Guernsey Island Stop 1

     Guernsey Island is a British holding in the English Channel occupied by the Germans in World War 2. It was the first stop on our around the island cruise. We anchored and went ashore by shuttle. It was a beautiful sunny day as the photos suggest. There is evidence of occupation for thousands of years but we did not travel into the countryside to see it. The island does not allow any new 'settlers' to the island although there we many tourists there today.

Castle Cornet

     It was a typical wandering day for us.  The entrance to the harbour has the Castle Cornet which guards the entrance to the St. Peter Port. It is a Norman fortress completed in 1256 and was later the governor's residence. It was about a 20 minute walk from the landing spot to the fortress and lighthouse. The harbour had many small boats tied up in the various marinas. We decided since we will be seeing more castles on this cruise not to spend our time going through the castle. WE did walk to the end of the break wall to the lighthouse.

   

Lighthouse and the Ruby

The Port

 From there we wandered through town taking one curving road after another headed to a high point. We never did reach our destination but enjoyed the narrow streets and quaint houses and shops along the way. Although Victor Hugo, author of Les Miserable and the  Hunchback of Notre Dame lived here we missed his house on our walk.

     Back along the main strip, we wandered with no particular aim except to find a place for a local drink. Judy had the cider and of course I tried the local beer. She has had a

few on this trip which is unusual for her. Now she wants to try Irish Coffee. This from a tea drinker! Since we were sailing at 2 pm we made our way back to the tenders. Everyone on the ship decided to go back at the same time. We were in line for probably an hour before we boarded a local ferry that probably carried 300 plus back to the ship. No sailing by 2pm today. Then they had problems with one of the davits (tender lifts) and so we did not get underway until nearly 4 pm.

     Lunch at the International Cafe in the Atrium with a pot of tea worked well as it always does. It has a limited selection of salads, sandwiches and desserts. They do not have any of those tray sized plates! All food is served which means that you are not as tempted to fill the plate to capacity.

Judy With Irish Coffee

It was a formal night, the first of 2 on this cruise. We dressed accordingly, had our photos taken (hoping to win the free on to go along with the frame that was in our room when we returned – one of the freebees on this trip) and saw a production show. They use to run close to 1 hour but this one lasted 35 minutes. The captain gave his speech, we had a glass of champagne and had dinner. The couple and 2 boys did not show up (no formal wear they said later) but a couple from Calgary were there. They missed the night before because of the long flight that had been delayed. We were happy to see them.

     We ended the night with a late night comedy act. I think we had encountered him on our last trip to South America. We both enjoyed the show.

Leaving Ireland and Boarding The Ruby Princess

    We were up very early this morning. Breakfast was scheduled for 5 am which meant that we had to be up and out by that time. Really who can eat a very nice buffet breakfast at 5 am! The tour ended yesterday and all that was left was to go to the airport here in Cork and fly to Heathrow and then bus to Southampton, summer home of the Ruby Princess.

    The reason for the early breakfast was that we were scheduled on a 7:20 flight out of Cork and needed to get to the airport in plenty of time. Most of the 41 people on this pre cruise were punctual and generally we left within a few minutes of scheduled departure. All went well with Julian out tour director doing a fine job of making sure everyone got through the gate. I should not that this Princess tour was actually conducted by Globus Tours. They have an excellent reputation for land tours and this one was certainly up to their standards.

   Arrived in London, no customs or immigration to navigate no bags to collect as we had sent all our luggage on the nigh before last. Now the fun began. The agent that was suppose to meet us was a bit late in holding up her sign. There were plenty of other Princess people there to guide us to the right agent. Of course the bus was not there for who knows. We heard about 10 different stories from a delayed bus from the ship, a new driver, airport security, etc. We waited about 2 hours after landing before the driver found us or whatever. 90 minutes later we were at the ship.

   

Dinner Companions

We were in Southampton a few years ago but the facility they use now is brand new and the check in procedure was quite slick. The longest line for us was the one we were in to take our picture. This was because we have reached “Elite” in the Captain's Circle. Our luggage was waiting for us at our room when we arrived. Sending it along beforehand was a great idea. It meant that we had all our things stored within minutes of arrival. We cancelled the Cork tour and then had lunch. The sailaway party started at 5 pm and we were on deck for a nice sunny departure. It was different from others that we have attended. The cruise staff was about and simply walked around, unlike other parties where they gathered and encouraged dancing.

