10th – 11th June

Killalee, Kilallee, Killele, Killalea

Our big plans for day two was to find Killalea which, according to Google maps and some digging around, was only 90 minutes out of Dublin.

We made plans, rented a car, agreed a meeting point with Kylie and were set to go.

A wee mishap with Google maps and getting to the rental car though. I normally love the work of Google maps, its amazing. You can enter your destination and then choose to walk, drive, cycle, or public transport to your location. We have used it endlessly and 95% of the time, bingo, you make it.

This time it instructed us to catch the Green 747 bus, sweet, been on that before and knew where it left from.

We bought the full day, all zones, travel pass and waited for the bus. When it arrived it turns out that it is not covered by the pass, and we would have to pay extra, the driver said to take a tram. Awesome, there was a tram right there.

Directed by the bus driver and the enthusiastic Jason we jumped on the tram. Without knowing the number, the destination or the stop we needed. It was like intrepid journeys, but not really. Turns out they all go in a straight line and within 10 minutes we were 300 meters from the rental car place.

Ta da! How often does stuff like that work out!

For breakfast we popped into a local dairy type setup, at least that is what we would call it at home. And they make rolls and sandwiches to order. Kind of like Subway but better. Jason had the black pudding, white pudding, bacon, and hash brown roll (coronary here we come) and I opted for the bacon and salad roll. Amazingly tasty and much less than the 12.95 buffet breakfast at the hotel.

We got to the rental company, SIXT, early. Thank god, the queue was forming already and the staff appeared to be in the queue with us. Oh dear, the person with the key had not turned up on time. By the time the key holder arrived and we finally got sorted, just after 930, the queue was 20 people deep and not very happy.

Oops.

This time Jason was driving. They drive on the same side as home so should not be a big deal. And he did a great job. We navigated through the Dublin rabbit warren and out onto the motorway. It was actually remarkably simple.

Killalea is near Donore, 95kms from Dublin. Simply follow the M4 and M6, sounds easy.

Of the 95kms over 80kms of them were on the motorway and only the last stretch was through towns and little country alley ways. These little country alley ways had a speed limit of 80kms – bugger that. You could not see over the hedges, the stretches of road you could see in front were 50 meters or less, so Jason opted for the safer tack of driving slowly.

The little line and the bossy woman on my phone told us we were getting close. And I have to admit I was getting quite excited. What a cool little outing, going all this way to see where one line of my family is from!

Then we arrive.

And there is nothing.

No sign, no road names.

Nooooooooooothiiiiiiiiiingggggggggggggggggggggggggggg.

We drive up and down this little road a couple of times hoping for some indication but we found nothing. Jason pulled over and I start having a serious conversation with Google Maps. Had my faithful companion lied to me, misled me, and sent me on some random folly!

Just as I was voicing these thoughts directly to my phone, the keeper of Google Maps, a car pulls up beside us.

We get out and the lovely young lady, with the beautiful accent asks, “are ye alright”? You do melt a little when you hear the accent, it’s so sing songy – or melodic if you prefer.

Jason tells Kathleen, I think it suits her and I am sure you’d agree, that we are from New Zealand and my last name is Killalea. She just kind of blinks at us (probably thinking, well done you).

And we wanted to know if this was Killalea. Kathleen smiles and says, yes, well that side of the street is.

Kylie had joined us by this stage and we all turn to look behind us.

“That side”? ask us

“Yes” says Kathleen

“No sign or anything then”? we enquire

“Ha, ha, ha, ha, no” replies Kathleen

We laugh. I am sure she thought we were a bit touched in the head. She continues to smile nicely and says she has to go. Making her escape no doubt.

What a lovely girl, stopping to speak to us because we looked out of place. I wonder if she will ever do that again 😛

Well, my apologies Google Map, we were indeed in Killalea. On one side of the road.

What to do? As we had driven all the way there it seemed only right that we walk around a bit, get a feel for the place. So we walked to one end, and then back down to the other, took some photos, I stole a rock from a fence outside a Killalea house (naughty eh).

And then? Well, then we left. There wasn’t actually much else to do.

It was cool to see two houses with the name Killalea on them, even though they were both different variations.

Thanks to Jason for suggesting it and Kylie for humouring us.

So Long Killalea – it was… fun?

It was only 1130am by this stage and we had the car for the whole day, so we decided to drive out to one of the coastal towns for lunch.

Malahide was only 70 minutes from Killalea, HAH Killalea is a place, so off we went. The drive was much like the drive down to Killalea (I am going to keep referring to it because Killalea is a real location) and we followed the motorway.

