Ireland 2019...Dublin, the Wild Atlantic Way and Belfast

 We're off on another amazing adventure!      This time it's 5 weeks in the  Emerald Isle ,  IRELAND .       It's Spring 2019!  Time for more international travel.      This year, from April 22nd until May 27th,  we'll  be hiking and exploring the mystical island of Ireland.  We'll fly from Seattle to Dublin and will be there for 5 nights. Then onto Kilkenny, Kinsale, Killarney, Dingle, Clare, Galway, Aran Islands, Westport, Donegal, Portrush, Belfast, Bangor, and Trim. We'll return to Dublin where we'll fly back home to Seattle. Along the way, we'll visit our friends, Donal and Angela who live in County Clare.       It will be a great trip full of discovering the rich history of Ireland, hiking through its stunning scenery,  rekindling friendships, and creating cherished memories.       By the way, if throughout this blog you want to see previous posts, you can go to the upper left-hand side of the home screen and click on the three horizontal lined

  DUBLIN ~Day 1                          On Sunday, April 21st, we had a lovely Easter hosting our 12  family members at our home for our annual Easter Brunch and Easter Egg Hunt. It was great fun. The following day, Jeff and I flew to Ireland!     Our 9 hour non-stop flight from Seattle to Dublin was smooth sailing. When we arrived, we were greeted by a beautiful, sunny morning in Ireland's capital city. Dublin had been voted twice by Trip Advisor as the friendliest city in Europe and throughout our stay here, we certainly found that to be true.      During our 4 days in Dublin, we stayed at the elegant Trinity Townhouse.           It is situated on a quiet street in the heart of Dublin. This Georgian-style gem is a 26 room bedroom boutique hotel with lovely contemporary accommodation touches, not the least of which included heated bathroom tile floor and heated towel racks. We found this location to be ideal for it is nestled in a peaceful set

                                                 Even though we were a tad jet-lagged during our entire 4 day stay in Dublin,  we managed to have an amazing time. Our days were fun-filled with walking, visiting historical sites, museums, eating delicious food, talking with the locals, and drinking a pint, or two, of Guinness.     We started off our second day with a historical-cultural walking tour of Dublin, led by a young Trinity history professor who had a good sense of humor. With him, we walked through some of Dublin's arguably most interesting and unique historical sites. We became immersed in Ireland's past history and its impact on today's current events. Being led by a passionate historian and one with true local knowledge, we felt like we were beginning to know the real Dublin.                            One of the many highlights of our walking tour included  Christ Church, in the photo below. It is Dublin's oldest cathedral and is conside