Wales and Liverpool, England October 7, 2026

We took a 3.5 hour ferry trip from Ireland to Wales this morning. To get to the ferry on time, we had to get up at 4:45 am. Ouch! We were able to get a nap on the ferry. 

Semis coming off the ferry

You don't hear much about Wales, so I'm looking forward to our visit. I already learned that Tom Jones is from here.

Our first stop in Wales was Caernarfon to see another 800 year old castle. We stop at the biggest ones, but there are small castle ruins all over Great Britain.  

This castle is special because this is where King Charles was declared Prince of Wales in 1969 on the glass enclosed balcony. 

Glass enclosed balcony 

Our last stop of the day was Liverpool, home of the Beatles. They all grew up here and got their musical start in local venues. We had a tour of the city. 

There are several churches throughout the city.

The former headquarters of the White Star Line, owners of the Titanic

This was a fun looking tour bus.

We stopped at Penny Lane. All the places in the song are on this street, and are places Paul McCarthy would pass on his way to school.

There is a nice statue of The Beatles on the waterfront.  It's amazing how they only were together for 7.5 years, but wrote so many hit songs. Then they all went on to successful individual careers.  Paul is still very active in philanthropic activities in Liverpool. 

They performed at The Cavern Club in Liverpool over 300 times. It's a club underground. Many famous people have performed there including Queen, Rolling Stones, Adele and many others. There is a wall outside with a brick for every artist that has performed there.

Someone was playing on the stage. The place was packed.

Memorabilia in the club

Wall with artist bricks and statue of John Lennon

Street where Cavern Club is located 

Part of the latest Batman movie was filmed here, and he jumped off this building 

Our route for today. 

 

Kilkenny to Dublin, Ireland October 5, 2026

Our first stop today was Kilkenny, home to Kilkenny Castle, the best preserved and most impressive castle in Ireland. It's over 800 years old, but has been remodeled numerous times over the centuries. The family lived in it until the 1950s, and then sold it to the historical society for 50 euros to ensure it's preservation.

Castle gardens with beautiful rose bushes

Breakfast room

Prehistoric elk antlers found preserved in a bog

16th century tapestries 

Portrait gallery, incredible hand painted ceiling and parquet floor

Cararra marble fireplace 

Kevin knew he was named after an Irish saint. We found proof in Ireland. 

We arrived in Dublin and stopped in a beautiful walled park in the middle of the city. They had an impressive garden with apple trees trained to grow on trellisses. 

We then did a bus tour of Dublin. It's the largest city and the capital of Ireland.  Pretty much just a big city.

The president of Ireland's residence 

Guinness Brewery 

We had a bit of a disappointment regarding Guinness. Many of us had signed up for an optional evening tour and dinner event for tomorrow night. Some big corporation booked the whole place both nights we're here, and Guinness canceled the tour groups.

We could have still gone on a self guided tour during the day tomorrow, but their actions led us to forget about visiting. 

Former palace is Prime Minister's residence 

I wonder if Kevin's grandmas relatives own this bar??

Beautiful ivy on expensive homes in one of the squares 

Daniel O'Connell was a very important historical political leader in Ireland.  Known as The Liberator, he led Ireland's Catholics to emancipation in 1829. He was the first Catholic in the United Kingdom Parliament. 

This statue is dedicated to him on a street named after him. In a 1916 rebellion, British troops fired on the statue. There are numerous visible bullet holes still in it.

A bullet hole is visible on the left breast of this angel on the statue 

St. Patrick's Cathedral 

Christ Church Dublin 

Jonathan Swift was from Dublin. There is a building with medallions depicting his story, Gulliver's Travels.

In the evening, we went on an optional dinner and Irish show. The dancers, musicians and singers were all top notch, many of them having performed in professional theater.

It was held in the largest thatched roof structure in Europe, and has been in the family for hundreds of years. 

We have a free day on Wednesday in Dublin. There had been a virus going around the bus with coughing and sniffling. We have both been fighting it, so are going to stay in and rest on our off day.

We are now two-thirds of the way through our trip, leaving Ireland on the ferry Wednesday morning and then finishing up in Wales and a bit more of England. 

Our route today. 

Blarney Castle to Tramore, Ireland October 4, 2026

Our first stop for today is Blarney Castle, home of the famous Stone of Eloquence, better known as the Blarney Stone. 

The castle is located in County Cork, and was built by the clan McCarthy over 600 years ago. 

First glimpse as we came into the small town of Blarney

The castle is not visible unless you pay to enter the 100 acre grounds. They've certainly figured out how to benefit from tourists. We paid our 19 euro senior rate and walked to the first view point.

Views of the castle.

At the center top is the stone to kiss

Closer view of someone up there laying on their back and reaching out backwards while someone holds your legs to kiss the circled area.

Post card showing view from top

One legend of the stone is that the Laird of the castle saved a drowning woman, who granted him a wish. He stuttered, so he wished for good speech. She told him to get a stone from the river and kiss it which gave him the gift of gab and eloquent speech. He then hid the stone at the top of his castle. 

Or, maybe this sign is the truth. 

We passed on that entire experience. It was 90 steps to climb to the top, and then the whole laying down backwards just didn't appeal to us, but several in our group did do it.

The castle grounds have beautiful gardens, I'm sure even more so in summer. They even have a poison garden teaching about poisonous plants. 

There was a stone circle. The story is the Laird had 9 children, 2 sons and 7 daughters. The 2 sons were killed in battle, so he knocked over 2 stones. The 7 standing are for the remaining daughters. 

Jamie Fraser, here I come!!

Harbor where 1950s movie Moby Dick was filmed

 

Our second stop of the day was the harbor town of Waterford, Ireland's oldest city, conquered by the Vikings in the 9th century.  

Reginald's Tower, constructed in 1253, is the only monument in Ireland named in honor of a Viking. There is also a Viking longboat replica.

Also in Waterford is the iconic House of Waterford. We looked around at some of the beautiful crystal pieces. The ones shown below were for sale from 25,000 to 60,000 euros. The Christmas tree didn't have a price. Not today!

Of course, they did have drinking glasses and vases for much less, only hundreds instead of thousands. 

The Irish tricolor flag was first flown here in 1848. It was designed by Irish nationalist, Thomas Francis Meagher. The green represents Protestants, the orange Catholics, and the white peace.

In the evening, we attended an optional excursion, a night of music and drink in a typical Irish pub. The entertainer, Richie, was a great singer and very funny. He sang some old and new songs. It was a very enjoyable evening!!

Our route for today.