Ireland travels - the food

I have touched on a few meals and restaurants in my Ireland recaps, but this post is about normal, day-to-day, supermarket food. If you're like me, that is just as exciting as meals out (although I do appreciate the rest of the world may have a higher threshold for excitement).

In my naivety, I thought supermarkets in Ireland would be the same as in England. To be honest, I have a slightly skewed, inappropriate concept of the country. Until we visited, I saw the southern Republic of Ireland as still being affiliated with the UK. If I'm really honest, I thought I wouldn't even need my passport to visit (!). Suffice to say, the Republic of Ireland is not part of the UK, I did need my passport, and they have their own supermarkets.

Having said that, they do have Tesco, which we have, and Marks and Spencer food, which is quintessentially British. Even they stock slightly different foods though, and the mainstay of Irish supermarkets is SuperValu. We really liked SuperValu.

Surprisingly vegan

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Ireland travels - a final stretch up the west coast (Dingle Peninsula, Burren National Park, Galway)

My Ireland recaps have been incredibly drawn out, but this is the final summary of our travels, other than one food-specific post to follow at some point.

The west coast of Ireland has some amazing scenery and it was a nice finish to our time in the country. Unfortunately, the area is also renowned for being particularly rainy and our time there was particularly wet! Even so, it was enjoyable and we managed to see things through the rain.

Views off the Dingle Peninsula

We did the Dingle Peninsula as a day trip from Killarney (discussed in my last Ireland post), as it is only an hour or so to drive between the two areas. Like the Ring of Kerry from Killarney, the Dingle Peninsula provides a loop drive with scenic views and small town stops. There are also ancient ring forts and other stone ruins and churches. The peninsula is the western most point of Europe and on a clear day the views extend far into the distance.

Connor's Pass

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Ireland travels - Killarney National Park

After our brief stops in Kilkenny and Cork, we continued our Irish driving by heading further south to Killarney. Killarney town is just outside Killarney National Park, and the region is home to stunning scenery and plenty of outdoor activities. It also features the Ring of Kerry drive, a loop around the Iveragh Peninsula and some of County Kerry's most beautiful views.

Killarney national park

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Ireland travels - Kilkenny, Cork, and Eddie Rocket's diner

With all the excitement of the marathon (thanks so much for your congratulations!), I nearly forgot about my unfinished Ireland posts. After Dublin and surrounds, we drove south to spend one night in Kilkenny and another in Cork. Both are reasonably major towns in south-east Ireland, although Kilkenny is much smaller than Cork (~25,000 people versus 120,000).  

Kilkenny is distinguished by a large castle and an attractive riverside setting. It is easy to walk around and we spent our time in the town by visiting the castle and climbing the round tower of St Canice's Cathedral.

Kilkenny castle (rear view)

There are numerous round towers around Ireland but only two of them can be climbed. It was Mr Bite who determined that the Kilkenny tower was one of them, and having realised that, we thought we should avail ourselves of the opportunity. The tower is closed if the weather is poor, but luckily we visited on a fair day.  

Round tower at St Canice's Cathedral, Kilkenny

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Ireland travels - Newgrange, Trim, and the Wicklow Mountains

Our Ireland holiday is starting to recede into memory, so I am keen to share some more recaps while the details are relatively fresh. Today's post takes in three separate places, two of which (Newgrange and Trim) could be done together on one day, as we did, and all of which could be done as day trips from Dublin. From Dublin, Newgrange is a 50 minute drive north, Trim a 50 minute drive north-west, and the Wicklow mountains a 70 minute drive south.

Newgrange passage tomb from afar

Newgrange is part of the Brú na Bóinne world heritage site, which contains three prehistoric passage tombs. Newgrange is one of them, and the only passage tomb you can enter inside. The construction of the tombs is thought to have commenced around 3300BC and they are older than the Egyptian pyramids as well as England's Stonehenge. They also contain the largest collection of megalithic art in Western Europe. 

Entrance to the Newgrange tomb

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Ireland travels - Cornucopia Wholefood and Vegetarian Restaurant, Dublin

The Cornucopia Wholefood and Vegetarian Restaurant has graced Dublin's streets since 1986, which means it is almost as old as me. It also means that if you are vegetarian or vegan and have been to Dublin, you may well have visited this place. If you haven't, it is very much worth visiting.

Cornucopia; the long take away queue, cozy seating, and salad selections

I had Cornucopia marked as a potential spot to visit and managed to fit two visits in over our three days in the Dublin area. Not a bad hit rate! It helped that it is centrally located in the south city area, around the corner from Trinity College. It also helped that there was a (non-veggie) crepe restaurant nearby. On the two occasions I got food from Cornucopia, Mr Bite had crepes. We ate in the grounds of Trinity College on trip one, and in the nearby St Stephen's Green on trip two.

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Ireland travels - Dublin and surrounds

Why, hello! I didn't intend to drop off the radar for nearly a week. However, Ireland has been rather lulling and between sight-seeing, 20 mile running and catch up sleeping, blogging hasn't really fit into my schedule. I suspect it will take me a while to work through our trip (and there are still 4 days to go), but I'm taking the opportunity to share some of our time in Dublin today.

Dublin's River Liffey

Ireland has been full of surprises thus far. It isn't as green as I'd expected, and there are sections of shrub and heath that almost remind me of Australia (although not quite). The people are amazingly friendly. The roads are generally wide and often empty, and there are lots of runners and cyclists. Houses are often painted in attractive vibrant colours.

Colourful architecture, near Dublin Castle

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