To make the most of our one full-day in Dublin, I had reserved tickets for the Hop On, Hop Off Dublin Tour, so we walked through St. Stephen’s Green, up Grafton Street, and up O’Connell to join the tour at its first stop, near the Dublin Bus Headquarters. We stayed on the bus until Kilmainham

After a relaxed morning with a breakfast of French Toast at the Ballyknocken House, we headed to Glendalough, where we took the Green Road Walk around the Lower Lake and the Poulanass Trail up to the Poulanass Waterfall (see “Walking Trails of Glendalough” for a helpful map and details). The combined trails were 4.7 km,

Today’s objective was to navigate from Ballygally to the Ballyknocken House in Ashford. Most of the trip was easy enough: we wanted to avoid Belfast, so we went southwest before heading back southeast. The challenges began as we entered Dublin. Suffice it to say that a slightly out-of-date map and new traffic patterns since my

After walking Giant’s Causeway yesterday, we were ready for more walking/hiking today, so we headed to Glenariff National Forest. One of nine glens in the region, Glenariff has assorted hiking trails of various lengths and difficulties. We picked the longest trail (~10 km) and quickly descended to Glenariff River before climbing up to the top

Today we took the A2 coast road from Ballygally to Bushmills, with a few detours on even more coastal routes. Our primary destination was Giant’s Causeway, which remains one of my favorite places in the world. We spent most of two hours exploring the Causeway and walking out on the stones. For lunch, we stopped

After flying into Dublin, my parents and I drove to Ballygally (in Northern Ireland), sticking to the coast until fatigue necessitated a more direct route. Since it was Sunday morning when we arrived, not much was open en route. We’re staying at Ballygally Castle Hotel for the first three nights. The location is a nice