Adare to Killarney, Ireland October 2,2026

Our first stop today was Adare, home of Adare Manor, a very exclusive golf resort. Next year's Ryder Cup will be played here.

To play the course, you must stay at the historical manor hotel on the grounds, pay for a caddy plus greens fees. All of this will run you thousands of dollars. 

Historic entry gate

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Photo of hotel from web

The town is very cute with many thatched roof buildings and an 800 year old abbey.

We will be passing through the town of Limerick today, so our guide challenged us to write two limericks. He will read them out loud when we're done. That should be good for some laughs!

Our weather luck has run out today. It's been pouring pretty much all day. Our tour today was for a scenic drive along the Atlantic coast side of Ireland, but we didn't see much as it was quite misty in the distance. What we did see was the greenest countryside imaginable. At least it wasn't a planned day of walking around a lot.

We stopped in the town of Dingle. There is a jewelry store that will write your name on jewelry in Ogham, the first known written language of Ireland, dating to 400 AD.

It's a series of lines representing the letters, and is written from bottom to top. They wrote my name for me on a piece of paper. 

Further along the coast, the weather was still miserable, so not much to see.

In the later Star Wars movies, Luke is living on a remote island as an old man. Those scenes were filmed on an island off this coast of Ireland. Apparently, they ruined some historical structures. There is a statue of Yoda and Darth Vader at the local inn.

Another castle.

The Irish countryside looks like a giant quilt. All over the western side of the island are ancient stone walls that are protected by the government. No one is allowed to move or damage them. So, homes and farm fields are just designed around them. 

More Atlantic Ocean scenery on our way to tonight's stop in Killarney. 

Our route today. 

Galway and Cliffs of Moher, Ireland October 1, 2026

We started the day with another rainbow even though it wasn't raining. Our guide tells us all these rainbows are very lucky. 

Our first stop for today was the city of Galway. This area was a busy trading port in medieval times. Christopher Columbus traded here regularly. 

There was a wall built around the city in 1584.  The Spanish arch is a section still remaining. Much of the rest of the wall was destroyed by a tsunami in 1755.

We did some shopping. I thought this shirt was funny.

One of the shops had an interesting mural showing all the Irish surnames and which part of the island they came from. 

Both Kevin's grandmothers were Irish, O'Malley and Riordan. We found both names on the map as well as their crest. Riordan had an O in front of it. I wonder if it was changed when his grandma's family immigrated.

O'Riordan was from southern Ireland 

O'Malley was from western Ireland 

Bay of Galway 

On our drive to the cliffs, we drove through  Burren National Park. I had no idea there would be so much open land in Great Britain. 

The Cliffs of Moher are 660 feet tall cliffs that were awarded the UNESCO Global Geopark status in 2012. People have been coming here to see this geological marvel for hundreds of years. Its quite a steep climb to get to the top, but the views are worth it.

See the steep path on the left 

At the top is O'Brien's tower which was built in 1835 by the landowner Cornelius O'Brien for better views. He also built pathways for visitors. We didn't walk to the tower as it was pretty cold and windy up there.

We passed quite a few castle ruins today. The last one is the leprechaun's castle. 😀

Many castle ruins are right in the middle of newer houses 

Today was a bit of a longer day on the bus than usual. I didn't mind because the scenery was wonderful. Emerald green pastures everywhere and many quaint small villages. Exactly as I pictured it would be!

We arrived at our hotel in Shannon, and headed out to an optional excursion,  Medieval Banquet. This was held at the refurbished Bunratty Castle built in 1425.

There were some 500 year old tapestries hanging on the walls. We were entertained by musicians and madrigal singers. The harp player was amazing. We were fed a delicious feast, but only had a knife to use. Finger licking good!

The singers, the lighting was pink so not a great photo 

We are now half way through the trip. We've seen and learned so much. And, more adventures await!!

Our route for today. 

Giant's Causeway, Northern Ireland September 30, 2026

We left Belfast this morning headed north along the Antrim Coast to the Giant's Causeway, a Unesco World Heritage site. 

A bit of trivia, Van Morrison is from Belfast. 

Northern Ireland is actually part of the United Kingdom, and uses the pound as their currency. Later today we will enter the Republic of Ireland, which is a separate country and uses the Euro as it's currency. 

I didn't realize that peace had only been declared in Ireland in 1998. I remember hearing about bombings in Ireland as a kid, but didn't remember how recent they finally found peace.

We made a quick stop at a scenic spot at the northern tip. There is a rope bridge across to this little island. The building is an old fishing shack. 

Sheep on top of cliff

The Giant's Causeway is a geological wonder consisting of over 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of intense volcanic and geological activity. 

The name comes from legend that a giant, Finn McCool, carved these rocks from the coast. It's quite a funny story if you care to look it up.

The path is about half a mile down to the Causeway and then a steep climb back. Along the way was the Bay of Cows, with two grazing cows.

Enlarge to see the cows

The giant's camel

Beautiful scenery on the way down 

At the bottom are the basalt rocks. It's incredible how nature carved this!!

The small section 

The medium section 

Large section 

I'm surprised they let people climb on the rocks 

As you can see in the photos, the sun is shining. We had heavy rain last night, but by morning it was beautiful. It was very windy going down the path. I can't imagine doing it in driving rain.

We have been incredibly lucky with the weather so far. We're almost half way through our trip and have had very little rain. 

We passed through the small town of Bushmill, home to the oldest whiskey distillery, operating since 1608.

We stopped in the walled city of Derry. The walls were built in the 1600s. According to our guide, Protestants live on the hill inside the walled city, and Catholics live down the hill outside the wall. There is apparently still a great divide in Ireland between the two religions, even though peace was declared. 

Part of the wall

The Guild Hall is a beautiful building from 1912. In 1972 the IRA set off a bomb inside the building, causing much damage including damaging the statue of Queen Victoria and destroying the stained glass windows.  

Queen Victoria lost her hands in the explosion 

Reproduction stained glass windows 

Massive 1914 pipe organ, it's gorgeous 

Crossing over the River Foyle into the Republic of Ireland, which is part of the European Union. 

A rainbow as we entered Ireland, pouring rain for a few minutes with the sun shining. 

In search of  the pot of gold!!

I didn't know Ireland has mountains. 

Our next stop was in Donegal where we visited the Triona Company. They produce Donegal Tweed on hand looms, the old fashioned way. We had a demonstration of how the loom works by a young lady apprentice. The master weaver is 82 years old, and has been weaving for over 50 years.

The loom is over 200 years old

Their signature item is this purple cape, representing heather. Only 300 euros.

We are spending the night in Bundoran, a seaside town where surf competitions are held. Too bad our view is the parking lot 😒 

Our route today.