A 10 Day Itinerary for Ireland with Optional Northern Ireland Extension

A 10 Day Itinerary for Ireland with Optional Northern Ireland Extension

I'm convinced Ireland is a beautiful country to visit any time of year. The wind-swept hills gently rolling through the country side, the steep cliffs plunging into the sea on the west coast, and the hundreds (literally) of castle ruins sprinkled everywhere lend the place a rugged, mystic quality. The tiny island, split between two countries, has so much to see and do, one could easily spend months, if not years or even a lifetime, exploring it. Alas, most of us do not have that luxury and must try to see what we can in the short amount of time we have available to us. Although we went to Ireland almost three and a half years ago, my sister recently visited this stunning country and asked me for some tips. Instead of keeping my advice to myself, I decided to publish it here to share with all of you. Enjoy and if you do make it to any of these places in Ireland, drop us a line in the comments and let us know what you thought!

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10 Tips for Visiting Ireland

10 Tips for Visiting Ireland

Our trip to Ireland was planned in only a couple of weeks, and there were a few things we knew we wanted to do and see while we were there.  Among these were something related to Titanic in Belfast, kiss the Blarney stone, visit the Jameson distillery and the Guinness brewery, and see some of the country side.  Giants Causeway and the Cliffs of Moher also came highly recommended to us, so those went on the list as well.  Our flights were in and out of Dublin, so we knew we would be spending some time there as well.  We finally settled on an itinerary that was Belfast - Castlebar - Limerick - Cork - Dublin.  In retrospect

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Famine, Guinness and Pubs

Famine, Guinness and Pubs

After leaving Cork, we had a three hour drive ahead of us to Dublin.  But before we made it there, we made a couple of stops along the way: the Rock of Cashel and the Smithwick's Brewery.  The next day in Dublin, which was also New Year's Eve, was spent exploring.  We checked out a famine museum on a reproduction of a famine boat and went to the Guinness brewery.  Sorry if this post is kinda long, but as a reward for hanging in there, you'll get to see some pretty pictures!

One of my Facebook friends posted one of those articles that shows pretty pictures of things.  The topic of this one was European Castles.  Seeing as how we are kind living in Europe, I checked it out to see

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Kissing Stones and Drinking Whiskey

Kissing Stones and Drinking Whiskey

After our night in Limerick, we were on our way to Cork.  Conveniently on the way is the Blarney Castle, with the world famous Blarney Stone.  You know we had to stop for that!  Turns out, it is in the town of Blarney and is much more than a castle with a famous rock.  There are grounds, walking paths, and beautiful gardens.  I bet in the summer, when it's in full bloom its gorgeous.  Alas, we had to make do with the unique beauty, and relatively few tourists, of the winter season.

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Cliffs of Moher

Cliffs of Moher

The next morning came cold, and early.  Although we had fun in the pub the night before (read: lots of Smithwicks), we thankfully didn't have a hangover.  Which was good because we had a long day of driving ahead of us.  We needed to make our way through Galway to the Cliffs of Moher and on to Limerick.  Our stay at the B&B of course included breakfast, which was a Full Irish Breakfast.  A Full Irish Breakfast includes the following: a fried egg, a rasher (thick, large piece of bacon), fried ham, black pudding, white pudding (both are similar a sausage patty), baked beans ...

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Boxing Day and Titanic

Boxing Day and Titanic

On Boxing Day (or St. Stephens's day in the Republic of Ireland), many of the shops had reopened and Belfast was a madhouse! People everywhere.  And no wonder, Boxing Day sales are much like the after Christmas sales (or even Black Friday) sales in the US.  Unfortunately, many of the tourist attractions were still closed, so we explored a little bit of Belfast by foot.  One bonus, I was able to pick up a couple things that I can't get in Germany (they had Reese's peanut butter cups!  I forgot how good those things are!) for fairly cheap.  But, it rained all day, which normally wouldn't have been much of a problem.  Unfortunately though,  I had a down coat, which isn't the most waterproof of outerwear and I also discovered that the boots I was wearing (and the only shoes I brought with me), had a crack in the sole, meaning

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Christmas in Ireland

Christmas in Ireland

As some of you may know, Aaron and I decided to spend our Christmas holiday in Ireland, Land of my Ancestors, this year. Flights back to the US were really pricey, but flights from Frankfurt to Dublin were incredibly cheap.  We jumped at the chance to add another stamp to our passport!  And in Ireland, you really do get a stamp when you enter since it isn't part of the Schengen area, although it is part of the EU...

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