Showing posts with label Ireland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ireland. Show all posts

02 February 2014

Our Best Stays, Family Style

February 02, 2014 0
Emma, and Kelly, my fellow England bloggers invited me to participate in their link up about our most memorable night's sleep.  It's difficult to narrow it down to one, so I'll share a few.

Being a family of 5 and finding places to stay while traveling can be a lengthy process.  Surprisingly though, I enjoy the challenge of finding that perfect place that's nice, inexpensive and convenient.  

Most hotels don't work for us.  Then you have the challenge of finding a holiday rental that will allow you to rent for shorter than a week.

It might take some time, but we always manage to find something.

Here are a few of my favorite stays.

Altea, Spain - September 2010


 Look at that view!!  This was such an amazing last minute score.  All you can see was water!  Out on the balcony you can see the small street and short beach area and hear the waves lapping on the rocks.  Being a rocky beach keeps the numbers down, which we like.

I actually enjoyed waking up early before the rest of the family to capture these sunrises.


Benalmadena, Spain - June 2011




We didn't have an ocean view, but the pool view was pretty!


Benalmadena is located about 25 minutes south of Malaga.  We fell in love with the quieter beaches when we'd visited this area before on our crazy quick trip.



Brighton, England - April 2012


We stayed in a lovely little cottage on a twitten.




Homer, Alaska - September 2012


We stayed in the Land's End Hotel located at the end of the Homer Spit.  A place I grew up going every summer to camp and deep sea fish for halibut.  I always dreamed of staying in this hotel as a kid.


Fort William, Scotland - August 2013
Dalchreggan Guest House


It's easier to find a B&B in the UK that holds a family  We had a nice large room.  The down side, it's extremely awkward and embarrassing if your kid decides to have a fit!  Yeah, that happened!

And one that I think will go down in history for us and that we would return to time and again would be our lovely stay on the border of Lahich in Liscannor, Ireland at Rannagh View.


This gorgeous house was so spacious and beautiful and had great views.  We were in awe of how nice it was.  The owner was so nice and the wife had fresh baked scones for us.



Aww, the view!


And that's our best stays, family style.

Where has been your best stay on your travels?


28 January 2014

Road Trip: Ireland Ruins, Castles and The Burren

This will be my last post about our trip through County Clare, Ireland.  I hope you've enjoyed coming along with us.  It was such a great trip!  You can see my previous posts here if you haven't already.

I know not everyone feels comfortable driving on the other side of the road (whether you drive on the left or right).  It was one of my biggest fears moving to England.  It's nice to have conquered that and now I feel quite comfortable driving on the left.  Not so sure about going back to the right!!  My brain will be so confused!

On our first trip to Ireland in 2005 we walked, took public buses and occasionally had a ride from our Bed & Breakfast hosts who also ran a taxi service from their home.  We enjoyed walking next to fields of cows and along the edge of the Cliffs of Moher.  This time around we brought our car and we got to see a lot more.  Both were great experiences!

All that to say, I can't recommend enough taking a road trip through Ireland!  We loved getting off the beaten path to stop at random spots.

One day we went down a road like this.....



.....just so we could see this!

_A300302

Ireland is full of some amazing ruins!

cemetary & church ruins, Ireland

IMG_3936


IMG_3928

IMG_3458

IMG_3455

I love this shot of my father-in-law chatting with a local man who came to visit his sister's grave.

IMG_3467

Untitled

IMG_3937

The ruins alone are quite impressive, but then there are the castles!  Oh my!!

Doonagore Castle sits above the town of Doolin.  Currently, it is a private holiday home.  What a view!

Doonagore Castle, Doolin, Ireland

We had to stop and take a look at the impressive Bunratty Castle.  We didn't have time to go through it, but it looks amazing!

IMG_4002

The Burren, a karst topography (eroding bedrock) is one of the largest in Europe at 96 square miles.

_A270112

IMG_3313

I loved watching my kids watch the waves while dad snaps photos.

IMG_3314

That wraps up our Ireland trip.  Hope you've enjoyed the tour!

Linking up with Bonnie!

A Compass Rose

20 January 2014

Lahinch, Ireland

About time I got back to our Ireland trip, huh?!  You can see my previous posts here and here.
Sea foam in Lahinch!

It was so foamy and windy that it would blow up into town.  We all had patches of foam all over our coats.

Craziness!




LOVE!


On a calmer day.



We absolutely fell in love with Lahinch when Jerry and I came in 2005.  It's small and quaint, but packed with several restaurants and shops.  It is home to the Lahinch Golf Club, rated one of the top links golf courses in the world, and is a popular location for surfing.

IMG_3518

IMG_3442

We didn't have Starbucks or other chain restaurants, but we weren't hurting for good food!


Irish Stew.....


.....and Seafood Chowder were consumed just about on a daily basis.  Yum!


 Bringing the cows in.  We did our best to keep our car out of the way.  I love this about Ireland!


 One evening in town we had a rare treat to see this beautiful sunset.


I'll be sharing one more post on our Ireland trip, so stay tuned!

Deeper

  Deeper - adj. 1. extending or situated relatively far down from a surface: a deep pool. It's been a long time since I've ...