John M.
Yelp
Note: all my recent vacation in Ireland Yelp reviews will have the same 1st paragraph preamble, for just the review itself skip to the 2nd paragraph.
On a whirlwind 2 week vacation to Ireland, the girlfriend & I tried to see & experience absolutely as much of this incredible land as we could. We did not accomplish every last activity we wished we could have on our rather ambitious itinerary. Nonetheless, we did discover a land of numerous stunning & magical wonders. We did see a land of unending natural beauty. We did learn of a land with a monumentally long history of trials, tragedies & triumphs. We did get to meet many kind, humorous, warm & generous people. Our vacation to Ireland was just 2 weeks, but that was time enough to know this is a land easy to love & a land to be sorely missed.
Saying goodbye to Dublin for now, the girlfriend & I would ultimately end the day in Killarney, which would be our new home in Ireland for the next few nights. Along the way, we took a detour down through the Wicklow Mountains with a stop at the Powerscourt Estate.
For just €6 apiece, we toured the Powerscourt Gardens & House at our own leisure. The well manicured grounds are expansive with a beautiful mountain & valley backdrop in the distance. Along our way around the gardens, we came across a stone tower, a Japanese garden area, Dolphin Pond, a pet cemetery & walled garden areas. This was quite the lovely place to go for a walk & survey how the outlandishly wealthy of a bygone era once lived. Nowadays it might be all about the Gulfstream G650 or the fleet of Ferraris, but Powerscourt was how bling was done way, way back in the day.
The Powerscourt Gardens & House are quite impressive & served as a nice place for the girlfriend & I to stretch our legs on a long driving day. Though we certainly took the long way from Dublin to Killarney, it was just as much about the journey as the destination.