While on a two week vacation in Ireland & London, I kept track of what we did and my own thoughts in order to help me remember. Two weeks is a long time! I realized other might benefit from my experience, or at least enjoy my photos. This should not serve as the definitive guide to Ireland, just my own wandering trip.
Day 3 – Ballybunion, Ireland
The nights from our Dublin hotel continued to be eventful, we were both awake at 5:30 listening to two chaps singing “Oh When The Saints, Go Marching In” as they danced down the street. Jared spent much of the ride out of Dublin thinking about what he should have hollered back, rather than stay in bed.
I went for a run first thing in the morning. It was fun to see the city waking up for a workday. I went past St. Stephens (which was still locked up) down Grafton and then along the river. On my way back, St. Stephens was open and I ran with the locals around the park.
We headed out around 9:30. Renting the car was no problem. Driving out of Dublin was easier than expected. Jared was a pro. We got on the new Motorway, which they recently (within the last couple of month) opened, and were feeling really good about the driving…until someone came down the Motor way at 120 km/hr going the WRONG WAY! The Motorway is like a US interstate. It was terrifying. We talked with an Irish woman about it later in the day and she said it’s hard for the Irish to get used to the highways.
It also wasn’t completed. So we frequently had to get off, go on the smaller local roads, until the motorway picked up. All in all, I was impressed with how well the roads were labeled, especially after all I have read about how hard the driving is here.
The roundabouts (rotaries) aren’t bad at all. They are very well labeled and going the wrong direction in a roundabout is easier than handling a normal T intersection, where we can’t help but look the wrong way.
We got to Ballybunion around 1:30, and were in awe of the beach and the cliffs. Seeing the other side of the Atlantic was a breath taking moment. We stopped in one of the local pubs, had a bite to eat (I got the potato leek soup which was great, Jared had a chicken cajun sandwich) and then headed up the street to the Seanor B&B where we got a beautiful room for the night.
We then went out to the Ballybunion course, so Jared could be sure we knew where it was for tomorrow. It’s stunning. They have a walkway through to the beach and we wandered around some and got excited for tomorrow. We stopped at the clubhouse and had a drink and spent 45 minutes in the pro shop picking out the PERFECT hat for Jared.
Tonight we went to a restaurant in downtown Ballybunion, which is a sleepy off-season beach resort town. It is a Monday, but town was very quiet and so we came home early to get some sleep.
Tomorrow we are up for a traditional Irish fry at 6AM! I can’t wait.
