Today was going to be a long day. A few buses and a long drive. Breakfast at our B&B was scheduled to start at 8AM, but our bus was leaving Doolin at 8AM. Therefore we had asked our host if we could have a very light snack such as cereal before we left. She obliged and left the door to the breakfast room cracked so that we could serve ourselves.
Since I saw that there wasn’t any cereal that I liked I brought along my Lucky Charms from home. They don’t sell Lucky Charms in Ireland. I got a humorous photo of me eating Lucky Charms with the Cliffs of Moher in the background, which seemed to get a lot of “Likes” on Facebook. After all isn’t life all about who has the most “Likes” on social media? Tell that to those teenagers doing impromptu photo shoots with those silly poses at the Cliffs of Moher yesterday.
After breakfast at around 7AM we decided to check out. Reluctantly we rang the buzzer summoning our host requesting to check out. Seems our room had already been paid for. (I must have booked it via Booking.com). So all that was left to do was give her the key and walk to the bus stop into town.
Atlantic View Guesthouse is located a bit further away from the town, so it proves for a bit of walking to get to the bus stop. There was a bus stop a little closer, but I did not trust Google’s schedule, nor Bus Eireann to stop there after yesterday’s debacle. Past a golf course, a chocolate shop, hostels, and Gus O’Connor’s Bar, we found out bus stop.
At the bus stop we were inundated with biting gnats. Sharon said she thought they were called “midges,” but preferred I didn’t ask a local for fear of looking foolish. While we waited a cat appeared nearby and went behind the fence of a farm. I wanted to pet it, but alas it preferred I didn’t pet it.
Our bus appeared at around 8AM. It passed us, which was to be expected as it was to go down and make a stop at the Doolin Pier Camp Site (the one I was at yesterday when it didn’t make the stop). After a few minutes it was back. The driver opened the luggage storage underneath and instructed us to put our bags in there. He accepted our Leap Card payment (about 5% cheaper than paying the driver or booking online).
Our bus whizzed along country roads stopping at the Cliffs of Moher visitor center and villages. I dozed some of the way. My thoughts turned to being worried if Sharon was having a good time. She had gotten massively sunburned the day before and she was very tired. Having read about our trip, my mom had sent me a message telling me that I shouldn’t be pushing Sharon so hard. I worry about things like that. I have been resolving myself to always ask Sharon if she is ok with going somewhere or just sleeping in or bypassing it if we were in a car. So far Sharon has been a real trooper. I just wish we had planned for a down day.
We reached the Ennis bus station where we were to change buses to either the Bus #51 (known as an express bus which was obviously faster) or Bus #343 (which was a bit slower but got us to Shannon airport just the same). We saw a bus 51 as we were pulling in, but it was going the other direction (Galway) and we were told by the driver there wouldn’t be another bus #51 for another hour. Checking the schedule we were about 5 minutes late catching the bus. I checked the schedule and saw there was a bus 343 coming in 10 minutes.
Our bus 343 arrived 10 minutes later. The driver, a man in his 50s, seemed a bit annoyed when I tried to show him that I had bought a ticket online. The tickets have a “Mac” number which is a unique identifier for the tickets. I had my phone open showing him this number, but alas he didn’t see it and I had to scroll up to see another number. Eventually I just read out the MAC number to him for him to put it in. He presented the tickets to us while at the same time acting like it was such a chore. I wanted to ask if we stopped at both the departures and arrival gates, but when I asked if he only stopped once at the airport, he said “Yeah yeah, Shannon airport” and shooed me away. I figured whenever we stopped at the Shannon airport, we’d better get out because I wasn’t sure if this guy would stop again.
At another stop a passenger was holding their Leap card on the reader and moving it around. He accosted the passenger not to move it around and to keep it in the same area. Along with this passenger was another older man with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. Later on in the journey this older man stood up, audibly passed gas and sat back down to Sharon’s chagrin.
During the journey the Grinch’s heart grew 3 sizes when Starship’s “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” came on the radio and our bus driver started singing along to it. This was probably the funniest thing I had seen all day.
We arrived at the Shannon Airport and our driver announced our stop, opened up the luggage storage under the bus and we disembarked. I had trouble finding the Payless Rental Car place. Some of these car companies have more than one name or brand.
While we searched for our rental car company we spotted a large sign for “Shannon Airport.” We wanted to use this as an opportunity to take a photo in front the sign and show it to my former preacher, David Shannon, to let him know there was an airport named after him.
