With strict orders for an 8:10 am meeting-up with our Driftwood Tour group at the Grand Canal Hotel, we set our Tuesday morning alarm for 6 a.m. The Academy Plaza staff was kind enough to accommodate my request to leave a suitcase intended for Croatia in their manager’s office for the duration of our tour. Another remarkably friendly and chatty taxi driver sped us through Dublin commuter traffic. He pointed out the building across from the Grand Canal Hotel that had once been a bustling slaughterhouse employing over 1,000 Dubliners, but was closed down some 20 years ago.

We easily found Ciara, our lovely, patient, and efficient guide, in the lobby of the hotel; she checked us in and quickly loaded up the luggage in our 16-seater tour bus. There are 15 travelers on our tour, remarkably with 3 nurses (2 from Australia and me), and 5 Los Angeles County retirees (Mike and two other couples). There is also a dentist, teacher, engineer, and others I’m forgetting. Most of the folks are retired.

8:10 a.m. on the dot we headed away from the meet-up hotel and joined the Dublin morning traffic. Vagabond’s 11-day Driftwood tours go either clockwise or counter-clockwise around Ireland. We learned as we pulled away that we would be going clockwise, and our first destination would be the Rock of Cashel in County Cork.

The story goes that the Rock of Cashel originated in a mountain 20 miles north of the town of Cashel when St. Patrick banished Satan from a cave. Some explosion in the cave caused a giant rock to blow out and land on a hilltop in Cashel.   A cathedral was built, now in ruins, but, interesting to us, the cathedral’s cemetery continues to be used. Some of the headstones listed people who died as recently as 2016.

After Cashel, we continued southerly to Blarney, familiar to most for the Blarney Stone. Our group was able to speed past the line-up at the entrance to the Blarney Castle and grounds. The grounds are lovely, with beautiful formal gardens, a gorgeous home, and the castle remains. The queue to climb the stairs and kiss the Blarney stone was an hour long. Ciara asked who wanted to kiss the stone – I raised my hand, of course. Couldn’t believe that only I and one other group member, Chris from Australia, wanted to do it. I mean, geez, when would I ever be in Blarney again?!?! So, Chris and I stood in line, chatted the time away as we climbed the spiral stairs, and took each other’s photos as a burly Irishman prevented us from falling down to our deaths as we kissed the stone upside down. I had to buy the 10euro commemorative photo.

Back in the bus, we drove another hour into County Cork, passed through the city of Cork and onto the outside of town where we came to our first night’s accommodation. The Gouganne Barra Hotel is situated on a stunning site in a valley surrounded by mountains and with the Gouganne lake in front. In the 6^th century St. Finbarr founded a monastery on an island in the lake. We had a great dinner in the hotel and a good night’s sleep, still a bit off schedule, but getting there.

Monday was a day of flawless travel plan execution. We used the small, family-owned Gig Harbor Taxi service for the first time. Our driver, who owns the service with her daughter, was great, showed up at 8:30am as requested and dropped us at the Inn at Gig Harbor where we caught the Kitsap Airporter to Seatac airport and parked ourselves in an airport lounge 4 hours early. United checked in our bags all the way through to Dublin in spite of the airline change in San Francisco. United service was typically pedestrian, but they got us into SFO safely and on time.

Aer Lingus was terrific. I felt especially lucky to be flying in a plane with a shamrock on its tail. Air Lingus really takes their Irishness to heart – all the seats are upholstered in bright green, they serve entrees like shepherd’s pie for dinner, and I’d never seen so many redheads on a flight in my life., flight attendants included. I slept for about 6 hours of the 9 hour flight; Mike, less than that, but I caught him snoozing now and then.

The Dublin airport was easy to navigate. Our bags arrived quickly and intact, and there was no customs inspection on the way out. The taxi queue wasn’t too long. Our friendly driver regaled us with stories of the success of his recent knee replacement and the love the Irish have for Americans.

By 1pm we presented ourselves to the reception desk of the Academy Plaza Hotel on the north side of the River Liffey, the major river that runs through the center of Dublin. Our room was ready.

I know I was jetlagged, but I swear to God and all that is good, I saw a bus advertising “Angela’s Ashes, the Musical.” We clearly had arrived in Ireland.

Though my goal to quickly overcome the 8 hour time difference was to stay awake until 9pm local time, I couldn’t do it. We set our alarms for 5pm and napped for 4 hours. We scouted out dinner, walked a half block down to bustling O’Connell Street and were drawn to the restaurant of the Gresham Hotel. After a series of delays and order mix-ups, we realized our waiter had a “trainee” label on his name tag, and so forgave the hiccoughs – we were hungry and ate whatever was put in front of us

I had a great view during dinner, large windows looking out at the busy intersection of O’Connell and Cathal Bruga streets. The ebb and flow between determined pedestrians and a constant parade of double-decker buses seemed choreographed.

We were back at the hotel and asleep by 9pm Western European Time.

Dear family and friends,

Nothing I love more than checking in for a flight to Europe.  We’re packed, boarding passes printed, coffee pot set up to be ready by 6am.

Mike and I are off on a 3 week adventure – a two week tour of Ireland followed by a week in Croatia with family.  Mike has been so indulgent in supporting my search for my Croatian family, we thought it was high time to discover the country of some of his ancestors (there is a strong “Kelly” line on his father’s maternal side.

We’re taking a small group tour offered by Vagabond/Driftwood Ireland Tours.  Here is the link to their web site, if you’re interested in following along.  The Vagabond tour version is very active, riding bikes, climbing mountains.  We opted for the Driftwood lighter-activity version and are taking the 11-day Discover Ireland Tour, with stays in Dublin, 1 day in the beginning, 2 days at the end.

Following our trip to Ireland we will fly from Dublin to Zagreb and meet up the our Croatian relatives.  A day in Zagreb at the beginning and end of the week, with the rest of the time in Kajgana and Garesniča.  This trip to Croatia is much shorter than usual, and we picked what is likely the hottest time of the year, but it seemed foolish to be so close and not drop down to visit our family.

If you’d like to be notified of new postings on the blog, and you didn’t already do this before, see the little blurb on the right titled “SIGN UP FOR EMAIL NOTICES.” You enter your email address then click “subscribe.” You might get one email from “A Habitable Realm” asking you to confirm that you signed up, but subsequently, you’ll get an email every time I post a story or photos.

Have a great summer, and I hope you enjoy our trip.

Maggie