As some friends from Germany decided to visit me over the Easter holidays for one week we used to time to go to Irelands beautiful West and Southwest.
As we are Germans we made it the hard way and left Dublin at half past five in the morning on Easter Saturday to still have enough time to visit Aran Islands in the West of Ireland. After paying 25€!!! for each person for the ferry to reach Inishmore, the biggest of the three islands we walked around the half of the island. Yeah we walked which is worth to mention as everybody else there took a minibus or rented a bike.
It is really impressing how stone walls are build all over the island around every single field to protect them from erosion. This has its very own charme and respect!!! I am sure it took some time to build this up. And there is a nice fort with very high cliffs as well. But walking the whole day and about 12 kms on Aran Islands this day did not keep us tired for a long time. So on the next morning we went to the Cliffs of Moher which are even
much more amazing than the cliffs of Aran Islands. This day we had even luck with the weather and we walked along the cliffs until the final little tower. This is really exhiting as you are sometimes only half a meter away from the up to 120 m high cliffs. So it is recommendable only come closer to the cliffs wriggling careful on the stomach. Yeah some places are really good for suicides I thought. But the view you get is amazing, especially with sunny weather.
Afterwards we continued our way to the southwest and joined the famous Ring of Kerry. This road along the coast of the peninsula always gives you a great over the Atlantic Coast and the possibility for some cool pictures.
But as it would be boring only to drive along the coast we also made a short ride deeper towards Kerry. There for example you find beautiful lakes like the Carragh Lake surrounded by small mountains and some nice stone forts like the Staigue Fort as well. These Ringfort were build for defence purposes.
People are saying that the former country population thought that these forts would be fairy castles and because of this they did not attack them… Hmmm, really interesting... Actually I thought I would see a lot of cows in Kerry too because of the famous Kerrygold Butter, but there were really only a few. So I am wondering a little how they manage to produce so many butter…
At least we saw some nice cute ones. Well after having Shepherds Pie, one of the traditional Irish meals for diner, we finally went to our bed and breakfast accomodation in Kenmare at the end of the beautiful Ring of Kerry.
After leaving on the last day of our short journey and passing some nice small mountains we went on our way to Cork. As I really heard a lot of this province and the city as well I had high expectations. Well the countryside is really nice and always good for some nice pictures I was a little bit disappointed by the city itself.
You have some nice colored houses and beautiful churches but a lot of houses even in the city centre are are going to ruin and are really ugly to look at. And I also ask me how people manage it to throw so many trolleys in the Lee, the river flowing through the town. As we have not been walking along the river for much time we already saw six or seven trolleys laying in the river next to one bicycle and one scooter. As people in Germany are used to say: Not nice, but rarely.
While leaving Cork relatively early we still had time to visit the Whiskey Distellery in Middleton, not far away. As the guide was nice as well of course I was waiting for for the final Whiskey at the end of the tour. Yeah really strong, but not really my favourite drink. Yeah for three days I think we saw some nice parts of Ireland. Afterwards we also went to some nice areas around Dublin, as the Powerscourt Gardens or Glendalough. But these are next to come…
Howth is a village and a peninsula in the Northeast of Dublin. Arrving there and passing by the harbour and the fisher boats you can chose a walk along the cliffs to go up to the highest point of the village. 
Especially on a sunny day like that one you see how amazing the view over the cliffs and the sea is. And yes with almost 30° and walking in the sun it can be a little bit exhausting. 
But for sure I won’t complain about too hot days in Ireland! And actually the alley along the cliffs is not so steeply the most time. And as a reward there is a nice pub after climbing to the highest point of the village. So a drink in the sun is a good reward. Enjoy the pictures!
