SEPTEMBER 12 – 16 (FUN IN THE SUN – MORE OF MYKONOS)

• Here are some more photos of the last few days. Finally my tan is coming back!!
• Heading to the beach every day to do an ocean swim with the local fish followed by relaxing lunch on the beach, a bit of a read and more swimming.
• At night, there are plenty of lovely bars to head to. ‘Kastro’ (swing and jazz music), ‘Sunset Bar at the Elysium Hotel’ (terrible drag shows but good sunset view), ‘Jackie O’s’ and ‘Babylon’ (more club atmosphere) have been some favourites.
• The food has been great too (lunch is brought to you on your deck chair on the beach) and dinners have involved plenty of good old Greek food. YUM!
• Met some lovely guys from London (Dave, Owen, Paul & Sam) and took some photos of them from the speed boat on the crazy shark (ski biscuit). It’s very good fun and you can’t help but laugh out loud for the whole trip!!

SEPTEMBER 9 – 11 – AN INTRODUCTION TO MYKONOS

• After arriving via ship to the Island, I was taken to my studio flat (Ortensia Villas). It’s quite close to Chora (main centre of town) but on top of the hill looking at the harbour so I quickly rented myself a quad bike to get around. By bike, it’s only 5 minutes to town.
• My friend Kosta, his cousin Nic and partner Geo are staying here for 3 days so it’s been good to have some great company and they’ve been before. So far, I’ve been to Paradise Beach, Super Paradise Beach and my favourite, Elia. Elia is a bit quieter and more relaxed than the other two. Nic and Geo have rented a beautiful villa in Elia and have been kind enough to invite Kosta and I to the pool and bar area at the end of a hard day at the beach (which is divine)
• The camber of the day is roughly as follows. Wake up at 10 am, go and get a coffee, go to the beach by 1.00 pm, swim and relax until 6 pm, have a drink, go home by 8 pm. Dinner at 10 pm then a drink or two in one of many bars until 2 am. We’ve repeated this the last three days.
• Today we took a 15 minute ride on a giant ski biscuit around Elia beach towed by a speed boat. It was amazing fun and the four of us (who asked for ‘no mercy’ from the ski boat driver) got what we asked for!

SEPTEMBER 6 & 7 – ATHENS

• After magnificent weather in Ireland (we were very lucky), we left Dublin early (it was cold, windy and pouring with rain and drizzle).
• Flying into Athens is beautiful. The blue skies and ocean mixed with the ‘harsh’ terrain is beautiful to see from the aircraft.
• A friend of mine Kosta is living here and we wasted no time in having a drink and a bite to eat followed by a day of seeing the sites of Athens.
• We met at my hotel in Plaka and took off to see The Acropolis Museum followed by the Acropolis and the Parthenon, the National Garden, Zappion, The monument of the Unknown Soldier, the Theatre of Dionysos and plenty more.
• The weather is nice and hot and so no more coat!

SEPTEMBER 3 – 5 – BLARNEY TO KILKENNY BACK TO DUBLIN

• Unfortunately I had a head cold, so didn’t get to acquire the gift of eloquence from kissing the Blarney Stone. Bugger – hehe. However, I did get to see the castle and a quick walk around the lovely grounds.
• Upon arriving in Kilkenny, we quickly realised the All Ireland Hurling Championships between Kilkenny and Tipperary was on the following day. The whole town of Kilkenny were dressed in their yellow and black supporting colours, flags, jerseys and carrying the Kilkenny Cat mascot - the cars done up likewise. Apparently 20,000 people will make their way from Kilkenny up to Dublin to join the other 70,000 people to watch the final – traffic should be interesting!
• From Kilkenny, we took some detours (good considering the traffic heading north) to see Baltinglass (County Wicklow) where my godfather Sean and his clan are from. We also then drive 20 minutes to Ballymore Eustace (County Kildare) where my mother’s family (The Eustace family) is from. Both small towns with their own charms. I was taking some photos in Ballymore Eustace where a kind local said welcome back to the Eustace Clan. There’s quite some history involved here and apparently the Eustace Clan were Lords and as such had quite a lot of land here.
• From Ballymore Eustace, it was a gentle drive back to Dublin and I’m catching up with some friends for a drink after the hurling final (of course).

SEPTEMBER 1 – 2 – ENNIS TO KILLARNEY

• From Galway, we stayed a night in Ennis then onto Killarney.
• It’s been a magical part of the trip seeing the beautiful landscapes of the Cliffs of Moher (Irish - Aillte an Mhothair). The views attract millions of travellers per year and I was pleased to be one of them. At their peak, they are 702ft above sea level. Apparently Dusty Springfield’s ashes were scattered off the cliffs.
• The other piece of magical landscape has been the Ring of Kerry (Irish - An Mhór Chuaird) and this really takes a full day to enjoy properly. The scenery is breathtaking and the driving is interesting through the narrow, windy lanes. It’s best to follow the tour buses rather than try to drive against them (which we did thankfully).
• The photographs do not even come close to representing the beauty of these two sites

AUGUST 28 – 31 SLIGO TO GALWAY

• After a night in Sligo, we took off toward Galway. A quick stop in the town of Donegal revealed their annual food festival which was fantastic. An amazing display of food from beautiful restaurants and some Executive Chef’s showing off their secrets. With latte in hand, I was happy to sit and watch the demonstrations – which were divine!
• Arriving in Galway feels great. It’s a fantastic cultural city! The high street is filled with lovely shops and it just feels nice and welcoming.
• We spent some time at Galway Bay and met some lovely local swimmers. The water temperature was 16 degrees (and there were plenty of locals swimming including Ruby, a local dog – who needed some coaxing let me add). Apparently the daily talk amongst this hardcore set of swimmers is if the water is ‘up or down’ which is the temperature. Reports indicate last week it reached 16.7 degrees and the locals thought they were swimming in soup – too hot for them and they didn’t feel refreshed!
• There’s a large tower which plenty of crazy Irish jump off into the freezing waters. I was very happy to sit in the sun and watch.
• The Irish boys in Aqualicious can never complain about the water being cold in the Centenary again!

AUGUST 26 – 27 BELFAST TO PORTRUSH

• We stayed one night in Belfast which really involved a small walk around town and catching up on some laundry.
• After leaving Belfast, we made a conscious decision to use the costal roads leading to Portrush. It appeared to be a great decision – the coast line is some of most beautiful I’ve ever seen. The huge green hills meet the crisp blue ocean.
• A little coffee break in the town of Larne, a lunch break in Ballycastle , a great climb over the Carrick-a Rede Rope Bridge (located on the North Antrim Coast, east of Ballintoy) and a walk around The Giants Causeway (a magical area of about 40,000 interlocking hexagonal basalt columns caused by volcanic eruption) were the highlights of the day.
• I would highly recommend this drive to anyone visiting the north of Ireland.