Woke early on Thursday for our 8:45 AM sailing on the Jonathan Swift, the faster Irish Ferry across the Irish Sea.  The Ulysses, the slower ferry, leaves at 8:05 and arrives at 11:30.  The Swift passes it en route and arrives at 10:45.  Faster.  Bouncier.  The Irish Sea was angry this day, my friends.  We love the high seas.  I am writing this about halfway across the Irish Sea.  Weather, you ask?  Brilliant sun, no clouds.

On landing we had a two hour drive through Wales into England to get to our hotel, the Nadler Liverpool.  The Liverpool docks area, once a wasteland of old docks and warehouses, is now a vibrant area, much of it pedestrianized, full of shops and restaurants, reminiscent of Quincy Market in Boston.  We enjoyed our stay here a couple of years back (it’s down there somewhere in the blog archives) enjoying Beatle Mania and watching the Ferry ‘Cross the Mersey.  We reacquainted ourselves with the Albert Dock area and had a nice lunch (it was only 1:00 PM) at Pret A Manger.  I love Pret.  The concept is simple: fresh sandwiches and salads, all pre-made the same day and all delicious.  They have expanded to parts of the USA and have an outlet in Copley Square.  Were I still working (God forbid!), I would there for lunch everyday.  Albert Dock is filled with museums (The Maritime Museum, the Tate Liverpool, the Liverpool City Museum, the Beatles Story, etc.).  We have done them all previously.  Instead we sat outside at a pub (The Pump House) and enjoyed cider and beer in the sun.

I had some nice daytime photos of Liverpool, but when I went to download them to my computer, the SD card failed.  Horrors!  Fortunately I download my pictures everyday, so the only ones lost were those I took today.  I walked down to the Super Tesco near our hotel and bought a new SD card (£11 – cheap crisis!)  So the pictures below were taken after dinner at 9:30 PM.  It is light here until 11:00 PM and light again at 4:00 AM.

Last time we were here, we dined at a Spanish-themed tapas place called Lunya and liked it.  So as we passed by on our walkabout, we made a reservation.  Dinner was very good.  We indulged in the gourmet tasting menu, and we had good chat with the waiter, a man from Greece, who was our waiter the last time we were here.  Elaine remembered him and he remembered Elaine.  I remember nothing.  Here is the menu from their web site.  We had substitutions for some dishes, but you get the idea.

Tapas Banquets Tasting Banquet

Habas picantes – Giant Gordal olives – Borettane balsamic onions
Ibérico Bellota meat platter – Torta de Cañarejal and breadsticks
Catalan tomato bread
Herby crumbed rabbit – Stuffed courgette flower
Mackeral and white asparagus – Presa Ibérica
Gambas Píl Píl – Patatas bravas

CLICK PICS TO ENLARGE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One last breakfast at Marless House in Galway.  Mary makes eggs perfectly.  I’ve acquired a penchant for poached eggs on toast with cheddar cheese.  Sounds awful, tastes grand.  We were gone by 9:15 AM and on the road to Dublin.  Pretty uneventful drive save for one close call at a Galway roundabout – my bad.

Left Galway in sunshine.  Arrived Dublin in sunshine.  Wicked weather.  The drive is almost all Motorway.  Vic likes motorways.  The most interesting highlight was the crossing of the River Suck, a tributary of the Shannon.  That was better than the boring stop for gas.  Well, diesel actually.  There have been no accidental purchases of unleaded gasoline for our diesel Volvo.

Bailey, our SatNav/GPS navigator, got us perfectly to Epic Ireland, our one and only destination in Dublin save for our hotel.  Epic Ireland just opened three weeks ago; I pre-bought tickets way back in March.  Epic Ireland is all about the migrations out of Ireland and of the accomplishments of Irish émigrés and their prodigy.  It is all high tech and very well done.  We had time for a quick walkabout across the Liffey and for a pint in a nearby bar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then it was off to our hotel, a place we have stayed several times on short Dublin stays, the Croke Park Hotel.  Croke Park is Ireland’s major sporting venue, the home to the All Ireland Irish Football and Irish Hurling championships as well as many other events and lots of concerts.  Last Friday and Sunday 150,000 fans watched Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band perform.  The hotel is very nice but not a place to be when there is a major event at Croke Park which is literally across the street.

Tomorrow: Ferry from Dublin to Holyhead (Wales) and a drive to Liverpool.  We should be in our hotel by 3:00 PM.  Stay tuned.