Mon June 9, 2025
Hi All! Today we are in the Republic of Ireland in Dublin! Dublin is the capital and largest city of Ireland with a population of almost 600,000. It is situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey (there’s a joke later about that!) and is bordered on the south by the Wicklow Mountains.
We actually anchored at Dun Laoghaire and took a tender in. We both have been to Dublin many times (heck Kathy flew there last month and is flying there three more times this month!) and love the city but decided to take a quick tour thru the city but venture out into the Wicklow Mountains. The Irish have funny names for some of their monuments and statues. OK, don’t let the kids read this but they call the Spire of Dublin the “Stiffy on the Liffy”! Enough said! Lol
We had another all day tour today. We started with a panoramic tour of Dublin City pointing out highlights such as Trinity College, O’Connell Street, the GPO (General Post Office), Molly Malone, the River Liffey, Ha’Penny Bridge, Christchurch Cathedral and St Patrick’s Cathedral. We also had a wee bit a time to walk around.
We then went south into the Wicklow Mountains, known as the garden of Ireland. We visited Glendalough, which means the valley of two lakes. The scenery in the Wicklow Mountains has been made famous by movies such as “Braveheart” and “P.S. I Love You”.
The other highlight we visited is St Kevin’s monastery dating back to the 6th century. The monastic site has Ireland’s finest round tower. Legend has it that if you can touch your hands around St Kevin’s cross you’ll be married within a year! Hmmmm.. no comment if we could! Lol
As we returned we passed by some of Wicklow’s finest mountains. With magnificent lakes and rolling turf hills it’s commonly used as a source of energy for Ireland. This area is every photographers dream and symbolizes the picture postcard images that make Ireland unique. This is where the Guinness Family has their home and owns a large stretch of land and a huge lake that looks like Guinness! Lol
We then headed back to the pier after a long and enjoyable day. We boarded the ship and got ready for dinner. I’ll post another update later tonight. Happy Monday to all!
The Wandering Italian 