I Am A Celebrity!

Saturday, May 16, 2026

2019 - Dublin

Port of Dublin, Ireland - From our Docked Cruise Ship: Celebrity Reflection
Copyright Andy Richards 2019 - All Rights Reserved

IT SEEMS like we had settled into a pattern of every-other-year doing a major cruise-based trip. There were no cruises in 2018. That would change, though, in 2019 (and later, after an almost complete moratorium on travel during the 2019 - 2021 period of the world wide pandemic, our cruising would escalate into multiple cruises nearly every year). I think I have mentioned that we like to cruise! 😁

Wright's "Crabby Jo's" Fish & Chips - Howth, Ireland
Copyright Andy Richards 2019 - All Rights Reserved

OUR LAST cruise had been to the Mediterranean on the Celebrity Reflection with Paul and Linda. We didn't do any Caribbean cruises for a few years running, until 2022 when we felt like we had finally emerged from the Covid Pandemic, but we would eventually get back to that, too. In 2019, though, we were ready for another trip to Europe. It turns out we would do 2 Mediterranean Cruises that year.

This popular Temple Bar Pub was directly across the street from our Dublin Hotel
Dublin, Ireland
Copyright Andy Richards 2019 - All Rights Reserved

COINCIDENTALLY, THE first one would again be the Celebrity Reflection, cruising out of The Port of Dublin, Ireland. This was our 4th time on the Reflection. It was becoming familiar to us. Even though the last time we sailed on her was in 2021, it remains my own personal favorite Cruise Ship. For reasons unknown to me, Celebrity has been keeping the Reflection close, with numerous "short" cruises to Key West and the Bahamas, and a couple over into the Western Caribbean. That is a shame, as I think Reflection is the best of the Solstice Class ships. They seem to be concentrating their newer, larger, Edge class ships more for the longer cruises - in the summer months in the Mediterranean and in the winter months down into the eastern and southern Caribbean. The itinerary for 2019 would be another good one, covering the east coast of Ireland, parts of England, and the English Channel (including a trip to Paris by train). We arrived in Dublin a couple days early, and spent some time touring the city and beyond. Our hotel was right in the center of the popular Temple Bar area of the city.

Fishing Harbor - Howth, Ireland
Copyright Andy Richards 2019 - All Rights Reserved

ON ONE of our days in Dublin, we took and excursion out the north side of Dublin Bay, nearly to the Irish Sea, to the charming fishing (and apparently also vacation) village of Howth, stopping on the way, at Malahide Castle. Fish & Chips, of course, are a staple in the United Kingdom, and nowhere more prevalent than in Ireland. We were told that there were two primary "best" fish & chips restaurants in the Dublin area. One of them was Wright's, so when we stopped for lunch in Howth, we availed ourselves of the fish & chips at Wright's "Crabby Jo's" restaurant on the main street near the pier. Walking down along the pier revealed the usual colorful local fishing boats.

Malahide Castle - Dublin, Ireland
Copyright Andy Richards 2019 - All Rights Reserved

THE STATELY old Malahide Castle dates back to the 12th Century when King Henry II granted the lands and harbor (adjacent to the Village of Malahide) to the Talbot Family. The grounds include impressive botanical gardens, and are one of 100's of Irish castles that can be visited.

Malahide Castle Botanical Garden
Dublin, Ireland
Copyright Andy Richards 2019 - All Rights Reserved

IN DUBLIN, there is also plenty to do and see. We had visited there on a 10 - day land - based trip in 2014, and seen many great spots, including the reknowned Trinity College, with its Book of Kells, Phoenix Park, Dublin Castle, The Guiness Storehouse and Jameson's Dublins Distillery. On this trip, we made a point to visit several local pubs. Some were tiny, and some were more of a showplace. All were fun. I found, and developed a kinship with a locally distilled gin back in 2014: Ha'Penny pink gin (after the famous Ha'Penny walking bridge over the River Liffey). On this trip, we discovered the tiny Pearse Lyons Distillery, immediately adjacent to the Guiness Storehouse. An Irish Whiskey Distillery that had been a recommended tour, we were delighted to discover that they were also the makers of my Ha'Penny Gin! The Pearse distillery was set up in the small, abandoned, 12th Century St. James Catholic Church. The distillery re-modeled the interior and it is a beautiful old site.

Pearse Lyons Distillery - Dublin, Ireland
Copyright Andy Richards 2019 - All Rights Reserved

AS I often do, I was up early, and walking around the streets of Dublin. One of the things I noted was how many historic churches there are in the city, most of them built around (or before) the 12 Century. The most famous and largest is, of course, St. Patrick's Cathedral (after Ireland's patron saint). It is a very picturesque church, and I made it a point to try to be there by the early morning light. Not known for its sunny, blues skies, the Dublin morning light was a bit subdued, but nice and warm on this morning.

