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Ireland – the home of the leprechauns,
faeries, Saint Patrick, Finn MacCool and - of course - Guinness!
After a weekend with cousin Hans
and his wife Beatrix in Dublin,
we were ready to check out the rest of the country! With only six days to see
all the highlights of the Emerald Isle, Paddywagon Tours
was the way to go!
We kicked off in Dublin
and headed south, via Cork and the Blarney Castle, to the Dingle Peninsula, Co
Kerry. Then, we were off to Galway via
Killarney before heading north. Derry’s City Walls, the Giant’s Causeway and Belfast were the highlights in Northern Ireland!
There was plenty of breathtaking
scenery, a few pints of the black stuff, stories, the occasional song and –
yes - leprechauns and shamrocks! And yes, a few more pints… as Yeats put it:
"A drunkard is a dead man,
and all dead men are drunk."
- Yeats
For some more fun Ireland
facts check out www.ireland-fun-facts.com!
If you haven’t done so already, do ‘The Craic Quiz’ before you
check out the pics!
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What better place to hang out
on a sunny Sunday than the Howth
Peninsula. This is Howth Harbour
about 30 minutes north of Dublin.
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Day 1 of the Paddywagon tour kicks off with an awesome Dublin sunrise over Talbot Memorial
Bridge and the
Liffey.
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Day 1 - After leaving Dublin, we
headed south towards Cork
with a picture stop at The Rock of Cashel, Co Tipperary.
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Day 1 - Kissing the Blarney Stone at Blarney Castle, Co Cork, to get the gift
of the gab.
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Before reaching Day 1‘s destination - ‘The Randy
Leprechaun’ pub (and hostel) in Annascaul, we stopped at Inch Beach, Dingle
Peninsula, Co Kerry.
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Day 2 – Dingle to Killarney. Today we explored the Dingle Peninsula
(Slea Head, Sleeping
Giant Island
(pictured) and charming Dingle.
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Day 2 – The Gallarus Oratory, built around the 7th
or 8th century, Ballydavid, Dingle Peninsula, Co Kerry.
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Day 2 – Killarney, Killarney National Park.
Ireland’s premier tourist town.
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Day 3 – Killarney to Galway.
Today we headed north along the West Coast. First stop: The majesty that is
the Cliffs of Moher, Co Clare.
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Day 3 – Cliff’s of Moher and O’Brien’s Tower,
Co Clare.
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Day 3 – Doonagore Castle, Co Clare.
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Day 3 – In the afternoon, we headed for the lunar landscape of
the Burren, Co Clare.
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Day 3 – Dunguaire Castle, Co Galway.
From here, we headed into Galway – Ireland’s party capital – for a
good night out!
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Day 4 – Galway to Derry: Lunch stop in Strandhill after
climbing Knocknarea Cairn, Co Sligo. The
drive through Sligo brought us to the
sacred grave of Irish national Poet, Nobel laureate WB Yeats.
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Day 4 – Derry: After checking into the hostel, we headed off
on an in-depth walking tour of Derry's walls (1601) and the well known
Bogside district, ‘famous’ for Bloody Sunday and its murals.
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Day 5 – Historic Derry to Belfast:
A definite highlight of the
tour, The Giant’s Causeway!
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Day 5 – The Giant's Causeway,
The Wishing Chair, Co Antrim. We head down the North Coast
to the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge.
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Day 6 – Belfast to Dublin:
Back in the Republic, we
stopped at Slane Abbey, St Patrick, Co Meath.
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Day 6 – Slane, Slane Castle, Co Meath. Many great bands have
played here (i.e. U2).
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Day 6 – All good things must come to an end: Final Ireland
Paddywagon group photo after a few pints at the Guinness Storehouse.
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www.flickr.com
This is a Flickr
badge showing photos in a set called 2007
Ireland. Make your own badge here.
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Felix
Haslimeier, 7/3, East Claremont Street, Edinburgh
EH7 4HT, United Kingdom
Home:
+44 (0)131 557 3281
Mobile
UK:
+44 (0)77 2693 1565
Mobile
Ireland:
+353 (0)85 118 9805
Mobile
Switzerland:
+41 (0)77 418 42 27
Email: felix@haslimeier.org
Skype™:
fhaslimeier
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