Wrapping Up Our Travels in Ireland

| August 4th, 2010 | 4 Comments » | Ireland, Travel

I always find it hard to write about what I’ve been up to when I visit Ireland. Mostly because I spend a lot of my time with family when I’m here. Also conveniently enough, Liz and I have both been sick for most of the two weeks that we’ve been here. Believe me, it’s far better to be sick while feeling like you’re at home versus being sick on the road. That’s for sure! As for being sick, it could possibly be due to the fact that we left Greece (95+F degrees) to come to a much cooler Dublin (60F degrees) overnight.

Temple Bar dublinWe spent our first week in staying out in Santry at my uncle’s home which is just a short bus ride from Dublin’s City Centre. It’s very convenient having the bus into town only be steps from your front door! We’ve made tons of trips in and out of the city at this point. Since Dublin is such a walkable city, we’ve walked and talked our way through and past many of the famous streets and sights in town.

We also took a Free Walking Tour of Dublin courtesy of Sandemans New Europe Walking Tours which we thought was absolutely fantastic.

Cliffs of HowthMy uncle took us for a short drive over to Howth, a fishing an yachting village which is just over 9 miles from Dublin City Centre. Dine at one of the many seafood restaurants here and you’ll surely be eating the freshest catch in town. If you’re into hiking, there’s some really nice cliff-side trails that weave in and out along the coastline. Be careful though, as many people fall from these cliffs due to curiosity each year.

From Dublin we traveled to Galway via GoBus, a low cost bus service that whisks you from the East coast to the West coast of Ireland in just under 3 hours for only 10 Euro (approx. $13.00 USD). The best part about GoBus is the fact that they have on-board WiFi for no additional cost. Free Wi-Fi on a bus is pure genius!

We arrived in Galway on the weekend before the Galway Races, a famous Irish horse-racing festival that lasts for one whole week making it the longest of all race meets to be held in Ireland or Britain. The city was packed of visitors from all over Europe who are here for one thing and one thing only. Horse racing!

Abbey of KnockmoyOur first night was spent at my cousins home in Abbeyknockmoy which lies just under 30km outside of Galway city. The lush, green fields across the street from his house are not only home to horses, sheep and cattle but also to a 12th century monastery! The Abbey of Knockmoy was founded in 1190 by the King of Connacht and the ruins still stand in excellent condition after hundreds upon hundreds of years. Simply amazing.

Our next few days were spent roaming around Galway City. We took a mandatory stroll down the famous “Shop Street” and a few other main shopping avenues before heading to my favorite bay side hang out spot called “The Spanish Arch”; a place where locals, hippies, expats, travelers, and others all get together to enjoy the weather, chat, drink and most importantly find out what the “craic” is. The best time to hang down at the Spanish Arch is during the summer months and if you’re lucky enough you’ll be able dodge the ever flowing rain that Ireland gets each year.

Eyre Square Galway IrelandIf you’re looking for a great place to people watch then make your way over to Eyre Square, a public park smack dab in the middle of Galway’s City Centre. On a nice day, you’ll be sure to find all sorts of locals and tourists lying in the grass chatting with friends and sometimes even listening to the musicians who set up their equipment next to an empty park bench.

And that about wraps things up when it comes to our travels in Ireland. We’re excited to officially get back on the road next week. Next stop: PARIS!

For more photos from Ireland, check out the following photo albums:  Dublin, Howth, and Galway

  • Share/Bookmark

How to Discover Dublin’s Top Sights for FREE!

| July 31st, 2010 | 3 Comments » | Ireland, Travel, Travel Tips


Dublin Tours

When I first read about the free walking tours that SANDEMANs NewEurope offers, I was a little apprehensive.

My first thought was “How good could a FREE tour actually be?”. It was just one of those offers that simply sounded too good to be true. To our surprise, the SANDEMANs New Dublin tour was worth every minute of the almost four hours that we spent scouring through some of Dublin’s most famous sights.

Where it Starts:

Between Dublin Castle and City Hall on Dame Street [Map]. Just be sure to look out for the tour guides in the RED shirts.

Meeting Times:

11AM and 1PM

What you’ll see:

Dublin Castle, Dubh Linn, Dublin’s Medieval Walls, Viking Remains, Norman Dublin, Georgian Dublin, Christ Church Cathedral, Adam and Eve Church, The National Library, Famous Writers, Temple Bar, U2- Origins of the rock legend, Ha’Penny Bridge, Spire of Dublin, City Hall, Trinity College, Leinster House, Chester Beatty Library, St. Stephen’s Green, 1916 Easter Rising and more!

Cost:

FREE! Although, if you truly enjoyed this tour (which I guarantee you will), then be sure to tip your guide what ever you can afford to. These guides rely on their tips. In our personal experience, our guide was excellent and we loved the fact that he intertwined humor into the tour which made the history a bit more interesting.

The SANDEMANs New Dublin Tour is described as “A FREE 3 hour tour we wind down the quiet streets and bound through bustling boulevards, uncovering the hidden sites as well as the famous ones.” and in my opinion, it was that and more!

Don’t forget to check out my article titled: 7 Great Things to See and Do While in Dublin

  • Share/Bookmark

7 Great Things to See and Do While in Dublin

| July 27th, 2010 | 6 Comments » | Ireland, Travel, Travel Tips

O'Connell Bridge River Liffey Dublin Ireland

The Sights of Dublin.

There are so many things to see in this city that I’m not sure where to even start! I feel like I learn something new each and every time that I visit this city but this time I feel that I’ve learned more than ever before.

I’ve compiled a list below of some of the top sights to see when visiting Dublin. Considering Dublin is a very walkable city, it should be no problem to cover a lot of these sights in less than two days.

