Ireland July 2026

After spending six weeks on the Iberian Peninsula, it was off to the lush, green vistas of the Emerald Isle for two weeks. This trip was special because Adam’s mother and aunt joined us on this leg of our journey. The trip through Ireland was based on staying in three different cities – Dublin, Cork and Galway. Dublin offered the mix of sights and nightlife. Cork, with a day trip to Waterford, offered a more scenic experience. The final destination, Galway, showcased “Old World” Ireland with stunning vistas and a few special surprises. In the entire two weeks we were there we only got about 5 minutes of rain. We joked with the locals that we did not believe it rains in Ireland…

We arrived into Dublin (east coast) via commercial flight from Barcelona. Adam’s mother Pam and his aunt Sandra flew into Dublin at about the same time so we met up at the airport. Over the course of the next two weeks we spent five nights in Dublin, four nights in Cork (southwest) and five nights near Galway (west coast). This is the map of the Irish Rail intercity train system that we used to move between those three locations. The scenery was nice and the train was pretty fast, clocking speeds of 90 mph (145 kmph). In Cork and Galway we picked up local rental cars.
We started the day after arrival by taking the Hop-on-Hop-Off bus around Dublin. It was a great way to figure out where we wanted to go spend more time.
Our first lunch in Dublin was at a Pub featuring, of course, Irish food and some Irish beer. This is the first of many pubs on this visit.
We did a tour of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin. This metal tree sculpture is called the Tree of Remembrance. Built from distressed steel and surrounded by faux barbed wire, the stark, leafless 700kg sculpture evokes the destruction and futility of war. Visitors are invited to write personal messages of peace and remembrance for loved ones or anyone affected by any conflict—historic or modern—on leaf-shaped pieces of paper and tie them to the branches.
Our second full day in Dublin was affectionately referred to as “drinking day” since we toured both the historic Jameson Distillery and the Guinness Storehouse, with a large nap in between. Both are excellent tours and we think no visit to Dublin would be complete without them.
The Jameson Bow St Distillery Tour was educational… and delicious. As Ireland takes their drinking seriously, they need somewhere to put the bottles when finished…
The Guinness Storehouse in Dublin is an iconic, seven-story interactive visitor experience located at St. James’s Gate, featuring brewing history, a sensory tasting room, and the panoramic Gravity Bar. In this photo we were in the historical marketing campaigns section.
The Gravity Bar at the top of the Guinness Storehouse had 360 degree city views and a free glass of Guiness.
The central old town neighborhood of Dublin is called “Temple Bar”, within which we discovered that there is a Pub by the same name. The whole area was cobblestone streets, old restaurants and beautiful architecture. Interesting fact – there are over 365 bars in the neighborhood – you can visit a new pub every day and not repeat one in a year!
Lower Liffey St in Dublin – with the iconic Ha’Penny Bridge in the far distance behind us.
The Ha’penny Bridge, officially the Liffey Bridge, is a pedestrian bridge built in May 1816 over the River Liffey in Dublin, Ireland. It is made of cast iron, and in its early years, a half penny toll was charged to walk across it, hence its name.
Looking east on the pedestrian-only shopping section of Henry St in Dublin with the iconic Spire in the background. The Spire of Dublin, alternatively titled the Millennium Spire or the Monument of Light is a large, stainless steel, pin-like monument 120 metres (390 ft) in height, located on the site of the former Nelson’s Pillar on O’Connell Street, the main thoroughfare of Dublin, Ireland.
EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum, located in Dublin’s Docklands neighborhood, covers the history of the Irish diaspora and emigration to other countries. Based on our DNA genealogy tests, Susan has about 7% Irish ancestry, while Adam has 0.6%. The museum was a beautiful description of all things Irish and the large emigration episodes over the last Millenia.
Our second stop was the city of Cork, the second largest city in Ireland, but vastly different than Dublin. Founded in the 6th Century by Vikings as a port, the city center is built on an island in the River Lee. We took a trip on the Hop On/Hop Off bus to explore the city.
