In the spring of the year cruise lines move ships from the east coast of the United States, from where they have been sailing the Caribbean during the winter, to Europe where they will spend the summer. These “repositioning cruises” can be quite a bargain if you don’t mind days at sea, have time, and would like to travel to Europe. In April of 2019 we took a 14 day cruise from Ft. Lauderdale to Dublin. Our price for a window room, everything included but drinks, was $900 each.
PONTA DELGADA, AZORES
After sailing from Ft. Lauderdale we spent a week crossing the Atlantic before arriving at our first port of call, Ponta Delgada, Azores. Ponta Delgada is the capital and largest city of the Azores and is located on the island of San Miguel.
The Azores are part of Portugal. This is immediately evident as Portuguese tile work is everywhere. From the cruise terminal, it is a 10-15 minute walk to the center of town where there’s the city hall, the city gate, and the main church. We bought the 5 euro ticket to 3 museums (Carlos Machado Museum, Nucleo de Santa Barbera which has some more modern exhibits, and the Sacred Art Museum) in Ponta Delgada, and they were worth visiting.
We also visited the botanical gardens. On the way we got a view of our ship in the harbor. We passed through the tranquil campus of the University of Azores up the hill, then walked over to Jose do Canto Garden. There was a little cafe that had free Wifi hiding in this garden. We did see another nice looking botanical garden, Jardim António Borges, down the hill as we were heading back toward the center of town, but we did not stop. It was raining.
Lunch spots: Mane Cigano. Very local, no frills, no signage, reasonably priced little sea food restaurant a tiny bit out of the tourist area. Atlantico shopping mall(which is close to tJose do Canto Garden) food court offered many different options including some sit down restaurants.
Grenada(population: 112,200) had one of the most commercially developed cruise terminals in the Eastern Caribbean with a tourist information office even before stepping out of the ID checking line and plenty of shops. A free WiFi was available for 30 minutes ($3 for 12 hours.)
French colonized Grenada in 1650, then the Brits took over in 1763. It’s been an independent country since 1974 & a part of British Commonwealth.
Right outside of this terminal is downtownSt. George’s(population: 36,800), the capital of Grenada. We decided to turn right and were immediately met by stairs that led to Fort George. From this fort, one can get the best view of the bay.
We had noticed a church on top of a hill as soon as our ship entered the port. Let’s go there, we had said. So we walked up more stairs in order to find the church as we left the Fort and turned toward the town center. This church that we took to be the main church in town turned out to be a ruin. There seemed to be a small museum under there now, but it was not open when we were there.
We decided just to walk around town to get the feel of the place. Grenada is known as the Spice Island, and we could smell the various spices in their markets. It was still before 10 AM by this time, and the city was still slowly waking up. We were a bit disappointed that spices were wrapped up in plastic to be taken back home as souvenirs, thus, we could not see the colors and shapes of the spices.
We could have gone on a $25 tour of the island, but we didn’t. There was a choo choo train tour of the old town, but we did not do it, either. Walking around was easy to do and free.
Like else where in Eastern Caribbean, everyday items were not cheap. Time and again, we were reminded of life of hard work that local people had to lead while visitors vacationed.
We got off of a trans Atlantic cruise in Dublin, and drove around Ireland for 7 nights/8 days in May 2019. I tried to plan so that moving from one town to the next would be around 2-3 hours. We did manage to go around the whole island during 8 days without rushing too much. We did not go into the big urban centers except for Belfast. We used Airbnb for all 7 nights, and the total came out to be about $500. We spent $10-20 per meal per person & we ate quite well.
Cab from Dublin port to the rental car office around 9 AM. I had found a great deal on a rental car using skyscanner.com, $54 for 8 days for a small manual car. However, the young lady at the agency was quite successful in convincing Pat to upgrade to a car that had more room and power. Then there was some kind of local fee that had to be added. We ended up paying $220 for the package. (In the end, we did decide that the more power part was good for driving up some stiff hills, but the bigger size did not help with the driving on narrow roads.)
The road to Kilkenny(population: 26,500) was a regular freeway and easy to drive, and it took under 90 minutes to get there. We found a free parking outside of the old town center, and the 10 minute walk was pleasant. Walked around. Did not go into the Kilkenny Castle(8 euros), a major attraction, because we were tired of castles. Spoiled? Yes.
I had picked a lunch spot, but it was too early and most restaurants were closed. We decided to drive down to Waterford(population: 53,000), just a 30-40 minutes drive, and have lunch there. Turned out, it was a “bank holiday,” and the city was very quiet. Luckily, we were able to find a decent lunch. Walked around the city. Bigger but not as charming.
Our Airbnb house had a check in time of 5 PM, thus, we drove down to a little coastal town of Kinsale(population: 5,300), looked around, and went to a not-so-special small town of Carrigaline(population: 15,000) to check into our home for the night. (The road Google Map directed us to take to Kinsale was quite narrow once we were off the major highway!)
Just a little over an hour drive to Killarney(population: 14,500) on major highways. A beautiful town. Tourist Information Office was very helpful. The parking lot next to this office was cheap(1 euro/hour). We left the car there and walked around, had a wonderful lunch at a reasonable price at Hannigans Bar at the International Hotel. Took a walk in the National Park: gorgious!
Drove about 30 minutes to Killorglin(population: 2,190) to our home for the next 2 nights. Dinner at a local pub.
Ring of Kerry: should we skip it? Heard horror stories about too many cars/people jamming up the one road around this iconic scenic route. Our host said, “NO! You HAVE TO do it. It’s not going to be that bad now.” So we listened to him, and we were glad. From Killorglin, headed west, went around, and came out at Kenmare(population: 2,180.) Took around 2-3 hours with many stops for pictures. Kenmare was a cute town. Lunch at Rose Garden Cafe. Walked around Killorglin downtown. Dinner at a wonderful cafe, Bianconi Inn.
Dingle Peninsula. First did Slea Head Drive, lunch in Dingle(population: 2,050), then drove over Conor Pass. Roads were narrow. Spectacular views. More driving through narrow rural roads to get to our next home near Liscannor(population: under 200). Dinner at a local hotel pub for free Irish music. More music after dinner in Doolin.
Narrow roads to Slieve League:cliffs higher than Moher. Not as many people & equally impressive. Lunch in Ardara(population: 730.) Drove north to Horn Head, then drove into Northern Ireland. Stayed at an Airbnb house north of Limavady(population: 12,000) Had dinner at a sea side restaurant, the Point Bar.
Small Wide World 