Day 18 Galway City

Today was definitely a more low-key day.

We walked around Dublin, went to some shops,

passed through some festival, and then went out for a late dinner.

Loved this shop - inside and out!

Apparently the heat wave in Europe happening right now has also

give Ireland some RARE warm and sunny days.

The whole town was out!

The streets were packed!

One local lady told us that these are glorious days for them!

Sunny skies, no rain, and warmer temps!

Seafood chowder is popular here - served in almost every pub and restaurant

Not to complain, but we were SO TIRED at this point of Irish food,

we opted to try some pizza! 

Looked at reviews, and found an incredible 

restaurant owned by two brothers.

In my opinion it was the best pizza I had ever had.

Fresh, local ingredients,

woodfired,

delicious.

I had a pizza with pesto, goat cheese, sun dried tomatoes, 

grilled red onions, and rocket leaves.

It was so good I ate the entire thing!

I looked around and nobody in the place had any leftover!

Even all the skinny girls! haha

Day 17 - the Cliffs of Moher and a Michelin Star restaurant!!

Cappuccino at the hotel and then off we went!

Side note - we have absolutely fallen in love with cappuccino while in Europe! 

At the cottage Danny made them every day with fresh milk from local farms 

(what a huge difference that makes) and we have reveled over all the

fun dishes and cups and creamers we have used.

Most restaurants seem to serve these rustic

looking brown sugar cubes - and now we are used to 

brown sugar in our coffee too!

We ended up buying ourselves a set of two nice cappuccino cups

from a local potter in England.

Now we just need an espresso machine!!!

We stopped in at Cork's town center market just to see what that was all about.

Everyone seemed to say you just had to stop in there.

It was amazing - like the Amish market times 100.

And then on we drove up to the famous Cliffs of Moher!

 All the gift shops looked like Hobbit houses

 The sight was absolutely spectacular!

Breathtaking.

Then we drove on up the coast to make it to Galway.

Just a local, neighborhood castle shot from the car window 

(do they realize how great their history is I wonder??)

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The next pictures are from Oscars Seafood Bistro -

our first experience at a Michelin Star restaurant!

IT. WAS. INCREDIBLE.

The oysters were so fresh they still had the green moss

growing on them.  They were fresh caught that day,

and served on a bed of seaweed.

Danny ordered an oyster martini - because you just had to.

It was basically a martini with an oyster in it. 

The meals were incredible.

Cannot even put it into words.

I had some kind of hake that was on a bed

of sweet potato puree, with

avocado salsa and pomegranite seeds and 

all these fresh greens.

Danny had some kind of  monkfish with mussels 

in a creamy broth

We shared a dessert that was some kind of gel pudding thing

with seaweed in it.  It was kind of salty, but again

we just wanted to try something different.

Apparently the chef is also an author

After dinner we walked around downtown a little bit through the 

Latin Quarter.  A very "young scene" for sure.

Day 16 -Waterford Crystal Tour

Today we left Kilkenny to travel to Cork, and on the way we stopped 

to tour the Waterford Crystal Factory.

We started off our day at the little French cafe as it was wonderful

and so close to our hotel.

We had really no expectations of this tour, but in the

end it was very fascinating to see.

Never realized that every single thing - from bowls to wineglasses -

are completely made by hand! 

Danny got to hold the crystal football made for some football trophy!

Apparently it takes 5 years as an apprentice and then 3 more years

as master to be able to work for Waterford!

This piece was commissioned for NASA and will only be on display here

for a few more days.  

 I loved this crystal book!!!!

We ate lunch in their cafe - and boy did it taste good to have a salad!

No fish and chips here! haha

We drove on to Cork

We stayed at a downtown hotel and after several mistakes and issues (on their end)

we ended up getting moved three times .  

We got an upgraded suite and thought yay!

In the end I swore that something (or someone) had

died - and the room smelled so awful that by the next

morning I woke up trying not to vomit, didn't even shower, grabbed our stuff\

and left.  

We did get a complementary drink for all the moving around

they had us doing (plus broken elevators)

and the young waiter in the bar was so so helpful writing down

recommendations for restaurants and things to do.

Like I said, the Irish people are very

friendly and proud of their country.

They want you to like it.

 I think their greatest national treasure is their people.