Driving Ireland

Passing a car in opposing traffic in Ireland is a near death encounter, every time. We set off this Monday on a 4 day driving excursion to see the country.

Driving was a bit of a challenge on two levels. First, Allicia had to learn how to drive a manual lefthandedly on windy rainy roads that were "built 300 years ago for carriages and naked people" according to our hostel barista. Second, we went through 3 different cars in four days.

We had close encounters with police twice in two hours in Cork, and chased sheep out of the road in central Ireland.

Wednesday night our headlights went out which made it very dangerous to drive so we pulled over and slept off the road. The next day, we got a "new" car which later that night stranded us in downtown Belfast in the middle of the world's most notorious joy riding disctrict. Jon, our tow truck driver, took us on the "scenic route" to the airport. We had come to Belfast to see the peace wall and murals and ended up getting a local's perspective on the entire history of the Catholic/Protestant conflict. This was the highlight of the trip for Allicia.

We're on a ferry tomorrow headed for England, Wales, and Scotland. Please enjoy these pictures from our time in Ireland.

Dunluce Castle

Belfast Peace Wall

Glendalough

Freezing Sleeping in the Car Nights

Giants Casaway

Dingle Penninsula

Mussenden Temple