Mom and Dad come to visit! Ireland and Scotland whirlwind tour!

Earlier this month my parents came over to Ireland for a visit and we traveled around Ireland and spent a few days in Scotland as well. It was really great to see them, and fun to show them around a bit :) I was also in desperate need of a break from school work so they couldn't have come at a better time! They flew into Dublin on a Saturday morning, we rented a car and started on our tour of Ireland (a bit jet-lagged of course) by going first to Galway. While there we drove through Connemara National Park, and stopped at pretty Kylemore Abbey. The following day we caught a ferry out to the beautiful and remote Inis Mor, the largest of the Aran Islands. The journey across was a bit rough, but the weather cleared almost as soon as we reached the island lending for some gorgeous views. We took a tour of the island with a quiet but friendly local gentleman who has lived on Inis Mor all his life and had plently of interesting facts and stories to pass along. The island has been settled for thousands of years, and one of the biggest tourist attractions is the ring fort of Dún Aonghasa (pronounced Dun Aengus), thought to have been originally constructed around 1100 B.C. Sometimes called "the most magnificent barbaric monument in Europe," Dún Aonghasa were used as a defensive structure and is strategically located atop a high cliff overlooking the sea. The stonework was amazing, as were the views. The rest of the island was just as beautiful, and we also saw traditional (and still lived in) thatched roof cottages and the filming locations for the movie Leap Year and the Aran Man. I would hightly recommend a visit to the Aran Island for anyone who visits Ireland! Definitely one of my favorite places I have visited here so far.

After leaving Galway, we made our way down the coast to our next destination Killarney. Along the way we stopped at the Cliffs of Moher and the Poulnabrone dolmen. We drove the ring of Kerry the following day and got some great views of the ocean and some of the coastal town surrounding the peninsula. The town of Killarney itself is home to some beautiful scenery, so we took some time to wander around the Mucross house estate and gardens on a final day. After that it was back to Dublin for us as I had a classes to attend! Mom and Dad took more of a look around the city while I took some time to catch up on schoolwork a bit. We went to an Irish dinner, dance and music show one of the nights as well.

We caught a painfully early flight to Edinburgh, Scotland and spent the next few days exploring this fairy-tale city. We took a walking tour as well and learned lots of great history including seeing some places that J.K. Rowling frequented while writing Harry Potter! Many of the names of her characters can be found on actual grave markers there in Edinburgh, and Hogwarts was in part modeled after a school found in the city. Edinburgh castle is located in the heart of the old city, and holds a commanding location atop a central hill. The castle itself was well worth a walk through and the views of the city were fantastic (even though it was a bit drizzly that day). One of my personal highlights from Edinburgh was meeting Beethoven, and no, not the composer, Beethoven the Eagle Owl!!!! If you know me, you know how much I love animals, and I do happen to have a particular love of all things owl. So this pretty much made my day. Can you tell we're in love?

While in Scotland we also went on a 3 day bus tour up to the Scottish highlands and the Isle of Skye. Its quite the journey up there, but well worth it. Our guide for the trip, Liam was great as well and full of interesting historical facts and tidbits. The highlands are BEAUTIFUL. I was ecstatic to see real snow-capped mountains, and I loved how remote it felt. We drove by Ben Nevis (tallest mountain in the U.K.), Glencoe (site to some very sad history, but stunning scenery), over the bridge to Skye, and to our cozy bed and breakfast in the small seaside town of Portree. The following day we took our time driving around the Island and taking in the sights. Our first stop was the Neist Point Lighthouse, furthest western point on the Island. We then drove to the fairy glen and wandered around the vibrant green and unusually shaped hill formations that make up the glen. There are some, ahem, "fairy-made" rock rings and designs on the surrounding ground as well.

 Some of the most stunning scenery was saved till the end of the day. The Quiraing was a particularly stunning landscape with huge cliffs and rock formations. It's been in movies recently as well (Snow White and the Huntsman and Prometheus), so if it looks familiar, that may explain it! Nearby is another famous landmark, the monolithic Old Man Of Storr.

On our final day of our tour we drove back to Edinburgh through the highlands once again. This time we stopped at Eilean Donan Castle (again used in movies such as Braveheart). This was one of those fairy-tale castles that almost seem to perfect to be real. Stretching out onto the water, and in good enough condition that the family to whom the castle still belongs still lives in it! Can you imagine that being your family home!?!?! Crazy.

 Another highlight was a visit to Loch Ness. Again, if you know me well enough, in addition to my love of animals, I also have a love of mythological animals (although if Nessie is mythological or real still has yet to be determined). But we are among the few people who actually get to see the lake in a non-mysterious, fog covered state, and of course as any good cryptozoologist knows, Nessie wouldn't dare to come out on a bright sunny day.

Phew! So many sights in such a short time! If you made it through all that reading, congratulations! haha. I think we all had a great trip and I was very happy to have my parents visiting for a couple of weeks! I'm so thankful they were able to come all the way over here to Ireland and Scotland and that we were able to spend some quality time and have this adventurous trip together! As always, goodbyes at the airport were sad, especially knowing that this time it would be over 6 months till I was home again, but we made some great memories and had lots of good laughs :)


Stay tuned...next up, St. Paddy's Day and Istanbul! :)

just a typical day driving around the Isle of Skye... :)