We are winding down our vacation. We will leave here Saturday and drive south to just north of Bologna to break the trip in two, mainly because I erred in my planning and am traveling on about the busiest travel days in Italy. Feragosto. The main holiday in a month that is one big holiday here. So I figured I couldn’t avoid the traffic, but I could make each day trip shorter. We shall see if that works!
Sturgeon moon
We took a trip around the lake to a fancy restaurant that was not worth the cost in my opinion. I’m not going to inundate you with food pictures but I’ll include a few. There are captions.
The view was nice of the lake.Loved these little flamingo tables to hold your purseMy first course – goose liver pate. Second courseLoved the dessert box. They bring it closed and then open up all the compartments. They were yummy but we were stuffed
Here, we pretty much hang in our town of Pörtschach. The weather is hot, hazy and muggy. I can no longer see the Alps 😕 We also visited the next town towards the Italian border, Villach. And then we picked a typical Austrian place for lunch on the way back called Gasthaus Fruhmann. That was fun. I had my first and last Schnitzel of this trip there. Yummy. Tonight we visit a typical Austrian place here in town that we’ve been to before. We have eaten at most places here in town. These pictures are from Gasthaus Fruhmann.
I have been cooking in the apartment maybe half the time. It has been eye opening. The ingredients are just not up to the standards I’m used to. But also, I don’t have much to work with here. I bought thyme and oregano. That’s the extent of my herbs. I brought good Umbrian olive oil and pepperoncino, spicy peppers I cannot live without those. I always bring knives. The pots and pans are minimal. It is pleasant to eat on our terrace, because it gets very quiet at night, and by that, at six PM everybody disappears. There are a lot of families and that means a lot of children. Daytime is noisy with them.
I will do a recap of my feelings and observations about this trip once I’m finally back home in my beloved Umbertide.
For those of you who know me you won’t be surprised at my excitement. I found sweet corn! And in Austria of all places. I freely admit I am a corn snob and connoisseur. I adore sweet corn and I miss it a lot, living in Italy. They grow a lot of corn for animal feed and to make polenta, It is the same in most of Europe. They only grow it as animal food. But not for humans to eat. When I have seen any it has been picked for so long all its sweet juices have turned to starch. I don’t normally even try it if I do see it anymore.
One year I borrowed a friends land to try to grow my own. I had brought seeds from the US, three different kinds. I was moderately successful. Here is the culmination of my quest that year in my post called Corn. That same year I also tried “container corn” on our terrace. Sadly that was not so successful. Post on the Terrace Corn.
Anyway, yesterday we made the trip to the farmers market and there was corn! I took a chance and bought three ears. As everything in this country, it was the neatest, tidiest corn I have ever seen. Not a tassel in sight. Here are pictures.
My report is positive. It was very fresh, sweet and juicy. Maybe not “quite” up to US standards, but close enough and we devoured it with our meal las night ~~~~~~~~ Starting to head into the homestretch of this, too long, stay in Austria. I miss my home and my messy Italy. Next week we head back.
Last week in Portschach was pretty quiet. There were several days of rain. I did take some walks along the promenade and took some pictures of the interesting architecture. We ate out a couple times.
On Friday we were off on another excursion. This time our destination was the Bergenland in Styria. This is a wine region. We drove along the very good roads that are in Austria. We haven’t found a bad road yet, not even the small ones. The first part of the trip after leaving Klagenfurt is some of the prettiest scenery I have ever seen. The alps are just to the south, then it becomes rolling hills, farms and dense forests. A very, very lot of forests with straight pines towering into the sky. You can see nothing within after the first fifty feet or so they are so dense. I loved driving through that part.
About 12:30, we decided to find lunch. I put in Google maps “restaurants” and there were many in towns off of the Autobahn. I randomly picked one which got a score of 4.8 and figured it would be a nice Gasthaus. We got off the highway and drove down pretty roads with great views across a large valley. The GPS took us to a village called Ligist. It was the quintessential Austrian village and the Restaurant Wörgötter was right on the main square.
There was a covered porch and we found a table outside. The locals looked very curious. The waitress was a beautiful young girl, slim with porcelain skin. We got some wine and the menus. Luckily I still remember a lot of my German and can read menus in German without any trouble. I decided to get more adventurous and I ordered two things I wasn’t familiar with. The appetizer is hard to describe but it had beets and kohlrabi as main ingredients. It was delicious. Then I ordered a braised veal shoulder dish which also was very good. Luther got the salmon sashimi and the cod. The plates were beautifully presented. It was not your typical Gasthaus! Sehr gut. I didn’t realize at the time it was actually a Michelin one star restaurant! 😳
While in the restaurant a couple came in. I couldn’t help marvelling at her outfit. It was a very short, flouncy dress and red knee socks and shoes. Austrian fashion I guess.
We drove onward past Graz and the countryside got uglier. Eventually as we entered Styria and drove further it began to get prettier but remained very flat. When we got near our apartment we stopped at a vinotek and bought some wine and sat outside with a couple glasses in the pretty, well manicured lawn area with many small buildings alongside it. Two had thatched roofs which I never saw here before.
We had read about a lodging option in the wine region with many of the old winery buildings being converted into cottages you can rent. They are called Kellerstöckl. Ours is the Kellerstöckl Andrea and Walter Mittl. Pretty little place. Tiny inside with a kitchen living dining area and a small bedroom and bath. Nicest part is the covered porch with grape vines, laden with grapes all over it. Nice big table and a view of the vinery grapes.
Saturday morning around 10:45 we planned to go and visit some wineries and the have lunch. Luther did some research and found 4 places he liked and off we went. It was cool and overcast. None of the places were more than 15 kilometers so not far. The roads were good. Some were very narrow. For the most part the land was flat except for the best wine area and there was a large hill on which were planted many vines. Here are pictures of some roads and also views from that hilltop.
We visited all four of Luther’s picks and, although TripAdvsor said they were open…they were not. So, by this time it was lunchtime and since our choice for lunch was ALSO closed I got on google maps and found a few in a town 17 kilometers away. The town was Grosspetersdorf. It had two choices. We decided on the Gasthaus. It was good enough. We sat outside and each had fish.
We stopped at a grocery store and bought some meat for our picnic this evening, and then we went to a winery we had visited that morning which showed they were open after two. It was a nice place. Luther bought nine bottles. We will take them back to Portschach to enjoy. We may be able to squeeze in some bottles when we return to Umbertide but the Porsche is pretty packed so can’t bring many.
Sunday. Another overcast day. We had a lazy morning and Luther researched places to eat. He found Restaurate Ratschen. It is an interesting enterprise with spa and sauna and 24 small cabins 24 square meters each arranged in a circle around a common area where they serve breakfast. I would have stayed there had I ever heard of it. Anyway, the restaurant was lovely. it was situated up on a hill with great views. Lots of glass ad wood.
