Day 8 & 9: Boyne Valley & Dublin

Today we left Bundoran and drove along the picturesque shores of Lower Lough Erne to Enniskillen.

As you pass through the midland region of Ireland notice the different types of farms and bustling market towns. Near Navan we visit the Boyne Valley Visitor Centre to learn about nearby prehistoric burial sites through exhibits and audio-visual presentations. We could not get into the real site, but did get a walk through a full-sized replica of the largest tumulus, Newgrange.

We then dropped off some of our new friends at the airport for their flight home and then drove into Dublin to Jury's Croke Park hotel  once more. 

Day 9: This was our extra day in Dublin. A number of the group stayed on for an extra day. Too bad it really poured down the rain. Not a great place to walk around in the rain for sure, but we hopped the city tour bus and used it well to see more sights of Dublin.

On a final note as to the cuisine , we did eat at Fitzer's in the Temple Bar area this first night  and it was awesome. I also cannot get over how well trained all the servers are and so very professional. Something we have a definite problem with here in our town.

Everyone also kept asking about.....LAMB....Al & I decided in light of the foul weather the next evening, we would eat at the hotel at Jury's Croke Park.

IT was the BEST meal of the entire trip. I wanted lamb so bad and I got a really good meal from our hotel chef. The chef was very conscientious I could tell. I watched him with the sous chefs in the kitchen the entire time and I think he knew it! He kept a close eye on our table as well to see that we were satisfied. WE WERE!

We headed for the airport bright and early the next day. We wanted to be sure to allow enough time. We did...about 3 hours more than we needed. But the cabbie, told us traffic got really bad later on in the morning so it was good that we got there early. We ate breakfast at the airport and had to wait outside of the security area for more than 3 hours before we could get into our section.

We both swear next time we bring carry on's with rollers as we never realized we would have to walk the distances in the airports that we did.  And me... I promise to pack lighter. Al says " if I can't pick up the bag myself...it doesn't go!"  I'll be anxious for the next time to give it another try.

We had a great first experience traveling abroad and would recommend the CIE tours to everyone!
Best wishes to all our traveling friends!