Catching Up - June 6-8

Haven’t had time and/or free wifi for a couple of days so I have some catching up to do! On Friday we left Limerick and went first to the Cliffs of Moher. Unfortunately it was really cold and windy so we didn’t spend long admiring the cliffs, although they were impressive.

Our lunch stop was in Galway - we had a real high tea in a cute little shop and then did a little shopping on the narrow streets nearby. Then we went on to Sligo for our overnight stop and we went out with some of the group to a pub for drinks and Irish music - a very enjoyable evening!

On the way to the pub we saw Classiebawn, a huge mansion alone on a hill - it was the home of Lord Mountbatten and it was in the bay nearby that he and a grandson were killed when an IRA bomb blew up their small boat.

The next day we fought rain and cold again all day. Visited the Belleek Pottery factory and the Giant’s Causeway before arriving in Belfast.

On Sunday we had a bus tour of Belfast which pointed out many historical sites - from 18^th century to the recent "troubles" in Northern Ireland. Then we spent several fascinating hours at a new and very well-done Titanic museum in the shipyard where it was built. After that it was on to Dublin by way of Downpatrick, where St. Patrick first landed in Ireland and where he is buried. They had to add this large rock over his grave  because emigrants would come and take a handful of the "auld sod" from his grave to take with them to their new homes.