Today I wanted to share a short but sweet post about a gorgeous town I fell in love with when we were travelling around Ireland last year! Kinvara was just a town we were simply supposed to pass through on our drive along the Wild Atlantic Way to the Cliffs of Moher but ended up stopping and staying for a few hours as her charm won us over instantly.
We were staying in a gorgeous cottage in the countryside near Galway and our only plan for that day was to explore the area and ultimately end up at the Cliffs of Moher which had been on my bucket list forever.
As we were driving along the Wild Atlantic Way we saw the charming Dunguaire Castle in the distance and decided to stop and check it out. Dunguaire Castle is a 16th Century Tower House that is built on the southeastern shore of beautiful Galway Bay. The beautiful castle has been restored to its former glory and we were lucky enough to explore the castle and its grounds just before a few busloads of people arrived (talk about good timing)! The castle was so lovely and charming and truly had the most wonderful location overlooking Galway Bay.
Everyone decided they needed coffee and so that was our next stop. We didn’t have to drive for a long because a few minutes later we arrived in beautiful Kinvara, one of the cutest, most colourful towns I’ve ever seen. We parked up immediately and set off exploring with coffee now at the back of our minds.
The village was beautiful and I loved that every building was painted different vibrant colours!
The sun also began to shine and we spent the next half hour exploring the shops and wandering along the port and waters edge. The tide was completely out at this stage with all the boats almost lying on their sides in the bay! For my parents and I this was so strange and we had never seen anything like it and Dan assured us it was quite a normal thing in the UK!
Dan and Dad then decided they were hungry and so we all set off in search of a cafe. We settled down for coffees and they boys enjoyed some cake as well. We couldn’t believe our luck with the weather too because the moment we stepped inside the cafe it began pouring with rain and a not long before we were ready to leave the sun was shining again!
Kinvara was such a charming village and port that won us over immediately and we even appreciated their quirky warning/road signs!
Later in the day we drove back through after a big day of exploring the Wild Atlantic Way and the town had completely come to life. The streets were full of cars and the pubs were bursting at the seams with people. It made us feel so appreciative that we experienced it as we did earlier in the day… peaceful, quiet, quaint and perfect enough to make me fall in love with it.
We loved Kinvara so much because we didn’t even know she existed and when we stumbled across her we fell in love with her charm.
