The adventure has definitely continued since I last wrote. After all the “firsts” that I reported in my last update I was surprised that there were still quite a few more of them that I experienced during our last week in Dublin. On Monday, I visited Kilmainham Gaol (jail). I didn’t realize that I probably should have booked a tour in advance before I walked the 30 minutes over there. Upon arrival I was very fortunate that they were offering an abridged version of the tour, for free, in about 10 minutes that I was able to join. I visited the very well curated museum while I waited and I am so glad that I made the trip. It was fascinating to see and learn about the deep history of the jail. Especially around the Easter Sunday Rising of 1916. After my visit I walked over to Phoenix Park and visited the Dublin Zoo. That too ended up being a serendipitous arrival time because just 15 minutes after my arrival admission was half price! It was a bigger zoo than I imagined and you could feel that it was well cared for. I enjoyed walking around and see the giraffes, rhinos, orangutans and of course the ELEPHANTS!
Tuesday morning before Dave started work, he starts later on Tuesdays and Thursdays, we went inside Christ Church Cathedral together for the first time and that was cool to see. I feel like the timing worked out perfectly with that visit as well because we were able to participate in the morning prayer which was a special thing to do, especially that week. We’ve had several close friends and family members that have been needing some extra prayers lately so it felt good to send them their way.
On Wednesday, I went back to Gravediggers Pub, which wasn’t the first, but I did have coddle for the first time. It was pretty special to eat the same meal, at the same place, prepared by the same Chef that Anthony Bourdain did back in 2006. I still miss that legend of a man. I feel like this is an appropriate time to honor him with one of my favorite quotes of his. “Eat at a local restaurant tonight. Get the cream sauce. Have a cold pint at 4 o’clock in a mostly empty bar, go somewhere you’ve never been. Listen to someone you think may have nothing in common with you. Order the steak rare. Eat an oyster. Have a negroni. Have two. Be open to a world where you may not understand or agree with the person next to you, but have a drink with them anyways. Eat slowly. Tip your server. Check in on your friends. Check in on yourself. Enjoy the ride” He, albeit had his ghosts, was truly an inspiration for a very full life well lived and traveled.
On Thursday I did another thing that wasn’t my first, but that I was very happy to revisit, which was the Long Room of the Library at Trinity College. I remember back in 2016 being in awe of its spectacular majesty and it did not disappoint. It was too bad there were so many books absent from the shelves because of an enormous preservation process that was taking place. They did add some other cool touches like the massive rotating globe and a separate Book of Kells experience that I’m glad I was able to see for the first time. After Trinity I met up with Dave’s Aunt, Cousin and her daughter for lunch which was absolutely lovely. That time with family is truly special and I enjoyed every minute.
One revelation we had while we were in Dublin was in regards to the burnt breakfast smell that wafted into the apartment all day long. We realized, not until the third week we were there, that it comes from Guinness roasting its grains right up the street. All in all we enjoyed our time in Dublin and we were ready to have a new adventure outside of the busy city when we left.
Since we left Dublin on the 17th we have definitely had several opportunities that demonstrated how much we’ve grown over the past year. It has been interesting to experience situations where we are much better at adapting to our environment and going with the flow.
The way the adventure has continued is almost comical. We reserved this Air BnB back in April when we were visiting Dave’s family. We knew that we wanted to come to this area of Ireland because we hadn’t spent as much time here as other areas. It looked really nice and picturesque and we didn’t really think much more about it. That was until we had dinner with our friends in Dublin a week before coming here. They asked us about it because they actually have close friends that live in this area. Only then did we realize the entirety of the situation, and by then there really weren’t any other options. The first thing that we realized is that it wasn’t exactly “in” Dungarvan as advertised by the name of the Air BnB “Rental unit in Dungarvan.” It is actually about 10 km from Dungarvan, and we weren’t planning on renting a car. I figured, I like to walk, or we’ll figure out the bus, or any number of justifications; whatever the case is, we’ll make it work. Then, we also realized that, in spite of learning very early on in this adventure we really need to only reserve places that have a clothes washer, this place had none. Finally, we thought, well at least there might be a store nearby so I can get some groceries? NOPE, the closest store is an hour walk away and it is a glorified 7 Eleven known as the Spar in Europe. To be fair, the host did pick us up from the bus station when we arrived in Dungarvan and was gracious enough to run us by the grocery store. And, we have ensured that all of our future places have a washer, or at least a laundromat and shop, closer than a walk and a bus ride away.