Ruby Princess At Anchor

    Dinner was a bit chaotic as is usual on the first night. We have a new assistant waiter who was “overwhelmed” by it all. Dinner was very tasty as usual. We are seated at a table for 8 but we think only 6 are assigned to it. There is a family of 4 from California; mother father and 2 collage age boys. This is rather different than the companions that we have had in the past. However since this is the first night after people have travelled, we think that a couple did not make it to dinner.

   We did get to the first night entertainment but were late arriving due to the first night dinning delays. We did hear that there are 3200 passengers aboard 1800 Americans, and about 300 Canadians. So far we have only met about 10! Sailing to Guernsey overnight.

Glengarriff, Garnish Island, Cobh and KillarneyCastle

Garish Island Staircase

    Today was the last full day of the tour. Early start again as we travelled 40 miles to Glengarriff for a short boat ride to Garish Island. The seals with the pups provided some

excitement on the 15 minute ride. The island has been planted with gardens with plants from various parts of the world. When we landed it reminded me of an old T.V. Series. It was created about 70 years ago and was bequeathed to the Irish people in 1953. We walked the grounds for about an hour, then back to town for the last of our Pub lunches. 

   Back on the bus and the 2 hour ride to Cork and on to the port of Cobn. This harbour is the second largest in the world after Sydney Australia and was the place

Pub Lunch Again!

of embarkation for many of the Irish that were “deported” by the landlords during the potato famine in the 19^th century. Prisoners were also sent to Australia from here. 2 million adults and children emigrated from Ireland. 2.5 million left from Cobh. We went to the old train station which has been converted into a museum about the migration. 2 famous ships were highlighted. The first was the Titanic. Cobh was the last port of call with 123 passengers boarding here. 7 got off

Train Station Museum

including the photographer than took most of the pictures that you see today. The second ship associated with the port is the Lusitania which was torpedoed just off the coast in 1915.

Irish Immigration Memorial Cobh

      We arrived at the hotel in Cork around 4:30. There was enough time to go to Blarney Castle. It was not apart of the tour but we decided to visit when we had a change rather than take a tour from the ship. It was probably a wise decision because by late afternoon all the tours have gone 

Blarney Castle

and very few people were at the Castle. We did not have to wait or hurry along at all. We both kissed the Blarney Stone which is one of those things you 'must do' if you are in Ireland. The 6 of us had a good time and were back at the hotel in time for the dinner at 7. That ended another long day!

Killarney, Ring of Kerry Muckross and Jaunty Ride

     Today was a full day after the light day yesterday.

Ring Of Kerry

We started off early this morning for a drive around the Ring of Kerry. It is a 100 mile panoramic drive following a road around the western most part of the island. It was definitely not as developed as the rest of the areas that we have seen on this trip but is now a resort area where people come during summer vacations. We tried to compare it with Canadian coastlines but had some trouble. Parts reminded us of Nova Scotia, parts of Newfoundland and finally parts of British Columbia. A mixture of all 3 

Ring Of Kerry

areas. We stopped in the middle at a small cafe/shop for lunch. It is interesting if you order the (homemade) soup of the day you receive a large bowl with 2 large slices of fresh baked bread. It is more than a meal.

    The last part of the drive followed the southern road back to Killarney stopping to view the Lakes from the Ladies View where Queen Victoria stopped on her tour. In all it was an interesting blend of “mountains” valleys lakes and the ocean.

The afternoon saw us at the Muckross House where the owners of the large track of land that is now a national park use to live.

It dates from 1839. The house is furnished with Victoria furnishings. A shop with a weaving demonstration was included. The gardens and grounds were well kept.

    After arrival at the hotel, we were off on a “Jaunting Car” ride 

Muckross House

to another old castle like structure. The ride consisted of a horse drawn wagon with a cover seating 8 people. The ride lasted about an hour but really was a highlight of the day. The driver went through a well repeated repertoire of jokes and songs and we were in stitches all the way there and back. The driver also directed us to the local wine shop so that we could purchase a bottle for the ship.

     Dinner at night was in a local pub where we were combined with another “Globus” tour for dinner. The beef stew was good

Muckross House

and the beer tasty. By then we were ready to turn in. It was definitely the longest day of the tour. We decided to send all our luggage ahead by truck to the ship so that we did not have to bother with it at the airport. That meant that we had to have 2 days of clothes packed into our back packs. Actually it was not that hard to do.  

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Cliffs OF Moher, Pub Lunch and Jewelry Stop

    Up early this morning. Breakfast at 7 am to be on the bus for departure at 8:15.

