The cemetery in the ruined monastery complex at Glendalough
I was actually looking forward to breakfast this morning. It was time again for another batch of homemade bread and fruit salad. I happily ate my meal while exchanging pleasantries with an American couple on vacation (I was seriously beginning to doubt that I was in a foreign country). After the meal, I went upstairs to pack. We checked out of the hotel around 10 a.m. The bill was IŁ85/night. The room was a triple with bathroom, a television, and a phone. While the room was great and the breakfasts were superb, I'm not sure that it was worth that amount of money. While I recommend the Morehampton Townhouse, I have to say that I'll probably try staying somewhere else if I go back to Dublin.
We grabbed the bus outside the hotel and went back to Dun Laoghaire. There, we rented a car from County Car Rentals. A Toyota Corolla cost us IŁ165 for three days. That cost was with insurances, taxes, and everything else. There was also an additional IŁ15 charge for dropping the car off at a location other than Dun Laoghaire. We then set off for our trip across Ireland.
In planning the trip across Ireland, I was trying to take into account the stories I had heard about the poor condition of Irish roads. I was imagining mile after mile of narrow, curvy two lane roads with barely enough room for two cars to pass each other. So, I decided to follow the model set by the tour groups. In studying their itineraries, I found that they typically travel 200 km per day, while stopping twice. Given that model, I figured we'd be in Portlaoise on the night of the 4th, Roscommon on the night of the 5th, and Drogheda on the night of the 6th. So, I made accomodation reservations in Portlaoise and Roscommon. But, I didn't make any in Drogheda just in case we had a change in plans.
The plans did change. Not because we found new areas to visit, but because we made better time on the roads than I had thought we would make. The roads are much better than what is related in folklore. They are comparable to any decent two-lane road in the United States. They even have some four-lane highway in parts of the country. Only in one stretch did we find the stereotypical Irish road (I'll mention that later). But, the better than expected roads enabled us to cover much more ground than I had expected.
We went south from Dun Laoghaire. After a short while, we made the turn toward the Sally Gap in the Wicklow Mountains. The abundance of heather and the windswept mountain scenery reminded me of Scotland (considering how much I love Scotland, that's a big compliment). We began descending from the Sally Gap and arrived above the valley of Glenmacnass. We stopped at the top of the waterfall on the edge of the valley to take a couple of pictures and then continued our descent. After a while, we arrived in Glendalough. We spent a couple of hours there. We wanted to stay longer; however, we also wanted to see Enniscorthy Castle before it closed. So, we got back on the road. The trip from Glendalough to Enniscorthy that I thought would take an hour and a half took only 50 minutes. We toured Enniscorthy Castle and headed off toward Portlaoise.
We made great time between Enniscorthy and Portlaoise. Since it became apparent that we were going to make Portlaoise by 6 p.m., I started getting some pressure to cancel our reservation in there and just keep going until it got dark. However, I resisted that pressure for two reasons. First, I thought it was too late to cancel. Second, I had heard how hard it was to get a room in Ireland during vacation season. While we hadn't experienced any difficulty in getting a room in Ireland up until that point, I had no desire to experience it then. So, we stuck with our plan to stay in Portlaoise. However, I agreed to cancel the reservation in Roscommon for the next night so that we could find somewhere else to go.
Faced with the prospect of a long night in Portlaoise, I was glad that we were able to find the ruins of the Rock of Dunamase. After touring those ruins, we continued on to Portlaoise. We stayed at O'Laughlin's Hotel. Prices for the rooms are IŁ30 for a single, IŁ50 for a double, and IŁ75 for a triple. All rooms have their own bathroom, television, and phone. While the rooms were comfortable, the part of the building we were in was one of the weirdest places in which I've stayed. It had recently been added on to the rest of the complex. The construction techniques used to build it showed that it had been hastily added. Not only was the hallway leading to the rooms at a downward angle (leaving one to think it was going to fall any minute), it was also curved. Talk about a disorienting effect! Throw in the psychedelic blue carpet they put in the hall and you have a visual guaranteed to make one nauseous.
O'Laughlin's also has a restaurant and pub on the first floor of the building. We had dinner there. They served a lot of food for the price. We had club sandwiches with fries at a cost of IŁ5 per person. It was a pretty good deal. Plus, if you eat there, they can just add it to the cost of your room.
Portlaoise gets my vote as the most boring town in Ireland. We wondered
around after we ate to try to see what was happening. There was nothing.
I don't know if it's the fact that the largest prison in Ireland is just
outside the city limits, but this town is dead in the evenings. If you can
avoid this place, keep on driving. There are much nicer towns not far from
it. And yes, I got a lot of flack from everyone for making us stay in a
boring place like Portlaoise.
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