thread on Facebook that caught my attention. After learning about this place, I decided to add it to our itinerary to see during our trip to Ireland. After finally seeing this town in person - this part of Cohb reminds me of the famous row of Victorian home in San Francisco called the Painted Ladies. I think here in Cobh, with the cathedral as backdrop, it’s quite stunning itself. Other parts of this town were very charming and incredibly cute! Ireland has a reputation for having very colorful towns/villages but I think this is most colorful town ever I seen. We are in love with this town and it is my favorite European coastal town that I’ve been to.

Cork

We stopped in Cork for the night. I love how charming this city is! It is mixed with many beautiful buildings from different eras including medieval to present day and also very colorful. We enjoyed walking around and did a lot of shopping and tried their delicious food. Cork is a fun city and wished we could stay there a little longer to explore further.

Blarney Castle

We went to see Ireland’s most famous castle, Blarney Castle, original structure in 1210, and gardens. I was surprised at how beautiful the property and grounds are this castle is built on and it has a cave that is connected to the castle. The cave was designed to allow the family that lived in the castle to escape when it was under attack. I’d say that is very brilliant and well thought out the plans when they built the castle. The main tower used to have multi level large rooms but the wood flooring has all rotted away so now it looks like a large open atrium. Like Cahir, it had a lot of narrow winding staircases to contend with to get to the top! I found this castle fascinating due to it’s history and design. And to all those wondering…I did NOT kiss the Stone….nasty!

Bunratty Castle

We stopped by and paid a visit to Bunratty Castle. So yes, we can’t get enough of seeing so many castles in Ireland! After visiting this castle, I have to say this castle is the most practical and functional castle I’ve seen. Many castles I saw tended to have tiny, awkward, and cramped rooms but this castle had more comfortable sized rooms for the family to live more comfortably. Full disclosure though, the castle has been restored. The stairs are still narrow and spiral cases just like other castles. Bunratty Castle also has beautiful interiors with a lot of wood details including curved ceilings. They actually hold banquets here that you can come and attend! Also definitely worth visiting is the attached Folk Park…which has authentic homes from different eras of Irish history to see how people from different walks of life and parts of Ireland actually lived. I couldn’t go in most of them because the smell of the peat burning was just too overwhelming for my sense of smell.

Cliffs of Moher

We went to see Ireland’s well known Cliffs of Moher. It was an amazing sight at how huge and steep these cliffs are. It was very windy and freezing at that time we went there but it didn’t stop us from walking along the cliffs to see more of it. If you plan to go to Ireland, I highly recommend you to go see the Cliffs of Moher!

Birr Castle and Demesne

This was our last stop before we returned to Dublin to return home. We went to the Birr Castle and Demesne to see one of world’s most famous telescopes. One of the Earl’s was quite an avid astronomer and built what was for 70 years the world’s largest telescope. During our visit, it was snowing which is a beautiful sighting for this property.

We had a wonderful time in Ireland and while we got to see quite a bit, there’s still so much I want to see and spend more time with. We will definitely return to experience more of this beautiful country.

Mar 13 Our Ireland Trip - Part 2