On our tour of Cork, we made it to the Bells of Shandon located atop St. Anne’s Church. This famous Cork landmark allows the general public to play melodies by ringing the bells. While we didn’t get a chance to play a tune, we enjoyed listening to “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” being played. Those with keen powers of observation will notice the 11 ft golden salmon that serves as the weather vane, a nod to Cork’s maritime history.
We took a day trip by car over to the city of Waterford where we visited the House of Waterford crystal factory. This particular location specializes in one-of-a-kind pieces such as major sporting event trophies and in other limited edition items such as this vase – which is an etched vase of Norwegian artist Edvard Munch’s iconic painting “the Scream”.
The town of Waterford had a pedestrian only district that we strolled through for awhile.
This is the first time on this (so-far) 15-month journey that we had to actually drive a car on the left. Susan has driven before on the left in Japan and New Zealand but that was awhile ago. We will also be driving on the left for 7+ weeks in the United Kingdom right after Ireland.
Blarney Castle was a pleasant surprise. What we thought was going to be nothing more than a major tourist trap, with a stone that hundreds of people kiss every day (eww) to supposedly obtain “the gift of gab”, turned out to be a huge estate with history displays, serene gardens, and hidden enclaves that felt miles away from everything. And no, we did not kiss the Blarney Stone – and thus none of us has new gab skills.
The gardens at Blarney Castle were enormous, we could have walked around all day there.
The Irish slang word for the neighborhood Pub is “The Local”. This Local was a 5 minute walk from our AirBnB in a Cork neighborhood.
We departed Cork via train and arrived into Galway for a 5-night stay. On our first full day, we walked around the center of Galway and had lunch in, you guessed it, an old Pub. This is a view of the Galway Cathedral looking across the River Corrib, which is widely recognized as the fastest-flowing city river in Europe, moving at about 3 meters (9.8 feet) per second.
We took a day trip by drive and a ferry out to Inishmore, which is the largest of the three Aran Islands. The drive took an hour and the ferry took about 40 minutes each way. Once on the island we hired a van and driver to take us around the entire island. This stop was near a place called Seal Beach with a surprise, very large horse across the path – look how big he is compared to the van! He did allow us to hand him some hay from a small bin provided – and then pet his nose.
Dún Aonghasa (also spelled Dún Aengus) is an ancient old stone fort located on Inishmore Island in the Aran Islands. It is perched on a sheer 87-metre (285-foot) high sea-cliff and is over 3,000 years old, with initial construction dating back to roughly 1100 BC. It features three massive concentric drystone walls and a chevaux-de-frise (thousands of jagged upright stones planted in the ground to deter intruders). There is a modern visitor centre at the trailhead, followed by a 1-kilometre (0.6-mile) uphill walk over rocky ground to get to the fort
Regardless of where we were in Ireland there were always excellent sweater markets and this one is in the town of Kilronan on the Aran Island of Inishmore. Pam and Susan have owned Aran brand sweaters for years.
It was a windy hair day at the Cliffs of Moher on the west coast of Ireland. Given the temps were quite warm, the wind was welcome. The Cliffs of Moher are stunning sea cliffs in County Clare, Ireland, stretching for 14 kilometers (9 miles) and rising up to 214 meters (702 feet) above the Atlantic Ocean
The Galway portion of the trip included a visit to the Killary Sheep Farm, about 90 minutes northwest of Galway. They did an amazing sheep dog herding demonstration, a sheep sheering demonstration, and the guests could bottle feed some lambs. And as you can see in this photo, the general scenery at the farm was gorgeous too.
This is one of the 4-month old lambs that the group of guests got to bottle feed at the Killary Sheep Farm.
And we will finish this blog post with an Irish Blessing “If you are brave enough to say good-bye, life will reward you with a new hello”.

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