dublin
kilkenny: kilkenny castle
the gardens behind the kilkenny arts centre -- a gorgeous complex of artists' studios, shops selling handcrafted goods designed and made in ireland, and galleries exhibiting local talent
galway: wind-swept and bohemian city, on the west coast of ireland
blarney castle in cork (i know it's incredibly unhygenic, but you can't go to ireland and not kiss the blarney stone!)
the young lad and the wee lass: our lovely hosts!
4 comments:
wow beautiful photos :)
as always!
thanks for the update!
wow, i never got around to any of those places outside of dublin. but the pictures are gorgeous. what was your impression of it all?
Those are beautiful shots
we were actually staying in the country in between cork and dublin -- a place called horse and jockey, which, literally, is a pub and four houses, just outside thurles.
we spent a few days in dublin and were lucky to have sunshine, so i think we saw the city at its best. although all the guidebooks describe dublin as "bustling", compared to london it felt like it moved at a nice and relaxing pace -- sort of how i feel about toronto! i loved the architecture -- a complete jumble of everything. you would see a neo-classical style bank next to an art deco cinema next to a row of victorian houses next to buildings topped with dutch-inspired onion shaped roofs. (sadly i had forgotten to buy more film for my lomo, and as dom prefers pics of people rather than buildings i don't have any photos of the city to post!)
dom had some very good pints of guinness (compared to what you can get in england -- although to me it still tastes like diluted soy sauce) and i loved butler's chocolates -- divine! the food, although expensive (in fact, dublin is the most expensive city i've ever visited!) was very good quality, probably better than you can get in the u.k. at the same price.
i loved galway and wish we had had more time to spend there. even in august, though, it was windy and freezing! but so lovely to be by the ocean -- the irish coast is rugged and beautiful and i wish i had seen more of it.
the people are so incredibly friendly, hospitable and accomodating. i'm glad we had people to visit as i think otherwise (because of the cost and unpredictable weather) ireland would not have been top of my list to visit -- but now i'd love to go back!
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