Blogs from County Dublin, Ireland, Europe - page 4

Dear All Greetings from London! I’m writing as I have just returned from a short four-night trip to nearby Ireland, or Eire, or the Republic of Ireland, and plan to write three blog entries for my three full days on this beautiful green island. This is my first one. I am majorly excited about this trip, and have been for some time now. A few years ago, I joined the Travelers’ Century Club, a club for travellers who have been to 100 of their listed countries. I initially joined as a Provisional Member, which you can do once you visit 75 countries on their list. In 2020, I was about to reach Full Membership with a summer trip to South Africa, and Swaziland was planned to become my country number 100. As we all know though, ... read more

24th March - Skerries #heygo http://www.heygo.com Skerries is a small seaside fishing town in Fingal. The name comes from the Norse word ‘skere’ which became the Irish ‘na sceirí’ which means ‘the rocks’. Historically, Skerries was an active fishing port and later a major centre of hand embroidery, while in the 20th century, it became a resort town, and a dormitory town for Dublin commuters. The two Martello towers in Skerries at Red Island and Shenick Island are part of a chain of such towers constructed in the early 19th century. They were to serve as protection from Napoleonic French armies (In the scenario of an invasion) and as an early warning system for attacks. Our stroll today was along The South Beach which is a 2.5 kilometre stretch of beach As we strolled our guide ... read more

We leave Dublin today and will be traveling for the next 24 hours. Our first flight is to Istanbul, Turkey. Then on to Addis Abads, Ethiopia and then finally to Cape Town. I’ll make some airport posts if we see anything interesting.... read more

We arrived in Dublin at 7am Dublin time (10 hours later than California time). It’s rainy and cold but hey, I like that. We rarely get this kind of weather in San Diego. We’ve checked into The Brooks Hotel, showered and now I’m trying cure myself of jet lag. There’s a Starbucks nearby so that will do the trick. Our flight from Newark was only one hour longer than our flight to Newark. We had even better seats on this flight but I wasn’t able to get any sleep despite having a down pillow, gel pillow, down comforter, a cotton blanket and eye blinders. Stay tuned for pictures of our adventures later today.... read more

Met de Hop-on bus die om 9.30 klaar staat naar Trinity College in Dublin, waar de geboekte gewezen-student-gids zich wel excuseert om ons te laten wachten. De jeugd van tegenwoordig jammeren de gepensioneerden. Hij wou ons Vlaams gezelschap wel gidsen in het Frans, want had zes jaar in Brussel gewoond en in Parijs gestudeerd. Leuk voor hem, maar voor niemand van ons echt nodig. Uitstekende gids overigens. Trinity College werd als universiteit in 1592 door Elizabeth I van Engeland opgericht als bolwerk van het Protestants geloof. Tot 1793 Verboden voor de Katholieken, Ieren. Daarna mocht het, volgens onze gids, nog meer dan 100 jaar niet van de Paus. Deze oude universiteit herbergt wel een schat aan 200.000 historische boeken in de 'Long Room' van de oude bibliotheek, waaronder het 'Book of Kell's' een door monniken rond ... read more