We travelled in the night and awoke to Cobh, the port of Cork next to us. It was nice that our tour was not too early in the morning.
We had a leisurely morning and joined our tour in the afternoon. We were lucky enough to snag a seat in the front of the bus this time.
As we were anticipating the tour from the tasting room, we had no idea that the tour would be so extensive, reminiscent of our winery tours here in California. It was somehow appropriate that a Frenchman from Normandy was our guide. The men seemed more interested in the tour than the ladies. I got lost in the science. We explored many areas of this beautiful property and were given four drinks! Oh my!
After our drinks, it was time to return to the bus and do a brief tour of Cork. I didn’t realize that the tour would be 90% distillery and 10% tour of Cork, but I managed to get some nice photos from the front of the bus. I am crazy about the beautiful multicolored houses.
Our driver entertained us by singing some Irish songs on our way back to the ship. We were the last tour to return so we had to hurry to get on board. Tomorrow is a sea day, then we land in Dover. 😢. I am not ready for this cruise to end.
We finished off the evening with our friends Ellie and Samuel at the piano bar. They are always so full of life. We enjoy ending our days here.
We joined one of the tender boats to get to the port of Dun Laoghaire, where we took a tour which visited two spots in the Irish countryside. We had visited the beautiful city of Dublin before and had a hankering to get out into the countryside. Our first stop was Ballyknocken House and Gardens, home of the cookery school, and Glendalough, the site of a 6 th century monastery.
We enjoyed our tea and scones and loved wandering the grounds of both house and gardens.
We headed out to our next stop through more beautiful countryside.
It was explained to us that there is a yearly competition for the best “ tidy town” and many villages take this competition very seriously. . The community works very hard to maintain the areas.
Our second visit was to the site of the first Irish saint, Saint Kevin, in the Wicklow mountains’ village of Glendalough. He went there for solitude and lived as a hermit in a cave in the natural beauty and wilderness and formed a monastic order there in the 6th century. . This settlement eventually became one of the great spiritual centers of Christianity in Ireland, flourishing for a thousand years after St Kevin’s death. His story is often referred to as a journey from solitude to community. The feast day of St Kevin is June 3, and he is one of the patron saints of the Archdiocese of Dublin. The monastic center includes the Round Tower, the remains of St Peter and Paul’s Cathedral, the Priests’ house and a huge graveyard, where the devoted have been laid to rest.
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Our guide Andrea gave us much historical information along the tour, as she is here explaining the evolution of the various celtic crosses.
Glendalough is the third most visited site in Ireland, and it was quite crowded on this beautiful day.
We head back to the ship to get ready for our 5:30 reservation at the Tamarind, the ship’s Pan Asian restaurant.
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We started with shared appetizers, then I had my delicious lamb chops with bok choy. My dessert was the lighter, tapioca type, while my sister went full out for a chocolate and strawberry concoction. Early dinner was perfect for us, because the Orange Party started at 9:30.
What is an Orange Party? The Holland America Lines celebrates its Dutch heritage by asking its passengers to wear something orange and join in the merriment of themed drinks and crazy entertainment. It started with a competition between the crew and passengers to guess the song not only by naming the title and artist, but dancing to it. The cruise director Brandon started off the fun. It just kept going from there. We had an overhead view of the craziness from the second floor.
The ship picked up passengers in Dover at the beginning of the cruise, then picked up Dutch passengers in Rotterdam. About 1/3 of the passengers were Dutch. Most spoke English but some of the older passengers did not. The Dutch absolutely loved the Orange party, and so did we. My sister even danced the Chicken Dance, party animal that she is, and I have a video to prove it!
Tomorrow’s visit to Cork is in the afternoon, so we have some time to sleep in!
