Author: Susan

Sunday: Galway

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We spent the day in Galway, our first warm, sunny day in about a week. What a pleasure to be outdoors without an umbrella.

Once we lucked into a parking space, we were in great shape. We walked all around the city for most of the day. Since it is Sunday, many stores were not open, but we enjoyed strolling through the pedestrian walkways, seeing some street performers, stopping for coffee, and spending time in the fantastic Charlie Byrnes bookstore. Wow, I could have spent hours there – there are hundreds of thousands of books. I bought just one.


photos: above – cappuccino stop

below: Just a small fraction of the bookshelves at Charlie Byrnes bookstore.

The University of Ireland, Galway raises funds for their rowing team today

Saturday: Cliffs of Moher

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It was a wet, wet, wet day to visit the Cliffs, but since we are just in the area today, we went anyway.

The 45-minute drive there was pretty, as all drives around Ireland have tended to be. As we got closer, we saw more than a few large coach tour-buses. I guess rain won’t stop anyone’s plans.

There’s a short walk from the parking lot to the cliffs, and it gets more amazing with every step. We walked up the slick staircase to get the best look we could, but there were no puffins out today. Nor were there any other sea birds or the wild goats I had read about.

The cliffs themselves are fantastic, and I’m sure they could be unbelievable on a sunny day. The rain continued. We watched a short film at the visitors center and eventually left.

We had planned to have lunch at a nearby town, but it was deluged with tour buses so we kept driving and found a pub about a half- hour away. The sun came out at the end of the day and our Saturday was complete.


photos: a rainy, foggy day at the Cliffs.

Friday: Ennis

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We left Wexford after breakfast this morning and set off for Ennis, about an hour from Galway and 40 minutes from the Cliffs of Moher.
Ireland has so many roundabouts which come up sometimes one after another. Still, the drive went well and we stayed on course.

We stopped along the way for tea and a snack, and enjoyed the beautiful countryside, green and often full of grazing animals.

We arrived here at about 3:30 and had lunch. I was happy to go for a swim in the nice (but hot) pool.

Tomorrow we will check out the Cliffs of Moher.


photos: above – the golf course near our hotel.

below: the hotel (and town) pool, well used by I was the only one in my lap lane.

animals grazing throughout the countryside

Thursday: Wexford

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With Hurricane Lorenzo threatening rain and wind today, it wasn’t the best day to go to the Wildfowl Reserve, but we aren’t in Wexford long so we seized the moment anyway.

We had an interesting drive on some back roads – small houses set close to the road, huge houses behind gates and then the reserve at the end of a dirt road.

It was much too cold to take any of the hikes they had mapped out but we could see birds from the observation tower. There was a class of adorable school children in the tower too, and they were fun to interact with a bit.

We eventually left and went into the town of Wexford, where finding a parking space is no joke. We did, then walked around a bit in the cold rain. The rain and wind got worse throughout the afternoon as the storm made its way to our part of the country.

We had a delicious dinner at the hotel and planned for our drive to near Galway tomorrow.

photos: Hurricane preparedness while we were out of our room today.

below: a view from the tower. bird looking for food at low tide

Wednesday: Wexford

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We left behind the bustling city of Dublin this morning and took a bus to the airport to pick up a rental car. We were surprised to queue up behind at least fifty other people, but 90 minutes later we had our car and drove to Wexford, a river city almost two hours away.

Sitting on the righthand side of the car and driving on the British side of the road were a challenge for sure (not for me, I sat on the left) and making a right turn takes some practice, but all is well and we made it here.

With Hurricane Lorenzo threatening very bad weather tomorrow, I am glad we are in a comfortable quiet place, with a lap pool and full gym that looks pretty deluxe if we are hotel-bound tomorrow. If it turns out to be a decent day after all, we will explore this very old and beautiful city.

photos: top – the tables and chairs are off the hotel restaurant’s back deck as they prepare for Thursday’s storm.

bottom: the noisy, busy nighttime streets of Dublin

The River Slaney in Wexford, Ireland

Tuesday: Dalkey

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20191001_132526This morning’s weather was rainy, windy, cold, and generally miserable. We still followed through with our plan to go to Dalkey, a suburb of Dublin that is about a half-hour train ride from Dublin.

My cousin lives there (she is in the U.S. for a few weeks so we had to change our plans to spend a few days there this week) and so does Van Morrison, Bono, Sinead O’Connor, and some other interesting people. Dalkey is a charming city and even though we were not going to stay there, it was still worth checking out.

Or was it?

The walk to the Dublin train station was a bit of a struggle with the wind but we got there eventually and didn’t have to wait long for a train.

Once in Dalkey, it seemed to be even colder, windier, and it continued to rain as we walked into town.

We were content to sit in a warm, dry coffee shop for a while and then left and tried to enjoy the shops on the main street.

Eventually we had some delicious seafood chowder and decided to go back to Dublin. It was not the best day to visit Dalkey. The train on the way back was delayed for an hour because of the weather and I was grateful we were sitting in it rather than waiting on the platform.

