{"id":3187,"date":"2025-07-10T23:52:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T23:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/travel.johnmatienzo.com\/?p=3187"},"modified":"2025-07-10T23:52:00","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T23:52:00","slug":"ireland-2025-day-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/travel.johnmatienzo.com\/?p=3187","title":{"rendered":"Ireland 2025 &#8211; Day 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"p1\">Flew out of IBZ around 11am, and arrived at DUB at 1pm local time. Immigration was fairly fast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">We ended up renting a car, and driving west towards a town called Limerick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">At Limerick, we stopped by King John\u2019s Castle. Learned 4 things about the castle:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">-Henry II invaded Ireland and ordered the castle to be built for his son King John<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">-King John never actually entered it since he died 6 years after it was ordered to be built (died of dysentery)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">-For some reason there was a siege\/rebels (I think in the 1500s)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">-lots of purses (to activate people speaking in the museum you had to lift these coin purses)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">We then stopped by town to grab an early dinner. Parts of the town reminded me of the lower east side inn New York, while others were clearly more gentrified (and others looked like buildings were falling apart). Here is the restaurant we ate at, called Coqbull (and yes it is a play on what you\u2019re thinking because the WiFi password is whipitout).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"dnKXGt8MOE\"><a href=\"https:\/\/food.johnmatienzo.com\/2025\/07\/10\/coqbull\/\">Coqbull<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;Coqbull&#8221; &#8212; Food\" src=\"https:\/\/food.johnmatienzo.com\/2025\/07\/10\/coqbull\/embed\/#?secret=k7Bm1RSUOh#?secret=dnKXGt8MOE\" data-secret=\"dnKXGt8MOE\" width=\"584\" height=\"329\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">After we drove another 2 hours to Killarney. We passed by towns that looked similar to Aberlour, and lots of greenery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">At Killarney, first thing we did is check into our hotel, The Lake Hotel. It is actually pretty beautiful with the lake beside it (and a castle that is dilapidated).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">The town of Killarney is also fairly nice, where you can definitely see people have their weddings here. We also ventured into town and checked out one Irish bar, Tinh Mary Donald\u2019s, and got a Guiness (they also had trivia night going on). Also hopped into one other place, Kaynes Bar and Restaurant, to try Killarney whisky. It\u2019s not bad, but also wouldn\u2019t be my first choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">Then ubered back to the hotel to get a complimentary night cap at the hotel bar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1500\" height=\"2000\" data-id=\"3174\" src=\"https:\/\/travel.johnmatienzo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/img_4288.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3174\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" data-id=\"3180\" src=\"https:\/\/travel.johnmatienzo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/img_4262.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3180\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" data-id=\"3181\" src=\"https:\/\/travel.johnmatienzo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/img_4261.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3181\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1500\" height=\"2000\" data-id=\"3171\" src=\"https:\/\/travel.johnmatienzo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/img_4265.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3171\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1500\" height=\"2000\" data-id=\"3172\" src=\"https:\/\/travel.johnmatienzo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/img_4267.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3172\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1500\" height=\"2000\" data-id=\"3176\" src=\"https:\/\/travel.johnmatienzo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/img_4269.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3176\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" data-id=\"3173\" src=\"https:\/\/travel.johnmatienzo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/img_4272.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3173\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" data-id=\"3177\" src=\"https:\/\/travel.johnmatienzo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/img_4281.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3177\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1500\" height=\"2000\" data-id=\"3183\" src=\"https:\/\/travel.johnmatienzo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/img_4282.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3183\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" data-id=\"3184\" src=\"https:\/\/travel.johnmatienzo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/img_4294.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3184\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1500\" height=\"2000\" data-id=\"3178\" src=\"https:\/\/travel.johnmatienzo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/img_4301.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3178\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" data-id=\"3175\" src=\"https:\/\/travel.johnmatienzo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/img_4302.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3175\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" data-id=\"3179\" src=\"https:\/\/travel.johnmatienzo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/img_4308.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3179\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" data-id=\"3186\" src=\"https:\/\/travel.johnmatienzo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/img_4314.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3186\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1500\" height=\"2000\" data-id=\"3182\" src=\"https:\/\/travel.johnmatienzo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/img_4325.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3182\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Flew out of IBZ around 11am, and arrived at DUB at 1pm local time. Immigration was fairly fast. We ended up renting a car, and driving west towards a town called Limerick. At Limerick, we stopped by King John\u2019s Castle. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/travel.johnmatienzo.com\/?p=3187\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3185,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1402],"tags":[1409,1406,1405,936,1404,1403,1413,1410,1408,1407,1411,1412],"class_list":["post-3187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ireland-2025","tag-coqbull","tag-dub","tag-dublin","tag-ibz","tag-ireland","tag-ireland-2025","tag-kaynes-bar-and-restaurant","tag-killarney","tag-king-johns-castle","tag-limerick","tag-the-lake-hotel","tag-tinh-mary-donalds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/travel.johnmatienzo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/travel.johnmatienzo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/travel.johnmatienzo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travel.johnmatienzo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travel.johnmatienzo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3187"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/travel.johnmatienzo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3188,"href":"https:\/\/travel.johnmatienzo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3187\/revisions\/3188"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travel.johnmatienzo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/travel.johnmatienzo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travel.johnmatienzo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travel.johnmatienzo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}