St. Patrick's Cathedral - Dublin, Ireland
Copyright Andy Richards 2019 - All Rights Reserved

BETWEEN OUR Temple Bar hotel location and St. Patrick's is another immensely impressive cathedral: Christchurch. Originally built by the Vikings in the 11th century, it was re-built in stone during the Norman reign in the 12th century. Christchurch serves as the Diocesan Church of Dublin (St. Patrick's is the national Diocesan Church of the Republic of Ireland).

Christchurch - Dublin, Ireland
Copyright Andy Richards 2019 - All Rights Reserved

AS I walked on toward the west side of Dublin and the Guinness Storehouse in the "Liberties" area of the city, I passed another Catholic Church. St. Catherine's is - surprisingly to me - much newer than the foregoing churches. First built in the 18th century, the current structure was built in the 19th century and is still in use today. From the street, through the old stone arch, it appeared much older than that to me. It is actually quite close to the old St. James Church now occupied by the Pearse Lyons Distillery.

St. Catherine's Catholic Church - Dublin, Ireland
Copyright Andy Richards 2019 - All Rights Reserved

DUBLIN IS hard not to fall in love with as you walk her streets, meet her people, and hear about her history. And, as is true with many cities, she is not without her quirks. When I see them, I have to photograph them, and the appearance of Superman was not exception.

Superman in Dublin - Dublin, Ireland
Copyright Andy Richards 2019 - All Rights Reserved

SOON, WE would depart on our cruise heading next to Northern Ireland, and the port of Belfast. We would not spend much time in Belfast, though as we were bound for the Antrim Coast, and parts north.

Sunday, May 10, 2026

2017 - The Amalfi Coast

Ravello, Italy
Copyright Andy Richards 2017 - All Rights Reserved

NAPLES IS the port for the Amalfi Coast, among a great many other really great things to visit in Italy, including Pompei and Herculaneum, and the Isle of Capri. We have been to all of those places either before, or since. But we really wanted to do the Amalfi Coast again - and for Paul and Linda to see it. We hired our favorite "Rome in Limo" driver and guide company and had a great visit. We had been there in 2013, but because of the problems we had with that cruise, our visit was by hiring a cab driver to take us there. The positive was that it wasn't very crowded. The negative was that our cab driver was just that: a cab driver. So no guide. He drove us up to Amalfi and dropped us off there for about 90 minutes, which worked well enough for us at the time.

Ravello, Italy
Copyright Andy Richards 2017 - All Rights Reserved

THIS TIME, one of the places I wanted to see was a tiny little town way up in the mountains named Ravello. A friend of mine and his wife had spent an entire week in Ravello a few years back and had raved about it. Our driver took us the back way up to Ravello and we started there, and worked our way back up the coast back to Naples.

Catholic Church - Ravello, Italy
Copyright Andy Richards 2017

WE WERE our day on the coast was a Sunday, and we arrived in Ravello in the early morning. It was everything I had imagined. Very quiet and remote, with incredible views and lots of very cool buildings and squares.

Piazza Vescovado - Ravello, Italy
Copyright Andy Richards 2017 - All Rights Reserved

WE PARKED on the road below the village and walked up into the main square (Piazza Vescovado), which is anchored on the west by the stately, Baroque/Romanesque, Catholic Church: Duomo di Ravello (Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta e San Pantaleone). Services were being held while we were there, so we did not see the interior.

Ravello, Italy
Copyright Andy Richards 2017 - All Rights Reserved

AROUND THE piazza, there were small, cafe's to one side, and a pretty nice view of the terraced housing across the piazza from the church. The entrance to the little village was at the other side.

Ravello, Italy
Copyright Andy Richards 2017 - All Rights Reserved

FROM RAVELLO, w headed south along the Amalfi Coast, to the town of Amalfi. As I mentioned earlier, our 2013 visit was nice, as the coast was not very crowded on the day we were there. Four years later, things had changed by magnitudes. The Amalfi Coast is one of the most visited vistas along the Italian coastline, and there can be times when the tourist attractions can be a sea of humanity. Amalfi and further south, Positano are a couple of those highly visited tourist sites. In 2013, I had no problem getting a nice view of The Cathedral of St. Andrew, the main architectural attraction anchoring the Piazza del Duomo, the main square in Amalfi, including the magnificent stairway up to the entrance. Not so much in 2017, and I concentrated my photos toward the top of the stairs, to exclude the huge crowd of onlookers.

Duomo di Sant'Andrea - Amalfi, Italy
Copyright Andy Richards 2017 - All Rights Reserved

OUTSIDE OF the walls of the city, there are popular beaches, resorts, and restaurants along the shore. While the colorful umbrellas shout "beach," they are quite different than the beaches we so often see with white sand. The "sand" along the Amalfi coast is black sand, and is very coarse. It almost made me cringe to see folks laying towels down and laying on these beaches. But it certainly didn't take away from their beauty.