The people were very nice. Lots of young people and an apprentice who was very young and eager to learn and the owner/manager was super kind to him and seemed happy to have him for 3 months. Our meal was very nice and the Austrian wines were spectacular. I had a appetizer of watermelon with cheese. it tasted more like tomato than watermelon and the cheese was imperceptible. It was still good if not as expected. Luther had beef tartar. We both had trout for an entree.
We decided to forgo dessert and have an after lunch drink. I got a sweet local wine which was much like port which I really liked – it was very creamy. Luther got Schnapps.
Tomorrow we return to Portschach. We will leave early-ish and drive straight through. It was a nice visit but I doubt I will return. It is so quiet here.
Random Observations * Very little is old here except some of the farmsteads. Most of the cities were bombed in the war so they are rebuilt. Things were damaged in Italy, but not like here. * The towns, except for the biggest ones, have no services at all. No stores or shops or restaurants. They are only residential towns with homes shuttered from the street so it is all very stark and empty. Uninviting. * After Italy, this place is irritatingly tidy. 😁 Will it be hard to go back to messy, untidy Italy…nah! * There are more bells in Austria than Italy. * Both apartments have an abundant selection of egg cups of all things! * Maybe not so surprising is that the glassware in both apartments is high quality crystal. Austria is known for its crystal. I have an entire set I bought years ago in Vienna. It was a gift from my Mom and Dad.
Graz is only two hours from Portschach and we had never been. So we decided to take a weekend trip there. It is the second largest city in Austria. We stayed in the Schlossberghotel. Just at the north end of the old town. The building dates from the 1500s and was originally an artisan wood workshop for the aristocracy. Now a boutique hotel known as the art hotel. The owner has commissioned over 100 works of art specifically for places in the hotel. Our room has several. Here are a couple hotel pics.
Gift on arrivalI got a suite. it is the biggest room we ever had. But not expensive.
After we arrived we checked in and went for a walk. We stopped for a glass of wine in a plaza near us but it was also home to the amazing staircase up the Schlossberg to the clock tower and where the castle used to be. There is a lift and a funicular if you don’t want to do the stairs.
We decided on a place for dinner. Schmidhofer im Palais. We had a nice time. We enjoyed the ambiance. Not fancy. Good people watching. I had fried burrata with tomatoes and watermelon and branzino.
Schnaps
We woke to pouring rain. it was predicted. But it was a deluge. We had breakfast and stayed in for a while. We finally donned our raincoats and went down the street to the Graz museum. Mostly history of Graz but a special exposition had some art too. It was interesting. Graz was bombed during the war by the Americans. 30% of the city was destroyed. I delved into it a bit and found that Austria is a neutral nation. The Russians liberated them and in order for them to remain independent they agreed to that. They are not members of NATO.
Rainy morning
After the museum it had cleared so we went for a walk to check out the Murinsel. Built in 2003 in conjunction with the European Capital of Culture celebrations. They have an outdoor arena where they screen movies.
Then we walked into the altstadt where we explored a shopping street and visited the main square. There were some exquisitely decorated and painted buildings. The sun had come out and so had the people.
Door to an old bakeryDecorated buildings
Time for lunch! Luther chose Steirisches Wirtshaus, a very traditional restaurant. There was a great outside garten but it was very wet so we stayed in the outside, undercover area. I had forelle, which is trout served whole. One of my favourites. So good.
This concludes my trip report on our short trip to Graz. I really liked the city. Tomorrow we head back to Portschach. Our home away from home. Our house sitter sent us pictures of what we are missing. I miei pomodori.
Well, here we go! We have embarked on our excellent adventure. We left pretty early on Friday and the google person said it would be a 6.5 hour drive. It ended up being more than that because of what looked like the removal of a burned out truck. It sure slowed us down. This was in Bologna. The traffic there is always bad. Then we continued north, passing Ferrara (one of my favourite towns) and Padua. Then Venice and finally Udine. The alps were now visible ahead, the traffic sparse and the air clean. ahhhh.
We checked into the Werzer Strand Casino. It is apartments that are part of a hotel. Despite the name it is not a Casino. We have a one bedroom apartment with a nice terrace right on the lawn that slopes down to the lake.
There was a mishap in the underground garage. Luther scraped the Porsche against an Audi parked in the spot next to us. He met the owner and they have worked out an agreement without getting the police involved. I felt sorry for the German guy who was just trying to enjoy his Urlaub in Austria. In fact he lives in Aschaffenburg very close to where we once lived. Cars can be repaired so no real harm done.
We had stopped for groceries before we checked in so I got us all unpacked and by then it was near dinner time. So we went to the closest place which abutted the property we were on. It was a beach restaurant called Werzer’s Boothaus Café. It was right on the lake next to the boat landing. We sat outside and watched the world go by. A family came up to the dock in a beautiful solid wood oversized rowboat with electric motor. it had a nice table aboard.
Here are views of the lake. It is just north of the the Alps so some mountain views too.
I can’t say the dinner was amazing. I did like my appetizer. It was sliced beets with feta and grilled octopus. A nice combination.
Since Austria is still very old fashioned and nothing will be open on Sunday we went looking for a wine store and a farmers market on Saturday morning. We were successful on both fronts. The wine store was amazing! It had so many Austrian wines which are among my favourite wines. We bought a lot. They also had more spices than I have ever seen. Maybe more than Penzeys!
Then we navigated over to the farmers market which turned out to be very nice. Not huge but nicely varied. There were two vegetable stands, a couple selling fresh and cured meats, at least 3 cheese stands and a wine stand. I bought some pork chops for dinner and we bought cheeses and meats for our lunch. It is open on Saturday and Wednesday mornings. Excellent find.
It was a laid back day. We enjoyed the nice weather and watching all the activity on the lake from our terrace. I cooked the pork chops which were good. We ate them with fresh tomatoes which are quite nice and new potatoes. Ciao from Österreich. Until next time…
Sestri Levante, Liguria, June 2025 — Anniversary trip
We had reserved a really nice room with balcony at the Vis a Vis for 3 nights. We had stayed there a couple nights just after Covid. The hotel is way up high on a hill with amazing views. It is family owned and they designed it to be like a cruise ship. It is very beautiful. We go to this town to relax and wander. We don’t go to the beach. I know! People say, you go to the beach but don’t do the beach?! I like the beach OK but Luther, being very fair skinned does not, so it’s no problem not to go.
While we were driving there I received a phone call from the hotel saying they had an issue with the air conditioning on that floor and they didn’t have our room for us. They had booked us into a waterfront hotel ocean view suite. We didn’t have a lot of choice so we ended up checking into the Hotel Nettuno. The room is nice I guess. It has a nice view of the beach. The hotel has its own umbrellas. A lunch restaurant and a rooftop bar. The room is two story. This presents issues for me because of my poor knees. The bathroom was downstairs. For the last two nights I slept on the couch downstairs. Not quite the experience I had envisioned.
