Week 2: Galway, Mayo Co, Cork Co

We made it to Galway just in time for Theo’s dinner (due to our loss of travel nanny/grandma we now had to eat dinner between 5:30-6 in order to get Theo to bed). We checked into our B&B, the Asgard House, and then grabbed dinner at a restaurant downtown. We hadn’t realized that it was a bank holiday weekend and Galway was happening! There were several stages set up around town with live music that started at 6pm. We soon learned that Theo loves street performers and it took us nearly an hour to walk back to our B&B because he had to stop and listen to each one! After putting him down we hung out downstairs with our B&B hosts who were extremely friendly and made both of our evenings there, very enjoyable.


Cliffs of Moher

Galway is much more urban than Dingle or Kenmare; it is a university town so there is a larger population and many more restaurants, pubs and shops than the smaller towns where we had been staying. We visited the Latin Quarter, which is where medieval Galway stood. There was an outdoor market by the Collegiate Church of St Nicolas where we picked up picnic supplies from a delicious cheese shop our hosts had told us about and ate lunch down by the river Corrib. We also saw the old Spanish arch, which is the best remaining piece of the old city wall, and the monument commemorating the visit by Columbus to Galway in 1477. After lunch we walked up to the Cathedral of St Nicolas – opened in 1965 it is one of the most modern stone cathedrals in Europe. It is beautifully done and the artwork and sculpture inside the church are very impressive. They also have a small mosaic of JFK – apparently considered a near saint by Irish Catholics :o)


Picnic on the River Corrib

After 2 nights in Galway we headed up through Connemara to County Mayo. This was one of the poorest areas in Ireland and was hit hard by the Great Potato famine. The famine lasted from 1845-1849. An estimated 500,000 – 1.1 million people died of starvation, due to their complete dependence on the potato for food as well as oppressive taxation and resulting poverty from the British government. Another 2 million Irish immigrated, mostly to America as well as to Australia and Canada during this time further decreasing the population of Ireland. By 1900 the population had decreased from 8.4 million to 4 million.
The drive from Galway to Westport in Mayo Co, first took us to the Cashel House hotel, where Shane’s mom had stayed over 20 years ago on her Ireland trip. The hotel was beautiful with extensive grounds and gardens that we walked through before lunch (Theo’s first hike!). After lunch we visited Kylemore abbey, a country house built by a British couple in 1860 and turned into an exclusive girls boarding school by refugee Benedictine nuns after WWI. We also drove through Doo Lough valley. A cross on the side of the road marks the site where, in 1849, 600 starving Irish walked 12 miles to their landlord’s home in search of food. They were turned away and on the walk back, 200 of them died along the side of the road. After the valley there is a famine memorial of a coffin ship. These ships were filled with famine refugees, desperate to immigrate. Unfortunately, the refugees were typically not well enough to endure weeks of sea travel and the ships acquired for them, typically by their landlords, were barely sea worthy. As a result, many died on the ship or shortly after of “famine fever.” Across from the memorial is Croagh Patrick, a small mountain rising 2500 feet above sea level. Here, in the 5th century, St. Patrick is said to have fasted the 40 days of lent and then driven all of the snakes from Ireland. Our drive ended in Westport, a cute little town, built in the 1700’s in the Georgian style. We spent the night here before heading back south to Cork.


Cashel House Hotel

We arrived at the Imperial Hotel, Cork, earlier than expected (Theo had a very good day in the car!), so we stopped in Midleton at the Jameson distillery. We took the distillery tour (which I think Shane could now give we have done so many!) and afterwards Shane was, once again, an official Irish Whiskey taste tester – although this time he had Theo attempting to assist.


Shane and Theo - offiicial Irish whiskey tasters!

The next day we headed to Kinsale, a cute harbor town about 15 miles south of Cork. We took a walking tour that morning where we learned that Kinsale had been a natural harbor and was heavily utilized by the British during the spice wars. By the 1800’s erosion had set in and the port was no longer able to accommodate the ships that were getting larger and more numerous. After the tour we had lunch at Fishy Fishy café (delicious!!) and then walked uphill about 2 miles (yes – I was dying!) to Fort Charles, a star shaped fort built in the 17th century to protect the harbor. After Theo’s nap we grabbed ice cream cones and then headed back to Cork. We used the hotel’s sitting service that evening and had our dinner out on the town. Unfortunately the restaurant recommended to us was not great, but it was fun to actually eat at a normal hour and have a relaxing meal without bibs, bottles and banging spoons!

