The first two days of our honeymoon in Ireland included trips around Galway, The Burren, to the Cliffs of Moher and Poulnabrone Dolmen. Onward did we go to…
Day 3: Ballyseede
On Day 3, we left our charming, if rather empty and quiet, B&B and Galway and headed south to County Kerry. Somewhere along the way we drove onto a ferry and took a few selfies, and our Irish GPS got stuck on an infinite loop, causing us to enjoy the sites of Limerick’s town square three or four times.
I’m a fan of ferry selfies
In the early afternoon we arrived at Ballyseede Castle just outside Tralee, our home for the night—and were totally in awe. In fact, we’d planned on exploring the Dingle Peninsula, because it’s like Rick Steves’ favorite thing ever, but the castle and grounds were so charming and fun to explore that we decided to just relax and enjoy.
Outside, we meandered around the grounds and made friends with a donkey and a miniature horse we named Ponyta (who is a ridiculous pony), an old hound dog and a GIANT Irish wolfhound named Mr. Higgins.
Inside, we gaped at our beautiful room (complete with four-poster bed and probably not haunted old paintings), made friends with the local knights, ordered cider over ice from the bar and generally felt very posh and ruling class.
We’d booked dinner at their fancy-ish restaurant with our stay, I had a luxurious soak in the tub (after calling for help to figure out the taps…) and we went to bed.
Day 4: Dublin
We considered staying a second night at Ballyseede, but it was a little late to adjust our reservations, so on Day 4 we said farewell to our castle-away-from-home over breakfast and drove to Dublin.
We were kind of exhausted by this point, and the drive, although only three and a half hours, was rough. We stopped at some sort of Irish truck stop for our first actual Irish coddle, and arrived in Dublin in the early evening.
To balance budgets and for a fun swing in the total opposite direction of our decadent castle stay the night before, we checked into a convenient hostel. We weren’t planning on spending much time there, and had to get up early for our flights the next day, so it seemed like an ok plan. It was exactly… ok. We had a private ensuite at least, although we did have to secure our bags in lockers on the way out for the evening.
Most attractions were closing up for the day, but we did walk around Dublin Castle, Trinity College and through the ever-vibrant Temple Bar area. There always seems to be someone playing a little too literally with fire there.
We grabbed a surprisingly uninspiring dinner at another Rick Steves suggestion that I can’t even remember the name of (you can’t win ’em all, Steves), but rounded out the night in a pub. Naturally. Over Bulmers and Guinness, we talked about the highs and lows of the week, our upcoming journey back to California (it didn’t yet feel right calling it “home”), and for kicks our waitress threw away the precious ticket that would let us get our baggage back at the hostel. The one that came with so many warnings about NOT LOSING THIS TICKET because we seriously will not oblige YOU DUMB MOTHERFUCKERS WHO LOSE IT and your SHIT WILL BE LOCKED UP FOREVER. It kind of sucked, but Richard heroically chased the waitress down and found it.
All’s well that ends well, and in the end our honeymoon in Ireland ended in a fantastic, blurry swirl of gorgeous green fields, steel-blue skies, perfectly windy vistas over which to contemplate your inner demons, and Guinness.
It seems appropriate to end with the Irish saying we included in our wedding ceremony:
Here’s to me, and here’s to you,
And here’s to love and laughter.
I’ll be true as long as you
And not one moment after.
Just kidding. It was:
But the greatest love—the love above all loves,
Even greater than that of a mother…
Is the tender, passionate, undying love,
Of one beer-drunken slob for another.
That… that doesn’t seem right. Rule of threes, though, what are you gonna do:
May you see your children’s children.
May you be poor in misfortune,
Rich in blessings,
May you know nothing but happiness
From this day forward.
May the road rise to meet you
May the wind be always at your back
May the warm rays of sun fall upon your home
And may the hand of a friend always be near.
May green be the grass you walk on,
May blue be the skies above you,
May pure be the joys that surround you,
May true be the hearts that love you.
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