My fellow Americans, there are three things you should know if you plan a driving tour of Ireland. Well there are probably more than three things but let’s start there Okay?

1. Think small! I don’t care if you are from Texas, bigger is not better in Ireland no matter what Hertz rent a car might tell you. Starve yourself, practice yoga, do whatever you have to do to get into a small car because the roads are TINY!!!!!And the parking garages at hotels are even TINIER!!!!

Amanda and I named our car “Little Me”. It was an Mii and I praised God everday for that car as I watched other self-driving tourists curse their mid-sized sedans.

Amanda and Little Me

2.For goodness sake don’t be bold and order a standard from the rental car company. Driving on the left and having to drive backwards on  rotaries is hard enough without having to remember that you are shifting with your left hand and backwards.

3. Rent a GPS from the rental company or order maps of Ireland for your GPS. One of the advantages of taking a self-drive tour over a bus tour is that you can drive into places where buses cannot go. Driving the little mountain pathways or heading out into farm country is half the fun but unless you are a cartographer and can read directions from the position of the stars or the incline of the sun in the sky a map will be of little help. It becomes even less helpful when you have to read it while driving corkscrew turns down mountain roads at 80 KM an hour. Oh and if you happen to rent maps for Ireland from the Garmin do not use the elf. He couldn’t direct you out of the North Pole. Use the woman voice. She seems to know her way around (not even kidding here).

This is not really point four but I am very thankful that I did not have to start driving until Sunday morning. It seems the whole island sleeps in until about 1 P.M.  so I had about five hours with the road all to myself. It was a perfect transition to driving on the left and going backwards on rotaries. I am not sure if I have the touring company or God to thank for that wonderful transition so I guess I will thank them both here and leave a word to the wise. Sunday is a great day to cut your teeth on Irish roads!

Amanda and I left the tour buses behind and headed off the beaten path through Killkenny and down through Port Laois into Tipperary so we could see the Rock of Cashel.

The rock of Cashel was once the ancient seat of the kings of Munster. Around the year 1100 they gave the rock to the church and it became the seat of the bishop for hundreds of years after that. The Rock today is a ruin of the once great cathedral that overlooked the countryside.

Me on the pathway up to the rock

Ancient Monastery seen from the Rock Of Cashel near Tipperary

A Celtic Cross in the cemetery atop the Rock of Cashel

The song this day’s drive inspired came as we drove into the region.