So the first week in Dungarvan was an adventure, to say the least.
AND
It is beautiful! You can see the Irish Sea from our window. There are rolling hills and fields. The air is fresh even though it smells like the cows that are definitely more populous than the people. And it is all part of the adventure.
Our route to Dungarvan consists of a 40 minute walk down hill to catch the nearest bus. That is followed by a 25 minute ride into town. Dungarvan is cute. It has some shops, restaurants, pubs, a tiny port and a castle. I also found the library and spent some time reading there last week. I can go to the grocery store in town but can’t buy anything that needs to be in the fridge or the freezer because of the amount of time it takes to get it home.
Oh, I forgot to mention the adventure we experienced when we arrived on the 17th, when we took the bus from Dublin to Dungarvan. It was supposed to take about three hours but there was an accident on the highway that closed it completely! The entire four lanes had to funnel into a one lane exit and round about. The trip took three and half hours LONGER than it was supposed to and we were drastically unprepared. The bathroom on the bus didn’t have any TP or water. We were rushed leaving our apartment and getting to the bus because breakfast took FOREVER so we didn’t have any water with us, and the bus was FREEZING!
After that experience, and the knowledge that there is no laundry nor shop nearby, we decided to rent a car for the second week of our stay. We also decided that we can’t run the risk of what happened on our way here happening again on our way back because we have a flight to Wales to catch. So we’re going to eat the cost of our return bus ticket and drive back to Dublin on the 31st. It will be nice to have the flexibility to stop and get essentials, use the toilet or just basically have control over our destiny unlike we did on the bus. And, we are thankful to the Universe for keeping us safe. 🙂
On Saturday the 24th, we celebrated one year of this amazing adventure. The plan was to take the bus to Dungarvan, rent e-bikes, and ride the Greenway all the way to Waterford and pick up our rental car for the week. We decided to rent a car there instead of in Dungarvan because a) the car rental place isn’t open on the weekends and b) if you rent it from Dungarvan you have to return it there and we will be returning ours in Dublin. WELP, we didn’t reserve the e-bikes in advance, and it just so happened to be the most glorious day since we’ve been in Ireland, and low and behold all the e-bikes were rented. Waterford is 55 km away so there was no way I was going to ride a bike all the way there without some pedal assist. We pivoted and ended up taking the bus. If I never have to take a massive bus filled with people again, it will be too soon, and it was only seven euros per person instead of a hundred that it would’ve cost to take a taxi, so there you have it.
Luckily the bus dropped us off not too far from where we had to pick up the car and that went pretty smoothly. Also, fortunate for us and our multiple experiences renting cars in Europe, we knew well enough to get full coverage! Especially since we’re in Ireland, driving on the other side of the road, with a manual. I feel like it was a no-brainer, in spite of the high cost. This experience came to our benefit when, after we had explored Waterford a little bit we promptly hit a curb and got a flat tire! By the grace of God, there was a tire place that was open for a half hour longer on a Saturday, and we were able to get in, get a new tire, and be on our way within 15 minutes at no extra cost.
Did our one year celebration go as planned, no. Were we safe and everything still worked out, yes. And that is all that matters.
After we got our new tire we visited the beach in Dunmore East where our friends hope to be moving after their time in Dubai. It is a super cute little town and a music festival was happening so we were able to enjoy that a little bit. It started raining pretty hard because, Ireland, and we got to see a double rainbow.
We continued from Dunmore East back toward Dungarvan via the Copper Coast and saw some of the most beautiful coastline I’ve seen. It rivals California for its beauty, cliffs and beaches. All in all it ended up being a lovely day and what an amazing place to be celebrating it.
On Sunday, we were able to experience e-biking on the Greenway. We only went as far as Kilmacthomas (30 km) and back and it was perfect. We finished off the day with a visit to the cute little town of Lismore. I ended up revisiting Lismore yesterday because the weather was supposed to be not raining in the morning and visited the castle gardens and hiked up to the Ballysaggartmore Towers which were truly spectacular.
This week, now that we have a car, I get to do exciting things like grocery shopping and laundry. It is funny to miss basic things like that. This area of Ireland is truly beautiful and I’m looking forward to exploring more of it.
I hope that you are happy and well wherever you are!
Love, Alison
