Continued from Planning Your Trip to Ireland Part 4

NORTH FROM THE RING OF KERRY
Driving back towards Shannon airport is the bustling town of Limerick. Frank McCourt did not write the most flattering things about it in Angela’s Ashes, but he’s a bit of a northern Irishman in temperament, and it has changed a great deal. It has all of the modern conveniences of any Irish city, and some historical sites as well.
Everyone in the world has heard of the Blarney Stone, but there is an amazing castle that goes with it!
Nearby is another magnificent castle, Bunratty, with a folk park attached.
In both castles you can experience a medieval banquet several nights a week, and the mead, a sort of honey wine, is to die for.
At Bunratty, the folk park recaptures what traditional Irish life would have been like in a series of cottages complete with animals. There are some great pubs nearby with terrific menus. Even though you are so close to the city of Limerick, you’ll really feel like you’ve stepped right back in time.
THE SHANNON AREA
As we’ve said, you can always opt to go back to America when your honeymoon is over via Shannon Airport, rather than have to return to Dublin. Just make sure they know you are planning a one-way rental.
This trip around the southern part of Ireland from Dublin to Cork, and from Cork on to Shannon Airport which we have been describing should take you anywhere from a week to two weeks depending on how much stopping you do.
The Shannon river itself is a mighty sight, and now, thanks to some engineering first started in the 1840s during the Irish Potato Famine, and completed in the late 1990s, you can rent a cruiser and go all the way up the river to Northern Ireland, to the lake districts of Upper and Lower Lough Erne. There are many historic and sacred sites to visit along the way.

Continues in the article:
Planning Your Trip to Ireland Part 6