Category Archives: Ireland

Belfast, Ireland

Today we woke up to heavy rain and cold. It was good we went to the Giant’s Causeway yesterday when it was only cold and very windy but no rain. Today we stayed in the room until the rain eased up. Then we stopped for lunch. Marsha had a baked potato and salad and I had a coronation chicken salad sandwich. See pic.

20131001-214639.jpg
The sandwich was chicken with lettuce and tomato and topped with a curry sauce. Very unusual sandwich, but very good. Then we took a city bus to the Titanic exhibit. This is a wonderful museum and building. See pics.

20131001-214944.jpg

20131001-215029.jpg

20131001-215152.jpg
We spent the entire afternoon at the exhibit. It covered the history of Belfast, how the Titanic was built and of course the sinking of the ship. When we finished we were on the way to the bus stop when the bus passed us. We thought we missed the bus but the driver waited for us. I have to say bus drivers are unsung heroes. They give directions, let us know when to get off and even wait a few minutes so us tourists do not have to wait for the next bus in the cold and rain. We went back to the hotel since it was raining again. We went for dinner – we shared an appetizer of olives, cheese, potatoes and salad. Everything in Ireland is served with potatoes including pizza and lasagna. Marsha had stuffed pepper – stuffed with mushrooms and I had a burger. I had to try Irish beef. Tomorrow we take the bus and ferry to Glasgow.

20131001-220215.jpg

20131001-220301.jpg

Belfast, Ireland

Today we went on a tour to Giant’s Causeway. Our first stop was a photo op at Carrickfergus Castle. See pic.

20130930-204747.jpg
We then continued on to Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. See pics. The one is of Marsha on the bridge. There are pics of me on the bridge on Marsha’s camera.

20130930-205116.jpg

20130930-205146.jpg

20130930-205225.jpg
This tour took us along the coast road and the views were breath taking. We stopped at the Bushmill distillery for lunch. No we did not have a liquid lunch – we didn’t even have time to tour the distillery. We continued on to Giant’s causeway. This place was amazing! See pics. We have many more pics on our cameras.

20130930-205752.jpg

20130930-205855.jpg

20130930-205927.jpg

20130930-205958.jpg

20130930-210030.jpg

20130930-210054.jpg
Also on the tour we got to see some of the locations where Game of Thrones was filmed. We also went up to some of the higher locations on the Giant’s Causeway. It is really stunning. We left to return to Belfast at 6:00pm and it was already getting dark. When we got back to Belfast after 7;00pm it was raining. We went to the restaurant adjacent to the hotel. Marsha had Brie and I had pork medallions over cabbage, bacon (ham) and potatoes. We are trying to figure out what we can do tomorrow.

20130930-210657.jpg

Limerick to Belfast

We spent the day on Limerick. First we did our laundry and then in the afternoon went exploring. We went to the Frank McCourt Museum. He is the author of Angela’s Ashes. We then saw some of the Frank McCourt tour. We kind of took it easy and just rested for a while. We returned to the Lebanese restaurant because we enjoyed the selection and food so much. There are no pics because it was do similar to the night before.
To day is the 29th and made our way to Belfast. We were either on a train or at a station waiting for a connecting train most of the day. We hot to Belfast at 6:00pm and checked into the hotel. We then went to eat. Marsha had lentil and sun dried tomato soup and I had potato leek soup. Marsha had a Brie, cranberry and caramelized onion tart. I had pork and leek sausages with champ and brown gravy. After dinner we went back to the hotel to watch Downton Abbey. We have signed up for an early tour tomorrow.

20130930-204309.jpg

20130930-204353.jpg

Limerick/Killarney/Cliffs of Moher

We went by train to Killarney. This is a charming town with little shops and restaurants. No great attractions except a very large park. We decided to have dinner in Killarney. I had chicken breast wrapped in streaky bacon and Marsha had vegetable curry. We then headed back to Limerick and arrived at our hotel about 11;00. It was Arthur’s Day. A day to celebrate Arthur Guinness birthday since he founded the brewery. There is a pub in our hotel so we stopped in to have a pint for Arthur. Then up to bed because we signed up for a tour the next day.
Our tour was for the Cliffs of Moher in County Clare. On the way to the Cliffs we saw many castles and then Galway Bay. There are even cottages with thatched roofs in this area. Then on to the Cliffs. I’ll let the pics show how beautiful they are. Then back on the bus to return to Limerick. We spent some time looking for a hotel in Belfast, our next destination. Then we set out for dinner. Again it was late but we found a Lebanese restaurant where we could have little dishes of different foods. It was perfect!
We are staying in Limerick today and as I am writing this we are in a launderette doing our wash.

20130928-171816.jpg

20130928-171927.jpg

20130928-172008.jpg

20130928-172112.jpg

20130928-172200.jpg

20130928-172322.jpg

20130928-172359.jpg

20130928-172841.jpg

Limerick/Cork, Ireland

We went back to Limerick on the train and got a hotel. We left our luggage and headed for Cork. Irish trains are great and have wifi. We. Went to Cork to go to Blarney Castle.

20130925-180140.jpg

20130925-180158.jpg

20130925-180230.jpg

20130925-180251.jpg

20130925-180315.jpg
Some of the pictures were taken from the top of the castle while we we waiting to kiss the Blarney Stone. Yes, I kissed the Blarney Stone. See pic – I took the pic from the screen on Marsha’s camera.

20130925-180648.jpg
The grounds of the castle are beautiful. While we were there the weather became colder and damper do we decided to head back before it got too late. We stopped into a restaurant and had tea and scones to warm up.

20130925-180934.jpg
We arrived in Limerick about 8:30pm and it was raining. Since we were cold and tired we went to the Chinese take away a couple of doors away from our hotel. Sorry – no food pics. We then went to the hotel and were in for the night.