Day 3 in Ireland had us packing up and leaving Dublin and driving south and then west towards the town of Cork in the southwest part of the country. There was some apprehension on my part since it would be the first time driving the right-hand drive rental for an extended length of time, and across a long distance. The accelerator and brake pedals are in the same left/right orientation as in the States, but the turn signal stalk, rear view mirror, and transmission shifter are reversed. I still keep flipping on the wipers on this damn car (left stalk) when I really wanted to signal a turn (right stalk). I have no problems driving a manual transmission, but I’m glad I got an automatic transmission in the rental…it would have probably pushed me over the edge with sensory overload with most everything backwards and also trying to shift with my left arm.

We first stopped at the Powerscourt House & Gardens in County Wicklow just outside of Dublin to the south. It’s a huge estate known for its house and the landscaped gardens, much like how my place in the States looks like. Right. I think my home’s entire lot is the size of the bathroom at Powerscourt.

Next we drove to Glendalough, the site of ruins of a monastery founded by St. Kevin in the 6th century A.D. and subsequently destroyed by English troops in the late 14th century.

After Glendalough, we tried to make it to the town of Waterford to see the Waterford Crystal Factory. We arrived a few minutes before 6pm, when it closes. Doh. No tears lost though, since we’re not into Waterford crystal, but it would have been interesting to see how it was made.

We kept on moving and finally rolled into Cork around 8pm. We were beat so we ate in the hotel bar and conked out for the night. The Kingsley Hotel had some nice amenities like a gym, pool, and hot tub, so we were planning to use them during our short stay in Cork.

If we were to do it again, we wouldn’t have tried to make the drive from Dublin to Cork in 1 day…turned out the driving took a big chunk of the day which prevented us from seeing a few other things along the way.