On our last full day in Cork we visited Cobh, the harbor town that took over from Kinsale in the 1800’s. A ton of maritime history is stored in that little town. The first immigrant to be processed at Ellis island, Annie Moore, traveled from Cobh on 20 Dec 1891 and arrived at Ellis Island on 1 Jan 1892. This was also the last port of call for the Titanic (as well as many other stem ships that did arrive safely in the US). The town also received the survivors and victims of the Lusitania – the civilian ship that was hit by German U-boats in the early days of WWI.

The Titanic exhibit

After Cobh we decided to drive to Ardmore in Waterford Co, partially to give Theo a “good” car nap and also to ensure that we visited every county in Ireland! Ardmore is a cute beach town, which is famous for being the spot where Christianity first came to Ireland, brought by St Declan in 416 AD, 15 years before St Patrick. It also has a round tower, perfectly intact, 97 feet tall that was built 800 years ago! The tower is next to a ruined church and graveyard.

Round tower in Ardmore

We spent our last day in Ireland, before boarding the car ferry back to the UK, in Cork. We visited the Cork English Market, which is a great market with tons of delicious food – Shane kept wanting to buy the corned beef (uncooked mind you!) and had to settle on a spiced beef (cooked!) sandwich for lunch and some yummy chocolates. Theo decided to not take a nap all afternoon and then fell asleep in the car on the way to the ferry, about 1 minute after finishing his chocolate.
Overall it was a great trip and we feel we have definitely seen Ireland! It is good to be home though with no more driving or living out of suitcases. That is our last planned European vacation for the time being as I’m nearing the do not travel stage of pregnancy and we are winding up our time here in London. I will try to do a few more updates before we return to NY in Oct.
Miss you all!
Love, Sarah, Shane, Theo and T4

Ireland! Week 1: Dingle and Kerry

After the car ferry (recommend splurging on a larger room, especially if you are sharing it with an infant!) we headed to Dingle to meet up with my parents. We stayed at the Greenmount hotel, a fabulous B&B in Dingle with very nice rooms and a delicious breakfast. Our first day in Dingle we toured Dingle town, which is a very cute town full of boutique shopping and galleries. My mom managed to buy something in most of the stores we stopped in and Theo did get an adorable, handmade wooden chair and the builder engraved TINTLE on the back of it in time for his birthday the following day. That night we had dinner at Out of the Blue, a small, non-descript, seafood restaurant that was amazing! The food was absolutely delicious and we discovered that Theo loves all seafood! He ate my entire cup of seafood chowder and several bites of everyone main fish dishes. After dinner, our handy travel nanny (i.e. Grammy) put Theo to bed while Shane, my dad and myself hit up a few of the local pubs. 2 of the pubs we went to that evening were shops by day (hardware and leather) and pubs by night. We also learned that some of the older pubs had small, concealed rooms in the front called snogs, where the women used to go to drink in private.

Fungie the Dingle dolphin

The following day was Theo’s 1st birthday. Our B&B brought him a muffin with a candle in it at breakfast and we picked up a cake from a local bakery that afternoon. I’m not sure Theo had any idea it was a special day, since he is always the center of attention, but the rest of us had a great time eating his cake and showering him with gifts. After breakfast we did the Dingle Peninsula loop tour (Rick Steves’ Ireland) and saw the reason there are so many summer homes in Dingle – the views are incredible. On the tour you see Slea Head, which has beautiful views of the Blasket Islands, amazing beaches and lots of beautiful green land. The Blasket Islands are 6 tiny islands off the coast of Ireland that were populated with a fishing/farming community until 1953 when the government moved the last of them to the mainland. Due to their ability to fish they were not as affected by the Great Potato famine as the rest of Ireland and remained relatively untouched by civilization. The islands are home to several famous Gaelic books including Peig (by Peig Sayers), Twenty Years A-Growing (by Maurice O’Sullivan) and The Islander (by Thomas O’Crohan). After our drive we did a bit more shopping, had dinner at the Chart House restaurant, which we shared with a group who had hired Irish musicians and a dancer to entertain them. Theo felt so honored :o) That night we hit up a few more pubs in the town before our time in Dingle came to an end.

