We are on our way back from a week in Ireland now I thought I would share some notes.
I ended up getting an international day pass through my cell phone carrier (at&t) for $10 each day that it was used. That way I could use the stuff I was already familiar with. My iPhone worked well as a gps when needed.
We flew non stop on the red eye into Dublin and stayed there two nights near Trinity College. Everything was within walking distance from our Airbnb and we were very good tourists. We toured the Old Library and the Book of Kells - enjoyed the library more, but it was on the same ticket; toured Dublin Castle - pretty interesting; the Beatty Library/museum is just behind it and was worth the time spent; we did a tour of Jameson's Old Distillery and then had drinks at their bar; visited several churches as well as several pubs. Most bars have a selection of mass market lagers and a couple of Guinness taps, and there seemed to be some feaux crafts by the big brewers as well, but we found that Galway Bay Brewing Co. has three or four pubs in Dublin, all with good craft beer.
We then got an uber back to the airport and picked up a rental car. It came as a surprise that if you decline the insurance they hold €5000 on your credit card. Pro tip: if driving in a country with right hand drive, rent your car on Sunday morning when there is less traffic. It takes a little getting used to and I am glad we didn't start driving right away, jet-lagged in downtown Dublin.
We drove to Northern Ireland with a stop for coffee in Belfast and then a really scenic drive along the north coast. We stopped at the Giant's Causeway, which is spectacular, then drove to Derry/Londonderry, an old city with a completely intact ancient wall.
On to Galway, which has a very international feel to it and a booming tourist industry. Tons of pubs and restaurants to enjoy in the Old Spanish Quarter. Through a mutual friend we met up with the brewer from Galway Bay, who helped us with pubs for the rest of our trip. As it was in Dublin, unless you want a Guinness or a "lager" you have to do a little research. At this point I finally found a copy of CAMRA's 2018 Good Beer Guide and was disappointed that it did not include Ireland.
After two nights we left Galway for Killarney, visiting the Cliffs of Maher on the way, which was in a cloud at the time but still incredibly impressive, then taking the ferry to save miles and time. Killarney is cute and walkable and we found a really cool whiskey bar where we did flights of Irish whiskies.
We drove to Dingle, had coffee and then drove the loop through the peninsula. Best.Drive.Ever.
The drive back to Dublin was mostly M-roads (motorways) and N-roads (wide two-lanes). We stopped about halfway at Rock of Cashel to walk the ruins of a mideival church. Altogether we drove a bit over 1200Km in a three cylinder Nissan. The country is small enough that the longest travel day for us between cities was about three and a half hours of driving.
I had a Beamish stout last night at a pub in operation since 1766. Nice.
