Ireland pic spam

[madeleone]

Well I am finally getting around to posting a few pics from my Ireland trip. We took so many it is hard to choose. I am going to post some here, but I have also created a slide show at photobucket for any who would like to go take a look. I didn't post all 600+ photos there, but there are about 73 or so, so be warned.

Here is the link for the slideshow: http://s588.photobucket.com/albums/ss323/madeleone/Ireland%20trip/?action=view&current=775cf9ab.pbw 

For some reason when I click it the first spot is blank, just click next and it should go to the first pic in the slide show. And I swear when I put the slide show together the pics were pretty much in chronological order but now they just appear to be willy-nilly. Oh well, hope you enjoy the views. :)

And here are a few pics under the cut to spare my flist:

this is me the first day, we arrived at 9:30 am and couldn't check into the B&B until mid afternoon, so in spite of arriving on the red eye we did a bit of sight seeing on our way to Doolin (about 1 to 1 1/2 hours drive from Shannon) This was taken outside a museum in Ennis.



This is Doolin Castle and we saw this view as we were driving, not really knowing where we were going. Denny insisted on getting a pic and it is gorgeous.



the next two pics are both at the Cliffs of Moher. It was very windy the day we were there, but the views were beautiful.





This is the Ballykine House, the second B&B we stayed at. It was a 200 year old gamekeepers lodge. (The house has been expanded since, but the B&B is in the older part of the house.



This is Clonbur. The ss/hg fic I wrote for the Morethanmolly comm was set in Clonbur, I of course had never been there, but had just picked it off of a map. I loved it there.



Th next two were near a castle we discovered by accident. We were driving along and saw a sign Ballynahinch Castle so we checked it out. The sign on the door said closed today other than residents and I later learned that it is now a hotel. We walked around the paths and found some lovely views.





This was in the Grange Stone Circle. This place just fascinated me and walked the entire circle and touched each stone. It was magical,



This was our last day at Bunratty Castle and folk park. Loved seeing the castle although my knees were not happy with climbing all the stairs.

Comments

[droxy.livejournal.com]

Iz jealous! Castles! And visiting places you wrote fic about is pure win. Nice to see you!

Definately checking out picspam and may steal some for background.

[madeleone]

No problem, steal away. Glad you enjoyed the pics.

I know, seeing Clonbur was a real thrill for me, not exactly as I had pictured it but not far from it. I absolutely loved Ireland, as I said before, perhaps there is some subconscious link due to my ancestors coming from there. But I would go for another trip there in a heartbeat, given the chance.

The Stone circles were another big thrill. They just fascinated me, I loved it.

[droxy.livejournal.com]

I was interested in seeing the Dolmar (?)

FWFW those cliffs are always windy. =)

Was it an expensive trip?

[madeleone]

The Dolmen? That is Poulnabrone Dolmen which is probably the best known and most photographed. Quote from Wiki: .Poulnabrone Dolmen (Poll na mBrón in Irish meaning "hole of sorrows") is a portal tomb in the Burren, County Clare, Ireland, dating back to the Neolithic period, probably between 4200 BC to 2900 BC.

The cost of the trip wasn't as much as I had thought it might be. We rented a car and did all B&Bs and it was also the off season (airfare alone was much higher in high season). We paid about $3200 all together for the two of us for airfare, car rental and B&Bs for 10 nights. Of course we spent more while there for sight seeing, eating out, gas, and souvenirs (of course I had to bring back stuff for all my kids and for us too!). We probably spent another 1200 to 2000 on all that, haven't actually added it all up yet. But we had decided before we went that we weren't going to worry about it and just have a good time.

If we ever get a chance to go back I have checked out renting a small cottage in a rural area which was quite reasonable and would be much less expensive for meals and such. (Eating out every day [aside from breakfasts at the B&Bs] was quite expensive.)

[droxy.livejournal.com]

That's not bad. I was watching geology docs on netflix and they had a whole episode on Ireland. Some of the oldest rocks in the world are there. As for eating, you would have done that anyway at home. =)

When I do travel like you did, I'd go to markets to get food. Things like sausage, crackers, cheese and fruit.

i suppose season is summer when kids are not in school. I tend to vacation in September for the reason of avoiding families with kids, but still not having winter weather. =)

Finally, do you have inside shots of the castles? When Dix goes to england, she takes tons of shots with the plan of possibly using them as fanart backgrounds.

The dolmen sounds really ANGSTY!!!

[madeleone]

Yes, we were told by the B&B owners that high season runs anywhere from May through October with June, July and August being the busiest. I really think the car rental is the way to go. The tour groups only hit the main tourist traps and we were told that they really cram a lot onto a tight schedule--hurry up and look--okay back on the bus.