Oh well. It is what it is. We walked over to the Vis a Vis to their roof bar which has beautiful views for drinks to welcome ourselves there.
Then we had reservations for dinner at Pesce Balla — the Dancing Fish. It was recommended by my friend Matt. It was about a ten minute walk. You are seated and when ready to order you go to the counter where all the fresh seafood is displayed. They give you a glass of Prosecco which was a nice touch. You decide and order then return to your table.
We split the Branzino cooked in a salt crust. Luther got marinated tuna and I had the anchovies. It was all good! I enjoyed the dinner a lot.
We enjoyed a leisurely stroll back to our hotel. Nice evening.
Wednesday I woke early and looked out the window about 5:30am and loved the quiet. I snapped a couple of pictures.
Our window
Sestri Levante is not big, at least the old part of town isn’t. There is a newer part which is much larger which is normal for Italian towns. We set off on a walk to just shop and look at stuff. The sun was very hot. We tried to stay in the shade but it was not always possible. I looked for a loose linen dress but didn’t find any. Seemed everyone walking the streets was wearing one but none were for sale.
Finally we stopped for refreshments. It was on a tiny pedestrian street lined with places to eat and shop and great for people watching which we did while having our drinks. The buildings in Sestri Levante are all elaborately painted to “fool the eye” in the Trompe l’oeil method. The buildings are all painted to look like they are built of stone and have elaborate stone embellishments, but it is all fake. Painted by talented artists to look that way. It’s fun to look at.
This fellow was making pesto Genovese the traditional way, with a mortar and pestle. He worked at the restaurant next door. He had on a mic and speaker for his demo. Pesto made this way is a lot different than that made with a processor or blender.
Afterwards we went to a supermarket we found on our walk and bought a nice picnic for the room.
Later, after showers to wash the sweat off we headed out to our dinner spot we had reserved. La Sciamadda dei Vinaccieri Ballerini. It was right on the same street where we people watched. It was goodish. I had a weird starter which I can’t remember the name of but it was seafood and layered veggies and bread. Tasted good. Then I got fish again. They do fish well.
We walked back and decided to check out the roof bar in our hotel. It was very nice. The sun had set. It was comfortable. They had two singers who sang old standards. It was pleasant.
Thursday Another slow day as intended. The breakfasts are good here at the hotel. They have a big deck restaurant area under cover but with nice sea views. It has breakfast and lunch. A beachy place. The breakfast is a buffet and I have really been enjoying the fruit. I don’t think I’ve had better. Melons are so sweet now. Lots of sliced things. Melons, kiwi, pineapple, grapefruit, blueberries, and then whole beautiful figs and other things. I also have a taste of focaccia with a little cheese and some scrambled eggs. No sweet pastries. That’s a big breakfast for me. If we eat too late I’m not hungry for lunch. Today we had plans for lunch and picnic dinner in the hotel for dinner so we got up and went to breakfast early. Nice watching the empty beach. Seagulls calling. Fishermen in their boats heading back in from getting their catch.
We went for a short walk and visited the church. It has nice bells. We walked over to the Bay of Silence beaches
Lunch was back at the Vis a Vis on their beautiful outside terrace on the top floor. It is breezy with spectacular view of the baia dí silenzio— bay of silence, isn’t that a pretty name? And also of the city in the opposite direction. They have pretty white curtains hung all around which flutter in the breeze just an exceptional place. On my friend Matt’s recommendation we had the fish burger with fries, but first we had appetizers. We both got the anchovies all ways. What a great dish. My sister would love it. She’s a big anchovy fan. This one had them marinated in vinegar with a little pesto on top, fried, on a bread with cream, and a delicious curry version. So yummy. It was a really nice lunch. And then back to the hotel for naps, showers, picnic and may be a visit to the roof bar again. A nice day.
We did go to the roof bar this last evening. It was beautiful. I love watching the sunset, the boats, the mountains, the water.
We are home now where it is BROILING hot. Going up to 40C next week, that’s 104.2F. Damn hot! And this is only June! 🥵
Hi everyone. Remember me? Yes, I’ve been bad about posting but you must forgive me. I’m still battling this coldzilla. Really! I’m entering my fourth week. Someday!
Anyway, this is a Trip Report. We had planned a trip and even though we both had this “cold” we had to go. We went to Valencia, Alicante, and Madrid. Three cities we had never visited. We love Spain. So here we go!
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We had both been sick for a week or more with a cold which was primarily a dry, hacking cough. We had improved somewhat when the time came to leave but we were still out of it. Nevertheless, we proceeded with plans and hoped we would improve during the trip.
We picked up our cat sitter from the Perugia airport a day before we left. A nice British woman named Lucy. I feel comfortable with her caring for them. ~~~~~~ April 28 We drove to Bologna to the airport hotel where we always stay. We didn’t feel like going to the restaurant so we ordered room service. One of my issues is lack of appetite. Not much is appealing. And my taste for wine had disappeared which is serious! ~~~~~~~ April 29 Next morning we had an early flight to Valencia. All went well and we arrived on time around 11am, we taxied into the city which didn’t take long. Our hotel is Only You Hotel which always makes me sing the song ☺️ Very nice. It was impacted by the country-wide power outage the day before. It took out their network of the TVs. So no TV anywhere worked. Otherwise no big deal.
We had lots of time so we went out heading for the Central Market. Before going Luther had a recommendation for a tapas place for lunch. . . so we went there. It was quite good. A quirky little place. Nearly empty when we got there it filled right up. Here is the cute little restaurant and pictures of some of our food.
I must mention the mussels especially. They were fresh, the first of the season, and harvested just off the coast of Valencia. I have. Never. Had. Better. Mussels. So sweet.
Then we headed back and crashed for a while. Remember, we were still felling bad. At around seven, we tried the TV, no go. Turns out all the hotel info was accessed on the TV. Too bad for us. We wanted to do room service this night but no menu available. Luther managed to get a bunch of paper printouts of the menu . We were not impressed. Finally, we decided to get a drink at the bar. There, we had issues accessing the menu online. What’s new? We went up to the ninth floor for a tapas dinner. I did this for Luther because the cold I had had made me totally not have an appetite. We had tapas. I managed to eat some.
We crashed and I had a good nights sleep. We both felt better next day. We had booked breakfast on the first morning. It’s expensive for all three days though, so we will go out for the other days. The breakfast was excellent. There was nothing you could have imagined that wasn’t there.
We headed out to visit the Central Market, finally. It was amazing. Big building chock full of anything you could want. We bought our dinner. A small goat cheese cake, two packets of Iberian ham (super famous) and a baguette. Plus wine. Back to the hotel for naps and relaxing.
