We’ve just had what can only be described as Irish hospitality on steroids.
At the last minute, we got in touch with Bernie, Kazza’s mum who lives in the midlands of Ireland, and asked if we could catch up with her or even maybe stay with her and husband Brendan. They were only too eager and after picking up our rental car from Dublin Airport, we drove (albeit the wrong way initially) to their house in what can only be described as the most idyllic Irish location you’ll see.
Quick geography lesson… Dublin is on the east coast and from east to west, it takes about 2.25hrs of solid driving. Bernie and Brendan live in Tullamore – right in the centre of the country, known as the Midlands.
For you whiskey fans, Tullamore might ring a bell. Tullamore Dew is one of Ireland’s most popular Irish Whiskeys with the town forming based around the distillery. The old warehouse is set on a canal right near the heart of the town of around 20,000 people, although it feels more like 3,000. Where we stayed in Bernie’s/Brendan’s house is on the opposite side of the canal and just down from the 200 year old warehouse.
So how would you describe Tullamore? Well – since it’s built on the back of whiskey, having a quiet drink is very much part of every day life here. There’s some 60 pubs in this small town with the main beverages on offer being Guinness (yes, everyone here drinks it unlike what people think about Australians and Fosters); Smithwicks (local beer which I thought was pretty ordinary), and then a few American beers of all things! Budweiser is really popular as is Coors with a couple of other European favourites – Carlsberg and Heineken. Of course whiskey is pretty popular too… but not that Scotch crap 😉
Life seems pretty enjoyable here. Things are a little less hectic than many of the places we’ve been and walking is pretty popular which is understandable given how nice the scenery is!
So that’s the history – here’s what we did…
We arrived to a very warm welcome on Sunday afternoon where as soon as we put down our bags, we were given a welcoming drink, a nice chat infront of the fire and started off as if we’d known each other forever. In fact, we’ve met Bernie maybe 3 times when she visited back in April and hadn’t met Brendan before. After our first drink, we were “encouraged” to eat this enormous roast lamb meal which was absolutely delicious along with partake in a few more drinks… As it turned out, Bernie’s cousin June turned up who is also very friendly and we had a great old chat.
After quite a few drinks, it was then time for the pub! This wasn’t looking good for the next day…
So at about 10pm, we walk down to the premier pub in town, the Bridge Hotel, to sample some of the fine drinks they have on offer. 3 pints of Guinness and 1 of Smithwicks was all I could get through to go with however many we had back at the house and Deb enjoyed a few smallish bottles of wine and home we went…
Let’s just say the next morning wasn’t great! hehe, but when in Ireland…
When we eventually did arise, June was back at the house as was Bernie’s brother, Paul. Now Paul is quite the character (the white Snoop Dog as Kazza calls him) and tried & loved the Palinka our Romanian family gave us. We can’t bring it back to Australia due to customs, so we’ve brought it out a few times on our trip and Paul is the first person who has liked it… but I kind of get the impression he’d like most things with a hint of alcohol in it! He put away at least half a dozen shots of this 60%+ stuff and took the bottle home. We’re now good friends! hehe
After we both swore off alcohol again for life, Brendan convinces me a pint is just the ticket… So off we go to a very traditional Irish pub. Bit different to the PJ O’Briens and similar we’re used to back home. The Guinness went down pretty well and I perked up a bit, so after some convincing, I said, “ok, 1 more…” and off to another pub we went. This happened a further 3 times, so we visited 4 pubs, drank another 4 pints of Guinness and a couple of whiskeys… Blooooody hell!
Deb & Bernie went for a more sensible choice of having a sandwich at the fancy part of the Bridge Hotel and visited a couple of the shops in town and had a very nice day before we caught up later at our final pub, Brendan’s local. Here we happened to bump into The Sarge, Brendan’s brother, and met a few of the locals including the 2 Noels & Kerry the barmaid. Absolutely amazing day… felt really at home and loved living how the locals do, well kind of!
That night Bernie took us out for dinner, as if she hadn’t done enough for us already, where we had a beautiful 4-course meal where even the entree was enough food. No shortage of potato either… no alcohol to be seen though!
We rolled home past the beautiful old warehouse, the canal and the lock after another nice chat infront of the fire, off to bed we went. We had planned one night here, but that was never going to be enough, so the 2nd night was fantastic and probably our best sleep of our trip.
So Wednesday we awoke with a fair bit of energy and felt good again! Bernie took us to the Warehouse where they do a history tour of the distillery and the town. Great fun! It’s a hands-on thing where you can play with pretty much anything which we did probably more than most…
At the end we got a famous Irish coffee which we all enjoyed (so much for an alcohol free day as planned) and Bernie had planned a lunch for us. One of Bernie’s sisters, Trish, joined us as well as we ate some delicious food (food’s a big thing over here – I know I’ve mentioned it a few times…) and watched the massive media coverage of the Royal engagement of Prince William and Kate. The BBC sure know how to drag something out!
After a bit of a sad goodbye and many, many thank yous to our very gracious hosts for their incredible hospitality, it was off to our next destination – Galway, the very old and pretty town on the west coast of the country.
We had a pretty easy drive there with some beautiful scenery to keep us entertained before finding our hotel next to a raging river. We both thought you could white-water raft that thing… We got drenched (apparently it rains a bit over here… who knew?) as we walked around the town and settled on a pub for a meal.
We had been toying with the idea of going down to Limerick (a town south of Galway, about 90mins drive) where the Australian Rugby Union team were playing against a provincial side, Munsta. It was getting late and I did a look online and there were only tickets (maybe) at the gate and no parking (buses from the town only), so it all seemed a bit hard. I watched it on TV and boy was I glad we didn’t go… terrential rain, gale-force wind to the point that if you kicked into the wind, the ball would end up going backwards and to top it off, the Australians bloody lost to a provincial side!
This morning, we left the hotel early and drove up the coastline which is a mecca for B&Bs in amongst the tiny towns that have been there for centuries. This is the main part of the country where Irish is the first language for most people. Just like everywhere else, it’s very, very pretty everywhere you look. The stone fences, the moss growing on the roofs, the wind-swept trees and large boulders everywhere… Absolutely gorgeous. Would love to spend more time in and around there, particularly in the warmer months.
From there, we drove back across the country to Dublin, dropped the car off and out to tea at a very popular chinese restaurant. We walked up the river boardwalk with the beautiful lights on the bridges and then past the Christmas decorations in the main streets… Fantastic night!
Tomorrow is a full day in Dublin before we catch a ferry to Wales on Friday. Hiring a car to drive down to London via a few places we want to see and before we know it, we’re on a plane on Tuesday to Singapore!
A massive thanks again to Bernie & Brendan for having us and treating us so well! We absolutely loved staying there and hope they visit Australia sometime soon!
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