Ireland - Introduction

One of the main things we love about living in Europe is the traveling we are able to do. Of course, the pandemic put a significant damper on our travel schedule. In the 17 months between February 2020 (when we were in Portugal, and Covid was just some illness most people knew little about), and July 2021, we had only taken a brief, 5-day trip to Paris (July 2020), and a week hiking in the Pyrenees (October 2020). Now that we are vaccinated, we felt it was time to get back on the road.

We chose Ireland mainly because it would not be too hot in August, especially compared to possible destinations in southern Europe, and because we did not expect it to be too crowded since the country only opened for visitors on July 19th, giving foreign travelers little time to plan trips there. We were right on both counts. The weather was cool and rainy (as you will see from our pictures), and although the Irish were traveling in fairly large numbers, there were not many foreign travelers. Generally we felt that most sites we visited were not overrun. 

Traveling during Covid was a bit of a different experience. We had extra forms to complete before entering Ireland and returning to Spain; nearly every site required you to book a time to visit, although many of the government-run sites in Ireland waived their fees as an incentive to get people to travel; and, in order to eat inside a restaurant, you had to provide proof of vaccination. Almost every restaurant we went to over the 17-day trip adhered to this requirement, and at least checked our vaccination certificates, with the majority scanning them to confirm they were valid. Inside masking requirements were almost universally followed, and we generally felt pretty "safe," although on occasion it seemed like there were just too many people in an enclosed space.

So, what did we do in Ireland? Well, of course, we ate a lot of good food, drank a lot of good wine (no wine is made in Ireland, but they have a decent wine culture with most restaurants offering wines from Europe, South America, New Zealand and even South Africa) and, of course, drank a good amount of local beer, especially Guinness.

(No, I did not go bald in the last year, that is Shana's brother Adam, who met us for a few days in Dublin as a detour from his own visit to Iceland. Adam has traveled more during Covid than anyone else we know. I don't even want to think about how many Covid tests he has taken.)

After spending five nights in Dublin, seeing the sites, including St. Patrick's Cathedral and the famous Temple Bar, and especially enjoying ethnic food that we cannot find in San Sebastian, we set out driving around the south and west of the country for 12 days. This meant that I got to drive on the "wrong" (left) side of the road for the first time. And, while I did not actually find this too difficult, driving in Ireland is complicated by the fact that many Irish roads are very narrow, and the speed limit on these narrow roads is often a surprising 80 kph (48 mph). So, although I was driving below the speed limit, many of the Irish were not, which led to many moments where cars would come around a blind corner in the middle of the road before moving over (to the left, remember) forcing us to scrape our car along the foliage that lines practically every road in the country. Overall, a fairly stressful part of the trip.

All that said, we had a wonderful time visiting Ireland, as we will show more completely over a number of upcoming posts. And, we will say that the Irish reputation for friendliness is 100% deserved. They are all genuinely nice, helpful and friendly, and add to the enjoyment of a visit to their country.

Hasta pronto,

Jeff and Shana