After naps we headed over to the Cathedral. I really enjoyed it. The site has been used by the moors for their mosques and the Christians, for their churches since the 600s. Admission was €6 for us seniors. It came with a great audio tour. We thoroughly enjoyed it. Back we headed to the hotel. We went straight to the hotel bar where we had some wine.
Dinner was the stuff we had bought at the central market. Nice picnic. The cheese, a fresh goat, was amazing! I wanted to go back and get several more little rounds of it. So good!
~~~~~~~ May 1 – May Day Up late. A very windy day. Not too warm or cold. We planned a walk to the City of Arts and Sciences. Luther wanted to see the building. We walked about halfway but the wind was just horrible so we turned around and returned. Everything, I mean everything was closed.
On the way back we encountered a parade! For May Day. Labor Day. The day for the workers. Lots of communists who are alive and well here. And I saw one group with 37.5 signs, advocating for a 37 hour work week.
We had reservations for lunch Civera. Seafood is its specialty. But it was too early so we had a glass of wine in our hotel.
The restaurant was very good. The only reservation was outside but thankfully the street and buildings sheltered us. We decided on some tapas. Big surprise. I ordered mussels and the little fried peppers they make here. And Luther got teensy fried fish with ham and an egg on it. The fish were so small, you could just make out the tiny eyes. Fries with eyes our friends call them. After finishing, they brought a small bottle of Muscat and cookies 🙂. Then we got coffee. And Luther got brandy, Grand Duca d’Alba. They poured him an enormous glass! 😳 and he had to stop them pouring more. As it was I had to “drive” home. i.e. navigate back. Well, needless to say naps were in order.
We stayed in and finished the cheese, ham and bread we had left. Next day we were off to Alicante on the Spanish train. Our first time using the Spanish trains. ~~~~~~~| May 2 – Alicante We had 10:20 reservations on the train so we got up and all packed up and out the door by 9:30. Being unfamiliar with this new system we wanted plenty of time. We taxied to the station, about eleven minutes away. Decided to have a cappuccino while waiting for the gate to come up. Then we waited on the platform until the train showed up. We had reserved seats so found them, no issues. The ride was a bit cramped and we arrived at 12:45, so it was a two hour plus trip.
Spain is reminiscent of the desert southwest of the U.S. scrubby, dry, canyons and gulches. There were areas with lots of what looked to be fruit trees and grape vines, but in dusty dry fields. Tall mesa type rocks and mountains devoid of greenery. So very different than Italy. It is where the spaghetti westerns were filmed.
Then after a while, it greened up and was very pretty.
We arrived in Alicante and taxied to the hotel. Hospes Amerigo. We were too early to check in so we left the luggage and went to the tapas restaurant place in the hotel bar. I have been totally remiss on the photos of the food. I wish I had done the tapas which were beautiful. We had amongst the two of us, a container of fried fresh sardines. A seafood salad served cold. Curried chicken samosa. Flatbread with titaina, sardines and mollitas. Super yummy and we were stuffed.
We checked into our nice room. With open bathroom plan. Later the steward brought us a bottle of bubbly on ice with a thank you note from the manager. We didn’t do anything special so I assume they do this for everyone? 🤔 Anyway it was nice and we drank it 🙂 We ordered room service. I was craving a simple salad. They are definitely short of salads here. All I could find was a Cesar salad with chicken. I ate the salad, not the chicken. Luther got a sandwich. ~~~~~~~~ May 3 – Alicante We got up late and went to breakfast about 10:15. It was good but not spectacular. Then we went out for a walk. I had bought a linen shift the day before because I didn’t have anything appropriate for a beach place. It is very comfy even if it makes me feel like I look like the cleaning woman.
We checked out random streets and went looking for the mushroom street which I had seen pictures of. We went on a circuitous route but eventually did find it.
Then Luther led the way and we just window shopped and looked at menus. We happened upon the big market. It’s divided up into meat, seafood, and veggies. One whole floor was meat. Incredible. It was fun to check it out.
Now, I was Jonesing to go back to a restaurant I saw that advertised Mojitos. I thought that would be perfect. It’s been a while. And it was amazing. Fresh squeezed limes and a bunch of mint. Very delicious.
We went to the seafront. Along the way I photographed the amazing Banyan tree in the park. The canopy is so large it shades the whole park. The trunk is enormous. The roots tall. I’m in awe of trees like this one. There are two huge cruise ships here. I guess it is a destination. The promenade is nice with walkways lined with palms.
Back and relaxing in the room. We went to dinner at 8:30 in the hotel restaurant. I wanted a green salad badly. So odd they are not common. They were kind and made one for me. Then Luther and I shared a paella with shrimp and cuttlefish. Good, but not my favorite. Was super dark in color. The rice was very dark from squid ink. It was a nice meal and we had a nice conversation mainly about public TV and NPR. I was always a doner, subscriber and listener. Big fan. But I guess those who use it will need to up the ante and support them more. They say the rural stations out in the middle of the country will probably go dark. Sad that where they need it most a reputable news source will be lost.
~~~~~~~ Sunday – May 4 — bullet train to Madrid We had plenty of time before we needed to check out. We had a good breakfast and packed up but remained in the room until checkout time. Then we waited at the outside tables until it was time for a taxi.
The train was already there so we could board. It was a super long train with engines in the middle as well as the ends. We had to walk a very long way to get to our car. The seat was much more comfortable than the one two days ago. Wide seat, spacious drop down tray and foot rest. The trip was about 2.5 hours. The scenery was varied. At first it was a dead ringer for the Arizona desert. As my friend said, home of the spaghetti westerns and this type area in Spain is exactly where they were shot. The it got lusher. Not sure what the crops were but they were green and there were forests of pines.
We arrived in Madrid at 1:15. And it was COLD! 😳 I was flabbergasted. The reports a week or two ago showed Madrid warmer than our other towns. Now, looking at the weather I see it will be highs of around 62 and rain all of our days. Oh well. I did not pack for this so we may need to pick up some coats or sweatshirts.
We checked into the Hotel Urban. I had been pretty excited about our stay but I was very disappointed . The suite I booked wasn’t available for at least the first day. They had a junior suite. I had no choice really. The room is not suitable to me. Poorly designed. On the central courtyard. Very dark. Lighting lacking. Size much smaller. Of the rooms so far, this is the worst. I waited to decide the next day if I wanted to change.
We went out to dinner at Casa Varona. We sat at a tall table. When we arrived it was empty, when we left it was packed. I had an asparagus dish with cherry tomatoes. We had fresh anchovies. Luther got the calamari sandwich. It was fun. Not great but fun. A 15 minute walk from the hotel. There is an interesting bunch of small streets behind the hotel full of shops and restaurants. Very fun. Home to bed.
~~~~~~ Monday, May 5 We decided to switch rooms. Really worth it. That room was like living in a cave. Horrible. It meant we had to pack up everything but I never had a less appealing room than that one.
