It’s my impression that it’s obligatory to visit Blarney Castle and kiss the Blarney Stone on a trip to Ireland… so we made sure to put it on our to do list while we were there and hit it up on our way back to Shannon before heading home.

On our last full day in Ireland, we debated the handful of things we hoped to cram into the day.  We ended up narrowing down our options and headed to our first tour of the day – the Jameson Distillery Tour.

If your name is Jameson, you get to tour for free as well as some of your friends!

The tour was chilly but very informative and fun.

And as many tours conclude, this one ended with a Jameson tasting of our choices – either in a glass (on or off the rocks) or mixed with ginger ale and lime.

The tour was a fun experience and we highly recommend it!

From the distillery, we headed north to Blarney Castle… see you tomorrow!

On Easter Sunday, we explored Killarney before heading on our way to Cork.  Our first and major stop was Killarney National Park.  We planned on walking around and checking out the Muckross Estate but first we came upon the Muckross Abbey.

After enjoying the abbey, we explored the grounds and lake before walking over to the Muckross Estate.  While we didn’t go in and explore, we did enjoy the gift shop where I found the most wonderful wool hat and scarf (which I desperately needed after leaving my scarf at the hotel).

On our way out of the park, we stopped to explore Torc Waterfall.

After leaving the park, we headed to County Cork.  With the weather turning more traditionally Irish (i.e. rainy) we spent the afternoon in our hotel, enjoying afternoon tea and naps.  It was a great day

After some sightseeing at the Cliffs of Moher, the four of us piled into the rental car and enjoyed the scenery on our way to Adare, just outside of Limerick for our first night.  Lots of green everywhere!

Our stay in Adare was lovely and a nice intro to Irish pub food.  Being Good Friday, we learned that Ireland doesn’t serve alcohol on Good Friday, causing a lot of pubs to be closed.  Luckily we found one open and enjoyed our first servings of stew, shepard’s pie, and potatoes.  The next morning, we hit the road and headed west for the Dingle Peninsula.

Upon arrival, or shortly before, we learned that Dingle has a microbrewery, one of the few in Ireland.  According to Beoir.com, there are 22 microbreweries across the country.  When we originally planned our trip to Ireland, The Husband wanted to make it to the Guiness brewery, but unfortunately we took Dublin off of our destinations on this short trip.  If you’ve been a longtime reader, you know that we like to visit local breweries on our trips and our travel companions were happy to oblige our trip to the Dingle Brewing Company.

The brewery is located in Dingle’s old creamery building, and like much of the Dingle peninsula, is adorned with both signs in English and Gaelic.  Stepping inside we were welcomed by a warm fire, a welcoming bar, and a tour through the brewing process.  The rest of the group participated in the tour, which included a beer tasting, while I enjoyed the fire and warmed up.

After the tour, and after I had The Husband pose in the beer glass, the group enjoyed their samples of the Crean’s Irish Lager.  The beer is named after a local man, Tom Crean, who served in the British Navy and supported that Antarctic expedition. The group was thoroughly impressed with the beer.

After enjoying the beer and chatting with the staff, we explored the town of Dingle, enjoyed a fresh seafood lunch, and headed out on the peninsula to tour the area.

After a lovely day touring the peninsula, we headed to Killarney for the evening, perhaps our favorite town of the whole trip.  No pictures though so we’ll see you tomorrow!