Our holiday started at Holyhead ferry port 0n Thursday 23 June where we met our Tour Leader Geoff. The security for boarding the ferry was tighter than for an airline, Our bags were all scanned including the ones going in the hold, I even had to remove my wristwatch before going through the metal detector. Meanwhile camper vans loaded with kitchen knives and other items were driving onboard. There were very few foot passengers for the ferry and we had to travel by bus from the terminal to the ferry cargo deck.
Thankfully the sea was dead calm and it wasn’t long before we were docking in Dublin, no bus ride here but an extending walkway right to the hull just like leaving a plane. Once in the terminal a short wait until our bags arrived and then off to the coach with just a cursory glance at out passports.
Our hotel, the Ashling was well out of town the opposite side of the river to the far end of the Guinness brewery. As it was early evening when we arrived at the hotel we all had dinner there at a communal table, it also gave a bit more opportunity to chat with fellow guests.
The next morning we decided to walk along the river into town before taking a hop on, hop off bus to get a feel for what was in town and then generally wandered about. One thing I spotted from the top of the bus was this gas lamp in all its working glory.
This building has two very ornate freezes running round it, it turns out its all about personal hygiene and the building, known as Sunlight Chambers was the Irish headquarters of Lever Brothers, the soap manufacturer. More details online HERE
In the small park just across the road from our hotel, almost directly below our bedroom window there is a small lake and in the lake is a statue of Anna Livia commonly known as the floozie in the Jacuzzi, unfortunately the fountains surrounding her weren't functioning and it all looks a bit sad,
Saturday morning we caught the train to Galway, the railway station being less than 5 minutes from the hotel front door. When we arrived the weather was quite miserable there and a coach had been booked to take us to our hotel as again it was out of town, we decided to stay in town and Geoff our tour leader deposited our bags in our hotel room for us.
One of the shops we discovered was Charlie Bryne’s and I have never seen such an establishment, it is situated in a covered shopping area, not only are the numerous rooms packed floor to ceiling with books but being undercover all the external walls are covered in bookshelves . You can just see some to the bottom right of the photograph. Please take a look at their web site to get the whole picture. About The Shop | Charlie Byrne’s
We decided to have Fish and Chips for dinner that evening at a little fish and chip restaurant right down by the quay called McDonagh’s. It is supposed to be the best fish and chips in Galway and I think they are right, not a drop of grease came out of the chips or the fish kebabs we had. Not the most salubrious of surroundings for an evening meal, but we enjoyed it. After that we caught a taxi back to the Nox Hotel where we were staying for just the one night.
Sunday morning saw us off by coach back to the station to catch the train to Ennis and then coach to the Cliffs of Moher as you can see from the photographs the weather was not the best, although it was not actually raining while we were there it wasn’t far off and very windy.
Then back on the coach to visit the walled garden of Vandeleur, this was only a short visit but long enough for us to walk this small but impressive garden and enjoy a coffee.
After this the coach took us to The Clayton Hotel Limerick where we would be staying for 2 nights, we were up on the 11th floor and this is the view from our bedroom. Ships still use the basin to load with scrap steel and wood, there are a couple of large yards handling steel, one in the foreground by the old dry dock and one at the far end of the basin, wood was piled on the strip between the river and the basin .
Monday was a free day in Limerick I took this photograph of our hotel, our room faced away from us.
Limerick has a rather splendid castle and we spent quite a bit of time here. Its also used for a venue for music events. While we were there they were setting up for a concert by Van Morrison .
The river here is very shallow but there is a lock that bypasses the shallow section to re-join the river a few miles upstream. When the tide goes out the river runs quite fast.
| |
That evening we eat out in a pub and guess what we had, Irish Stew. As you can see from the toilet door they cater for all nationalities, the gents was similar.
Tuesday was a change of plan, we were told before we left home that the Lartigue Monorail was not running following being closed due to covid so we were heading by coach to Adare and Desmond Castle. You can only visit the castle by coach provided by the Adare Heritage Centre with one of their guides.