Dublin City HallDublin City Hall

Built between 1769 and 1779, the Dublin City Hall is located exactly next to another famous sight in the city; Dublin Castle. The architecture in this place is amazing, and it’s one of the finest buildings in the city.

Tours of Dublin’s City Hall are available FREE of charge to groups who arrange in advance. If a tour isn’t your thing, then just walk through the open doors and head up the half spiral stair case until you arrive at the top floor. Be sure to bring your camera along in order to capture some of the beautiful art work, paintings and tile mosaics that are displayed here.

Location: Dublin City Hall on GoogleMaps

St. Stephen’s Green

This beautiful public park was built as a gift to the people of Dublin from the Guinness family in the 19th century. Adjacent to one of Dublin’s most popular shopping streets (Grafton St), St. Stephen’s Green is a place that you could easily spend the better half of your day. On a sunny day during the summer months you’ll find that St. Stephen’s Green is packed with all of the Irish that are trying to take advantage of a day without rain! Most tend to either walk the park, lay out in the sun or bring a lunch and have a nice picnic while being surrounded by a plethora of flowers, trees and lush green grass. St. Stephen’s Green also has a pond that you can bring the kids to feed the ducks.

Location:  St. Stephen’s Green on GoogleMaps (more…)

  • Share/Bookmark

Why I Love Spending Time in Dublin, Ireland

| March 8th, 2010 | 6 Comments » | Ireland, Travel, Travel Tips

Dublin, Ireland.

My second home. Contemporary, yet remarkably historical. The capital of Ireland and coincidentally enough the largest city on this abundantly green island. This sprawling, gritty, yet stimulating city is one of my top five favorite cities in the world. It’s one of those places that I could visit over, and over, and over again. Oh wait, I already have!

Fortunately for me, I was born 25 years ago to a mother who grew up in Dublin. Yep, so do you know what that means? I’m not only a US citizen, I’m also a citizen of Ireland! Hence why it’s my “second home”. Honestly, I’ve been to Ireland so many times in my life that I’ve lost track. Not only does my mother have family in Dublin, but my father’s brother lives in Galway, my second favorite city in Ireland!

Enough about me… here’s a couple of things that I recommend you do and see during your visit to Dublin… (more…)

  • Share/Bookmark

A Day of Sights, and Music in Dublin…

| July 12th, 2008 | No Comments » | Ireland, Travel

My uncle and I headed into the city to run some errands for my grandmother who lives one block from O’Connell Street in Dublin City Center. Quite convenient huh? As we were walking down to the bank we walked by this statue of a hand that is behind these tall black gates that are usually locked.

I’ve walked past this statue about 3 million times at this point and each and every time I walk by it I think to myself… I wish I could just run in there real quick and jump up into the hand for a photo.

The first time that I walked by a few weeks ago the gates were open but unfortunately I didn’t have anybody with me to take the photo. But today I was in luck! Not only were the gates open, but my uncle was with me so he could be the designated photographer. Nice!

(more…)

  • Share/Bookmark

Rewind 23 years…

| July 7th, 2008 | No Comments » | Ireland, Photography, Travel

This month marks 23 years since I officially tried my first Guinness! Or, if you count shoving your hand into the head of a Guinness and licking it off of your hands then I guess that works too.

About a year ago I was rummaging through the trillions of photos that my mother has lying around in shoe boxes in our house and I came across this photograph, and what a great one it is!

Pause The Moment - My First Guinness - Dublin, Ireland

  • Share/Bookmark

A beautiful day in Dublin, Ireland!

| July 5th, 2008 | 1 Comment » | Ireland, Travel

All that we wished for this morning was that it wouldn’t be raining. It had been raining buckets all night and it even kept Liz up at times, that’s how hard it was coming down. Me? A tornado could have picked up the house and threw it down the street and I’d still be snoozing so I definitely didn’t hear any rain last night.

We headed downstairs and had some breakfast and as we were eating the skies completely opened up to blue skies, something Ireland hasn’t seen in a while now. It’s been raining, and raining, and raining here. When it hasn’t been raining, it’s been really overcast during the day. Depressing, right?

As soon as the skies opened up, it woke us right up! We finished up our breakfast and headed upstairs to get dressed so that we could take advantage of this great weather. (more…)

  • Share/Bookmark

Off to Galway for the weekend!

| June 29th, 2008 | 1 Comment » | Ireland, Travel

Friday [6/27/08]:

This morning was an early one. We were up at 5:30AM to pack some last minute things before taking the 7:10AM train from Dublin (Heuston Station) to Galway for the weekend. We purchased the train tickets the day before so it was nice to not have to wait in line for tickets the morning of the train. Shockingly enough a round trip train ticket from Dublin to Galway set us back 47 Euro each (approx. $75 USD each). That makes for a pretty expensive weekend already!

Once we grabbed some seats for ourselves the train we both threw on our iPod’s and shut our eyes while the train whisked us off to Galway. Just as we passed the last stop before our final destination we heard a loud bang as we crossed a railroad crossing. Within a couple of minutes we were stopped dead on the tracks with no train stations in sight. Since we were seated in the last train car I ran to the back of the train to take a look out of the windows. Down the tracks in the distance I could see something but it was hardly visible due to the fog. Within ten minutes the conductor came on apologizing for the delay and that there was a minor accident on our rail. After about a half hour we found out that our train actually clipped a car while passing through a railroad crossing. Pretty scary! Our train was scheduled to arrive in Galway at 10:00AM but we ended up spending about an extra hour or so sitting on the tracks so we didn’t end up arriving in Galway until about quarter past eleven. (more…)

  • Share/Bookmark