First off : Chris did a supreme job planning every detail of this trip and booking all flights and hotel / B&B stays. Cannot thank her enough for this. And Mike drove our van around (see the map) for 9 days (narrow narrow windy hilly roads, driving on the left side - I could never do that). Thank you two forever.

Travelers were Chrissy, Mike, Andrea, Emma, Ramona, Deb, me.

Okay , to start with .... the Irish people are wonderfully friendly, funny and cordial and they love a good time. And we never felt snubbed or disliked as "tourists". Also, many of the people in the places we visited were tourists.

We landed in Dublin and after a few days drove southeast to Killkenny, Cashel, Dingle, and Galway - seeing endless stone-walled fields of sheep and cows and stopping here and there along the way to visit castles, shop, eat.
Our plan for this vacation was to see the Irish countryside and that's what we did for 9 days, staying in hotels and B&Bs.

Dublin

This was my 3rd time visiting Dublin. It was a short stay, and we were fighting jet lag, but we kept moving.
Sadly, Trinity College was closed for some reason, and that is my favorite place - for The Long Room and The Book of Kells - we didn't see either this time.

We did get to the Temple Bar area and also Grafton street (famous for upscale shopping).
Emma is now the only person we actually know personally who made it through the barroom crowd to have a Guinness inside world-famous Temple Bar !!!.

The Irish National Stud and Japanese Garden

(Link to their website)

The Cliffs of Moher

Took a bus tour down to the cliffs. Our 2hr stay there didn't do justice to the sight. You really need 4-6 hrs to walk along the cliffs. We strolled and spent time in the gift shop, cafe and visitors' center (I bought a picture book) , so just got a glimpse of the cliffs. But .... it was a nice trip.

And, before I close this out . . .

1. Big event was one of our group got very sick, was hospitalized for a week (in Galway !!) and actually did not come home with us. She is home now and, I believe, doing much better.
2. When you are 79 and you say "I want to see the country side", don't think of Rick Steve's videos where he is jaunting up and down the hills and valleys. Think instead of riding in a van, bus or car for a big % of your waking hours.
3. Guinness is good stuff. Not my absolute favorite beer, but it's really good.
4. If you plan to go to a very local, non-touristy pub, learn some Irish songs first because the musicians will point at you to sing the next tune. (I got away with pointing to my cochlear implant processors and saying "I can't sing, I'm deaf ! " )
5. Ireland is a beautiful place and I wish I were 40, to do their countryside justice.