Ireland & Northern Ireland: Part III

Wednesday 3rd April

We left Cork this morning and headed for Wexford.

Our first stop was Ballysaggartmore Towers, some incredible ruins that Sam had heard about that just so happened to be on the way.

The towers were amazing! We pulled off into a little carpark looking area just off the road and walked a short ways up a hill through the forest which was beautiful.

We popped out the otherside to amazing old ruins of a grand stone gate. It was incredible. Weathered stone, being overgrown by greenery. It looked like something mystical from a movie or a book or something out of a fairy tale!

From here we kept walking through the forest and came to a river where the towers are.

Wow! It was magical!! It really felt like we'd walked into a fairy tale!

After spending well over an hour exploring and photographing this incredible area, we got back on the road.

You'll never guess where we drove through. Lismore! That's right, Lismore, and yes it is actually a twin town of the Lismore in Australia! How funny is that!?

We stopped here at a gorgeous little cafe for lunch. It was really cute, again it had that classic Irish charm to it.

Sam's grandpa got chatting to the owner when we were paying and then when we left, we were halfway down the street and she comes running out after us to give us a packet of biscuits! She said we seemed so lovely and so gifted us some local biscuits! She was so sweet! That's what I mean, everyone seems to go out of their way to be kind here!

We had some fun and played some travel games and sang some songs in the car on our drive. Our next stop was New Ross, where we had a little look around.

From here we made our way right down to the coast to Hook Head to visit the lighthouse.

It was so cold and windy, the heavens had decided to open up and it was starting to get dark, so after the lighthouse we headed to Wexford.

This is when the "Accommodation Debacle" began. We arrived in Wexford and still hadn't been given any details about our accommodation. We found the street through the GPS in the Booking .com confirmation, and then tried to get onto the owners to find out which house and get the key. Well they wouldn't pick up the phone and only sent a text earlier in the day when we were driving saying they needed all of our passports. So here we are, sitting in the cold and rain trying to figure out where we are staying. We sat in the cold for an hour and a half trying to contact the people, and contacting booking .com, but only getting an automated response. In the end they replied demanding our passports and withholding the key until they had them. At this point, after trying to contact them for so long and passports not being a requirement through booking .com this was starting to feel very dodgy, that and the fact that the text this time didn't even come from the same number. We all started to look for alternate accommodation and called a few different hotels to find someone that had a room this late in the evening. Sam found a place and his grandpa called up and yes they had a room!

We wrote to the original people and told them we had cancelled the booking through booking .com and we would not be staying. It was at that point they decided to actually try and talk to us (shocker)! We told them we were already gone and then they sent through all the details and started pestering us to stay. After a stern phone call I think they got the message.

We arrived at our new accommodation for the night and OMG it looked so much better! It was amazing! They had even done us one better and had thrown in a free 2 course dinner for us, free cocktails each, andddd a free buffet breakfast!! What a deal!

The rooms were incredible!! We had two massive rooms each with two king beds in them! It was such luxury!

The debacle turned out to give us one of the best nights of accommodation!

Accommodation sorted we all relaxed and enjoyed our cocktails and had a great evening together.

Our dinner came out and everyone had gone for something different. The portions weren't small either, they were massive meals! Sam had the half chicken and veg, his grandpa had pork and veg, his grandma had fish, and I went for bangers and mash. Well I've been told I'm not allowed to talk about my meal which became the envy of the table, but I don't think writing about it counts!

It was the most amazing bangers and mash, the plate came out and on it was a Yorkshire pud the size of the plate! Inside it was a bed of mash, and the sausages on top, all covered in gravy! It was one of the best meals I've had! That Yorkshire, mmm, I can taste it just writing about it.

We all opted to make our two courses main and desert, so after our delish main we all had some apple pie and ice cream!

Eventually we all rolled up to bed and enjoyed our night in luxury.

It was such a fabulous night with everyone, and now a great story to tell! It's been such an incredible trip! One of the best weeks! I honestly had a ball! Sam's grandparents have been great company to travel with, and such a great week to remember. A very special experience.

---

Thursday 4th April

Buffet breakfast timeeeeee!!!

We headed downstairs for our buffet brekkie and enjoyed a full cooked brekkie before hitting the road back to Dublin.

We stopped in at Enniscorthy to have a look at the castle and walk through the beautiful old town.

While we were there we stopped in at a little cafe, Toffee & Thyme, and had hot chocolate (with marshmallows of course) and a chocolate eclair for morning tea.

We then headed straight up to Dublin to meet Phoebe and Annabelle who had just arrived. Someone was a little tired in the car and kept nodding off! I call this "The Three Stages of a Sleepy Boy".

We all caught up and had lunch together in the city, it was great to see them after so long! After lunch we parted ways and went and checked into our accommodation, a very old little unit just out of the city.

Later that evening we all met back up at the VAT pub for dinner and of course had the steak and Guinness pie again.

Tonight, sadly, was also was our last evening with Sam's grandparents. It has been such a fantastic week, I've loved it so much. A massive thanks to them for all the fun and for sharing a week of their holiday with us.

---

Friday 5th April

We got up early to see Sam's grandparents off and then we had a couple of hours before we had to leave. We were meeting Phoebe and Annabelle later in the morning as we were staying together here in Dublin for another couple of nights!

We packed ourselves up, handed back the keys, and were on our way. We were walking across town to the new accommodation which was right in the city when we passed a cop car parked at some traffic lights. We didn't think much of it, then all of a sudden the cop car had turned around and pulled up beside us. They asked us what we were doing, where we were going, and what we have on us. We were starting to wonder what it was all about. They then told us that it's not a very nice area that we're walking through and to hop in the car and they'll drive us to where we need to go! We just got picked up by the cops!

They were so lovely! They were two young guys and were having a chat to us and gave us food recommendations and everything. I know I've said it before, but the Irish are just so incredibly kind!

After our wonderfully kind cop encounter we met Pheebs and Annabelle outside the accommodation, dropped our bags and headed out to explore Dublin some more!

We spent the day wandering around this city which I love so much, popping in and out of shops, listening to street performers and just soaking up the vibes. We split from the girls at some stage and I picked up a pair of shorts for the summer while on our little shopping trip which was fab, although we couldn't find any replacement jeans for Sam (his others have worn through in some inappropriate places)!

We all met back up at the supermarket to pick up food for dinner and then headed back to collect our bags and check in.

The apartment is so lovely! It's in a gated complex on a canal system and we had water front views! It was so nice!

We all hung out together and then had dinner before heading to bed.

---

Saturday 6th April

We woke up to a rainy day outside so had a nice slow morning and cooked up eggs, beans, and croissants.

The girls went out to explore and we headed out to pick up a few bits we needed and sort ourselves out before we left tomorrow.

We met back up in the afternoon and then went to a really cool old pub, the Stags Head, for a couple of Guinness's. It was a really cool pub, typically Irish, great atmosphere and just a happiness and jolliness in the air. It was a perfect way to spend our last evening in Dublin.

Eventually we walked back across town to the apartment via the grocery store to pick up dinner.

We all had a lovely last meal together and then the girls headed out to meet some friends for the evening and we packed our bags ready for our early flight.

Ireland has been absolutely amazing, and easily one of my favourite parts of the trip so far. The people are so friendly, the vibes are great, the atmosphere so jolly and happy, and the culture just intoxicating, we will definitely be back at some point!