24 years ago today I was making my way to Temple bar area of Dublin for what was a really special and fun filled day of listening to live music and drinking Guinness in a pub called Fitzsimmons bar. Today I’m in Galway where the morning started with a wonderful plate of pancakes and fruit with a coffee and a drink of orange juice.
Happy St Patrick’s Day
We got home last night in a taxi after venturing around Galway city centre where we had a wonderful meal while watching England play France in the 6 nations rugby. We have been planning this holiday since boxing day 2023 and me and my Dad are really having a lovely time.
Lovely steak and chips
I was a little nervous about leaving the pub that we had just eaten in and going to another bar. But some great music came on from one of the bars we were outside so we decided to venture in.
Great bar with excellent music
When there we met Tony a local Galway lad that took us under his wing talking to us and even giving us a little tour of the city and taking us to a bar called Murphy which he said has the best Guinness in Galway and it was delicious.
Guinness Time
We are hoping to meet up with Tony and some of his friends later for a Paddy day drink. It’s been so cool to meet a local guy able to let us know where to head to in Galway. Such a lovely place.
So day 3 in Ireland, we have had a lot of rain on our travels but it certainly has not dampened our spirits. We were in Cork yesterday and Dad went on a wonder in the evening and managed to get some lovely evening photos.
Hotel Maldon CorkCork Opera house Photo of one of the bridges across Cork.
The photos that Dad got above were taken on his iPhone ill try and pursade him to take some more while we are here. It’s been so cloudy since we have been in Ireland and it rained alot on the first day in Wexford. But when we arrived in Wexford this afternoon the sun came out to say hello.
Limerick train stationFather with pipeMe with father’s finger in way
So we have checked in to the Old Quarter Town house now where I’m just catching my breath. It’s a bar and restaurant with live music reminds me a little of The Ship in Exeter though don’t know if any where here does karaoke on a Friday though.
Bedroom for the nightView from bedroom in Limerick
So me and Dad arrived in Ireland yesterday evening, though we nearly did not make it due to our ferry being cancelled because of bad weather.
We set off from Exeter St David’s train station at 7.20am on Wednesday 13th March 2024.
Train from Exeter (It’s too early) Woken up a little more now!
I’m going to try and get more photos of the trip this holiday I normally try to relax and enjoy the moment and drink too much Guinness and not look like a tourist. But what the heck I’m on holiday and I am a tourist.
So we then headed to Bristol it turns out the Cheltenham horse racing meeting was on too so as we got closer to Cheltenham the train got busier and busier. Luckily for us though we were able to change train at Bristol Temple Meads and head to Swansea in South Wales.
We got to Swansea dad dashed out of train station to smoke a pipe and I walked to the next platform our train to where we were hoping to get a ferry to Ireland from was departing from.
A message then came up saying ferry to Fishguard cancelled. We started worrying about what are options were then and I phoned the ferry company and they told us to get to Fishguard where they would lay on a taxi to Pembrook dock where we could catch a different ferry to rosslare Harbour. So off we went.
Our Ferry from the shore
So we were on the ferry and the waters a bit choppy but Ireland was our destination of choice. There were only 17 walk on passengers on the whole ferry the rest were in cars or lorries. Due to the time of year more people were heading from Ireland to Cheltenham for the races than the other way around.
A pint of Guinness each on the ferry.
We finally arrived at the hotel about 8pm so nearly a 13 hours traveling. It had been a long day and a little stressful not knowing at times how, when or if we would get to Ireland.
First pint on Irish soil was a lemonade.
The hotel that we stayed in on 13 March had a bar and restaurant where we were able to get some gorgeous food and I got my glass of lemonade. My stomach needed settling with some food as all I had ate on the day was a croissant for breakfast and a sandwich for lunch so by 9pm I was needing to eat.
We did make it out to a bar on our favourite part of Wexford where I was able to finally have my first pint in Ireland listen to local musicians play some traditional it was awesome!
We’re off to Cork today where my Dad’s grandfather was born. Dad has never visited Cork so he is really looking forward to going.
Also I nearly forgot to mention that a message came up on my Facebook page to say the 13th March 2000 me and some friends also went to Ireland for 8 days in Dublin. Some 24 years ago. How time flies.
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