On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
SuzieC
I recently returned from a trip to Ireland, organized by the Shamrock Club of Columbus. Ireland is every bit as stunningly beautiful as I imagined. Here are a few photos that I hope you will enjoy.
This is our tour bus. “Here for the craic!” Meaning fun, party, entertaining conversation. Our intrepid bus driver and tour guide, Euman, provided plenty of that.
constructed in 13th century by Ormond family
ancient residence of the High Kings of Ireland
We next proceeded to the Jameson’s Distillery. Here is the old mill, established in 1794 as a woolen mill. It then became a military barracks and started distilling Jameson’s in 1966.
Copper pot used in distilling. Still the largest in the world.
View of Cohb Harbor, from whence the Titanic sailed. We did the Titanic tourist experience, which was very interesting, then stopped for Irish coffee. We often stopped for Irish coffee. Cohb harbor is one of the deepest sea ports in the world and the Irish Navy leads training exercises there for ships from around the world.
I’m sure many of you will recognize this famous castle. I did NOT kiss the Blarney Stone but touring the Castle’s spectacular gardens more than made up for it.
We stopped at this delightful fresh seafood restaurant in Kinsdale, on the wild and rugged Dingle Peninsula.
The world famous Cliffs of Moher on the west coast of Ireland. It was windy and blustery on top of the cliffs, so tie a scarf around your head.
Part 2 coming soon.
Betty
Sounds like a delightful tour. The Irish are an entertaining lot.
Spanky
I loved Dingle, and we were there in early fall too.
I’ve been feeling the need to travel lately, for some reason.
HeleninEire
Beautiful pictures. My favorite place on earth!
JPL
Thank you for sharing your journey with us.
Dorothy A. Winsor
What a beautiful place
JML
excellent. I must go to Ireland!
EireIAm
We moved here in 2018 and have sadly not done enough local touristing and I get envious every time I see photos from other parts of this country.
MelissaM
Give us some good craic! Ireland is for sure in my top 10 of where to go next.
Torrey
Excellent pictures! I spent a month in Ireland many years ago, and it was lovely. We were mostly in Dublin, but a couple of us took a trip to the Dingle peninsula, which is stunningly gorgeous, and also the home of the legendary Irish hero, Diarmaid Ó Duibhne. While we were eating in a restaurant, a young couple with a boy, about age 3-4, came in. The boy’s name, as we found out, was Diarmaid, which was very exciting for us, despite the fact that Diarmaid is an extremely common name in Ireland, so it was about the equivalent of someone from a non-English-speaking country going to Washington, D.C., and finding it an exciting coincidence that the three-year-old loudly demanding a Coke at the next table is named George.
Sigh. I could do with another trip to Ireland.
ETA: Well-timed OTR post. It’s a good day for thinking about Ireland. The good folks on that island have been through a lot and come through it stronger.
Prescott Cactus
“My home, My heart, My Ireland” was the name of a 1990’s play written and produced on the Southside of Chicago. It was fantastic, but must have only spoke to Chicagoans as it never went anywhere else.
I’ve taken that title as a lil’ internal meme when I think of Ireland. More so since I was given birthright citizenship because of my grandfather being born there in the late 1880’s. I’m going to return for a month next July to feel the heritage.
Thanks SuzieC ! Great pictures and can’t wait for part 2 !
stinger
Wonderful photos! Much needed! Thank you!
mvr
Thank you for these!
way2blue
@Prescott Cactus: Ah. My maternal grandmother was born in Aberdeen, Scotland in the late 1800s. Wonder if I can claim birthright citizenry? My maternal grandfather was born in North Jutland, Denmark. Danish citizenry? Sounds very appealing right now…
opiejeanne
Thanks for these photos. We visited the Republic of Ireland in 2010 and loved it. We were asked “Are ye lost?” a few times, the first in Dublin when we couldn’t work out the house numbering in a square and there was only a tiny sign at the hostel we were looking for. The first helpful person didn’t know where it was, so he flagged another gentleman who also didn’t know and who then walked around the corner to find someone who did know where it was.
We were there in May and the gardens in Dublin’s parks were beautiful.
We didn’t stop in Cobh and I regret it now that I know that’s where my husband’s great great grandfather sailed from ca. 1860, and that they have a registry there to look up your family, to find out when they sailed and on the name of the ship.
I really want to go back to Ireland and spend some time in Dublin researching my own Irish genealogy. They came to Canada between 1800 and 1830 and most of them had moved to the US by 1900, but I don’t know where they started from in Ireland.
Yutsano
Ireland is very much on the bucket list. We don’t know for sure the ancestry of my maternal grandfather but he was adopted by an Irish oil baron in Oklahoma. We also don’t know for sure if my great-grandfather (researching Joseph Hennessey isn’t the easiest thing) was born in Ireland or New York. Regardless, my mother is an Irish citizen if we could only get Missouri to give my grandfather’s damn adoption record to the Irish adoption record.
SuzieC
I learned in Ireland that Americans are welcome to move there. The only criterion is that you not be a drain on the state’s resources (i.e. be financially independent). There is a whole MoveToIreland thread on reddit, from which I learned that housing is difficult to find and the bureaucracy is daunting.
opiejeanne
@SuzieC: When we were there Edgeworthtown, County Longford, had overbuilt to the point that there were about 2 houses per person in the area, including children. That was in 2010.