For today’s post I’m going to focus on the part of Ireland where I grew up: the Boyne Valley. As I’ve said before, Ireland is positively littered with structures built in earlier times from early Christian churches to castles of all types, sorts and sizes. In the Boyne Valley, you’ll find all of that and passage graves which pre-date the pyramids at Giza within an easy hour’s drive from Dublin.
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I’ve been asked about visiting Ireland with kids twice in the past week or so. So, given that and the fact that St. Patrick’s Day is coming up, I thought I’d be patriotic and devote a few posts to visiting Ireland.
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I don’t usually think of Ireland as a travel destination – to me, it’s home. That said, we’ve had friends visit Ireland with us and we’ve enjoyed showing them around since Ireland is a fun place to visit. So, I’m happy to announce a destination page for Ireland on WanderMom.com: check out Ireland With Kids. If you’re planning a trip to Ireland with your children, I hope you find the information on that page helpful. (You’ll be able to quickly find this page on the Destinations section on the Home Page).
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I was clearing out some bookshelves recently and I came across this little book. It’s part of a set of Irish Legends re-told for young children. The Finn MacCool story reminded me of the time we visited the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland with CAM.
Before I describe our visit to the Causeway, I need to first share briefly the legend of Finn MacCool and how he is associated with the Giant’s Causeway. Legend has it that he was a great man, a giant of a man even. According to the story, he built this causeway so that he could walk to Scotland to fight a Scottish rival – and that Scottish rival (who was also a giant) ripped up the Causeway so that Finn couldn’t follow him home!
We took a day trip to visit the Giant’s Causeway when CAM was almost five. As we drove north from my parent’s house in County Meath, I was most moved by the ease of the journey. This was my first visit back to Northern Ireland since I’d graduated from Queen’s in Belfast in the early Nineties. The impact of the Good Friday Agreement was visible in many small ways but most noticably in the fact that the border crossing into Northern Ireland was a five-minute stop – nothing like the multi-hour wait in a heavily armed checkpoint which I’d experienced on every trip between home and school just a few years earlier.
We stopped for lunch in the town of Bushmills. After eating, as we returned to the car, CAM noticed and was immediately fascinated by the painted kerbstones. During the Troubles, painting the kerbstones either red-white-blue (for Loyalists) or green-white-orange (for Republicans) was a common way to mark a neighborhood affinity to one side or the other – as you can see in this photo taken in the Shankill Road area of Belfast.
For a kid coming from Seattle, these markings were truly confusing. In CAM’s world view, a set of yellow kerbstones indicated a Bus Stop and a set of red kerbstones meant “No Parking”. “But Mom, why is the road painted like that?” he insisted at the very top of his voice – and he wouldn’t budge without an answer. Standing in the middle of Main St. in a town which wasn’t yet showing many of the beneficial effects of the improving political situation while trying to explain the complicated history of Ireland to a preschooler in simple terms (and in Southern Irish accents) was not a very comfortable situation in which to find ourselves. Thankfully we had Finn McCool on our side.
With tales of giants tossing man-sized rocks, making and breaking bridges that could cross stormy seas and battling from one end of the country to the other we managed to distract our inquisitive little guy.
Thankfully, he was duly impressed by the Causeway.
After such excitements we felt we deserved our subsequent visit to the nearby Bushmills Distillery.
And CAM got all his questions about Irish history answered on the drive home.
Photo credit: http://www.r-l-p.co.uk/Ireland.htm
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October 4th being National Trails Day in Ireland we took ourselves off to Glendalough, Co Wicklow to support this worthwhile event and to give the Small Boy more practice in his new backpack.
We chose Glendalough because it ticks a number of boxes for walking/hiking with an infant. For one thing It is an easy commute from Dublin, so there’s no real interruption to sleeping schedules if your infant takes a nap en route. There is ample parking as well as good baby-changing/diapering facilities in the Visitors Centre. The trails are also well marked with plenty of rest areas and benches for quick pit-stops and feeds. Finally, though some trails ascend the hills either side of the lakes you can, if you are feeling less energetic, just walk the paths between the two lakes and admire the views.
Glendalough which derives its name from the Gaelic, Gleann Da Lough or Glen of the two lakes, is one of my favourite places because it is beautiful in any weather and because it is rich in geography, history, myth and legend. The valley was carved out by glaciers during the last Ice Age with the two lakes emerging when the ice eventually thawed. It boasts one of Ireland’s earliest Christian monastic settlements built in the 6th Century by St. Kevin about whom there are a host of legends, not least that he lived as a hermit in a cave above the lakes, was pursued by a blue eyed woman called Kathleen and lived to be 120! The remains of the monastic city are nonetheless impressive, and include a 30 meter round tower, priests’ house and “cathedral”.
For our National Trails Day walk, we stuck to the lake paths and wandered around the shores of the upper lake for a while before the Small Boy started to let us know he had had enough. For those with older children used to walking, our favourite hike is the 5k Glendalough Miners Walk. This is a popular trail which loops around from the upper car park past the deserted miners settlement. Not only has this trail the best views back down over the two lakes and the monastic city there is also a herd of wild deer which we’ve been lucky enough to see from time to time!
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Photo credits: mattandkim
MT’s mention of the Wicklow Way in her recent post made me realize that I really don’t write about Ireland enough on this blog. So today I thought I’d redress that a little by sharing some photos of the scenery along this 127km trail which winds through the Dublin and Wicklow mountains.
