After driving an hour south (and out of the way) from Doolin to Shannon to visit Bunratty, Tom and I headed up north to Galway and beyond. Our goal was Achill Island, and right at the end of the island too. It ended up being my favorite part of the vacation, if I’m allowed to have favorites. A family member of Tom’s graciously offered a chance to stay at a relative’s cottage for a few days. (I am actually still in shock over how that happened. The word “family” really means something in Ireland! And when you’re family, boy they really welcome you with open arms. I just wish it wasn’t so hard (expensive) to go and visit or we’d be heading over there more often. Everyone I met from Tom’s family was so caring and generous, it was unbelievable.
On Achill Island there was a lovely cafe called “The Beehive”. It was a cafe and shop, believe it or not, and you ate right in the store. It sounds weird, but it was actually quite quaint.
4 Comments
Aine
27 Sep 2012 at 3:30 amHi Sara!
I stumbled across this blog VERY randomly after seeing your Gibson Roll tutorial on pinterest and, after nosing through the pages, I felt I had to leave a comment on this of all posts….
Firstly- love some of your ideas and photos- autumn is my favourite season too!
Secondly- I just had to tell you how much I enjoyed your pictures and stories about your time in Ireland- epecially Achill. I’m lucky enough to hail from the beautiful county of Mayo, and my dear Grandmother lives very close to Achill in a small village called Mulranny right on the coast (you would have driven through there to reach your final destination!) Anyway, I currently live abroad and so often find myself both extolling- and longing for- the beautiful, wet, windy West of Ireland. There is nowhere like home and no home like Eire. To read that you loved it, and to see such gorgeous photos of places so familiar to me and so close to my heart has made me smile on this tedious work day morning. Thank you!
Shokoofeh
10 Mar 2011 at 9:04 amSo beautiful!
lorena
10 Mar 2011 at 9:03 amI sent you an email …
I have so many questions …
I’m going to Ireland in April. One week.
We will be 3 days in a hotel in Galway, 2 days in Cork and surrounding areas and 2 days in dublin capital.
And I want to visit Connemara Island and especially Kylemore Abby. Another day, the cfiffs of Moher, Clare, Kerry, Cork ….
The distances are very long, right?
I prefer to leave without visiting many places but enjoy the stay there. For example, I spend a day visiting the castle of Kylemore Abbey. I want to come in and visit the inside.
do you understand me, no?
enjoy slowly this wonderful place.
You recommend me something more, Sarah?
Sara
10 Mar 2011 at 3:48 pmHi Lorena!!
I replied to your email but I wanted to comment as well in case you didn’t see it! I am SO excited for you and I can’t WAIT to see the photos that you take of your adventure! From Dublin to Galway it’s about four hours, I think. It’s not that far at all! It seems like it would be because it’s on the other side of the island but it’s not that big. The car rental we had was fairly inexpensive- it was about $250 I think for the week and a half we rented it for. Dublin is nice, but I do recommend Galway 100%. About three hours south of Galway is where we stayed at the farmhouse in Doolin city. It’s literally right next to the Cliffs of Moher. I think you’ll have a fantastic (and romantic) journey of the west of Ireland. I think you would only need one day for the Cliffs of Moher/Clare area- And I wanted SO BADLY to visit Connemara Island and Kylemore Abby but it wasn’t in the cards for us this time, so if you can swing it, definitely do it!
Luckily Kylemore and Connemara are fairly close to the Cliffs. You could fly in to Shannon (or Galway) and work your way down to the Kylemore Abby!
I definitely recommend B&Bs and agree with you on wanting to see the more rural side of Ireland. It’s so beautiful! I am SO excited for you, it sounds like quite an adventure!