Ireland, Driving + The 3 W’s
Landed, safe and sound. Had to hit the ground running, despite the time difference when we landed. (It was 2am back at home!) Who cares – when in Ireland, right?
Day one was jammed packed with things to do and places to go. Right off the bat, we needed to get our car rental. Mind you, if you don’t know already, driving in Ireland is on the RIGHT side of the car, on the LEFT side of the road. Completely opposite of what we do in America. Kind of intimidating, if you ask me. Three people were put on the rental – you can guess we weren’t going to let my dad drive in a foreign country. Let alone on the “wrong” side of the road. That would be dangerous! Haha.
Driving
Out of the three eligible drivers, I want nominated to drive first. I had to get us to Waterford and through any city in between Dublin and there. Geez, the pressure! Luckily, I got used to driving opposite, relatively quickly. Sure, it took a few close calls. I tended to naturally drift to the left – just ask my brother who was my shotgun passenger – but eventually, I got the hang of it. I ended up driving MOST of the trip. My brother stepped up a few days and allowed me to be a full-on tourist, but my mom never actually got behind the wheel of the car. (So much for that money spent on an extra driver – ugh!)
Needless to say, we did so much driving around the country. We took highways and side roads. Lots of twists and turns. Pretty exhilarating experience! We stopped at so many places I will probably forget some along the way. But our first stops, on day one, were to the Three W’s…with Waterford being our home base for the first evening.
Find out the “knows of Ireland driving” in a future post called “Ireland, The Knows & Lessons Learned”.
Wicklow
Wicklow was one of those towns we didn’t originally plan on stopping in. It just came up, along the road, as we drove. And the main reason we stopped? The captivating coast line and the BEACH! I mean, I was in heaven almost immediately.
This town (or is it city?) seemed to function off its little port. We knew nothing about Wicklow, except it housed ruins of an old castle, built on a Viking fort. We got out and explored the area a little; it gave us a chance to stretch our legs a little more from the flight. And that was the beginning of our Viking adventure…and main reason why we were headed to Waterford!
PS. The heart rock was literally the FIRST thing I saw when I got out of the car in Wicklow. You can’t make that sh*t up – heart in Ireland? Any significance? Wish I knew what the universe was trying to tell me…the heart is displayed on a shelf in my house, now. Good memory of such a beautiful place <3
Wexford
Not going to lie, I don’t even remember anything significant about Wexford…except the W! I won’t waste any time on it, since I would clearly be making things up 🙂
Waterford
Waterford. Waterford. Waterford.
My mom picked this location to be our first major stop on our trip. Once she took over the itinerary, I stopped reading about locations to visit in Ireland – she didn’t! She probably went above and beyond, actually. But bless her, Waterford was definitely a good choice.
So, why did she pick Waterford to be our base for the night? Waterford crystal – definitely. But there was more…VIKINGS! You should know I have a tad bit of an obsession with Vikings (and no, not the football team). THE Vikings. And in LOVE with the History channel show. Hmmm!
Through research, my mom found out that Waterford was the first place the Vikings landed, making it Ireland’s oldest city. How cool is that! So, she insisted that we make our way from Dublin to Waterford and stay the evening. That way we could rest before a day of exploring and learning all about Vikings.
Side note: In Waterford, we stayed in a hostel. It was a first for my family – not me, of course. Ironically, they didn’t squawk. Probably helped we stayed in our own room and wasn’t in a communal room or shared bathroom. Either way, way to go family! You survived your first hostel. (It was my request to bunk in hostels and B&B’s the whole trip, so I am proud of my family.)
What does Waterford have to offer?
- Lots and lots of Viking stuff like Reginald’s Tower – the apex of the city and point of the Viking Triangle. There is a museum in the reconstructed tower that provides a great deal of information. There is also a Viking boat in front. Plenty of photo-ops and even more history to learn.
- Waterford Crystal store and tour. We didn’t go on the tour, but did some shopping in the store. WOW! We even got to see a crystal engraver at work. Fancyyyy!
- Viking Triangle – within VT, there are 3 museums and 11 touristy stops, such as an old cathedral, City Hall and a few historical houses.
I forgot to mention the rain we had our first full day. It was coming downnnn, and we didn’t think it was going to let up. Eventually, it did and we had perfect weather from there on out. Thankfully, we all expected rain and lucked out with only that half day.
Waterford was a quaint little town, but our time there was short – essentially 1 day and 1 night. Then we were off to the famous Killarney – which ended up being my favorite town for a few reasons <3
Stay tuned next time, featuring Killarney and the small towns along the way.