We had the breakfast this day. It was nice. More formal than most breakfasts. We both ordered the scrambled eggs and got other stuff from the buffet.
Then we were off to visit the Reina Sofia museum. Mostly Spanish artists and architects. Very interesting. My back bothers me after a little while standing so I tend to go and look and then find a place to sit a while. Luther really enjoyed it.
It was well past normal lunchtime but not past Spanish lunchtime. We walked back toward the hotel and headed into that restaurant area and came upon Tabarina Elisa We sat at the bar. We had a few tapas. I finally got a Gilda. The “Gilda” tapa, a classic Basque pintxo, is named after the iconic film character Gilda, played by Rita Hayworth, in the 1946 movie of the same name. And I also got the mussels which were nothing like I imagined but were delicious. Luther got dado of cod and croquettes of Iberian ham and cheese. All delicious.
Gilda
Back to finally move into our new suite room. Infinitely better. Big. Comfortable, windows all around with sunshine!! A table and chairs and a sofa and chair sitting area. Same type bathroom. So much nicer. The owner of this hotel group collected art from Papua New Guinea. These were in our room.
We went back to a restaurant we had passed today on our walk back. Triciclo. It is Michelin rated. I really loved it. It was very eclectic. I had cevechi of bass. And then a taco of stewed chicken and shrimp. Luther got the taco and suckling pig. They have three sizes for everything meaning you can get the small portions which works for me best. Very yummy meal. ~~~~~~ Tuesday May 6 Today was the day we planned to visit the Prado. The amazing art museum of mainly Spanish artists. We spent two hours in there and didn’t dent it. It was incredible. Many artists we didn’t know who were amazing. Then the well known Goya, Bosch, Velazquez, El Greco.
By then it was nearly two so we went in search of lunch. We ended up at Marina Ventura near the hotel. We each had Spanish anchovies with toasts and tomato mush. Classic dish. Then I had a big salad. It had white asparagus and that was the draw for me. Also all the usual things in salad plus boiled eggs and tuna. Luther got the fried seafood plate. But nothing seemed fried. He had razor clams, mussels, clams and prawns. A feast,
We planned a picnic in the room so found a grocery and I asked the man to help with a picnic. His face lit up and he enthusiastically helped pick out cheeses. I got three. Than some Iberian ham. And a bottle of white wine. Back to the hotel to kick back. ~~~~~~~~~ May 7 – Homeward bound We flew back to Bologna and retrieved our car and drove home. Always nice to get home to our Boyz Simba and Rocky. ~~~~~~~~~ Thoughts on the trip. Three interesting, and very different cities. We enjoyed them all for different reasons. I loved Alicante because of its laid back vibe. Valencia, although Spain’s third largest city, was very walkable and we loved the food. Would have preferred a different paella. Madrid, Luther’s choice, and the reason we came, was a pretty city. We were right next to the Congress and a lot of embassies. The little streets behind our hotel were fun and accessible with lots of restaurants. Hotels. Only You València. Perfectly located. They made the mistake of having all the hotel info on the TVs which are on one big network. The countrywide power outage took them out so it was impossible to see what they had. Room service etc. The room was a suite with sofa in one room, bed in the other. Nice bathroom but the maids sabotaged us by leaving the powerful squirter facing straight out. Everything was drenched. Only one treat was offered on one evening at turndown Hospes Amerigo Alicante. Room was not as big but they brought treats. A bottle of Cava, bubbly Spanish wine first night, and a bag of cookies the second. Nice bathtub for Luther. Very nice shower. Open plan. Our favorite hotel. Hotel Urban in Madrid. Good location. They stiffed us on our reservation and lied about why. They didn’t want to give us much restitution for the screw up. I was adamant they give us more which they finally did. They had a nice bar. The restaurant, Cebo, a recently awarded Michelin starred restaurant was way too precious. I would definitely NOT go back.
Thursday, September 19 We set off around noon for our next destination, Doolin, about two and a half hours south of Leenane. We planned to drive about an hour and stop for lunch, then go to the grocery store. I found a pub called Tom Sheridan’s on the west side of Galway. It was ok. Then we drove about 3 minutes to the grocery store where we got a few groceries and some wine.
About an hour and a half later we arrived in Doolin, at our house, the Castleview House. Right in the middle of Doolin. Our view.
The town is not much, rather scattered with pubs, restaurants and shops as well as a harbor. We met our landlady, Darra, who, with her husband, own four houses which they rent out here. This one is quite luxurious. It’s new so everything works, unlike Stoneacre in Leenane. I like both places for different reasons. Leenane, because it was the owners home, was more cozy and cluttered. Also older and it needs renovation quite badly. In Doolin, the house was austere. It had a nice outside deck with hot tub and a view of the ruins of the Doolin castle. It had three bedrooms with en-suite baths.
We settled in and took naps. The day was fine so we had a chance to sit outside on the deck and take in the castle view and have a glass of wine before dinner. Then we walked just down the street to Ivy Cottage for dinner. It was recommended by our landlady. She was quite opinionated about which places were good, and which not. Ivy Cottage didn’t disappoint. Our server was Polish, and I think one of the owners Asian. We noticed a lot of hospitality workers are from other places. The food was delicious. I had a Thai curry with prawns. Yummy.
Friday, September 20
Cindy had booked us on a boat trip to Innis Oìrr, a small island, a member of the Aran islands, only 15 minutes from Doolin harbor. We were advised by Darra to arrive early for good seats. While waiting in line we met up with some fishermen quite excited about their weekend. They recommended a pub on the island called Tigh Ned.
It was super windy and not terribly warm. Many people took the horse drawn carts on a tour. The farmers all have big draft horses. They looked healthy but really dirty and unkempt. We took off on a walk around the island village. I snapped some photos; a church being readied for a wedding; A lone horse in front of the silhouetted castle.
Then we headed for the Pub. We were lucky we got there early so we got a good seat and ordered beers. Guiness and Smithwicks, pronounced Smithicks, per Peter, the fisherman. I had my first fish and chips.
Then we waited to board our boat back for the sail along the foot of the Moher cliffs. It is the second most popular sight in Ireland after the Guinness storehouse in Dublin. We were excited because we are huge Princess Bride fans (movie from 1980s). These cliffs were the Cliffs of Insanity in the movie. They are inconceivable! We really enjoyed this part of the trip.
Did I say it was windy?
Sorry there are quite a few pictures.
These next few are my favorites. They are the Cliffs Of Insanity from the movie.
The weather was still holding. It had been very windy and chilly while on the boat and island but here, inland, it was sunny enough we could again sit outside.
Bill took a walk on the Cliffs trail while we were lazy. These next few photos are his and they are great.
