Middle of Nowhere, Ireland

I have this huge map, yes, a physical map, that I tracked my trip through Ireland on. I basically made a huge loop from Dublin, across to Doolin, down to Dingle (ahhhh, so many D's), then to a bunch of places that started with K's: Kilarney, Kilkenny, Kinsale... etc. I then eventually made it back up to Dublin. Somewhere along the way I was in the middle of nowhere. This actually happened a lot. I saw lots of cows, green, cows, sheep, sheep, green, green, green, and tons of super inspiring landscapes. We drove the country with the windows down, wind completely deafening one ear, and dehydrating our mouths. (I am guessing I let my mouth hang open a bit too much). I also managed to get a sunglasses tan while in Ireland, which I feel like is some serious feat.

Despite keeping a map and half a journal of where we went and what we saw, I honestly don't remember where most of these photos were taken. Here's a lump of completely incoherent photos in the middle of nowhere.

Kinsale Culinary Adventures

One of the last places I ended up while in Ireland this past May was Kinsale. Kinsale was an adorable fishing town along the southern coast. It boasted way too much good food that I neglected to take photos of. What I did manage to capture I didn't really do it justice... Let's be real, I couldn't stay off the cake, uber fresh fish and chips inspired dishes, and local cheese. (Queso is always a major source of temptation).

I found this cake at the Poet's Corner. It was a cute little cafe on one of the main drags in Kinsale that let you leave a book to take a book. The coffee was yummy and the cake was great, but definitely didn't have enough berries between the layers, as I am a self proclaimed fruit whore.

In the morning I stopped at a local farmers market. They had a bunch of fresh breads, but my favourite stall was the cheese stall. I got to try about a dozen cheeses from the area. I love a strong, pungent cheese, and believe me, there was lots to go around. I particularly liked one of the stronger sheep cheeses. :)

Somewhere between my third and fourth lunch, I stopped at a restaurant called Fishy Fish Chippie (the lunch off-shoot of the Cafe). I thought the name was hilarious because who wants fishy fish? Anyway, the fish was pretty damn awesome. Their take on fish and chips was modern as it had the influence of Japanese tempura. Yummy... but if you didn't eat it fast enough the breading got soggy. That really wasn't a huge issue. The decor of the place was wonderful too and had beautiful black and white photos of the family of fishermen that actually caught the fish I consumed. I naturally have photos of all of these cafes that I refuse to actually upload. :)

So my advice for visiting Kinsale? Eat your heart out.

Drive Across to the West

I landed in Dublin around 7:30 AM and made a completely foggy drive across the country to Doolin... along the way I managed to stop in a delightful little down. This was one of the funny road signs they had. :)