My Little Car Tour!

It´s Sunday night, and I´ve been in Ireland for just over a week now, but I feel like I´ve been here for ages, just because I have seen and done so much.

Last Tuesday morning, I picked up my little rental car and headed South out of Dublin. When I made my booking for my rental car, I made it for the economy-sized car, knowing that I´d only need a little car, being as it´s just me on my tour. I didn´t realise exactly how small my car would be! I realised pretty quickly when I opened the boot and realised that my backpack had absolutely no hope of fitting in, so it was dumped onto the back seat instead! My car is a new little dark grey Toyota Aygo.

So, heading south out of Dublin, my first stop was the little town of Enniskerry and Powerscourt Estate. This is an old, stately home, but the gardens are it´s main attraction. When I drove through the gates and got my first glimpse of the house, I thought that you must have been able to hire horses and go on a trail ride around the grounds, as there were a few people around on horses. Then I noticed all the cameras and film crew around, and noticed that the people on the horses were actually in period costume! It turns out that they were filming some scenes for The Tudors here! Actually, they film a lot of this television series in Ireland (I´m not sure if it´s been on in Australia yet, but it´s probably been on the ABC if it has).They were filming in several spots in the garden, but I was still able to walk around the garden. The Italian Garden was a highlight, but I would have to say that my favourite part was the Pet Cemetery. It was quite large, and there were even proper headstones and graves for Jersey cows!After having some morning tea at the café on the Estate, I then drove 6km down the road, to see the Powerscourt Waterfall, which is apparently the highest in Ireland. I didn´t spend much time here though, as it wasn´t exactly Niagara Falls!

The next spot I visited was Glendalough, an old Monastic site that was founded by Saint Kevin in the 800s. The buildings on this site are very well preserved and feature an archway, a round tower, a couple of chapels and a priests house.

On my way from Glendalough to Waterford, where I was spending the night, I stopped at Avoca which is famous for being where the TV series Ballykissangel was filmed, and which also has the oldest weaving mill in Ireland. I stopped at the weavers and watched the weavers do their work and then tried not to spend too much money in the gift shop.

When I arrived in Waterford that night, I drove past my hotel twice before finally spotting it! I had dinner that night in the pub on the ground floor of the hotel. There I chatted to a couple that were on holiday from Dublin.

The next day I saw the main sights of Waterford: The Treasures of Waterford Museum, Reginald´s Tower, and The Waterford Crystal Factory.

Late in the afternoon I headed to Cork,driving along the South coast of Ireland.
I stopped at Cobh on the way, a seaside port which was the Titanic´s last port of call before it set sail to America. I arrived in Cork at about 8pm, however I then spent about an hour driving around it trying to find my hostel! I got very frustrated and had to call the hostel in the end to ask for directions! I have decided that Birmingham is actually a piece of cake compared to driving in Irish cities! And I can understand now why visitors to Launceston get so frustrated with all our one-way streets!

Anyway, that is about all from me for now. Obviously, I´ve got a lot more to tell you and show you, but it´s getting late, and I´m quite tired now and I want to get an early start as I think I´ll have quite a long drive tomorrow. I´m thinking of and missing all of you. One of the great things about travelling on my own is that I can go wherever I want, whenever I want. However, sometimes it would be really nice to have some company in the car, or at least a navigator (especially in the cities where I´ve been having a hell of a time trying to find my way to my accommodation!).

Thanks for all your emails and comments. (Sorry I´ve been a bit slack replying to emails, but I do really appreciate them and will reply to them soon, I promise!).

Love,
Lis x.