Sunday, May 24: Dublin to Kinsale

This morning we depart Dublin for Kinsale. Kinsale is a lovely picturesque little town, considered the gourmet capital of Ireland. The town was the site of one of the most important battles in Irish history when in 1601 the Spain and Irish joined forces against a common enemy: the English. Despite a defeat the Spanish influences can still be seen in the winding streets and architecture of the town’s buildings today.  After dinner we enjoy a walking Ghost Tour of Kinsale.

It was a long ride to Kinsale, but we had tons of laughs.  And topped off the evening with “Baby Guinness”.

Ireland made history with the vote to marriage equality referendum.  Some of us hit the downtown celebrations.

Saturday, May 23: Dublin

After breakfast we  enjoyed a walking tour of Dublin and discovered areas of the city that coaches cannot access. To begin with, we  visited Trinity College and saw its elegant squares and buildings. We also visited the Old Library that houses the spectacular 9th century “Book of Kells” and over two hundred thousand books and manucripts. We strolled through Temple Bar, Dublin’s artistic quarters. Then we will walked to Wood Quay, cradle of Mediaeval Dublin, and visit the pedestrian Grafton Street and St. Stephen’s Green. Enjoy some time at leisure in Dublin City Centre for some personal sightseeing and shopping. Dinner  this evening  was at the Merry Ploughboy’s Pub with a lively show featuring contemporary Irish dancing. The bus ride back to our hotel was full of lots of laughter as we get to know each other.

This is a wonderful group of ladies.

Looking forward to the next day of adventure.

Friday, May 22: Arrive Dublin

We arrive at Dublin Airport this morning where we meet our local guide, Dennis and set off for Dublin city centre. We’ll start off with a panoramic city tour, the ideal introduction to “Dublin’s Fair City”. The tour  introduced  us to the principal sites; the elegant Georgian squares with their famous doors, Trinity College, St Patrick’s Cathedral, Christchurch and Phoenix Park with its many monuments including the Papal cross. We’ll make a stop at the Guinness brewery for a tour of the facilities and of course a pint of Guinness at the Gravity Bar. We all agreed that the Guinness was better than we thought that it would be  Tons of fun there.   We paseds Collins Barrack, now part of the national museum, before arriving back into O’Connell Street and the city centre.

Once at the hotel, we meet Mary Melia,  a speaker from Irish Countrywomen Association – Dublin’s Branch.  She talked about how this group helped the women over the years  buy teaching them about cooking, updating their kitchens and homes with running water and in door washrooms.  This was very interesting.

But tired from the long flight and day we headed off to bed soon after dinner

Overnight: The Gresham Hotel, Dublin

We arrived at our beautiful hotel, the  Aquis Silva Beach Maris Hotel in Heraklion which is a beautiful beach resort with two pools, beautiful rooms and extremely pleasant helpful staff.  We enjoyed an afternoon of relaxing by the pool and soaking in the legendary Greek island life.  Here is the WTN synchronized swimming team.

On Friday we enjoyed a tour of the Knossos Palace.  It is one of the great archaeologial sites of the world dating back 2500 years BC.  Excavation began in 1900.  Once the capital of Minoan Crete and the centre of Bronze Age civilization, it is a magnificant royal residence.  The Archaeological Museum houses a wonderful collection of Minoan art and artefacts.

On Saturday we had a day of leisure.  Some of the ladies visited a local town to shop and enjoy lunch.   Dinner was held at Taverna Harakas where we sampled traditional Greek food and wine and listened to a musician.  A great way to end our three days in Crete.  Tomorrow we travel by hydrofoil to Santorini.

This morning we were escorted to the port of Piraeus where we boarded a Louis Hellenic Cruise ship and sailed for three nights and visited the islands of Mykonos, Ephesus Turkey, Patmos and Rhodes.  Our first port, Mykonos, is a sophisticated popular island.  Apparently Jackie O loved it and we can understand why. We all wandered into town and had a delicious dinner (and wine) at Roca Taverna.  We next visited Ephesus in Turkey, one of the premier archaeological sites of the world.  We toured the Agora, the Odean, the Library of Celsus, Trajan’s Fountain, the Public Latrines (now THAT was a site to see!).  The Great Theatre built in the 4th century BC is still famous for it’s acoustics. 

And this is our photographer Thaddeus.  Another wonder of beautiful Greece!  He’s VERY talented!

Rugs galore at Kusadasi Turkey!  After a tour of the rug factory where wool, cotton and silk rugs are woven, we were treated with great hospitality (and alcohol) and invited to see the carpets with a view (no pressure….ya, right!) to purchase.  It was really fun and a few of us (I won’t say whom… it was Linda, Linda, Maria and Suzan) bought beautiful pieces. 

Next we visited the island of Patmos, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  We visited ‘the Grotto’ of the Apocalypse and the silent windmills in Chora.

Next on to Rhodes.  Walking along the paved streets of the Medieval City, we came across residences of people of several different historic nationalities who once belonged to the Order of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem.  We toured the Palace of the Grand Master, the area of Bourgos and the Mosque of Suleiman the Magnificent erected in 1808, the Turkish Baths, the Hospital of the Knights in Museum Square the Church of Our Lady of the Castle which has guarded the place since the 11th century AD. The Place of the Grand Master is a magnificent site in the Old Town.  And, of course, the mandatory shopping for jewelry.  Tonight we sail to Crete.

Athens is a beautiful, historic city.  Today we visited the Acropolis which means Top of the City and is a true testament to the golden age of Greece.  Our walking tour included the Erechtheion Temple and the Parthenon.  The Parthenon was the temple dedicated to the goddess Athena.  Afterward we visited the Acropolis Museum and the Olympic Stadium where the flame ceremony originates every two years to kick off the Olympic games.  We visited Anafiotika, an area of simple stone houses nestled in bedrock.   We ate lunch in the city and people watched in the Plaka  and  soaked in the spendor of Athens and listened to street musicians playing Greek music.  Zorba the Greek comes to mind.  The changing of the guard delights the crowds every Sunday and we were lucky to see this weekly ceremony.  And, of course, the sailors were in town.  Dinner was in the historical quarter of Plaka at the Psara’s Taverne.   Tomorrow we board our cruise ship.  Blogging may be a little slower over the next few days because WiFi may be intermittent.  Another beautiful day with the Women’s Travel Network and Worldwide Quest.

We have arrived safe and sound in beautiful Athens.  After checking into the Hotel Athenian Callirhoe we enjoyed a lovely lunch at the garden restaurant before setting out to scenic Cape Sounion and a dinner by the sea at Akrogiali Restaurant.   No, this isn’t our hotel. It is the Temple of Poseidon.  What a great way to start a vacation.   We can’t wait until tomorrow but in the meantime look forward to a well-deserved sleep.

We did a morning tour of the archaeological site of Akrotiri which is frozen in time by a cataclysmic eruption of the island’s volcano.  We got to see some of the excavations that were fascinating and gave us a glimpse of urban life in the Minoan period. We then ventured to climb and get a view of the beautiful red beach.  Then off to another beach to walk along the black sand and the ladies dipped their feet in the Aegean Sea. Our trip is winding down but every day presents a new great adventure and sites.