Ireland

This morning we woke up to clear skies with an early sunrise at 6:00 am.  The ship was in the final stages of our approach into the port of Dublin.

As we were getting tied up at the dock, it started to rain. I guess the weather is like that here, sunny one moment, and raining the next. We got prepared for our day of sightseeing, and then went to breakfast.

At about 8:30, we met up with Ruthe and Brian, we were all going to spend the day together. The plan was to use the Hop-On/Hop Off bus to tour the various areas of Dublin. Stephanie had never done one of those, but they are in almost every European tourist city. It is a nice concept, you pay for the day, and you can ride around and get on and off as many times as you want. They typically are set up for stopping at most of the popular sights, and are on about a 15 minute time spacing between buses, but we found out that that varies between 2 minutes and about 25 minutes at times.

It remained cloudy for most of the morning, and was cool riding the open top, double deck bus. However, it did not rain any more after what we saw first thing in the morning

We rode around and stopped at the St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and went in for a look around and to take some pictures.

We boarded the bus once again and headed over to the Guinness Brewery. We got off the bus and went inside the gift shop, but decided against taking the 15 euro per person brewery tour. Our logic being that at some point in the day, we would rather drink some Guinness than pay that much just to see it made.

We hopped back on the bus and continued our loop around the city. We went through a very large (0ver 1,700 acres) park, and saw all of the blooming flowers, and large, old trees.

Next stop was an area of Dublin  called Temple Bar, where we went to the actual Temple Bar and had lunch. The “bar” used in the description of that area of Dublin does not stand for a drinking establishment, but a section of the city.

 

When we left the Temple Bar, we found that it had cleared up outside, and was sunny, and less windy. It ended up being a very nice afternoon, even a little hot.

 

We walked around the city, occasionally stopping to look in shops.

We stopped in another pub and had one more Guinness, (well the girls had something a little less “stout” ) We had decided to take a taxi back to the ship in lieu of the shuttle bus we had taken from the ship to the city center in the morning.

They had changed the time in and out of port, so the ship was not scheduled to leave until after 7:00 pm, but the last shuttle was at 4:30. As it ended up, it was less expensive for the four of us to taxi than it had been for the shuttle, and a lot quicker.

Once back on the ship, we went ahead and got ready for dinner and the sail away.

It was a nice day in Dublin.

 

 

 

 

 

Today’s port of call is Cobh, Ireland. Cobh is famous for being  the last port that the Titanic left before it started its ill fated trip to New York. Cobh was the port where most of the Irish immigrants departed from to start anew in America.  It was also the port that the Lusitania was closest to when it was sunk by a German U-Boat, so there were memorials in Cobh for both of these ships.

We took the train from Cobh into nearby Cork, and from there, took a bus into Blarney to  see the castle and kiss the famous Blarney Stone.  It was unfortunate that the weather was very cool, and very windy in Cobh. It was overcast and less windy at Blarney, but still not that great for taking photos.  There were some beautiful gardens around the castle, and it was an interesting walk up to and then up into the castle to the top area where the Blarney Stone was placed.

We waited a little in a line and finally, it was our turn to lie on our backs and bend over backward and kiss the stone.

There are assistants there to help out and a permanently mounted camera for them to take pictures for you to purchase for 10 Euros each.

We did take some of our own, and opted not to purchase theirs. We walked around the grounds and then started back to the bus stop to catch the bus back to Cork.

In Cork, we had a little time to wonder around before our train back to Cobh. We went up to a church, but they did not allow photographs, and it was not that pretty anyway.  It was supposed to be famous for allowing you to ring their steeple bells, but of course for a cost.

We wondered back and caught the train back into Cobh, where we went back to the ship for lunch. The ship was literally parked next to the train station, so it was very convenient to get to the train and back to the ship.

After lunch we went up to the St. Catherine’s Cathedral in Cobh, and it was very nice inside, and they allowed pictures, which always makes me happy.

Stephanie was excited because there was a cat inside the cathedral. Obviously it was the “house cat”, he was very friendly and had a collar.  By that time, the wind had picked up, and there was a little drizzle starting as we wondered through the town.  We stopped at a few shops, and then went back to the ship, and shortly thereafter, we left the port.

After taking a few pictures while leaving the port, we went back to the room and got ready for dinner.

Tonight is the last Formal Night of the cruise, and they served lobster , and this time they also combined the lobster tails with some very large prawns.

After dinner, we headed out to meet up with our friends for a nightcap. Another good day exploring Ireland. Tomorrow’s stop will be in the port of Falmouth, Great Britain.