We had booked a unique experience for the evening. There is something called the Music House of Doolin owned by Christy Barry and his partner Sheila. They invite people into their living room three evenings a week – about 25 people – to enjoy traditional Irish music and local lore. It was very intimate. Christy, the host, played the penny whistle, a flute and spoons. There was a fiddle player, and an accordion player. The host did all the talking. He was an older man who had grown up in Doolin. He told stories of all the old musicians and the way the music had evolved from when it was always played in the living room, strictly for dancing, to what is now where they play in the Pubs. Doolin is known for its traditional music. We were served wine and finger food by the hosts partner and a neighbor. In the end the two woman danced the traditional Irish dance. It reminded me of flat footing, the dance my Mother’s family and the mountain people did where she grew up. Two audience members played and/or sung. It was a very fun and unique experience. We left at 8:30 because all the musicians had to go to work in the pubs playing with different bands.
Saturday, September 21 We figured a Saturday would be the busiest in Doolin, but it wasn’t obviously busier. We lazed around in the morning. We had crumpets for breakfast, and coffee.
Then we walked to the next town over and visited McGan’s Pub. It wasn’t a lot of fun due to the numerous tour busses which stopped and dumped out their passengers for lunch. We were crowded by them even though there is a back room for the bus people.
We had purchased food for a dinner in so this was the day. Pasta Amatriciana.
Sunday, September 22 We toured our own town of Doolin this day. I did some shopping. I bought earrings and a pretty green scarf with Celtic designs. Then we returned to Ivy’s cottage for lunch. My seafood chowder was delicious.
We had dinner at Anthony’s mainly for its proximity, right across the street. They evidently had a big Saturday night and had sold out of several items. We still managed to get fed. I had a nice sea bass filet served on top of a bed of ratatouille plus roasted potatoes. It was good.
The house we rented is odd in that each of the three bedrooms has a TV but none of the common areas do. So we couldn’t watch anything together. One night after dinner, we actually listened to a couple of Johnny Dollar radio shows from the Big Broadcast on WAMU our old public radio station in DC.
Monday, September 23 Another gray day but no rain. We had our crumpets for breakfast and left for a visit to a town called Ennis. It was about 30 minutes away. Turned out to be a nice town. A rats nest of streets in its center, you could tell it was an old market town. There was a river going through town and they had nice bridges with flowers on them. Lots of houses and stores had flowers as well as on the light poles and all the buildings were colorfully painted. This seems the norm here, colorful houses and stores.
We did a bit of shopping, and then found a pub, Brogdan’s, for lunch. It was an outstanding pub. Luther and Cindy were happy to finally get IPA beers. Seems almost all bars here in Ireland have just the standard beers and ales. Cindy and I had the bacon with cabbage dish because it was different. It was quite good. It was not bacon, rather it was more like ham. On top of cooked cabbage and a big mound of mashed potatoes and puréed carrots. There was what was called a parsley sauce on top, but it was white, more like a béchamel sauce. Anyway, it was good.
Excellent pub
We returned to our town and house and relaxed until evening. We had planned to go to O’Connor’s pub for dinner and to see some Irish music. We had had a beer there the day before and asked about the music which was supposed to start about nine. We had dinner. I had mussels again in a delicious sauce, split with Luther, then a ceasar salad.
After we finished we found an empty table in the room where the band plays. Turns out as we had seen before, the band just shows up and sits at a reserved table. Then off they go. They stop and chat between songs, and get drinks etc. It is all very informal and a lot of fun. Turns out two of the musicians were the same ones from The Music House experience. The accordionist and the flute and whistle player, Christy, who owned the Music House. The music is traditional Irish and we don’t recognize any of it, but it is familiar from bluegrass at home. And from our ancestors who were Scots Irish and brought the music along to the Appalachian mountains, where they settled.
Luther isn’t asleep, he is just listening to the music.
It was a fun evening
Tuesday, September 24 We woke to brilliant sunshine after three days of gray and chill. Always a cheerful sight to see the sunshine. We were leaving our Doolin house and heading for Trim which is not terribly far from the airport. It was hard to say goodbye to the very comfortable house. One of the owners came to say farewell.
Did I say it was a brilliant day?
We drove on some very tiny roads but Luther had gotten very good at them by now. The landscape was pretty amazing. There were enormous granite hills, almost mountains, totally rock. Gray, maybe granite, or limestone. We finally got on the M6 which was a relief. Pictures from along the way
For lunch we randomly picked the town of Athlone which was on the River Shannon and had a big church built in the 1930s and an impressive castle. The center of town was quite nice. We chose the River View Bistro for lunch. They had home made focaccia. I chose the pulled pork since it was something different. It had very little meat on it. Certainly not the pile we get in the U.S. The focaccia made up for it. It was delicious.
Supposed to be the oldest bar in IrelandAthlone castle
We arrived in Trim about three. Our house hotel called the Highfield House was very near the famous castle. It is a strange business. A hotel that is self catering. Didn’t matter to us since we stayed only one night but odd. They check you in and that’s it. If you arrive late your key is in a box. There was no breakfast offered. The rooms were quite small. The bed-sheets paper thin. Pretty building and gardens.
We went right away for a walk to the castle. It was not far. The castle was built in the 1100s by Norman’s. There is an almost intact Keep inside the walls. The movie Braveheart was shot here. The Keep substituted as the Tower of London in the movie. We took pictures and walked back along the river. I got a nice shot of the castle in the distance and the river in the foreground.
Castle keep
We had chosen Kahn Spices Indian Restaurant for dinner. Supposed to be the best place in town. About six Luther and I were wanting an aperitivo so we walked to the Castle Hotel bar. Just across from the castle. Cindy and Bill joined us a little later. It was a nice bar. We walked to the restaurant. It was a nice place. The menu was very interesting looking. We ordered our appetizers and the main courses with naan and rice. The appetizers were disappointing. The mains were better but nothing to write home about. Not spicy enough for me. The owner stopped by twice. Anyway, it was good enough.
We walked back to the Castle hotel bar for nightcaps. They had a man playing guitar and singing. I loved his Irish ballads. He had a nice voice. Luther and Bill finished with a shot of the Red Breast Whiskey. 21 years old. I got a taste and it was about the best I have had. Outside of Middleton which is way too expensive nowadays for us.
Wednesday, September 25 We got up early to get Cindy and Bill to the airport. The traffic is known to be very bad getting to the airport. The estimate by Google was about 50 minutes. We took small roads to avoid the M1 traffic. It went smoothly.
Luther and I didn’t fly out until 7:40 in the evening. A lot of time to kill. We went to the nearest town called Swords. It was nice with a pretty center and shopping. We parked and then parked our butts in a coffee shop for an hour and a half. I had a tasty home made scone with butter and jam. The coffee was good too, and that is saying a lot from Italian coffee lovers.
