Cead Mile Failte~ A Hundred Thousand Welcomes

IRELAND ~ DUBLIN

And so, after Croatia, Berlin, Prague and Vienna, it’s onward to Ireland! 

It was very exciting landing in Dublin, especially with the 40 shades of green rising up to greet us. Denny hadn’t been to Ireland in about 15 years so he was looking forward to Dublin and Killarney.  

We stayed at the Arlington Hotel in Town Center, making it easy to walk everywhere. It was great to walk across the Ha’penny Bridge to Temple Bar, have a pint or an Irish whiskey or both and listen to some great Irish music. 

Temple Bar is bustling with pub after pub, as well as restaurants. When we heard someone singing Christy Moore songs we went in. Chris Lucas was his name. What a great voice, loved the guitar, he interacted with the crowd, brought us all in on it, making for a fun night. 

Our walk up Grafton Street was enjoyable, there are always street performers to entertain, and a variety of restaurants and pubs. Our destination was St. Stephen’s Green at the top of Grafton. It was beautiful as ever with its streams, and trees, flowers and the ducks are always there to greet me every time I visit. 

Walking back, we came across Molly Malone, and then a beer at Davy Byrnes pub. James Joyce was said to have visited Davy Byrnes pub frequently and had become a good friend of Davy’s. 

HOWTH

The next day we took the Dart to Howth, a quaint fishing village just a short, 30- minute ride North of Dublin. There is an Abbey, a beautiful cemetery, a lighthouse, a castle and some great hiking trails. 

We were looking forward to having scallops at a restaurant I had eaten at just the year before, but unfortunately, the restaurant had changed its menu to tapas. So, when we ordered the scallops we only got 3. They were good but heck, we were still hungry when we left. I was disappointed since it was such a great experience the visit before. 

That cute guy you see playing the piano was our entertainment at the Dublin train station while we waited for our train to Killarney.

The train ride from Dublin to Killarney takes about 3 ½ hours. The trains were all so nice on our trip, they’re clean, comfortable and always on time. 

KILLARNEY

It was such fun introducing Denny to all the friends I’ve made over the years. He met Eileen Sheehan, Killarney’s most loved poet, and Amelie Gagne, Killarney’s most loved artist and jewelry maker. He got to meet all the folks at Murphy’s and said,  now he understands why I like it there so much. 

Two days isn’t nearly enough to be in Killarney, but we did as much as we could while we were there. We walked through the Killarney National Park, saw the Killarney House, which is a new interpretive center telling the history of Killarney going clear back to the Ice age. It is visually beautiful as you watch videos of how the lakes and mountains were sculpted from the ice, rain and snow all those hundreds of years ago. Not to mention the lovely, Irish music playing as you watch.  

Killarney has many good restaurants but my 2 favorites are The Flesk, and Quinlan’s. I always have the lamb at The Flesk and Denny had a filet which was also very good. Quinlan’s is great for seafood, especially the crab cakes and fish and chips but everything is good there. 

There is a newer pub that has gotten very popular over the past couple years called Reidy’s. The weather was perfect for sitting out front, a great place for a drink and people watching. That night we went back and listened to a 2-man band, one with a guitar and the other with the violin, great voices. We stayed out late that night listening to all the old Irish favorites. 

It was one more walk through the park so I could sit down and give a proper hug to this Killarney National Park I love so much. This time we came out and around, taking the long way back, so we could see the beautiful St. Mary’s Cathedral. 

It’s never easy for me to say good bye to everyone at Murphy’s but we were on our way to Cork the next morning. 

CORK

Cork City, a Big city with a lot of high-end shops, restaurants and pubs. 

We made our way over to the English Market which is one of Cork’s best- known tourist sites.  I like the description they have at the entrance which says,

“The English Market is Ireland’s most famous covered food market. It has  been in business since 1788 and continues today to serve the people of Cork and visitors from all over.  A civic space, a meeting place, a thoroughfare, and a bustling social hub of the city.” 

There are huge coolers of all sorts of meats, cheeses, fruits, vegetables and desserts. There are fresh flowers and seafood as well, coffee, sandwiches, just about anything you would want or need.  As you can see from the look on Denny’s face, he’s caught, It’s worth a visit. 

It was back to Dublin the next morning by train, we stayed at the Airport Hilton since our flight was early the next morning. This trip for our 50^th anniversary was beyond wonderful. Five different countries, lots of good food, drink, meetings with old friends and a lot of new ones. 

Life is good, and I am grateful.