July 21-25, 2024
We sailed from Spain up to Ireland, and had to break out the light sweaters and rain jackets since Ireland was experiencing one of its rainiest and coolest summers in many years. We took the local train (literally located next to the port) from Cobh (where the ship docked) into the city of Cork (as pronounced by the locals “Cark”).
Our Guruwalk started by the University, where a grad student (who I forgot to write down his name) led us back and forth around the lanes of the old Irish city, the second largest in the Republic of Ireland (population of about 225,000).
The highlight of the stop was the tour at Jameson’s Distillery for the World Cruisers.
So a lovely evening, and I managed to NOT have a hangover the next morning. We had a refreshing sea day before arriving in Cherbourg. We’d been there in 2023 ( https://let-me-show-you-the-world.com/cherbourg-france/ ) and had walked to the right out of the port, so this time we went left – and almost immediately ran into Kelly and Alyssa in our wanderings.
So Alyssa and I went shopping!
The next day the ship made the short sail to Le Havre – ideally for passengers to grab a train into Paris. Little problem – we arrived the day before the Olympics opening ceremony and when the torch was being run into the city – closing many roads and forcing the ship to cancel all of its tours into Paris. The trains were sold out, so if you had not planned well in advance, you were out of luck (which was probably fortuitous since there were bombings on trains a few hours prior to the opening ceremony). We got a rental car and toured the French countryside (along with thousands of other tourists looking for things to do outside of Paris). Alyssa is an artist, and Etretat’s Cliffs were less than an hour away – so became stop #1.
We also read about a nearby chateau used for weddings and often open for tours – only to find it had not been open in some time.
On day two for our overnight we wandered the city.
Though one of the most fascinating places was the St. Joseph’s Church. The church had been destroyed during WWI – and the new church was built in an Art Deco style and completed in 1927. Then destroyed again in WWII. In the 1950’s, they decided to rebuild again – but smaller, and re-create the Art Deco design, which is the church now standing.
Though the highlight of the time in Le Havre was that we had time with friends – capping off the visit with a fabulous lunch at
The food was truly French, no English menu but the staff (which is the family) – knew enough English to give you the basics (you know it must be a good restaurant when the only bad review is because of no menus in English). The food was amazing – and the company – well, when it comes to travel, you realize travel is less about the destination and more about the company with which you travel, and traveling with Liam, Alan, Alyssa and Kelly added so much to the experience.