Back to Dublin again. Just going to spend a couple of days exploring some more of the city. In particular we want to visit St Patrick's Cathedral. We have really warmed to Dublin. It is everything you would expect - vibrant, cosmopolitan, quirky, home of good beer, a pub culture which puts our sterile environments we call hotels to shame. If we ever get the chance, we'll be returning in the future.

Monday, 7th. Left Galway to head down to Cork, Ireland's second largest city. Primary reason for going to Cork is to visit Blarney Castle. However, Cork itself has proved to be a destination in its own right. A very vibrant, cosmopolitan city with a large student component. Our first night was spent at a B&B, the Blarney Stone Guesthouse. We only stayed one night (check out the photos on the website). That's not to say it was a bad place to stay. The owne...

We left Dublin on Sunday to drive across to Galway, about a 2 hour drive to the western coast of Ireland. Galway is a real gem. A mix of old and new. Bookstores, pubs, cafes, more pubs, and more pubs. The weather has turned to the miserable side of the weather vane. Wet and windy. But not as cold as we thought it would be - about 10C. After a turn around the city area, we found a great little pub to have some lunch in. Julie had a beef and Guinness stew whil...

On to Ireland. First stop Dublin. A bit of a change to our itinerary. Instead of spending a couple of days in Dublin, we've decided to hire a car and do a mini tour of Ireland (Galway, Cork, Kilkenny etc). We spent the evening doing a bit of exploring around the city area of Dublin - lovely place. Lots of cobbled streets, old pubs and bars. Tomorrow we'll head west across the country for a visit to Galway. We're loving Ireland already.