The sights! The sights!
#4 of Ireland notes '14
Tourist suggestions by a tiger
My trip started on Ireland's south coast, as that's where my sister has been doing her dig these past two years. I got a good walkthrough of the dig site last year, but we went through it again this year for our parents' sake. It was an old fort/prison on an island, so not an incredible amount to see, but if we go back I would like to get more of a tour of the island's abandoned town.
We next went to Co. Kerry, and oooooh it was pretty! Dingle peninsula is such a nice place - quiet, great shorelines, green rolling hills with ancient and historic ruins scattered about, imposing little islands dotting the coast... We saw An Dun Beag, beehive huts, old famine houses, the Blasket Islands museum... We didn't take the boat out to the Blaskets, though we did hike Clogher Head! Fun hike, definitely wouldn't pass safety standards here, and boy was it a windy day! Actually I think it's just the geography of the area that makes it windy, but it was also just a gorgeous day in general that day, as it had the whole trip been up through that day. Great pictures from that hike.
Next on our itinerary was Kinsale, and while my sister and her friend hung out my parents and I went to check out Charles fort. Now that's a cool place! Very nice to walk around, too, though again many things that would not pass safety standards in the US. X-D I'm so glad people in Europe assume the average person will be smart about handling themselves, as opposed to how stupid it's assumed the average person is in the US. Lets you experience things so much better where there aren't railings and gates and guides everywhere, bluh. You don't know how impressive something like that fort is unless you're standing on the rocks just down the shore or at the base of one of the walls or on top of the ramparts looking down. And it's a huge area inside of those walls! I know forts are supposed to be little cities inside, but I really didn't have a sense of just how much so until seeing inside there.
Of course, you can't go to Ireland without experiencing Dublin. Trinity library was pretty cool, though Trinity's science museum wasn't as interesting as I had hoped. The natural history museum was pretty cool though, especially the bog bodies, and we got to take a tour of Dublin Castle as well! Including going underground to see what was left of the old Viking fort there. =-)
Sadly, we didn't get to go to Fota Wildlife Park, Trinity's zoological museum, or Powerscourt. That made me a sad tiger, but I definitely got a good helping of sights and attractions, all things considered! Ireland is a great country to visit.