Day 3 17/11/2008 - Ireland

Limerick -> Shannon -> London

Highlight

• The usual hoo-ha of arriving “early”.
• Had to run for the train since Slokky lost his boarding pass.

Food

• scone

Day 2 16/11/2008 - Ireland

Limerick -> Adare -> Askeaton -> Tarbert -> Killimer -> Kilkee -> Kilcolgan -> Galway -> Ennis -> Limerick

Highlight

• Got up nice and early to try to fit everything in before the sun (or should that be light) fades. So drove to Adare and watched the sunrise there.
• Trinitarian monastery with its dovecot was very cool.
• Walked along the main road to the Augustinian Priory, with very nice cloisters.
• Slokky was so scared and didn’t want to cross the bridge to go to The Desmond Castle, so we went on the Riverside walk back to town.
• Missed out on the The Franciscan Friary because Slokky thought we were inappropriately dressed to go on the golf course, even though we weren’t even playing
• Had a brief wonder around the park with its orange leaves, looked around the thatched houses.
• The Franciscan Friary at Askeaton, with its fantastic cloisters.
• Caught the very expensive car ferry (€17 one way) across to Killimer. It was so windy I just tried to dodge the wind the whole way. We shared the ferry with yet more Americans doing the grand tour.
• Had a brief stop at Kilkee, another Victorian resort town, but it was quite ugly, and the terrible weather didn’t help either.
• It was very windy and foggy on the other side of the river, so there was pretty much no point trying to see the Cliffs of Mohir, as we couldn’t even see much in front of us.
• We decided to skip the scenic drive we planned to do and head to Galway instead.
• We stopped off at the Burren Smokehouse where we watched a very old video on their smoked salmon production, but more importantly, got to taste test and then buy the product.
• Off for some food. We wanted to go to Paddy Burke’s Oyster Inn but they were filled to brimming – plus they actually didn’t have oysters on the menu, so off to Moran’s Oyster Cottage instead.
• Moran’s was doing a roaring trade as well, but as now it was quite late and the cottage was huge, they fit us in. They managed to get our order mixed up, so we got to try some vegetable soup for free. The seafood was excellent, and while the oyster was tasty, I’ve had better.
• Finally made it to Galway, but the weather didn’t improve, although the whole town seemed to be filled with people shopping or eating or drinking…and they all seemed to have some sort of (non-Irish accent).
• Had a brief look around the church, with a semi-interesting Sunday craft market going on.
• The Galway Cathedral was boring.
• Nora barnacle House, wife of James Joyce also uninspiring.
• The Lynch’s Castle is now a bank, the Spanish arch had drunks around, so we took another riverside walk back to the car.
• Passing tour of Eyre Square with the curious window frame.
• Drove to Ennis through traffic jam, but it was raining very hard, so we just did the car tour of the abbey and the cathedral.
• Took awhile to decide on dinner, as the 1st 2 place we went to didn’t deliver. Finally took some pictures of Limerick (King John) castle though.
• Moll Darby turned out to be quite excellent. The duck was very good and the desserts tempting.

Food

• scone
• Burren Smokehouse smoked salmon
• Moran’s Oyster Cottage:
  • brown bread
  • vegetable soup
  • seafood chowder
  • Seafood Cocktail - crab, prawn, smoked salmon served with Marie Rose sauce.
  • 1/2 dozen Clarenbridge oysters
• Moll Darby’s:
  • bread basket – sun-dired tomato, toast, brown bread
  • Pan Fried Breast of Irish Duck (€28) – Pan fried Breast of Irish duck set on a Crisp Pastry of Duck Confit Legg, Sweet Onion
  • Braised Rump of Lamb (€26) – Slow Braised Rump of Lamb, Sautéed York cabbage, Smoked bacon, Whipped Potato and Onion Jus
  • Caramelised Banana Tart - Individual Banana Tartlet served Warm with Vanilla Rum Ice-Cream, Butterscotch Sauce and a Banana Tuille (€8.50)
  • Poached Pear and Chocolate Pudding - Moist Poached Pear and Chocolate Pudding served warm with Roasted Chestnut ice-cream and Vanilla Anglaise

Day 1 15/11/2008 - Ireland

London - > Shannon -> Limerick -> Cashel -> Cahir -> Lough Gur -> Limerick -> Garrykennedy -> Limerick

Highlight

• Usual Ryanair hoo-ha about arriving early, but nothing to it really.
• Picked up car, and because the weather was bad again, decided we would take it easy.
• Drove into Limerick to see the morning market held at the aptly named Milk Market. It was quite small and kinda dull, but we were able to see the locals at work, buying up big for the weekend. We got a few tarts to keep us going while we make our way to Cashel
• Luckily we got in early enough for lunch at Café Hans. It was extremely popular – with the locals again as they didn’t seem to be much tourists out and about at all. The food was very good café fare…not too much choice, but things were fresh and nicely prepared
• To The Rock of Cashel – which is actually the remains of an old gothic abbey and an even older chapel, which had retained some frescos. The surrounding area was very beautiful also – when it wasn’t bucketing down with rain.
• Went for a stroll around the Hore Abbey, amongst the cow poo, but you get a wonderful view of the Rock of Cashel.
• The whole place hardly had any tourists, except for a few stray Americans.
• Cahir to see the outside of the castle and a nice riverside walk.
• It was already getting dark by this stage, so we hurried along to see the Pre-historic stone circle near Lough Gur. We were met there by Tim, the local owner, who showed us pictures of his kids and told us lots of story. Unfortunately it was so dark we couldn’t actually see anything, but at least we met some Irish folks.
• Decided to drop by the Travelodge before dinner. All Travelodges look exactly the same .
• Took a long drive through some bumpy roads and in the rain to Larkins, situated in a very small town. The pub itself was very nice, small and comfy, very homely, but unfortunately the food didn’t really measure up.My steak was way past medium and the chips were really really bad. Maybe we ordered wrong but it definitely wasn’t worth the 2 hour return car journey.

Food

• berry almond tart
• pear and almond tart
• Café Hans lunch:
  • warm salad…..
  • open prawn sandwich on Irish soda bread with seafood dressing
• Larkins dinner:
  • brown bread
  • cheese tart with salad
  • Prime Irish Hereford Sirloin Steak, served with Sauteed onions, mushrooms and French fries. Pepper sauce
  • Larkins Steak Burger - Larkins home-made Prime Irish beef burger served with side salad and french fries.