Today it was time to say farewell to Sligo and start heading back south. Our next stop is Westport, an extremely charming city near the coast in County Mayo. We got out of our hotel at the semi-reasonable time of 9:45, and were pleased to discover that our luggage fitted marginally better into our marginally larger rental car. Alas, the weather was still cool and rainy.

Our Airbnb in Westport is in the heart of the city, amidst picture book Irish pubs, shops, and restaurants. Also amidst much traffic. Bob did a valiant job steering us through the narrow one-way streets until we found the parking lot near our apartment and snagged the last possible space. (People park creatively here. There were cars in every possible place, including up on the stones surrounding a central statue. In order to get into our space, Bob had to ease past another car parked on the curb just in front of it.)

We set out to explore the town a bit, enjoying the abundant petunia displays and the quaint shops. Plan A for today was to rent bikes and set out along the Great Western Greenway, a renowned bike path running along the coast and part of Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way. Plan B was to climb nearby Croagh Patrick. Plan C was to rent kayaks on the bay. Unfortunately, the cold and rain made all of these somewhat unappealing. We went with Plan D, which was visiting nearby Westport House. This is a historic estate originally owned by the Grace O’Malley, the Pirate Queen of Connacht. It was only a 1 km walk away, mostly through a park that surrounds it. Unfortunately upon arrival we found that the house is closed for renovations, so Plan D was also thwarted. But we were still able to take a long walk around the estate, through lovely woodlands and along the lake and rivers, so it was still a worthwhile trip.

Plan E (which would have been Plan A for Nadia all along) never fails us — we found a local escape room. The rain finally relented so we were able to stay dry during the half hour walk. (Once our car is safely parked, especially in a place like busy downtown Westport, we are very reluctant to move it again.). The room was very fun and the proprietor Karolina was so kind and welcoming (like many people we’ve met here). We managed to escape in 31 minutes, thus earning our family a spot on the 2026 leaderboard. And astonishingly, since we escaped in roughly half the time, Karolina only charged us half price! Never had that happen before.

For dinner Nadia had her eye on a Thai place in town, and it did not disappoint. Despite Ireland’s not exactly having a reputation as a food mecca, we’ve had excellent meals here all along — both more traditional (fish and chips, Irish beef, etc.) and non (Korean and Thai). The restaurants have been packed, too — for this one, we had to leave our names at 6:30 and return at 7:30.

One thing we learned when we arrived in Ireland was that the Gaelic football finals were being held on that Sunday, Mayo vs. Kerry. And Mayo emerged victorious, for the first time in 75 years. As we drove to Westport (in the heart of Mayo), there were green and red flags and signs everywhere, and about 50% of the populace were wearing green and red jerseys. Even though it was now Monday, the following day, the celebrations weren’t over. As we had dinner and walked around the town, fans were streaming in. We’d planned to go to a pub for some Irish music, but it took us a while to find one that had any space at all. Eventually we were able to squeeze in and have some pints at a place that was playing the Saw Doctors on the stereo, which made Bob very happy.

The fans outside set up an impromptu parade ,with cars driving by bearing Mayo flags and hanging out the windows to cheer. By the time we left the pub, the streets were filled with revelers, drinking and singing. It was quite a scene. Our apartment is set a bit removed from the main street (in an interesting warren of apartments called The Kiln), so luckily it wasn’t too noisy — but Bob and I did hear occasional snatches of chants and songs well into the night. It was reminiscent of the time when we coincidentally ended up in Paris on the night that France won the World Cup.

People probably don’t need a primer on Irish weather. It’s rainy. Our first day in Sligo suggested otherwise, but our second day of soggy mountain climbing and drizzly beachgoing proved the original postulate.

Of course, Ireland is also said to be quite a magical place, and in between the raindrops on day three we got proof of this as well.

We took to the road again on a slimmed-down version of Jen’s original itinerary, which had us traveling farther north. That was partly due to yesterday’s heavy driving to Shannon and back, and partly due to a general late start as our bodies are all still processing the marathon travel day that started this trip.

Our inkeeper, who has been spot on with his restaurant recommendations so far, was very positive about a few of the closer locations on the spread sheet. He also said one of the places on our spreadsheet also had a good restaurant connected to it.

That’s how we ended up first at the Glencar Waterfall just over the border in County Leitrim. It was a short walk, overseen by a curious army of sheep, and we managed to coordinate the end of our walk with the opening of the excellent tea shed near the car park.

Another waterfall was reported to be just a few minutes up the narrow, narrow road, but there were no parking spaces and also no tea room in evidence, so we kept on going to our next featured stop: Streedagh Beach on a fine finger of land only 20 minutes drive away.

Here we found plenty of surf and sand playing host to a healthy community of kite surfers. At this point we also discovered today’s particular brand of Irish magic. It rained fairly steadily while we were in the car, but at both of the first two distinations, the rain stopped as soon as we parked. This was a pattern that would happily hold for us the entire day.

It was so sunny and non-rainy that Zoe decided it was time for a swim. None of us came to the same conclusion.