Arriving in Malahide without issue and hungry! We easily found a park and were blown away at how beautiful the seaside is. Let alone the cute little town itself. Photos had to be taken, and they were! Seriously it was so damn cute, it is really hard to align Dublin and Malahide, they are only approximately 15kms, away from each other but vastly different worlds.

After a spot of research, god bless Google, we followed the blue dots of Google Maps to our preferred restaurant – Fish Shack!

The meal was delicious, Kylie and Jason order the fish and chips, and I went for the salmon salad. When will I learn that eating healthy will always result in food envy! My salad was delicious, but the fish and chips looked so good. At least I managed to scavenge some chips from my companions!

Time for site seeing and walking off lunch. The streets are very pretty and the town quite compact so we headed to the castle for a look. You had to pay to go in, and weren’t really THAT interested, so walked the grounds and slowly made our way back to the car. With a spot of shopping – of course.

The trip back to Dublin was easy! It was a lovely day out thanks again to Jason for suggesting it and Kylie for coming along.

We parked up and returned to our respective hotels to dump our stuff and get ready for dinner.

Tonight we are dining at Kelly Darkeys. Researched and booked by the lovely Kylie Smith!

We took the tram, getting quite good at that now, and then walked the remaining distance. Another eye opener walking past a shelter that was due to open soon. The homeless and down on their luck customers were lined up outside. Nothing was said, but you felt you would not walk back that way.

Every city has their issues, and Dublin is no different. I felt it was a lot more evident, perhaps because of the confined space of the city, and we saw quite a few people who clearly were unwell. Like any city, don’t walk anywhere you don’t feel safe, be sensible and don’t take risks. A gentle reminder to all you travellers.

Dinner was tasty, the food was promptly delivered and with lots of flavour, we washing it down with a suitable amount of wine and beer.

It had been a long day so once we were fed and watered we ubered our way home for a big sleep in our massive bed. The amazing bed. The bed dreams are made of. With fluffy pillows.

Last Day – To Be Sure

What better way to start the day then a trip to the Guinness factory for a tour and tasting.

Yay, I cannot wait, you all know how much I love beer, especially dark beer – NOT EVEN SLIGHTLY.

But, my very patient man has waited outside many shoe shops over the past 5 weeks, so it is only fair that we do some things that are completely about him.

So Guinness for breakfast it is!

We met Kylie at the storehouse for our self-guided tour. The tour also included a tasting and a pint of Guinness. We kicked off the fun at 945am.

The place is very cool, and well laid out. Despite the fact it was already busy when we arrived we did not encounter long waits or queues. This is a well-oiled machine that puts through 6000 people EACH DAY.

Jason was in his happy place. The tour talks about how the beer is made, the history, and the amount of beer that is produced. Guinness uses 2/3s of the barley produced in Ireland, they are a busy bunch!

There is a smell room, where they pump the different smells from the beer into the room. I actually liked the smell, maybe there is hope for me and my relationship with Guinness after all.

You are then poured a tasting glass and led into a dark room with real ambiance lighting and told how to drink and taste the flavours. It is quite different to wine tasting, you are encouraged to take a big mouthful, fill your gob, wash it around, and chug it back.

I can confirm – we have NOT made progress. My stance has not changed. Is fecking awful.

Next was a lesson on how to pour Guinness correctly to ensure the perfect pint. Definitely a skill that we should all have 😀 we even got a certificate stating we have completed training and achieved the outcome ha, ha.

So now we had three perfectly poured pints, well done us, and only two people willing to drink it. Luckily Jason was willing to take one for the team, and finish two pints. Kylie, much to my surprise, has decided she quite likes Guinness and finished her own. Well done you Kylie Smith! You are a braver woman than I am.

The entire tour took 2 hours, it seemed to whiz by.

If you are going to Dublin, DO THE TOUR. It was really good fun and even non beer drinkers can find it fun.

After the tour, with two boozed up travel companions (well boozed up may be an over statement) it was time to do a victory lap of Dublin, more site seeing, shopping, and then packing and off to the airport.

It is like déjà vu, we are spending a lot of time going to, from, sitting in, and leaving airports lately. But all in the name of a good time.

We really enjoyed our time in Dublin, it was awesome to see Kylie, visiting Killalea (spelt however you feel), malahide, shopping, eating, and drinking.

Thank you to Ashling Hotel for the amazing bed, free earplugs to “avoid the war”, and lovely food.