Amalfi, Italy
Copyright Andy Richards 2017 - All Rights Reserved

AS IS often the case, by this time, the sun had grown very bright and "hot" for photography. The shot above was made in poor light, so I rendered it as a "high dynamic range" (HDR) image to make it more "artsy."

Amalfi, Italy
Copyright Andy Richards 2017 - All Rights Reserved

OUR FINAL stop along the coast was Positano. Having spent some time in both Ravello and Amalfi, we thought we had seen the best the coast has to offer. Positano is the more popular of the towns, and as such, also quite touristy. We spent little time there. Probably the best of Postitano are its views from outside and above the city. Our day had been fairly long, and with traffic we still had a bit of a drive back to Naples and the cruise port. Like our guide in Santorini earlier in the week, this guide had asked us about our meal preferences, and had promised us a better - of the beaten path restaurant that was local and locally owned. It was up the mountain a bit from Positano, and the photo below was made from the balcony of our the restaurant. Again, as promised, we were but 4 of just a very few patrons. The food was excellent as was the attention paid by the owner. It was a fun end to a fun day.

WE HAD spent a good, full day in Rome back in 2015, and on this trip we decided we would skip Rome and stay in a hotel immediately adjacent to Rome's Fuminico Airport, with a flight out the next morning. Another very memorable trip!

Sunday, April 26, 2026

2017 - Athens Again

OUR LAST trip to Athens in 2015 was the final stop of our cruise, and we spent the day, overnighted and then flew out of the Athens airport. This time, it was just a "day stop." Having seen the Acropolis (2x for us), and most of the other historic sites, we decided we wanted to change it up. We found a walking, food tour of the city, which lasted nearly a full day.

ARRIVING AT Piraeus, the port for Athens, we found a taxi ride into the center of the city, where we met our guide for the day. This one was lots of fun, though by the time we finished, I am not sure I could have eaten another thing for at least a day!

WE STARTED with a traditional morning "breakfast" for the Athenians. It was a kind of pretzel - like crusty pastry, and traditional "Greek" coffee. Although they would cringe at my suggestion, I find the Greeks and Turks food cultures to be very similar. Indeed, we hear them "bicker" about who invented what and whose is best, between some staple items like yogurt, coffee, pastries, and certain meat dishes all the time. As much as they are similar, though, I know they certainly have their differences. Some nuanced. Some more broad. On the coffee, I tried Turkish coffee in Istanbul in 2013. This was the first time I had had authentic Greek coffee. I couldn't tell the difference at the time (which was probably a function of the 4 years between tasting 😀). Perhaps a better test would be to try them side - by - side (or at least closer to each other). Perhaps we will have that opportunity on our future booked cruise to Turkey and Greece in 2027. A quick internet search tells us a few (perhaps?) interesting facts. Originally called Turkish coffee, Greek coffee as changed to "Greek Coffee," when independence from Turkey was achieved in the 1800's. Prior to that time, the Ottoman Turks had conquered what it now Greece and ruled for 400 years. Greek coffee is said to be less sweet than Turkish coffee. Turkish coffee is is sweeter and is made from darker roasted beans. Both are prepared the same way, boiling finely ground coffee in a special pot. Both are served with a (Turkish or Greek?) jelled, mastic-based candy (mastiha) that they again bicker over the origin of: Turkish/Greek delight.

WE FINISHED our Greek breakfast with Greek delights. We then visited a confectionary store where they sold them.

ALONG OUR way, we tasted some Greek Olive Oil, and walked through the huge downtown fresh food market. I was impressed by the selection of olives. I love olives and I find that they are a staple for appetizers throughout Meditarranean Europe, and that olive oil is the prevailing oil to be used for cooking and served with bread tableside.

AT LUNCH time, we stopped at an outdoor stand for some souvlaki; a Greek lunch staple. Translating into English as "little skewer," for those who didn't already know, souvlaki is a skewer of meat (generally chicken or pork), often served with a pita, onions, and tzatziki sauce. "Street food," it was delicious. The downtown is kind of an eclectic mixture of modern and traditional architecture, with narrow streets and decorated buildings in most parts, though there is a wide, ultra-modern area with the high-end department and brand name stores right in the middle of everything.

STREET ART, like in many of the European cities we have visited, is also common. Some of it is pretty impressive. To finish out our food tour, we stopped in a traditional, family restaurant to sample their Moussaka. The portions were large, but I felt compelled to eat it. 😊 Again, for those who didn't already know this, Moussaka is a layered casserole (some might compare it to Lasagna) with slices of eggplant (and/or) potatoes, and a layer of ground meat (traditionally lamb) in a bolgnese type sauce, topped with Bechamel sauce and baked to perfection. I know a few folks who say they don't like eggplant. I love it, and I think Moussaka is pure heaven. But after our day, I didn't really need to go back to an all-you-can-eat, cruise ship atmosphere, for sure. As they all unfortunately eventually do, the day eventually ended and we found our way back to the Reflection. We would have a day or two at sea, before we made our next and penultimate port stop: Naples - for the Amalfi Coast.