We only got to actually see inside two of the castles Bunratty and parts of Kylemore. And as we were told no flash photos and hubby is a rule follower many of them were blurry, dark or out of focus. But I'll look through them and see for any clear ones. If they had one of us in them could you edit over or should they be just clear background with no people? (don't really know anything about creating fanart.) I do have a few nice pics from inside some country homes, now museums. (picture more along the lines of Malfoy Manor more so than a Hogwarts style castle.)

[droxy.livejournal.com]

I can parse out some people. =) Sometimes it is artful cropping.

[droxy.livejournal.com]

I can parse out some people. =) Sometimes it is artful cropping.

[willowfaerie2.livejournal.com]

Those are gorgeous pics! Wow! It looks like you had a vacation of a lifetime. I'm so jealous! :D

[madeleone]

It really was, but I am already plotting how to go back. I am hoping in a couple years maybe we could consider another trip. I really fell in love with it there.

[willowfaerie2.livejournal.com]

So which one of you is the awesome photographer? Is it both of you? You have so many lovely pictures.

[madeleone]

We both took pics so it is hard to say which ones are which. But hubby near drove me crazy wanting to photograph EVERYTHING! I swear sometimes when we were driving he would stop every four minutes because he saw something he wanted to take a pic of. (and he was fanatical about thatched roof cottages! couldn't pass one without taking a pic.)

Plus we had well over 600 shots to choose from so these are obviously the better ones. Al of the blurred, dark and out of focus ones did not get posted. LOL!

[tonksinger.livejournal.com]

Those are all so gorgeous! I remember the Cliffs being super windy--the tour bus kept rocking back and forth as it was buffeted.

Looks like you had an amazing time. :)

[madeleone]

It was a most memorable trip, totally amazing.

Yes, the cliffs were super windy. I didn't post the pic that a nice young couple took for us with our camera. Hubs hair is sticking out like horns and I had a scarf on but my bangs were standing straight up. My son saw it on FB and commented: "either it was extremely windy or you were both having an exceptionally bad hair day," :D

[dreamy-dragon73.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous pics. It looks like you had a wonderful time!

Oh, and I love the pic of Clonbur. What was it like seeing the place you wrote about?

[madeleone]

Oh, Dreamy it was such fun. Clonbur was a little different than I'd pictured in that it was actually a bigger village than I had thought. A bit more spread out, but still very much as I had imagined with lots of small shops and a couple of lovely pubs. One of them could very well have been Russ Spaveene's Green Dragon. And the Connemara region was my very favorite part of Ireland, spectacular views everywhere!

[scifichick774.livejournal.com]

The slideshow was wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing! Looks like you had a great time.

[madeleone]

I'm glad you enjoyed the pics. I will treasure the memories, it was lovely.

[clairvoyant12.livejournal.com]

I love your pics. They're all fabulous. The villages are quaint, the landscapes picturesque... random, roaming cows. *giggles* My faves are the Cliffs of Moher and Kylemore Abbey, both majestic.

[madeleone]

Thanks, yes the cows were totally random. In fact we had pulled over because hubby wanted to take a pic out of his window so he was turned to the side and I am sitting there watching the road and around the curve comes this cow. I hit his arm and said "Hey, there's a cow in the road." And before we knew it there was a whole group of them, just strolling along as if they hadn't a care in the world. LOL!

The Cliffs and Kylemore were both beautiful, but I think I loved the Connemara region the best of all, with the mountains and valleys, lakes and rivers; just gorgeous!

[ratherbsailing.livejournal.com]

Oh damn! This is breathtaking! I really love castles and your pictures are awesome. Thanks for sharing these.

[madeleone]

You're most welcome. I loved the trip and would love to go back there some day. It's only been two weeks since we came home and it already seems like I dreamed it all.

[talesofsnape.livejournal.com]

Wow! Lots and lots of piccies. It at least looks like it didn't pour for your entire holiday. I was just thinking maybe it might be nice to go with the bikes and then I saw the piccie you labelled a long climb and thought nahhhhh!

[madeleone]

LOL! Yeah, that climb is to the peak of Croagh Patrick, people walk all the way to the top, traditionally many go barefoot as part of the pilgrimage. I looked at the climb and told hubby, if you want to go up I'll be happy to wait here with my e-reader. He declined to make the climb. LOL!

I loved whole trip and the weather really was not bad, maybe two days where the sun didn't shine at least part of the time. I really loved Ireland a felt connection, I'd love to return someday, for sure.