Eighth Port - Cobh, Ireland

On July 26th, we arrived in Cobh (pronounced Cove), Ireland. We decided that we needed to see Blarney Castle, so off we went on another shore excursion. On the way to Blarney Castle, we drove through the town of Cork. From the windows of a bus, it's not a very pretty place.

Blarney Castle was beautiful. Here's our first view of it.

I love round towers.
It's fascinating to see how the castle was built out of the rock.
I love this view.
The beautiful free-standing bell tower.

Many people go to Blarney Castle to kiss the Blarney Stone. Robert and I decided not to do that for two reasons. 1. We didn't want to climb the 100 narrow, slippery steps. 2. We didn't want to wait in line for two hours. We only had 2-1/2 hours at Blarney Castle, and we wanted to shop at the Irish Woolen Mill. I have my priorities! If you look at the top of this picture, you can see where people kiss the Blarney Stone - a feat which requires you to lay on your back and lean way over the edge (probably reason 3 why we skipped it).
We were intrigued by this garden on the castle grounds. It was really full of poisonous plants.
I'm glad we went to Blarney Castle, even if we didn't kiss the Blarney Stone. It was a beautiful castle to see. And the shopping at the Irish Woolen Mill was fabulous!

Seventh Port - Dublin, Ireland

On July 25th, we arrived in Dublin, Ireland. Robert and I decided to explore Dublin on our own, so we took a taxi to St. Patrick's Cathedral. Our cab driver was great. He knew his town and pointed out lots of sights along the way.

St. Patrick's Cathedral, built in 1220, is the largest cathedral in Ireland. It was a surprise to me because it wasn't a Catholic cathedral. It's actually a cathedral for the Church of Ireland. I had always assumed it was Catholic.

Here's just one of the many beautiful stained windows found inside the church.
After leaving St. Patrick's Cathedral, we wandered around Dublin for a while. We were sightseeing, but also on the lookout for the statue below. This is Molly Malone, of the famous song, "In Dublin's Fair City".
I have a lot of Irish blood in me. Every year on St. Patrick's Day, my family would sing Irish songs. My Dad loved to sing them loudly and with great feeling. I remember singing the song about Molly Malone. When I read there was a statue of her in Dublin, I knew I had to find it. For my Dad.

We spent a short day touring Dublin. We decided to relax on the cruise ship for part of the day, since we had had a number of long days before. But I'm glad we had the chance to do a little exploration.

Fourth Port - Belfast, Ireland

We spent July 21st, my birthday, at sea. When we went to breakfast, I discovered that our cabin door had been decorated. I had already seen many other cabin doors decorated, so it wasn't a surprise, but it was still a nice start to the day.

We docked in Belfast, Ireland on July 22nd. We didn't hang around Belfast, though. We took a shore excursion through the beautiful Irish countryside to Giant's Causeway. Giant's Causeway is an area made up of 40,000 interlocking basalt columns. And that's as technical as I get! Kimberly had been here the previous year, and she had told me how impressive it was. While this wasn't what I was expecting, I had to agree that it was impressive.
I was not brave enough to climb up there.
This formation is known as the Organ (for obvious reasons).
Here's Robert with the Giant's Boot.
I'm really enjoying seeing the natural beauty these countries have to offer. This is definitely a trip of a lifetime.