We took a walk and explored the castle. It wasn’t really a castle but was the Bishop of Dublins home in the 1200s. It had a pretty chapel. Then we perused the shops on the Main Street. Many off track betting parlors, lots of barbers, a few pubs and cafes. We explored a hotel and checked out the menu. And decided to go there for lunch. We went back to the coffee shop. It had begun to rain. We had another cup of coffee and then went to lunch. The bar didn’t have the usual beers for a change. He tried a bitter and an IPA. I had a white wine and then we both had curries. Not very good but we were fed.
Off to the airport and dropped off the car. We had a scrape from the mishap with the wall from early on, so we were charged the €250 deductible. Oh well. We arrived at the terminal at 2:30. We were around 5 hours early so they would not allow us to check our bag. We had to wait two hours until they would allow it. Finally at 4:40 it took the bag. We did the fast track security and then went to the Lounge which we had paid to use.
It was OK. A bit crowded, but we found a table. We got two complementary drinks and then we could eat dinner. I had the Guinness Irish stew on mash. Luther had a sammich. It was a good place to kill the rest of the time. We arrived in Bologna at about 11:30pm. Took a taxi and spent the night. Then drove home the next morning.
Best and worst Since we only did 2 hotels The Mont in Dublin won that contest
Best Dublin breakfast – for me it was at Tang in Dublin, the wonderful middle eastern dish called Shakshuka.
Best Dublin dinner – Luther liked Note. I guess I agree but I was not that impressed.
Best rental house – can’t choose. They were so different. One was someone’s home, so it was cozy, the other was new and purpose built. Both were comfortable.
Best views – from Stoneacre in Leenane.
Best outing – tie between the two cruises, one on the fiord, and the other to the Aran islands and the Cliffs of Moher.
Most unique outing – The Music House in Doolin. But the last evening in Doolin where we sat next to the musicians and listened was also very special
Best dinner – Ivy Cottage in Doolin
Best Lunch – Hamiltons restaurant, Leenane, my mussels were the best I’ve ever had and that I could see the mussel farms from the restaurant made them even more special.
Souvenirs – I bought fingerless mittens from a nice older lady in Letterfrack. She knitted everything she sold. Two books, a scarf, and two coasters. Also bought two blocks of cheddar because it is scarce in Italy.
Cindy brought me some knives I ordered and had sent to her. She also brought me a beautiful hand made scarf from Virginia. I love it. I gave her olive oil. Not very adventurous of me.
Observations: it was odd to me that they don’t plant anything near their houses. No shrubs. Even odder that many pave the entire yard. They love to paint their houses and buildings bright colors. The pubs almost all serve the same beers. Very few craft brews. Might be the overpowering Guinness influence. Many people say youse. As in “can I get anything else for youse?” One of our favorite experiences was the cab ride from Roe & Co distillery to our hotel. The driver was amusing to say the least. His favorite word was fock or focking. In hindsight we spent five nights in two places and it would have been better to do three places with fewer nights in the two we visited. We did it this way so we didn’t have to pack and unpack but the two places didn’t have that many things to do. We still had great fun, and it turned out more low key which was fine since 3 of us got colds.
Saturday, September 14 This day was our leaving Dublin day. We had a very traditional breakfast in Kilkenny Cafe. Everyone was happy. We checked out and cabbed to the airport to get our rental car. Mission accomplished.
Off to the west we went. It was a 4 hour drive. We stopped for lunch in a random town called Loughrea in a pub called the Old Triangle. It was ok. We had red ales, and three had the fish and chips and one the chicken curry. Pretty good.
Then we went to Galway to buy groceries so we could make dinner that night. OMG. What a mess. We now know what all the Galwegians do on a Saturday afternoon. Shop. The traffic was horrific. It must have taken an hour to find the Tesco which was hidden with no signage. The Google maps guy said it was there but to find it was a whole different thing. Anyway, we did buy things and off we went to find our house which we rented for five nights in a town called Leenane.
It was raining by now. Visibility was very poor from rain and mist. The roads got smaller. The hills got bigger, the rivers were overflowing their banks. We had to ford a pretty high water place. There was also, inexplicably, a ton of traffic coming the other way. The roads were narrow and this was Luther’s first day driving. We finally arrived. All of us were tired. Especially Luther.
The house is a bit creaky and dated but the rooms are lovely. The views are to die for. What a beautiful place. The owner lives in Virginia. She spends summers here because she is a teacher. The rest of the year she rents it. A nice man named Conor Bogdan takes care of it for her and for the rentals.
We cooked in that evening. Pasta arrabbiata. I was pooped and hit the sack early.
I captured many pictures of Killary Fiord from the living room of the house during our stay. I will sprinkle them through.
Sunday, September 15 My mother’s birthday. Happy birthday Mom. Sadly, during the night I came down with a cold. I don’t think it is Covid. I have never had it so I can’t be sure, but by nightfall it still was cold symptoms. We are in the middle of nowhere so no medicine available. Tomorrow we go to another town with pharmacies.
This day we had already decided would be a down day. And that was good for me. Cindy and Bill did wash. We finally went out for lunch in the wee town of Leenane. It consists of a Pub, a Restaurant, a Cafe, a gift shop, and a sub-par “grocery”. The weather was fine.
We chose Hamilton’s Bar and Restaurant. We chose it because of its menu. It was very good. One of the best meals we have had. I had the local mussels, farmed right in the Killary Fiord. So sweet, plump and clean. Luther had the seafood plate. Cindy had the Seafood Pie, and Bill had the Chicken Curry. All good.
We stopped off at the Purple Door Cafe and bought four ham and cheese sandwiches. They called them croque monsieurs. But they were not. No matter, it made a fine, quick dinner later.
Monday September 16
We traveled to visit the pretty waterfall, Aassleagh. On the river Erriff. Love those double letters! We even saw a huge salmon trying to leap up the falls. Cool!
This one even has two fishermen trying their luck. Catching a salmon would be awesome!
There aren’t many trees on these barren hills so these pines caught my eye.
Then off we went to visit Westport. A city of 6,800 people but it seemed bigger. But! Gasp! About six kilometers out of town our tire pressure warning light came on. And the strangest thing, almost at that exact time we approached a gas station with a tire center. There had been nothing on this whole road until now. Turned out we had about a 2 inch long screw in the treads. The man in the garage could fix it, thankfully. Not sure what we would have done otherwise. We were really lucky!
Westport had a ton of pharmacies so we got some cold medicine. Not sure it will help much. Why do they sell this stuff that doesn’t work?
We walked around the town. Really very pretty with colorful buildings. There was a pretty bridge with flowers on it, and a placid, shallow river. Lunch was at Covey’s. It was a hotel with restaurant and at night a bar that stays open late. Luther and I had the sea trout lunch special. Bill had the roast beef special, Cindy had the chicken curry because the chef is Indian. I don’t think it was as good as expected. Everything else was ok.