Beach on the Dingle peninsula drive

After Dingle we headed to Kenmare, slightly south in County Kerry. Here we stayed at the Park Hotel Kenmare, which is a truly beautiful hotel. The service at this place was incredible, as was the food, and the rooms were huge. Our room had 2 small steps in it, and since Theo is currently obsessed with steps he spent at least 10 minutes every day climbing up and down these steps – extremely exciting! The town of Kenmare is slightly smaller than Dingle (I think) but we managed to do plenty more shopping while there (see Theo’s new “Ireland” gear). We also visited the Holy Cross church, the town’s cathedral, with a beautiful wood ceiling and impressive sculptures lining the back of the altar. After a delicious dinner in our hotel we left Theo with his happy nanny and hit up a few of Kenmare’s pubs. Shane and my dad were on a mission to find the best pour of Guinness and Murphy’s in Western Ireland. I just depleted the pub’s store of mixers by drinking their cranberry juice and ginger ale.

New hats for the boys!

Theo's new Irish clothes!


The following day Theo stayed at the hotel with my parents while Shane and I drove the Ring of Kerry. This is the famous drive around the Iveragh peninsula with absolutely breathtaking views of Ireland’s coastline. (The drive takes about 4-5 hours though so it was definitely better to leave Theo behind!) Along the drive we stopped at the Staigue Ring fort – 1 of 3 ring forts along the drive, this one is the best preserved. The ring fort was built sometime between 500 BC – 300 AD as a defense for local tribes against other tribes/raiders. After the fort we drove down to Portmagee, a port town where we had lunch looking at the small harbor. You can take a ferry to Skellig Michel from here. Skellig Michel is 7 miles offshore, 700 feet high and 1 mile around and was an isolated, monastic, island settlement, 1st inhabited by 6th century Christian monks. We didn’t take the ferry to the island due to time constraints and my aversion to hiking when 6 months pregnant :o) After lunch we finished off the ring drive, passing through Ladies view – a magnificent view – named after Queen Victoria came here on her visit to Ireland and declared this to be her favorite view of Kerry.


Staigue Ring Fort

We made it back to the hotel by 4:30, plenty of time to spare before my massage at the hotel spa (remember – 6 months pregnant!) Shane and my dad were put in charge of Theo’s dinner, bath and bedtime and when I checked on him at 7:30 he was clean and asleep so they were successful (although I know they each had a glass of Jameson during the process for assistance!) We finished that night at our hotel bar since the men had become friends with the hotel’s whiskey expert and were enjoying the numerous tastings and recommendations that he provided.

Park Hotel Kenmare

The following day we said goodbye to my parents and headed north to Galway. We drove (and took a short car ferry) through the County Clare where we stopped at the Cliffs of Moher – 5 miles of jagged cliffs reaching 650 feet above sea level. The cliffs were beautiful and from the top of them you could see the Aran Islands to the north. After the cliffs we drove through the Burren, whose name means “rocky place.” It is 10 miles of limestone plateau that looks rather odd against the very green countryside that we were used to seeing. However, it apparently holds a unique ecosystem, which has been adapting to the lack of photosynthesis since the ice ages. It was very neat to see.

Wales – a children’s paradise!

Hello everyone! We have just returned from a 2-week car vacation of Wales and Ireland. It was a great trip and was very fun to see so much beautiful countryside. We started off renting a car in London and driving towards Cardiff, Wales. Along the way we stopped at Tintern Abbey, a beautiful old abbey. Theo was in heaven! All that is in Wales is countryside, a few old castle/abbey ruins and more countryside, so all Theo had to do was play in the grass. We stayed at the abbey for about an hour, Shane and I had tea and scones while Theo discovered a small hill and fell down it, then climbed up, fell down, climbed up…great fun :o) After Tintern we headed to Cardiff, where we spent the night. The other reason Wales is heaven for children is there are no fancy restaurants (if you know of one, please let me know, but we didn’t see any!) So, we ended up at Gourmet Burger Kitchen, where Theo had a delicious kids meal and his first ever milkshake – which he inhaled and promptly had one almost everyday for the rest of our vacation :o)
After Cardiff we drove to Pembroke Castle, the birthplace of the Tudor dynasty. It is a rather large, abandoned castle with lots of fun towers to climb and more open green areas for Theo to roll around. After the castle we headed to Swansea with the plan to spend a few hours there before boarding the car ferry to Cork. I am sorry to say that there is truly nothing to do in Swansea (again, if you disagree, please let me know!) so we sat at a pub for a while after walking the 1 street that contained all of the towns chain restaurants, and then headed to the ferry for Ireland.



Love, Sarah