Not that the rest of us were opposed to the sea. The sea is good. So when clouds started to roll in at the beach, we scurried Zoe out of the waves and got back in the car for the next leg of our trip, a driving tour of the Mullaghmore Peninsula. This lovely section of what is now known as the Wild Atlantic Way (it was previously just known as the west coast of Ireland) gave us our first real taste of the drama that awaits every time the ocean comes into contact with this particular land mass.

There is a castle here, but they are smart about it and keep it in the distance so it doesn’t compete with the sea foam and rocks and such. The area is peppered liberally with sheep, which is also a good call because their aloof demeanor seems to fit into any setting. Add to the picture some improbably placed stone walls and a needlessly thin ribbon or roadway and you have a good idea of what it looks like.

It looks even better when the rain stops and the sun comes out as soon as you pull over onto the meager verge.

Once again in transit as soon as the rain re-appeared, we found ourselves in the last attraction of the afternoon, the Gleniff Horsehoe. Here we navigated a winding half-loop into a canyon with steep green sides and seemingly no peaks. Everything ended in the day’s low clouds, until, of course, we stopped a particularly dramatic location with a waterfall, abandoned farmhouse and sheep clinging to impossibly steep hillsides way, way above the valley floor.

Then, the rain stopped and the clouds gradually thinned, unveiling craggy mountain tops with drama. The drama rivaled that of the sea earlier in the day. .

After that, there was little else to do but return to the lodge (by day three, the driving part is becoming less of a story) and find a place for dinner. An interesting note: tonight’s dinner was remarkable not because the recommendation came from our inkeeper. Jen’s Korean fried chicken was very proudly advertised as “As seen on TikTok.”

Score one for the socials.

The plan for today was to have a nice relaxing day wandering around Sligo, to recover from our long travel day. The reality was that, due to the previously mentioned rental car snafu, Bob and I had to drive back to Shannon airport, two and a half hours away, to return one rental car and pick up another. It had to be back before 10, so this also involved a 6:45 am wake-up time — also not what we would usually prefer on our first day after a night of missed sleep.

Fortunately, due to being somewhat more rested and not stacked in the car like sardines with three miserable children and piles of luggage, the drive didn’t seem nearly as long and torturous today. It was exciting driving on the N17, the road made famous (to us) by a well-loved song by Irish band the Saw Doctors. We each drove one way, and exchanged the car without difficulty. Our new car is marginally larger so we have hopes that we won’t have to ride with our luggage on our laps. Both cars we’ve rented here have had the feature of beeping madly anytime you exceed the speed limit, so there’s little chance of us getting a speeding ticket.

By the time we got back around 1:15, the girls had only slightly roused themselves. Zoe and Lanie had made it out for breakfast and a short walk, and Nadia hadn’t even left our lodge. The weather was not entirely inviting — the blue skies of the previous day had given way to a steady drizzle. Nevertheless, we bravely got back in the car and set out for Knocknarea, a mountain a short distance away that was sacred to the people who lived here in 4000BC. The top is a huge monument of stones covering a tomb, supposedly of the legendary Queen Maeve.

The weather did not improve. By the time we’d climbed a bit of the mountain, we’d ascended into the clouds and the light drizzle had changed to a steady rain. The glorious ocean views that had been promised were nothing but gray mist. As a consolation, the trail was lined throughout with many cows and sheep, which proved to be considerably more popular with the girls than the cairn that we eventually reached.

After Knocknarea, we decided to forego additional outings that promised vistas, and instead headed to a nearby beach. Sligo is surrounded with beaches, famous for their large waves and popular with surfers. Strandhill Beach, recommended by the host at our lodge, was not short on drama. Sadly for Zoe, there was no swimming, but we could see line after line of breakers rolling in off the Atlantic and crashing on the shore. We took a walk along the water then went for snacks and gelato at the cute seaside restaurant that our host also recommended. This did much to lift dampened spirits.

Dinner was a pleasant stroll into town. Sligo is so beautiful and inviting. We walk in along the river, huge bright clumps of petunias hanging from every lamppost and charming footbridges stretching across. The downtown is vibrant and quaint, with any number of Irish pubs featuring live music and high-quality restaurants. Most of us were ready for bed after dinner, but Zoe and Lanie were intrepid enough to head out again for an evening pint.

A scheduling snafu left us in Shannon Airport without a reserved rental car for 24 hours. We are quick thinking people and we thought of a work around that led to at least two significant consequences:

1.) We ended up getting a lot of practice over our first two days in Ireland on how to drive here. I’ll mention more about this later.

2.) We got to go off-script and visit the closest major city, Limerick, which happened to have a rental car available for us for the day. Here’s how that went:

We took the #342 from right outside the airport door to the Limerick bus/train station. It was a lovely bus with a second floor that the girls (mostly) enjoyed, but it took a convoluted, stop-riddled path. That is one of the reasons we need a rental car here — there are few direct buses. They’re always stopping to pick people up and drop them off. Downtown Limerick is about a 20 minute drive to the airport, but it took an hour for bus #342 to get there.

Not to worry, our one-day rental car would not be available for a few hours, so we were able to wander the town. What do we like better than wandering the town? Very little.

