Ireland, Part 1

Cheers! I’m baaaack 🙂

Thank you, Steph, for holding down the fort and posting some amazing recipes! I was jealous that I could not make this Jalapeño Popper Dip for New Years. It’s seriously my favorite so if you haven’t done so yet, make it soon!

If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram, you’ll have notice that I just spent 9 days in beautiful Ireland with my cousin. It was AMAZING!!! So this week, it’s Irish week here on LDB as I share some of my Irish adventures with you and hopefully convince that you must book a ticket to The Emerald Isle soon 🙂

Day 1: We started our trip at SFO airport and boarded a 9 hrs. 40 min direct flight to Dublin. Out of the entire trip, I was probably most anxious about the flight. The thought of being in the air that long plus the risk of a possible blood clot due to sitting so long, was a little unnerving. It turned out be the smoothest flight I’ve ever taken; I didn’t even realize we had taken off! I also wore these embolism socks to promote blood flow (I have a healthy dose of fear and anxiety- it runs in the family) and frequently got up to do some squats in the bathroom so no blood clots here!

Day 2: Due to the 8hrs. time difference, we landed in Dublin the following morning at 11:30am. Once we landed, we rented a car and drove about an hour and half southwest to the medieval city of Kilkenny. I finally had my first experience driving on the other side of the road and by the end of the trip, I think I could confidently consider myself a pro at driving in Ireland;)

Day 3: After Kilkenny, we drove to the Rock of Cashel. I will admit that I wasn’t really looking forward to it because I thought it was a literal rock. Ya, I was wrong and boy am I glad. The Rock of Cashel is an old, really old, monastery. It’s beautiful! Plus, there’s an old cemetery on the grounds and if you know anything about my family, you’ll know that we have a thing for old cemeteries. As in, we feel compelled to stop at most cemeteries we see. After Cashel, we headed to the small coastal town, Kinsale. Kinsale was probably one of  my favorite stops on the trip. The town was so beautiful! We hiked to Ross Fort and unfortunately it was closed but we were still able to walk around the grounds. On our walk back, we stopped to eat at the Spaniard. I ordered fish & chips for the first time and they were so good!! I have been missing out on fish & chips all these years!

Day 4: Our plan for day 4 was to drive the Ring of Kerry but we pulled in front of Murphy’s Bar and B&B in Killarney at 11:30am and decided to explore Killarney for the day. Best decision! Killarney was probably our best shopping day. What I loved was that Killarney, and all of the places we stopped in Ireland, were still festive and decorated for the holidays. We did a lot of shopping and then we walked to St. Mary’s Cathedral, witnessed part of a wedding, and took a carriage ride through the park to Ross Castle. It was so much fun! We also had the best ice cream of our lives in Killarney at a place called Murphy’s (different than the B&B we stayed). We ate it for lunch and then went back for dessert after dinner… I didn’t even feel bad about that. What was great is that there was another Murphy’s Ice Cream in Dublin so we were able to enjoy it on our last day before heading home!

There is still more to share about Ireland so I hope you stay tuned for more Irish adventures on Wednesday 🙂

Sláinte! 

-Kelly

See parts 2, 3 and 4 here!