Surprisingly all were ready to go. In fact we were only “delayed” once all day but that was because of a shopper completing a transaction. One thing that we did like is that the luggage was picked up (no hauling) from our room and was delivered to the Killarney Plaza hotel where we are staying the next 2 days. It was waiting outside our room when we arrived this afternoon.

Cliffs OF Moher

    Generally the day was light on site seeing and long on the bus. After a short ride we arrived at the Cliffs of Moher. They are on the west coast of Ireland where the weather comes in from the Atlantic. The day started coolish with the threat of rain but cleared progressively as the day went on. The cliffs are about 700 feet high with many isolated spires in the water. There was a nice sea arch but we went the wrong way to see it. Cave formation at the base of the cliffs was also in evidence. The walk along the cliffs quickly turns to a worn path along the edge. We were warned not to go too close to the edge. I understand why. Fortunately we did not loose anyone.

  

Judy at the Cliffs

 

Crotty's Pub

After the stop we made our way to a small town of Kilrush for a stop at at Crotty's Pub. It was voted as Best Traditional Pub in 2011. The tour director “arranged” for us to stop there and did not indicate until later that we could go anywhere for lunch. We had a very nice light meal (seafood chowder and tuna sandwich). After we walked through the town and stopped at a bakery. It was a real bakery – no sweets for sale. However the shop keeper was very friendly and cut us each a slice of their raisin bread with butter. No charge just lots of friendly talk about the area. It was one of those things that you remember about a trip.

    After lunch it was a long bus ride with no stops. We felt that we could have included something else on the tour. That is of course if you do not count the stop at a “very nice gift shop” with fine jewelry. They give you a nice Irish Coffee just for going in. Draw your own conclusions! All I could think of is that if we were in Turkey we would be stopping at the carpet factory or a good diamond shop in Singapore or the Caribbean! Given the price of the price of the jewelry, I know why we stopped there.

   We finally got to the hotel and went for a nice walk around town. This is an absolute tourist town and plenty of tourist were out on the streets. It will be our home for the next 2 nights.  We did visit the "new" Catholic church as part of our walkabout.

"New" Catholic Church

Dinner tonight was at the hotel with choices from the menu. The salmon was excellent as was the choice of desserts. Tomorrow we will take a drive around the Ring of Kerry. It should be a highlight of the trip.

In Shannon After A long Flight

 We arrived in Shannon a short while ago and were met at the airport by the Princess representative. The flight from Toronto to Heathrow as about 7 hours. I don't know how it happened but we were at the front of the plane! All went well exccept for the fact that it is difficult to get any sleep. Heathrow airport is something else. It seems that they have added a number of new terminals and it seemed that we walked forever. Security was extraordinary. First we needed to go through British customs although we were going on to Ireland. Check passports. Then we turned the corner, more passport and boarding checks along with a photo. Then came security. Then another photo check. All this before we arrived at the gate to catch our flight to Shannon. Finally one more check!

 

Creamery Bar

 The flight went well and the Princess rep was waiting for us. We finally got to the Bunratty Castle Hotel. An older building but well maintained. After cneck in we went for a quick bite at a local bar It is called the Creamery and it has gone through a series of uses over time. A stable, a Creamery - which you can still see the pipes in the bar and various storage activities. Today it is a busy place.

   Bunratty Castle was built in the 14th century and is now a museum. The grounds have been built up much like Henry Ford's Greenfield Village. There is a series of old buildings that have been brought to the site to preserve the “old” way of life. The most interesting structures have maintained the thatched roofs – the local building material.

Old Church and Cemetery

Our group has 41 people in it. We have 2 other Canadians that we have met – 2 sisters from Vancouver. Others that we have met included couples from St Louis, California and Florida. As was to be expected, we need to take the bus even though we are only going a few hundred feet. That should indicate the age of some of the people on this tour.

Tonight we were at an evening of Shannon Heritage entertainment in an old corn barn on the Folk park grounds. They served a honey wine or Baileys Irish Cream before dinner, red or white wine, salad, 'heavy' brown bread and Irish stew and potatoes followed by apple pie with cream. Most people had the lamb stew which was quite tasty. The entertainment included jokes, a fiddler,and accordian player, Irish

Flowers

dancers and a singer. It was quite entertaining and a fitting introduction to the tour. The only difficulty was that although Judy had a nap this afternoon, I did not. By the time the dancers stated, I was ready to get some sleep.

  The photos posted shown the Creamery Pub where we had a small pizza, an Irish cemetery and an old church and some flowers in bloom.