Eventually we realized that the train we were on aas not going to our intended destination, so we got off and waited for another one – frustrating.

We walked back to our hotel and have a fun dinner with our Ireland-based niece near where we are staying. This salvaged our otherwise cold day.

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Monday: Dublin

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It is a rainy day in Dublin but we still made the most of it. First, I was happy to see a 24-hour gym directly across the street from where we are staying. I was there at 6am and on the rower for 45 minutes, my first good exercise (aside from a ton of walking) in a week. It’s a nice place and well used. Tomorrow I’ll remember a towel!

I sat in a nearby coffee shop after that and was happy to read my book before going back to the hotel for breakfast. It’s always interesting to see what Breakfast Included ends up meaning, and this was a fine selection of coffee, tea, and cold food.

We walked to Trinity College after that, where my traveling companion/husband saw the Book of Kels (I had been there before) and the very impressive library there. I walked around the city and popped into some shops before meeting up with him again an hour later.

We walked to the river and checked out some places near there, then had lunch as it poured outside. We went back to the hotel where he left me so I could do some work.

photos: above – a pigeon staying warm on a light. below – breakfast; gym rower is perfectly positioned under a nice cool open window

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Sunday: Dublin

Posted on by Susan

We left Edinburgh after breakfast this morning, and the bus to the airport was conveniently across the street from our hotel. We hopped on (well, our luggage weighs a ton so we didn’t exactly hop).

Our flight left about a half-hour late, but we were in no rush. The flight was on a small plane(70 passengers) and packed.

Once at the airport and through customs, we got our baggage and looked for the bus to Dublin Centre. We found it pretty easily, and an hour later we were at our hotel.

The hotel is hip and terrific. Our room is spare but nice, and we are in such a great location, within walking distance to some great pubs, restaurants, and shops. It is a happening place here and (bonus) I’m happy to have found a gym right across the street. I’ll be there in the morning.

We found a restaurant in our walk around the hotel neighborhood and I was able to get Sunday brunch: eggs, corn, polenta plus a delicious mojito.

We left and were sucked into a chocolate shoppe where we sat outside with a dark chocolate hot chocolate (me) and a latte (him). Drinks come with a complimentary chocolate, so there was that.

Tomorrow, Trinity College.

Saturday: Edinburgh

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Edinburgh Castle

The doors of over 100 public buildings around the city were open today and we took advantage of this annual September event that we lucked into.

Our first stop was the Edinburgh Sheriff and Justices of the Peace Court. We snagged tickets to the first tour, where we first heard from the Clerk of the Court about how the daily court system works (they stay until every held person is arraigned, so sometimes well into the night) as we checked out the courtroom. We saw cells (all of them empty since it is the weekend) and heard about how they handle assigning prisoners to cells. The 45- minute tour was very well done and there were tables of free duffle bags, snacks, pens and pencils, and key chains, which I grabbed as souvenirs.

Next we went to the Supreme Court buildings, on Parliament Square. This time we got tickets to a tour that was not for an hour, so as we waited we checked out some of the presentations: People could try on a judge’s robe and wig, hear about the law library, and look at some of the ancient portraits hanging all arround the great hall where we gathered.

The tour was good and was mainly about how the grand building was once used to house prisoners. Now those underground cells are used for paper files. Still, it was intriguing to see behind the scenes and in the lower levels of the very old building.

Next we went to the Arthur Conan Doyle Centre. We listened to the beginning of this tour which was more about the meditation and wellness center there than his writing. Our mistake, I should have read about that more thoroughly beforehand.

We had hoped to go to the croquet center and see some professional players in action, but that building was only open from 2pm-4pm and it was already 2:30pm. We had lunch instead and marvelled about how many thousands of people had overtaken Edinburgh overnight – the streets were nice and quiet until today. Still, it was a sunny day and nice to be out and about.

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stained glass window at Supreme Court building. The more money a donor gave, the larger his picture.

A street performer we came acriss as we walked around.

Friday: St. Andrews

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We took an early train to St. Andrews this morning, a one-hour trip from Edinburgh. we changed to a bus at Leuchars, the closest train station to our destination, for a 15-minute ride to St. Andrews. No matter, it was all easy and a smooth trip.

We had arranged for a walking tour of the city and that turned out to be a great idea. The tour guide was a well prepared college student and shared all sorts of facts and information about places we walked past: university buildings, ancient half-destroyed castles, unsettling sites of beheadings and witch killings centuries ago, Victorian swimming pools, and what is left of an ancient cathedral. It was a worthwhile two hours, with just us and another person on the tour.

Serendipity – the Alfred Dunhill Golf Tournament is going on this weekend and it’s free every day but Sunday, the finals. So we walked back to that after our tour and after a fish-and-chips lunch in a busy pub. We walked around at the tournament for about an hour but it was raining, often heavily, and it got to be too much. We walked back to the bus station and took a bus to the train, and got back to Edinburgh at about 4:30. We relaxed in the busy hotel lounge when we got back.

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