May 18-19, 2023 – Travel Day 1 & Day 2 – Dundee to Halifax to Toronto to Dublin to Galway
Accommodations: Park House Hotel, Galway
After three postponements, the second leg of the Ireland trip was a go. I travelled to Ireland in 2019 with Brack Tours. The second part of the trip was to take place in 2020, but Covid raised its ugly head and prevented the trip from happening until 2023.
As departure day approached, many people reached out to wish me a wonderful trip and to ask if I was excited. I was more anxious than excited, as I felt at the last minute something would occur, and the trip would not happen.
Day 1 – On May 18 I left home at noontime for the three hour trip to Halifax Airport. I left the car at the Park N Fly and it was not until I was inside the airport that I allowed myself to finally become excited. It was indeed going to happen. I met up with Laura, my roommate on the first trip, and her daughter, Krista, just after arriving at the airport. It was so nice to see Laura and meet Krista. Unfortunately it was not a direct flight this time, as it had been in 2019. I was travelling Air Canada, departing Halifax at 6pm bound for Toronto. I have never had much luck travelling with Air Canada, so I was assuming missed connections and/or lost luggage.
We checked in and then waited for a couple of hours before boarding and departing for Toronto. We arrived in Toronto at 7:34pm and had about 1.5 hours before boarding and departing for Dublin. We departed Toronto at 9:05pm arriving in Dublin at 8:15am. My luggage arrived and the flights were fine, which says a lot for someone who really doesn’t like flying, and clearing customs was easy. Several people were returning from the 2019 trip. We met up with others who had flown in from various parts of the US and Canada. At last my feet were on Irish soil once again. My heart was truly happy.
Day 2 – We are off and running. Our first stop was Tyrrellspass for breakfast at The Village Hotel Browne’s on the Green. It would be the first of several Irish breakfasts. Breakfast is one of my favourite things when travelling.
Where’s the beef? In the entryway.
Typical Irish breakfast. YUM!! And yes, I tried blood pudding three times.
Our next stop was Athlone Castle in Athlone. The Castle dates back to the 12th century. It was built for King John by his Irish representative, Bishop John de Gray of Norwich. It was built on the River Shannon and was strategically placed to provide a bridgehead to assist with the Norman evasion into Connaught. It reopened in 2020 after a multimillion euro renovation as a visitor centre.
Athlone 
River Shannon
From the Athlone Castle we had a very short walk to the oldest pub in Ireland, Sean’s Bar where we were treated to an Irish Coffee. Timmy Donovan ,of Sean’s Bar, gave a talk on the history of the bar, whiskey, moonshine, etc. Timmy was a wealth of information and very entertaining. As Dennis (bus driver/tour guide) said, ‘Timmy doesn’t let a lie get in the way of a good story’.
Irish Coffee 
Guinness and Guinness
Once we left Athlone we made our way to Galway, our stop for the next two nights at the Park House Hotel, Galway. We had a welcome reception to meet and greet one another, a beautiful supper, before our first, of several evenings of entertainment by Evans and Doherty and Tom Sweeney.
We were all exhausted by the end of the night. I had gone 37 hours with very little sleep, only dozing briefly on the flight from Toronto to Dublin. If I do a tour like this again, I’d fly in the day before and join the tour the following morning.
This is the first of 8, maybe 9, posts about my trip to Ireland. Please leave a comment if you wish. Comments are fun and make the blogging worthwhile. If you have any questions, please ask. All photos taken by myself unless otherwise noted.
Loved it! It was nice to be reminded of all the lovely spots and meals that saw us through the first few days of the trip.
Thanks Patti. It was a special trip for sure.
Great post and excellent photos! You should have been a travel writer. Wait- you are. 😉 Love all the details you include. Really makes me want to go to Ireland again. It’s been 13 years since we were there. Looking forward to the next post.
Thanks Suzanne. Having people like you and Steve on the trip make it even more special.
Thank you Hughena for this lovely description of our first day in Ireland. You are a great writer and photographer and we are looking forward to your next chapters.
Steve and Suzanne O’Regan
I enjoyed your fb posts as you travelled and the detail you added in this first blog. I almost felt as though I was there with you. I’m so glad the long awaited tour finally happened. I look forward to your next blog.
Thanks Judy. I’m happy it finally happened as well. There were times I was wondering if it ever wood.
I always enjoy your blogs so much. I am really loving your Ireland blogs as it is a dream of mine to visit there. Keep on writing!
Thanks Holly. Don’t just dream about it, do it.
What a lovely posting. Your photography is wonderful as well. With a menu like the one shown how can you pick what to eat?
Thanks Kendra. It wasn’t easy to choose from the selections. And never made a bad choice.
Thank you very much, Hughena. You write and describe things so well…it’s alomst like being there again, and your pictures are wonderful. Thanks again.
Mary O’Regan
It was such a wonderful trip and so nice to meet you.