Limerick, like a lot of Irish cities, I bet, is well set up for wandering. The downtown area surrounding the station features several parks and lots of narrow streets that are easy to cross. There are lots of things and people to see and look at. Despite a name that might conjure thoughts of poetry and whimsy, Limerick is a little grittier than many of the more touristy towns we’re going to visit during this trip. It was very welcoming, though.

We have been warned by Jen that the people we meet in Ireland are likely to be extremely kind and courteous. This matches the welcome we received here, particularly by the gentleman who gave us a tour around the inside of St. John’s Cathedral. He was careful to point out the elaborately painted pipes of the organ in the choir loft, and he showed us the location of three of the five bishops buried under the church floor. It is unclear if the man works for the church — maybe he is a bishop himself, only off-duty. He was certainly knowledgeable and very kind.

It was not difficult to fill a few hours in Limerick, but we were eager to get ourselves back on track. This city was not on the final spreadsheet of tour locations, so it was an extra benefit, but there was still a lot that we had to see.

The plan had been for us to pick up our rental car at the airport and drive two and a half hours to our lodgings in Sligo City. We were able to pick up this trail from Limerick, a few hours later and several kilometers farther away than originally intended. Still we were enthusiastic about finally being in Ireland, a place Jen has been promising to bring for years — some of us for decades.

There was a small army of helpful people waiting for us in the downtown rental car office — they even provided us an excellent breakfast recommendation. More importantly, they actually had a car we could use. We have been conditioned to recognize the major difference between a rental car reservation and an actual car to drive. The agents in Shannon asserted that there was a serious lack of cars available.

A lovely employee lead us out the back to a small lot with two five-seaters, and helped us wind our way with our luggage between them. There, previously invisible from our view, hid a tiny Hyundai earmarked for our use.

Seeing the subcompact with our name on it was not exactly a record-scratch moment, but we were all instantly able to do the spacial arithmetic to figure out that we were in for a tight ride.

We should take a minute to examine our emotional and physical state. Our previous transportation plan had not worked out and we spent considerable energy finding a plan b. We were generally unsettled by the situation, and we were working on very (if any) little sleep due to our red-eye flight the night before. Some of us might have still been a little nauseated by the hour-long bus ride from the airport — particularly those who didn’t factor in that the top floor of the bus rocks around a lot more than the bottom floor. Another thing — and this may or may not have been a factor — Aerlingus will give you two cans of wine even when you only ask for one.

Positivity still ruled the day. We used Tetris skills to fit as much baggage as possible into the minuscule hatch area; then we used similar skills to work our bodies and the rest of our baggage into the somewhat meager (for our needs) passenger portion. Thus settled in, we were ready for the almost-three-hour drive to Sligo.

Here comes the bit about driving in Ireland, are you ready?

It takes flexible thinking and a clear acknowledgement of the differences and similarities to normal driving.

Differences:

— drive on different (left) side of the road
— driver sits on opposite (right) side of the car
— shifter is to the left of the driver
— rearview mirror is up and to the left (not up and to the right, like we’re used to)
— traveling lane is on the left, passing lane is on the right
— direction of travel in (omnipresent) roundabouts is clockwise in order to facilitate driving on the left

Similarities:

— foot pedals go in the same order: clutch — brake — gas
— pattern of shifter — location of gears 1-5, plus reverse — is the same as we’re used to (with the slight exception that our car at — home has a six-speed transmission and it’s possible that if we really tried to put a car here into sixth gear we might end up putting it into reverse by mistake)
— directional signal and windshield wiper control are the same as we’re used to

Driving here is a lot about focusing one’s mind and keeping track of what is the same and what is different. Reserving courage to deal with extremely narrow roads also helps. We have been helped by the fact that the people here seem to be patient drivers and that we have a good navigation system and passengers/copilots who are helpful and encouraging. Also, it seems that we are not the first people to struggle with adjusting to Ireland’s rules of the roads. Ireland itself has taken some ownership of this situation and posts frequent reminders, including the on the inside of our rental car that says, “Drive on the left.” This is a new mantra for me. They even post arrows in the crosswalks to remind pedestrians that the first direction they should look is right because that’s where the first traffic will be coming from.

By the end of day one, we were able to cross streets throughout Sligo City safely and comfortably, though very much wearily because we had barely slept during our flight over (it left Boston at 6:30 pm and arrived at Shannon at 5 am local time and we had a meal and two snacks in between to keep us occupied). Still, we managed to stay up long enough to approximate a normal bedtime here. A fine dinner a downtown pub, featuring Guinness, cider, and live traditional music helped us stay awake through the afternoon.

Sligo itself was also very helpful. We came with eyes open to the realities of Irish weather, but the afternoon here was clear and bright. The city does seem more visitor-inclined than Limerick. That’s too harsh. There were lots more flowers hanging about — this and the sunshine made everything seem cheerier here than they were this morning.

That’s not to say it was difficult to pull ourselves from the lively scene in favor of having a 6 pm bedtime. But is was good to know that this all will be waiting for us when we eventually wake up tomorrow.