Then we did some grocery shopping in the big Tesco superstore. I got a roasted chicken for dinner and a giant baguette. And there will be salad. A perfect dinner. The ride back was beautiful. The hills are stark and bare. The valleys can be either green with sheep grazing, or moor-like with gorse and heather. A nice, if low key day.
Tuesday, September 17
Another beautiful day. Warm and clear. We decided to explore the other side of the fiord to a town called Letterfrack. To be honest there is not a lot to see there. There was a pretty abbey on the way. I bought a pair of fingerless gloves from a sweet old lady with a knitwear shop. She knitted it all herself. We got back to Leenane and tried to find lunch. A little hard so in the end we ate at the Purple Door. It was fine. I had the potato leek soup.
Back to the house and a little mishap with yet another tire. Luther clipped the stone wall on the way in and it destroyed the sidewall and scraped the metal under the door. So we called the Enterprise tyre help number and within a couple of hours we had a new tire. All’s well that ends well. Glad we had the full coverage.
An amazing sunset capped a lovely day.
Wednesday, September 18 We rose to another lovely morning. The fiord never disappoints with its ever changing moods. From placid sunsets to morning clouds hugging the slopes. We had booked a cruise on the fiord for this day.
We drove down to Nancy’s Point…yep, named after me! And boarded a smallish catamaran named the Lady Conamarra. Such an amazing day was never seen in Western Ireland apparently. Everyone has been thanking us for bringing this weather. They didn’t have a summer this year, so this was their summer.
On the cruise we learned the northern side of the fiord is the oldest by many millions of years. The south side is younger. There is a stark difference. The north side is much rockier and more rugged, less arable. The south side is softer with fields of green and forests.
North sideSouth side
Almost the entire fiord is being used for mussel farming. I ate them a couple days ago and they are the best I have ever eaten. There was also a salmon farm. One of the first ever they said.
The boat served food and drinks but we missed out. I guess you have to go sit down right away to get lunch. So we returned to Leenane for lunch. We went back to Hamilton’s the best place in town. And then bought fixin’s for dinner. In the evening we watched a DVD that was recommended by the boat guy. It was shot in Leenane and there happened to be a copy in the house. The name is The Field. Shot in 1990. We recognized all the areas. It was a very good movie set in the 1930’s, but very sad. It showed how hard life was around here back then.
Not sure what was up with this guy. I guess you have to see at least one Leprechaun while in Ireland!
Our final morning we said goodbye to the lovely Fiord. It was socked in with fog today. The many faces of the Fiord are endlessly interesting. Someone wrote a comment on a Facebook post I made that I had found where God lives. And I think I must agree.
Hi everyone! So sorry I have neglected posting lately. Much going on. I promise to start posting more often. Meanwhile, we had a nice 2+ week trip to Ireland. I hope you enjoy my report. ~~~~~~~~~~ Wednesday, September 11. We said goodbye to our house and cat sitters and took off for the Bologna airport. As usual we arrived and checked in and went to our favorite restaurant for a good lunch. The Ryan Air flight was direct to Dublin and took 2.5 hours.
It was 8:30 by the time we got out of the airport. So when we arrived at our hotel (The Mont) we immediately dropped our suitcase and met Cindy and Bill for a latish dinner at Kennedy’s Pub, only 2 minutes from the hotel. Most kitchens close at nine but this one was open until eleven.
There was a live trio playing Irish music. We ordered and ate but it was not the best pub food I’ve had. Nevertheless, we got fed after a long day for us all.
Thursday, September 12 We had opted for the hotel breakfast at €20 a person. Error, error. Just sub par and not worth the money. It was ok. We never went back. We headed out for a walkabout. It was a pretty nice day. Brisk and partly sunny. We visited the shopping streets on the far side of the river. We walked over and took pictures of the pretty white foot bridge. We checked out the really nice Marks and Spencer. We photographed the Temple Bar neighborhood. Very pretty with a lot of flowers on the buildings. The Temple Bar itself is said to have the most expensive Guinness in all of Ireland.
There was a cool butcher shop with mosaics of the animals and a very friendly butcher inside. It was a lot of fun just meandering and soaking it all in.
We went onto the Trinity College campus which was very pretty. Lots of people on the lawns and benches soaking up the sun. We had a beer in the Campus pub and then went through a secret gate to a pub we chose called the Lincoln’s Inn. They had things like traditional Irish stew with lamb and some nice wraps. We had dinner reservations in a nice place so didn’t want to eat too much.
Dinner was good but not exceptional. Very close to our hotel. Called Note. We enjoyed some burgundy wines. I had a zucchini starter and a risotto with black kale and Nori. Luther had Monkfish. He liked that. The risotto was bland. My zucchini starter was great.
Friday, September 13 Big day of walking. We started with what in my mind was an amazing breakfast. A place called Tang. Middle eastern food and amazing breakfasts. I had Shakshuka. Two eggs in a spicy tomato-y, red pepper-y sauce with all kinds of great middle eastern spices and nuts. Wow. So good. The others got the fried eggs on toast which also had middle eastern flavors.
Thoroughly fortified we took off for a tour of the Marsh’s Library and the Cathedral. It was about half an hour walk. Along the route was a trip through St. Stephen’s Green, the largest of the parks opened to the public in 1880.
In the library there were stacks of old books. I love old books. These were very old. Think Gutenberg. There were several collections from several people who had bequeathed or sold them to the library. Then we went next door to the Cathedral. But we were turned away as there was a private service. We were told to return after 1:30 but that was not convenient.
We then walked up to Christ Church Cathedral. There was also a Dublin museum which concentrated on history starting with the Vikings. It was pretty interesting. We then went down the street to The Christ Church pub. We had salads because that breakfast was still sticking with us. We hung around a long time because we were killing time before our Whiskey Tour of Roe & Co. While at the pub we chatted with the window washer. We could all understand just about half of what he was saying. He was very nice though, and friendly.
We headed off to our tour, arriving right on time. There were about twelve people on the tour. All Americans. The tour was a lot of fun. The building was once an electric power plant which was abandoned. It was bought by Roe in 2017 so this is a pretty young operation. We saw the huge malting vats and the stills which pump out 2 pints a second of distilled whiskey.
Next we all sat around a big pear shaped table and we had fun first tasting the whiskey and then the corn which was cask strength. Then we got to blend our own whiskey using ratios we chose. For instance, I liked the corn alcohol so used a 65% to 35% mix for mine. It was pretty good. Then they had some things we could add that would transform the whiskey we made to a cocktail, think, Manhattan. Then we went to the bar and finished our drinks. It was fun.
Dinner was in a place called Spitalfields. It was a gastronomic pub. It was in a pretty far away neighborhood and our cab driver had trouble finding it. We had a very nice dinner. Not fancy. Loud and happy place. Luther and I shared a trout appetizer and we had schnitzels. Yeah, a little weird in Ireland…but hey! It was the best schnitzel I ever had in Ireland.
