CO. TIPPERARY & CO. CORK
Our one of two rainy days over in the U.K., which if you know anything about that area of the world, it generally is very wet and rainy, much like the PNW. So we definitely hit jackpot with weather on our trip, which was incredible. I can’t say it enough, if you were ever contemplating going to Ireland, definitely make it happen. It is so beautiful in its own way, Emerald Isle lives up to its name with the rolling hills and all of the cute little sheep on every square inch of the island.
It is the perfect destination to rent a car and drive the coast. It might just be Eric and I, but we absolutely love coastal driving, it is just so breathtakingly beautiful seeing the vast ocean and the sheer rock cliff sides, just nothing compares to it. Unless you are in Vancouver and have the snow capped mountains when you look the opposite way of the ocean, may be biased, but Vancouver will always be one of the most beautiful cities to me. Vancouver will always have such a special place in my heart. (Sorry for the side track). In short, if you and your travel buddy love to drive around in the car like Eric and I do, then this is the perfect island to visit! Beautiful views, great beer, amazing live music in all of the pubs, and the people are the friendliest!
Moody and rainy was the perfect day for our roadside gem that we stumbled upon. The ruins of an Abbey. It is so cool how the Irish keep everything up, they don’t knock everything down if it is of no use to someone, they let it be, and now years later we are all able to enjoy it.
The best part about road side gems is that they are usually not busy. Tourist spots are popular for a reason and they deserve that, but it is refreshing just pulling off alongside the road and walking through a sheep field to get to these abandoned ruins. I’m such a sucker for the ivy laced through all of the old rocks and ruins. If it were all up to me and not Eric, our future house would be made of rocks and covered in Ivy, probably for the best though, ha. So when your traveling, take the time and make those unexpected stops, they are usually the most memorable as well as beautiful!
Next we made our way down to Co. Cork and stumbled upon the adorable town of Cobh. We originally weren’t even going to make it down to Cobh as it as about south as you can go in Ireland. However, our Airbnb in Cork was not home and never showed up as she was out of town, so out of instinct we just quickly booked another Airbnb in Cobh so we could have a bed to sleep in for the night! Vivienne is such a perfect house and her family was the sweetest, definitely recommend this beautiful room for the night if you are planning a trip down to Cobh.
The really cool thing about Cobh, is that it was the last port that the Titanic had stopped at before it sunk. So we had dinner at the Titanic Bar and Grill right on the water and enjoyed our Guinness and Sea Bass, always followed up with some delicious coffee. We then just walked in the downtown area of Cobh and admired all of the colourful buildings and the most beautiful Cathedral we ever saw on our trip. St. Coleman’s Cathedral is so so beautiful, I don’t know how someone can walk into a Cathedral and not have their jaw drop at all of the detailing and architecture that had gone into those buildings at the time of building it. I have some pictures from the inside, but it just does not even come close to doing it justice with all of the detail, and I some cathedrals don’t really appreciate when you take pictures in their places either, which I respect, so just soaked it all in while we were there. Eric’s GoPro footage captures it so much better, so I just let him capture that in video instead.
Wrapping up our time in Cobh we finished the night off some gelato and soaking in the ocean views and the colourful buildings. This trip was filled with lots of traveling and spending each night in a different town, but it was so relaxing in that we just kind of took on each day as it came and had no set in stone schedule! It was so relaxing, highly recommend you make all your trips like that!
xoxo, Mara
