My first morning in Ireland!  The sun is shining, the canal is gurgling and the birds are on the balcony. It’s a good day to be sure, to be sure. 

After a little lay in I walked over to the Botanic Gardens for a look around. So green and I saw my first (and as it turned out only) squirrels on this trip!  They’re so cute and I love the way they bound around through the grass. And now I have about 50 photos of brown blurs haha. 

Lots of glass conservatories in the gardens here to keep plants warm. The Australian section had a banksia, grevilleas, one rather unwell looking eucalyptus, and about 30 different types of pelargoniums which I don’t think of as being an Australian native but maybe they are?

Incredibly green at the gardens. Lots of bright flowers out too and the hugest bees!!

Also had a quick look in the Glasnevin  cemetery which you can access via the gardens. Very striking graveyard with Celtic crosses and a fair few graves of very young infants which is always a bit sad. Shuggy told me there are over 1 million graves here (not all with headstones) and a fair few famous Irish peeps are buried there too. 

Had some lunch on the way back and then met Shuggy and we headed off to Doolin on the west coast of Ireland.   So incredibly green!  I’ve said it so many times already that Cathal must be getting sick of hearing it but it’s amazing and such a contrast to Mallorca which was quite dry.

We stopped for a break during the trip and the services had a tea station with all different kinds of tea and cold milk on tap.   The Irish do love their tea!  Speaking of, I ducked into Tesco in Dublin and found a 160 size box of Barry’s tea. Best moment so far!

After leaving the motorway we drove on country lanes bordered with stone walls covered in blackberry and other types of creepers.  Very twee and pretty to travel on but also very narrow. “Look at this idjit” was muttered a few times by Mr Flynn when incoming traffic was hogging the road. 

Found our accommodation in Doolin after a few tries and wow!  It’s even nicer than we expected. We each have a bedroom with an en-suite and the lounge / dining area is huge with super comfy lounges. The view from my window is of the green rolling hills. Extremely peaceful here. 

After a cup of tea for me and a long thirsted for beer for Shuggy we walked into the village for dinner. Popped into a few of the local craft shops on the way. My goodness there was a wall of green souvenirs in one. Like ... the entire wall was covered in trinkets with either sheep or four leaf clovers or leprechauns.  Aran jumpers, general knitwear and blankets are also popular. I’m sure I will be making some purchases before we leave. 

We ate a nice warm meal at Gus O’Conners pub for dinner paired with a few more beers for Cathal and a couple of wines for me.  Later on some musicians started playing local music which was really cool and got the toes tapping.  I asked Cathal to riverdance for me but strangely he was reluctant. 

After dinner we took a stroll down to the port while admiring the colorful flowers in gardens and on top of walls, and the great view to the cliffs of Moher. Stopped to say hello to a couple of friendly cows too. It stays light here until 10:30pm or so at the moment which is awesome compared to darkness around 5pm back home. Irish summer temps are the same as Perth winter temps though haha. 

There was a brisk wind while we walked but I stayed snug in my uniqlo jacket (which strangely hadn’t kept me warm in Barcelona but works well here so far?). So nice to be out in the fresh air and away from cities for awhile. Cathartic, refreshing and soul healing.  On the walk back to our cottage we saw a double rainbow in the sky  but no sign of leprechauns or pots of gold. Still need to rely on lotto then!  Rounded off the evening with cups of tea and yummy rice crispies then off to sleep.