The castle is only about a 5 minute bus ride from the heritage centre and on the way you cross this bridge. The moat of the castle is fed from the river. There are some very good photos on their web site at Desmond Castle Adare | Heritage Ireland
This is one of their aerial views.
The castle was the home of the FitzGerald’s, Earls of Desmond and today is being maintained by Heritage Ireland.
As you can see it was brolly weather when we visited.
The main entrance that would once have had a portcullis and drawbridge.
Following our visit to the castle and a quick bite to eat at the heritage centre we were back on the coach heading for the Foynes Flying Boat Museum.
Diana is trying out the pilots seat of the replica flying boat. The museum is at the site of the old control tower and is reputed to be where Irish Whiskey was invented. They have a very good holograph display depicting the first glass being served.
You get a good view of the docks and the now disused railway from the top of the old control tower. As you can see the old station roof is now falling in but the buildings in front of it look sound.
Following our time going round the museum we were given a demonstration on how to make an Irish Coffee.
We were then all served Irish Coffee and scones, I never drink whiskey but I found this combination quite enjoyable.
Our next port of call was a surprise, Geoff our tour guide had received information that the Lartigue Monorail was in fact open and we would squeeze a visit in before going to The Rose Hotel,Tralee for the night.
I shot a bit of video of the Monorail which is now diesel and not steam, This is my video attempt with the phone.
| |
Geoff our tour leader shot a much better one which he published on Youtube. Geoff is a freelance Tour Leader and has his own website HERE
| Geoff Lumley’s video of the Lartigue Monorail |
The carriages are quite interesting as they sit side saddle with passenger either side of the monorail.
After an all too short a visit, well it was put back in at the last minute, we were back on the coach heading for our hotel which was out on the edge of town.
The next morning we were off by coach round the Dingle peninsular stopping for a look round Dingle. The coach parked right by the harbour which had quite a few yachts moored up as well as fishing boats.
Dingle has an interesting church in so much that the roof has windows all along the ridge letting light down into the church.
After this we headed back to the coach to make our way to a small pub called The Railway Tavern for a buffet lunch.
Our route to The Railway Tavern follows the line of the disused Tralee to Dingle railway. I managed to find some old film footage on YouTube.
| |
The scenery as you follow along the line is quite spectacular and the train was only small being 3 foot gauge. We were able to spot some of the bridges and viaducts as well as a few lineside fence posts.
Our next stopping place was the Windmill at Blennerville right beside the sea.
Thousands of Irish people emigrated from here. In the visitor centre they had a model of the mill and surrounding area including the railway, unfortunately the light reflected badly on the glass case.
It was then back on the coach to travel back to Tralee, not the hotel but the railway station to catch a train to Cork where we would spend two nights in The Jurys Inn, a well situated hotel close to both the station and the town. Officially we had one free day in Cork and in the morning we had a good look round the town, this wall painting catching our eye.
The port still sees big passenger ships visiting and we watched the Celebrity Silhouette depart while we were there, it completely dwarfed the houses.
The town is on a steep hillside dropping down to the quay side and station.
With again some brightly coloured buildings making the place very eye catching, we did succumb to an ice cream while we were there.
The railway line not only runs right along the coast line between Cork and Cobh part of the time its over it on low bridges between islands that dry out at low tide.
I thought I would just include this view from the our bed in the hotel, I have a thing about photographing mirrors as you may have noticed from one of the Cobh photos. Friday our second day in Cork we were due to leave first thing and travel back to Dublin via Mallow and Waterford by train, but we decided to spend the morning in Cork and catch a train straight back to Dublin after lunch. Ffestiniog Travel had thoughtfully provided open tickets so that we could travel at any time by any route.It was then just the short walk for our second stay at The Ashling Hotel as Saturday morning it was a coach back to Dublin docks for our ferry back to Holyhead. I must say the Dublin port passenger terminal is much better organised than the Holyhead end.
Thankfully it was a very smooth crossing back to Wales and we even saw a few cruise ships at anchor ferrying their passengers ashore with their little davited boats.
No comments:
Post a Comment