Mountains in Ireland are one of the reasons why it’s a fantastic family hiking destination. The mountains are old (literally, they’re ‘old fold mountains’ as opposed to ‘new fold mountains’ such as the Himalayas) and weathered and therefore perfect for hikes with young children who aren’t quite ready for steep inclines. Not to mention that in Ireland it’s hard to walk anywhere without having to pass a dell, glade or valley or even a pile of rocks which is named after a fairy, giant, prince or saint – all good fodder for young imaginations and a great way to distract from the efforts of hiking.
Powerscourt Waterfall with Djouce Mt in the background.
Powerscourt Grounds
And that photo, my friends, clearly shows why Ireland is called ‘The Emerald Isle’. If you’re planning a visit, make sure you have good rain gear because there’s a price for all that greenery, and yes, it means that it rains in Ireland pretty much in every season.
We stayed in this area on an extended visit to Ireland in 2000 and hiked around the Tibradden Mt. with our boys, then 4 and 6 months. The abundance of sheep was a fun distraction – especially when the sheep were looking in our kitchen window. For our trip, we rented one of these Dublin Cottages which I highly recommend.
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Photo credits: pleeker, miert, martindo, don_quilty
This post is first in a series where I provide details of the trips I have taken with my family as examples for you to follow. If you have trip suggestions (destinations) for family travel for which you’d like a see a trip plan, leave a comment and I’ll contact you for details.
Trip Focus
When I plan a trip, I find it’s important to decide in advance what the goal of the trip is: to relax, to explore, to have an adventure. This drives all the other planning decisions.
After BigB was born, we spent most of my maternity leave in Ireland to be closer to family. We invited friends from the U.S. to come visit us while we were there. We also wanted to relax and enjoy each other’s company as we adjusted to being a family of four.
Number of Guests : 10 (us + 6 visitors from the U.S.)
The number of people in your party drives accommodation and transportation decisions.
We needed to find accommodation which was just big enough for four, affordable and yet would have room for more when needed. The Tibradden Cottages, two houses and an apartment, are nestled in the hills in South Dublin.
Accommodation
For me, price and space are the most important factors in choosing accommodation.
I can’t imagine staying in a hotel for eight weeks with children. They need space to spread out and be kids. Thankfully there are plenty of self-catering options available in all parts of Ireland. We chose a rental property in the greater Dublin area so that we could be close to family yet have our own space and be away from the traffic and stress of the urban area. We chose a location which wasn’t too rural to facilitiate day trips into the city.
The facilities are spacious and immaculately maintained. There are sheep roaming the hills behind the property which CAM found fascinating – especially when the sheep hung out at the back of the house. Tibradden is a short drive to the nearest in-city neighborhood from which public transportation into town is available.
Flights
In 12 years of flying with kids, I’ve learned that it’s easier to take one long flight than many short hops.
Aer Lingus offers routes between many U.S. cities Dublin and Shannon. Since Aer Lingus does not fly from Seattle, we flew to Heathrow with British Airways and then on to Dublin.
Local Transportation
Think twice about renting a car, you may not really need it.
Dublin Bus, DART and LUAS provide plenty of in-city public transportation options. If you plan to travel around the country, check out the services provided by Irish Rail and Bus Eireann first. Depending on where you plan to visit, you may be able to stick with these services all the way – which will save you money and the heart-stopping anxiety to which any freeway-driver is susceptible when driving on a two-lane road that’s only slightly wider than the car itself.
If you do rent a car, investigate agencies and prices before you leave. You will get a much better rental rate if you book in advance. And above all else, keep in mind that it’s dangerous to drive while jet-lagged.
Dining
Photo credit: flex_plex
There are many, many dining options in and around Dublin. Here’s a few of my personal favorites:
It feels like I should mention some bars here, but truly, there are too many good places to meet with friends, have a drink and enjoy genuine Irish convivality in Dublin (and around the country) to list – it would take up the whole page. It’s actually more difficult to find a bad bar. Start with The Palace on Fleet St. and ask the barman to suggest the next bar for you to visit. I bet everyone within earshot will have an opinion on what your next port of call should be – and they’ll be happy to share that with you.
Attractions and Entertainment
CAM trying on some of the paraphernalia provided at the Dublinia exhibit. A great stop for kids.
Fun things to see and do:
Update
Additional info from Kayt, one of the Travel Savvy moms: families with strollers get to go straight to the front of the line at the Guinness Museum. Thanks for the tip!
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I was trying to put some order on our digital photo collection over the weekend when I came across this photo. It was taken on a visit to Ireland with our children on beach near Kenmare, Ireland in September 2005. Those are my boys looking about the size of a pair of leprechauns in the photo. When rainbows shine so brightly, it’s no wonder there are folk legends about pots of gold!
When you arrive from the U.S., everything in Ireland can seem smaller. And it’s true, even Dublin, the capital city has a much lower profile than even a moderately-sized U.S. city like Seattle. There are no high-rise buildings. But when you leave the cities and go explore the small towns and villages like Kenmare, you start to get used to the differences in scale. And it’s so green and so picturesque.
We go to Ireland a lot. As I work through my photo collection, I’m sure I’ll add more posts with fun things to do with kids there. But mostly, we go to visit family. And sometimes, even with a just-a-family trip, something unusual happens: our 2005 trip was planned so that we could attend a sibling’s wedding. And on the day of the wedding, another sibling had a new baby. How often does your family grow by two on the same day ? Here’s CAM and BigB saying “Hi” to their new cousin Caoimhe.
Specifics
You can fly direct to Dublin (DUB) or Shannon (SNN) from many U.S. cities.
Jury’s Inns is a local mid-priced family-friendly hotel chain with locations in many cities in the U.K. and Ireland. They have family rooms which sleep 4 (not always easy to find in Europe).
Kids will love discovering castles and climbing stone walls. My kids particularly enjoyed the Bunratty Folk Park .
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