Ireland

A Gaelic quote: An rud nach fiú é a lorg, ní fiú í a fháil — What is not worth seeking, is not worth finding.

Dublin, Ireland June 15 and 16, 2024

Elizabeth: After finishing our Spain adventures we left Muxia and taxied to Santiago, flew the short 2 hours to Dublin, then taxied to the town of Malahide, Ireland, just 7 miles from the airport. We only scheduled two days/three nights to get a taste of this beautiful area and boy did we pack it in. We learned a bit of culture, enjoyed the friendly people, saws some great sites and are hankering to plan a long trip here in the not so distant future. 

Gary found the lovely Grand Hotel in Malahide. A relatively small, bayside tourist town with great restaurants, shops, a castle, and much more. We had reserved two water view rooms for both Cooper & Chelsea and G & I. Cooper found interesting pubs and restaurants via local’s  recommendations. There was a seaside park, a wonderful breakfast cafe and an ice cream shop in walking distance from the hotel. We all agreed we were a bit relieved and excited to be vacationing, although a quick stop over, in a new country, where English is the main language! Gaelic is widely spoken by most and is being taught and encouraged again more recently. All signs in Malahide and Dublin are in both languages. 

We took the train into downtown Dublin and walked to Trinity College, famous for the Book of Kells (library) and went to St. James Church where we all got our last Camino stamp from the Camino Society Ireland office inside the church. 

Our next stop was planned way ahead of time, highly anticipated and turned out to be my highlight of our short visit. We went to the Guinness factory. The beer was great; the tour was educational and interesting. We all loved the original advertising promoting the product “was good for you”! And Cooper especially liked learning about coopersmithing/wooden barrel making. My best part was the traditional Irish fiddle music and tap dancing in one of the bars. For a 25 euro entrance fee per person, we each got a complementary Guinness, the self guided tour, access to a few restaurants and bars and the entertainment! We assumed we would be there for the recommended 90 minutes but over 4 hours later we walked out of the 5 story building with a glass, circular bar at the top, all thinking that was a fabulous afternoon well spent!! 

The next day we hiked the tall cliffed coastline into Howth. We enjoyed great seafood, beer, craft shops and a local guitar player on the pier.

We toured the Talbot family home of 800 years, Malahide Castle, opened to the public after 1976 when the last Talbot descendant passed. And, yes, same family name connection to Talbot clothing stores. 

We returned home with smiles on our faces and open hearts. We are all ready to clean out our closets, simplify our lives and appreciate ourselves and others for what we have and what others can teach us. 

Gary and I are off to Alaska on June 21st to visit three new national parks and revisit two additional ones. we’ll visit Kobuk Valley north of the Arctic Circle; go back to Gates and Denali; then meet up with our friends Sherry and Craig to go to Lake Clark National Park, staying in Port Alsworth; fly into Twin Lakes to see Dick Proenneke’s cabin; fly into Brooks Falls in Katmai NP to see the bears enjoying the salmon run and more!

If you’d like to hear about the above adventures, stay turned!! Or in late July, go to our home page and click on ‘National Parks’ to read about our upcoming travels! We will notify, those of you that have given us your email at the bottom of the home page, when we post next. We’ll be off the grid a lot in AK, so be patient!!

What we find in a soul mate is not something to tame, but something wild to run with.

Robert Brault