A Ryan Air employee directed me back to the rental car counters and said sometimes companies service more than one brand. I waited in line at Europcar, but was told that Payless is served by Budget.
At the Budget counter our sales representative found our car and I presented my driver’s license to her. We opted for the additional insurance at 59 EURO a day for coverage and roadside assistance.
We found our car in the parking lot – it was a Nissan Micra – probably one of the smallest cars I’ve driven – just a step up from a Smart Car, but with 4 doors. We found our way out of the airport and onto a shopping center. We stopped at Lidl to pick up snacks and aloe Vera. Then onto Subway in the same center for lunch. Sharon got some type of garlic mayo which she said was similar to last night’s dipping sauce for her chicken tenders.
Then it was on to Bunratty Castle. After some roundabouts we made it to the equivalent of an Irish interstate. Since we drive on the left the slow lane was the left lane and all exits are on the left. It took some time getting used to it.
Bunratty castle and folk park was in our sights. We parked the car and purchased our tickets. We went around to some farm animal exhibits with live geese, horses, and goats. We also found ourselves on some type of fairy trail for kids which Sharon thought was cute. We visited a walled garden with beautiful flowers. We also visited an old house where the descendants of the castle’s builders lived in the 1800s. We stopped get ice cream and then needed to stop at a tea shop to get a couple of cold drinks (Oasis Fruit Punch)
Next was onto the castle. We visited the first interior room while a tour was going on and we heard part of the tour narration. Sharon said that would be best for her to stay behind as there was a lot of climbing involved and she wasn’t up to it. I breezed though the castle’s floors, climbing the narrow circular stairs up and down to the different floors before eventually finding my way out. I would have liked to have stayed a bit longer, but we were on a self imposed schedule to make it to Limerick before close time of the other attractions we wanted to see.
We then left and were on our way to Limerick via the Irish Interstate Highway again. After a few wrong turns in the city of Limerick we found our way to the free parking lot for King John’s Castle. Since St. Mary’s Cathedral was a bit further down from the castle and closed sooner.
At St. Mary’s Cathedral we walked around to the south entrance. In the yard of the church was a grave yard with a lot of granite crosses. I took some nice photos there.
The inside of the church was beautiful with stained glass and ornate carvings. I took several photos and videos.
Next was on to King John’s Castle. In between the Cathedral and Castle was a residential area. I remarked to Sharon how interesting or annoying it might be to live in the center of Limerick with these tourist attractions nearby. This was prime commercial property but Sharon pointed out that it was also probably historic property and the town planning commission was wise not to tear it down for a mall.
At King John’s Castle we spotted a large group of Italian teenagers – all part of a tour group. We decided to hang back and let them move on ahead of us so that we would not be annoyed at their loudness.
King John’s Castle has a visitor’s center which has the history of the castle and Limerick itself. I learned that Ireland had it’s own set of laws known as Brehon laws before the English laws took over. In this set of laws a murderer would be spared, but have to repay back the victim’s family. Also women had equal rights in regards to divorce. Also a ex-wife could physically hurt a current wife of her ex-husband.
After the exhibits it was on to the castle itself. Underneath we saw the ruins of the castle’s basement. Sharon decided to sit this one our and would meet me back at the visitor center cafe. I visited different parts of the castle, each with a video with an actor describing the role he played in medieval times.
I managed to climb to the top of the castle’s tower to take some great photos of the city, while at the same time avoiding the Italian youth tour group.
I found Sharon in the cafe and coaxed her to come into the castle’s courtyard for a photo. After this we left and saw a old church on the way back to our car.
Next was onto Tralee for dinner at MJ’s Diner. We ran into a wreck and followed our twin – another silver Nissan Micra around the wreck and on to the main road. The view from the highway was amazing and Sharon took several photos on the way.
MJ’s Diner was a 50s diner in Tralee. The food was good with a lot of options, each named after a state or American celebrity. We got plenty of fries which seemed to be a theme in Ireland – you could always get plenty of fries.
We made it to our hotel in Dingle at around 8:15PM. We parked in the hotel’s secure parking lot and checked in. The Bartender was also the receptionist so I had to wait for him to get done serving drinks before he could check me in.
Sharon was feeling a bit dehydrated so I stopped at a nearby Centra convenience store for a large cool water. I did our laundry with a Tide pod we had brought from home. The washer was 4 Euros and the dryer was 1 Euro. The dryer didn’t seem to dry our clothes completely after a 2nd time so we hung our clothes around the room for drying.
Tomorrow we will drive around the Dingle peninsula to see archeological sites.