08/23/2026
We just returned from a whirl wind trip to Ireland, driving 2,500 kilometers over 12 days, each day thinking am I really going to drive another 200 miles today to see another cliff/beach/castle and yet each day we would find another beach, or cliff or animal traffic jam that was more breath taking than the last.
The many sides of the west coast of Ireland - now known as the Wild Atlantic Way - stunning views, mountain hikes for days, white sand beaches with turquoise water and the greenest hills, traffic jams caused by cows, sheep, goats and once a fox, every manifestation of a stately manor or castle - in ruins, as beautiful hotels or golf courses and occasionally still homes to the lucky few - cups of Barry’s tea for days, pints of Guinness and Murphy’s and better cortados than I was anticipating, far too much brown bread - not to be confused with soda bread - surprisingly great food especially at Pikes Deli, Linnane’s Lobster Pub, Misunderstood Herron, Dede and Savoir Fare, but most especially the incredible tasting menu we tried at Homestead Cottage - packets of Keoghs crisps on ferries to Inish Móir and the Cliffs of Moher, paying our respects at the burial place of Yeats and the stately Greek revivalist home of Countess Markievitz an Irish suffragist, socialist and labor activist who fought in the 1916 Easter Rising leading to the eventual freedom of Ireland from British rule in 1922, devastating scenes of poverty and death at the must see famine museum in Skibereen - 1 million people were left to die and 1.25 million people were forced to abandon their families and land to emigrate to England and the US (generational trauma now makes a lot more sense to me), ancient burial sites thousands of years old, wild flowers and re-wilding on every road side and the crazy lunar grey glaciokarst landscape of the Burren, poetry readings and songs around dinner tables of strangers, many memorable meals with family and friends along the way, boundless hospitality especially at Gregans Castle Hotel in the Burren and Delphi Lodge and of course the infamous 4 seasons of weather in every day - Éire go Brách. I couldn’t recommend a more inspiring, edifying trip. ☘️
