Picture this: You arrive at a small pier in a tiny harbor and a guy with a boat picks you up. He drops you off ten minutes later on an uninhabited island and goes back to the harbor, leaving you alone on the island. Yep, that’s how I spent my morning today on Dalkey Island. I wasn’t alone the whole time. About an hour after I arrived, more visitors were dropped off, but for one glorious hour. I was alone on an uninhabited island in the Irish Sea.
If you’re looking for an exciting Sunday blog post today, you’re going to be disappointed. My intention was to take another day trip out of the city but I wasn’t feeling motivated, so I spent the day in Dublin instead, where I walked a lot and ate a lot.
Welcome to the United Kingdom! Today I learned about the political history of Northern Ireland (or the “north of Ireland”, as the Irish prefer to call it) on a black taxi tour and visited the iconic Giant’s Causeway, both included on my full-day bus tour with Wild Rover Tours.
Howth, Ireland is located a mere 12 miles from Dublin on a peninsula just north of the city, but it feels worlds away. Howth is most known for its seaside Cliff Walk and piers which are home to the many fishmongers who call Howth their home port. Howth was my destination for the day and was perfect for a half-day trip outside of Dublin.
I spent the day today in Dublin, learning about scholars and prisoners, and of course doing a lot of walking and sightseeing along the way.
Welcome to Ireland! This is both my second trip to the Emerald Isle and a rather spontaneous trip, having only booked my flights about three weeks ago. I didn’t have time to plan a big trip this summer, nor did I really feel like that this year. Since I’ve been to Ireland before and done a road trip around the country, I knew the pressure would be off to try to see and do everything. I am staying in Dublin for six nights and plan a couple of days in the city and a few day trips out of the city.
2,317 kilometers (1,439 miles) driven, 1,849 pictures taken, 15 days of traveling, and 1 happy-to-be-home traveler.
The “going home day”. I’ll admit I’ve been thinking about home for several days now, wanting to be in familiar surroundings, but at the same time not wanting vacation to end. I woke up this morning to sun in Ireland, and felt a little sad to be leaving. It’s hard to believe I’ve been here for two weeks. Things I did on my first couple of days feel like a distant memory already. But I’m also very ready to be home. I repacked my suitcase last night, which was no small feat. Zipping it closed this morning was a small miracle!
Well, the weather miraculously cleared up for one last day in Ireland. My plan today was to visit Connemara, an area west of Galway known for it’s more rugged beauty. Connemara is also one of the areas of Ireland which retains the Irish language; all road signs are in Irish only. I set off relatively early from Galway along the coastal route and stopped first at the Spiddal Craft Village. The village is several individual vendors set up in little shops around a small common area. I didn’t end up buying anything, but it was fun to browse the jewelry, artwork, and other local handcrafts.
Here are the things I miss about home today: sleeping in my own bed, knowing where everything is when I need it, buying, cooking, and eating my own food, and driving my own car on the right-hand side of the road. And here are the things I love about Ireland: the people, the history, the incredibly picturesque landscapes, and the music. I’m heading home in two days, and part of me wants to leave now and part of me wants to stay here (or at least take Ireland home with me!). There are some vacations where I want to soak everything in because I don’t know that I’ll ever be back (the Cotswolds is a recent example of that). There are other places I’ve traveled to where I absolutely know I will be back (I had that feeling on my first visit to Turks and Caicos and returned a year later). Ireland definitely falls into the latter category: I will definitely be back.
Traveling with Laura 