The Ireland Diaries | Coastal Views, Gougane Barra & Lakes of Killarney

Thursday, April 27, 2017

So over the Easter break I spent a lovely week in Ireland, visiting my friend Audrey. I had never been to Ireland before but had planned to visit for the longest time so naturally I came with a long list of places I wanted to see. I had the best time travelling around West Cork and up the West Coast, looking at cliffs and marvelling at the beauty of the Irish coastline, looking at tiny fishing villages and colourful artsy houses all the time accompanied by the best native tour guide a girl could wish for!

I arrived at Dublin Airport on Sunday the 9th of April and caught a bus to Cork city from there. It's a three and a half hour journey on the bus, going through miles and miles of Irish wilderness and was an experience in and of itself. When I finally arrived at Cork's Patrick's Quay I got picked up by my friend and been taken to the family home for a lovely dinner and chats. After that we made our way to our home for the week - Aud's awesome holiday home in Clonakilty - right by the seaside, absolute bliss! Save to say I was shattered and after a little glass of white wine, it was off to bed for us.

Monday treated us to sunny and even quite warm weather so it was the perfect day for what we had planned. After a breakfast of porridge and tea we got in the car and made our way along countless winding country roads to Gougane Barra, such a magical place! We had some tea and scones to keep us going then went exploring around the lake. I can see why apparently lots of Irish people get married here, it's so so beautiful! But see for yourselves :)

After having walked around the lake and the island for a while, we headed back to the car and hit the road to Killarney - top of my list of places I wanted to visit. I loved everything about the lakes!!! We stopped at Muckross House, had a wander around the grounds then started making our way around Muckross lake, en route to the Torc waterfalls. You can probably tell by the amount of photos I took that I absolutely loved it here! I would move into Muckross House right away no problem! So we walked around, filled our lungs with clean air, took loads of photos and had a lovely time all around.

Come back tomorrow for more photos from this beautiful part of the world and to see more of my trip to Ireland in the second part of my Ireland Diaries :)

Lots of Love,
Jess xx