Here There and Everywhere

Expat wanderer

British Isles: Dublin Uses Euros

We are already docked in Dublin when our alarm goes off. We had thought we would be caught up after a sea day, but no, we are not caught up and we have to meet early this morning for our excursion.

We are the first group off the boat, but it is more complicated because the boat is anchored, not docked. That means we will have the added adventure of being tendered, i.e. one of the smaller boats on board will ferry us to the docks where we will catch a bus which will take us into Dublin.

We are greeted by Sean, who is a great jokester. He looks at my ticket and my very Irish name and says “I should just hand the mike over to you!” ha ha. He had a lot of jokes, and kept us laughing all the way into Dublin where our first stop was the Cathedral of St. Patrick’s. He took us around, showing us tombs and chapels and restorations, and where the Knights of Saint Patrick were all seated, separately from other people, with their flags and helmets. 

Below is a replica of the ships that took the Irish to the New World during the famine. Below you will also see statues representing the emaciated immigrants seeking shelter in our country. It is a chilling exhibit. It reminds me of the words on the base of the Statue of Liberty – “give me your tired, your poor.”

Back on the bus for a short drive around, then out to the American Ambassador’s house (just a drive by) and a toilet stop – we’re that demographic. Back in Dublin, we pass great shopping stops and Trinity College to be let off at the National Gallery. 

We could go back to the ship, but we’re in Dublin. We have tickets to tour the Dublin Castle, so we ask Google to help us get there – only a 19 minute walk.

We tour the castle, an inner city castle, more of an event venue. It’s full of paintings, most on the theme of Sheherezad and the beheading of John the Baptist – dark, gruesome paintings.

The sun is out, and it is a lovely day with a nice breeze. We limp over to the Cecil Beaton museum, where I have heard there is a lovely cafe/restaurant, and indeed, there is, The Silk Road. The restaurant is popular, full, but not crowded, there are tables inside and outside. You go through a line and choose a main course, then you have a choice of three sides.

AdventureMan was holding a table, I chose a lamb moussaka, and then a beet salad, a green salad and stuffed grape leaves. The plate was heaping.  I took it to the table and AdventureMan liked the look of it and I invited him to share it with me (Please, AdventureMan!) as it was way more than I could to eat so he got a knife and fork and glass of water and it dish was plenty for both of us.


As a bonus, just across from The Silk Road was a gorgeous gift shop, with truly lovely offerings, unique and artistic and yes, a little expensive but this was not the junk of the gift shops we’ve been seeing, so we found some things we liked, and for gifts, and felt very happy. 


AdventureMan got us back to the Viking Shuttle pick up point, and a bus showed up right away, with double decks so they could take a lot of us, and we drove back to the docks, where we tendered back to the ship.

AdventureMan pulled out our wine and cheese, cut off some pieces and we had a few quiet minutes out on the balcony with our feet up, before I had to go to the port talk for our upcoming visit to Holyhead.


I am ashamed to tell you that not long into the port talk, I started falling asleep. 


We’ve been walking well over our 10,000 steps daily. One day it was almost 18K, most days are 14K-15K. In Dublin, it was 14K by mid-afternoon. I was truly tired. Fortunately when I told our old friends how tired I was, one said “I slept through half of the presentation.” I suspect a lot of us had problems staying awake; we are all in a demographic that may nap regularly back home. 


I did take a short nap back in the cabin, waking when AdventureMan tapped me and said “Honey, I don’t want you to have problems sleeping tonight.” We got to the restaurant around the same time as our friends, and our conversation and laughter revived me. 

This is our first cruise where we are traveling with friends. Not as a group, but we’ve met up. Sometimes we are on the same tour, sometimes not. Sometimes we attend the same lectures, sometimes not. We tend to meet up most nights for dinner, and occasionally for lunch. It has worked out well. We have lively discussions, interrupted by trips to the salad bar or soup or ice cream, we disuss what we’ve seen and how we feel about it. We discuss our feelings about how we are changing as aging adults, how our families are growing and changing. We never seem to run out of great topics. It has become a good part of why every day of this trip is one of our best days.

December 31, 2025 Posted by | Travel, Adventure, Friends & Friendship, Aging, British Isles Viking Jupiter | , , , , , , | Leave a comment