Colorful doors, pubs, buskers, narrow roads, sheep, incredible views, whales, and the friendliest people.
Ireland was one of our absolute favorite trips we’ve ever taken. We were hired to photograph Kim and Tim’s destination wedding in Galway, and then spent the following week exploring the country.
First stop, Dublin! After spending half the day at the car rental place (not the best start), we were finally off to explore the city! It took a while to get used to driving on the opposite side of the road.
Dublin Castle! We ate some delicious food at a restaurant nearby called Queen of Tarts.
We loved the bright, colorful doors as we walked to some of the museums.
The Natural History Museum of Ireland was pretty cool.
Enjoying the cool spring weather at Merrion Square
An old cathedral in the middle of a busy street.
Checking out Trinity College
St. Patrick’s Cathedral was pretty.
Guinness tour!
Dublin City Gallery (The Hugh Lane)
Then we made our way across Ireland towards Galway! We made a stop halfway at Sean’s Bar, the oldest pub in Ireland.
We arrived in Galway and immediately knew we’d love this colorful city! Lots of street musicians and dancers!
We took a day trip to Connemara to Joyce Country Sheepdogs and watched some border collies herding sheep.
On our way back from Connemara, we stopped to explore some beautiful sights. I LOVED this little beach hidden between the mountains.
These yellow flowers were everywhere around Ireland.
Our trusty little Skoda that had great mileage!
We were driving back from the sheep herding demo and had to stop to admire this view.
We made another pit stop at the Ross Errilly Friary. There were lots of black birds and cattle around.
We took a bus tour to the Cliffs of Moher. It was very beautiful! I wouldn’t recommend looking over the edge.
After photographing Kim and Tim’s destination wedding week adventures and incredibly beautiful wedding, our time in Galway was over and we began traveling down the coast. We spent a day in Tralee and explored the Dingle Peninsula. We found out that Star Wars was being filmed while we were out there!
Coumeenoole Beach was probably my most favorite place from the entire trip.
Then we stopped at a small local brewery in Dingle and we made some new friends!
Then we hopped back into the car to check out some more beaches. This pretty dog was hanging out at Inch Beach.
Beautiful sunset at Inch Beach
The temperatures dropped quickly once the sun went down!
Another colorful door!
Tralee was a really neat little town. Out of all the hotels we stayed at on our trip, the Ashe Hotel in Tralee was my favorite. It was the nicest, cleanest, prettiest hotel of them all! The front desk staff gave us some really great recommendations for the rest of our trip. And the breakfast was delicious!
More pretty views! We decided we needed a few photos of the two of us, so Andy set up the camera on a timer and ran in the wet slippery grass towards the edge of the cliff (maybe not the best idea in hindsight)!
We didn’t have time to drive the entire Ring of Kerry loop, but we did stop in Killarney to check out the Muckross House and Gardens.
The garden had beautiful flowers!
Some scenic views on our drive through Killarney National Park
We took a local’s advice and ate some pancakes at The Strawberry Field. Delicious!
We continued our journey down the coast to a small town in Cork County called Baltimore. We hiked up a hill to the town’s scenic spot next to their lighthouse (The Beacon).
The next day, we walked to the harbour to hop on our whale watching tour boat.
We saw a few whales, but mostly some friendly dolphins!
And seagulls
What a trip! Ireland, thanks for all the beautiful views and great memories!
-Andy&Carrie
Photography by Austin Texas Wedding Photographers Andy & Carrie Schneider