Scotland and Ireland

The last 3 days we have visited Edinburgh, Scotland; Belfast, Northern Ireland and Cork, Ireland.  We leave for our 5 days across the Atlantic and will be in Boston on the 23rd.  
I will upload some photos now and write the blog in the next day or so...  Enjoy the pictures
Edinburgh

We had arranged with some folks through the internet to take a private tour to Edinburgh.  It was a bit cheaper and only had 14 folks in the van… 

It is a 2 hour drive from Greenock, through Glasgow  to the city of Edinburgh.  Our driver was Derrick and he was a hoot.  He has been an actor for 30 years and guides tours to pay the bills…  He was dressed in the traditional kilt and was full of himself in an amusing way.  He told jokes, sang songs and explained the areas we were driving through.  He was very punny and I kept thinking how much Jess would enjoy him…

Our first stop was Rosslyn Chapel.  B & I opted not to go inside, figuring we had seen enough churches this trip – lol!  It is a beautiful structure tho and I got a decent photo of it.

The weather was turning and thinking about raining but it never really did.  It spit and misted enough to get your glasses wet and the tiled sidewalks slippery so you felt like you were hydroplaning when walking.  I was quite tense, taking mincing steps so as not to slip…

Our main stop was Edinburgh Castle and the Royal Mile.  We decided to walk the Royal Mile partway and go inside the castle afterwards.  The Royal Mile is called that because the King and Queen used to procession from the Castle to Hollyrood Palace.  It is a narrow, cobblestoned street that today has pubs, shops and churches along the way.  Being our first trip to Scotland, it was necessary to shop – lol!  Every other store had tartans and cashmere, cable knit sweaters -  unfortunately Texas weather never calls for heavy sweaters…lol  We bought bits and bobs including some Scottish fudge – it was very reasonable and B bought a few then went back and bought a few more and as we were walking out he said, “get me out of here before I go back to buy more…”lol  & now we regret that he didn’t….

We walked back uphill towards the Castle and got a bite to eat in a huge store.  The food was ok but it was nice to rest and be out of the weather.

We never made it into the castle as we ran out of time but took a few photos of it from the outside in the fog.  We met Derrick and the van at the top of the hill near the Castle and began our trek back to the ship.  The highway was quite congested so it took a bit longer to return – most of us napped on the van. Although it wasn’t actually a “tour” more of a glorified bus ride, it was a great day shopping in Edinburgh and Derrick was a terrific driver.  I would like to visit Scotland again…

Royal Mile

Roslyn Chapel

Belfast

In Northern Ireland we decided to explore on our own.  The ship provided a shuttle bus into town & back for a small fee.  I had researched the internet and found there was a market nearby but when we queried the Info center, we found out it was only open on Friday, Saturday & Sunday – that day was Thursday, damn!
But they told us about a smaller one a few blocks away so we went in search of it.  Turned out there was a small plaza down an alley and behind a department store.  It was strange walking back by the trucks that were unloading as it felt like a dead end…  The market was only 6 stands, but the courtyard was really attractive. There was a church on one side with a garden and a pub on the opposite side.  We didn’t buy anything, but did take several photos.

Continuing our exploration, we happened upon a mall and guess what?  It had a 1 pound store in it!  (the equivalent of a dollar store) lol!  We purchased some soda and snacks and went back outside.  By then it was warm enough out that we needed to shed layers and ended up carrying all our clothing in a shopping bag.  Belfast is a nice city with malls and stores just off the City Hall plaza.  It was pleasant strolling around but my Pokémon game did not want to work anywhere in Scotland or Ireland.  I was disappointed as I was hoping to catch an Irish or Scottish Pokémon & level up to 16.

While we were shopping I realized what I really needed was a souvenir store, when we stumbled across Carroll’s, a chain store of Irish souvenirs.  It is quite a large store with a variety of goods from key chains and magnets to fancy jewelry and t-shirts.  We had fun spending our pounds and then went back to the shuttle.  We boarded one that we leaving right away, but made a block circle, as the bus driver had not maneuvered well when he was leaving…  He managed to break a window on another bus with our bus’s  mirror, so we all had to get onto another shuttle…  it was very peculiar

Oh, our day in Belfast was my birthday.  We enjoyed the city and it was great to have a leisurely day to discover Northern Ireland…

It was early afternoon when we returned so we went to the Italian restaurant and celebrated by eating a pizza.  B had a Hawaiian pizza and I had one with artichokes and black olives.  It was tasty…

Cork

For our last day in Europe, we booked another small group tour through Cruise Critic.  We were 8 people in the van and it was cozy, but comfortable.  We got a short tour of Cork, Ireland seeing the oldest church in town – not Catholic – and drove through the narrow streets of the old city.  A few were such a tight squeeze we felt we had to hold our breath to pass by the parked cars…lol  In the parts that we saw, there were no buildings higher than 4 stories allowing for fine views of the rolling, grassy hills.  Cork housing is small apartment buildings or attractive single family cottages.

Our next stop was the English Market: a typical food market with cheeses, fish, meats, fruits and vegetables.  B & I wandered a bit and soon found ourselves outside in the regular shopping area.    And guess what we discovered?  That’s right – another dollar-like store!  LOL!  This one was more like a Big Lots as the prices ranged from 1Euro upwards.  We bought some more soda and some treats for the cruise staff and the casino dealers…

After a short drive through rolling green hills filled with sheep, we were in the shire of Blarney.  Our group opted not to go to the castle, but instead went to Blarney Woolen Mills.  4 floors of sweaters, wool coats, hats, t-shirts and Irish knickknacks overwhelmed the eyes and stretched our purses…lol!  Some of the ships tours were also there, so it was also teeming with crowds.  B bought himself a very nifty hat and I got some souvenirs of Ireland. 

Since it was after noon, we were hungry and so John, our driver, took us to a nearby hotel with a restaurant attached.  It was cafeteria style and they had a carvery with beef or turkey and lamb or beef stew for entrees.  As we were in Ireland, I chose lamb stew and asked for it served in a bowl.  They kept wanting to put it on a plate, but eventually I got it in a bowl.  Except for B, everyone got lamb stew – in a bowl…lol  It was quite yummy – well seasoned with tender bites of lamb, potatoes and vegetables.  And it was reasonably priced for the area, about $20 for both of us.

Our final destination for the day was the Jameson’s Distillery.   However the advantage to taking a small van is you can create your own itinerary.  Some of the folks wanted to know if there was a liquor store nearby and John made a detour so they could buy wine to take back to the ship.

We were soon back on route and arrived at Jameson’s in plenty of time for our tour.  We are now experts in how to distill whiskey – Jameson’s is processed 3 times through distillation and is protected from the fire with special tiles.  Scotch whiskey actually is twice distilled and the smoke is allowed to enter the chambers giving it that smoky quality.  At the end of the tour everyone got a free drink, however 8 of us got to experience a tasting.  There were 3 shot glasses: the middle one was Jameson’s, the left was a Scotch whiskey and the right was an American whiskey.  It was amazing how much different all three tasted.  The Jameson’s was smooth, sweet tasting with a pleasant “phew” at the end.  It was easy to smell & taste the smoke in the Scotch whiskey and the American whiskey was just nasty – uck!  I am not a big whiskey drinker, but I would definitely choose Jameson’s after this.

We enjoyed our condensed version of Cork, but I would truly like to come back and spend more time in Ireland.  It is a beautiful country with charming, welcoming people – I hope to return someday.

Next up: 5 sea days filled with trivia, sports, casino and more 

lamb stew

our van tour gang