Adventures

Ireland - Day 5 - The Burren & Ennis to Killarney

Our fifth day didn't start out so well for me, I didn't feel good. We still made a lot of plans for that day since we didn't have much time in the Ennis region.

We had been pretty impressed by "the Burren" on our drive yesterday, so we decided to pay a visit to the Burren National Park. We came by a (closed) visitor center, so we just drove on with the vague information we had about the area. The road was really narrow, but we didn't come across many people out there. We came by a parking lot that seemed to be the starting point for different hiking paths, but wanted to get deeper into the rocky landscape.

After a while we had pretty much no idea where we were, as our map wasn't detailed enough to show the tiny road we were on. We didn't realize that we had actually driven out of the National Park already until we came into the next little town. There we found a little Tourist Information that had a map of the different hiking paths in the area.

Read more

Ireland - Day 4 - Renvyle to Ennis via Cliffs of Moher

Today we had to say goodby to Castlehouse B&B and Connemara, driving down the Wild Atlantic Way towards Ennis, where we would spend our night.

The beautiful view in the morning didnt make leaving any easier, but we got started right after breakfast anyways. First we drove through Clifden, where we had been before, and then further south. Even though we were driving the whole time we hardly seemed to make way though. That was partly due to many short breaks for taking pictures, but even more than that due to the tiny winding roads that summed up to many more miles than the national roads and highways would have.

We ended up making it to Galway at about 2pm, and realized that we really had to get going - because the one stop we really had planned for was still about two hours of driving away. And of course that stop are the famous Cliffs of Moher.

Read more

Ireland - Day 3 - Cleggan Loop & Omey Island

For our third and last day in Connemara we drove the Cleggan Loop. The first picture is the view right from our first B&B this morning, which changed every day a bit through the drastically changing weather conditions. On the way to the Cleggan Loop we passed this really still mountain lake in the second picture which was absolutely gorgeous.

Our main goal that day was to see Omey Island as we had read about the fun way to get there - there's a road, but it is usually flooded. Only when the water is low can you drive over there. We timed our drive to that and arrived at the parking lot overlooking the Omey Island Road when most of the water was already gone.

One other car before us traveled over, but drove around the biggest puddles still left. So we decided to also drive out into what used to be the sea and was now just a white beach. At about the middle there was still some water, so we waited for maybe another 20 minutes, taking the time to take a walk and collect some sea shells and then drove over. And now, that's the important point: You're NOT supposed to drive over there. There's only one road on Omey Island, and it is not for tourists, but for the islands inhabitants. It really didn't say that anywhere though, so we drove over.

Read more

Ireland - Day 2 - Connemara National Park

Our second day in Ireland led us to the Connemara National Park. Located near Letterfrack it was just a really short drive and promised to be a great trip. And it really was. The weather looked like it would give us the rain - sun - rain - wind - rain - treatment again, so we came fully prepared with all our raincoats, rain covers for the backpacks and waterproof hiking boots. We started our hike at the Visitor Center at about 10.30, the sun still shining brightly. After just about fifteen minutes we could see dark clouds coming up and rain poured down on us once again - but this time we were prepared. We stayed mostly dry, and everything else dried with the harsh wind following the downpour.

The ascend of the mountain proved to be really windy, and we decided the warning sign we had seen early did in fact make sense. Todays weather wasn't all that bad though, we arrived at the peak of Diamond Hill in bright sunshine, even though it was still windy. The view was fantastic from up there.

Read more

Ireland - Day 1 - From Dublin to Renvyle

Our day began really early when we left home for the Frankfurt Hahn Airport at about 4:30 am. At the airport everything was pretty uneventful, and soon we were on the plane and in the air. We had a very smooth flight (which I have been told is rather unusual) and a perfect landing in Dublin at about 9.00am local time. Our next step was the rental car pickup at the airport, and then it was Tims job to take us onto Irelands roads. Driving on the left side, of course, as our rental car, navigational systems and multiple road signs told us repeatedly.

Our first stop was Trim Castle, the biggest anglo-american castle...somewhere.

Anyways, it was in fact pretty impressive - and we walked around the castle grounds for quite some time to take our first photos on this trip. It was drizzling most of the time we spent at Trim, but we did not let that darken our mood. We all brought plenty of rain-equipment, because after all, we're in Ireland, what did we expect?

Read more

Leuven - Short trip to Belgium

A few days ago I've been visiting Leuven for a short business related trip. Unfortunately I didn't really have the time to see much of the city. Nevertheless I've took a short stroll through the beautiful city centre before I headed to the trainstation back home. First thing i recognized: Everybody is, like in the Netherlands, cycling like a maniac in Belgium. That feels like a big contrast to Germany, where cycling isn't that popular I guess.

Another big difference to Germany is the still existing historical part of the city and all those tiny shops everywhere. I think that's probably mainly because Germany has lost a huge part of it's architectural history due to WWII which is quite sad. It creates such a cozy feeling which I experienced way more in cities in the Netherlands and now also Belgium.

Next time i visit I will try to find some more time, so I can also taste some of those > 1000 beers they have there ;)