All things bright and beautiful: (2020) 6 days in Ireland, overview

We were in the UK in early 2020, not long before the whole world started to feel the full brunt of the Covid pandemic. During that time, we took the opportunity to make a trip to Ireland within a 6-day window. This was our first visit to the Republic. It must be counted as one of our most impromptu trips, with the flights and hotels being booked just a couple of days in advance.

Because of the spur-of-the-moment nature of this trip, we didn't even have a guide book on Ireland to do any planning. But thankfully we found plenty of information and travel tips on the internet. As always, we hoped to include a mixture of scenery, and cultural and historical elements in the trip. We settled to divide the time between Galway and Dublin --- cities on the west and east coast of Ireland.

We were very glad we did make this trip, which left us an excellent first impression of Ireland. The coastal sceneries in western Ireland were spectacular. Galway and Dublin are both rich in history and culture. But I was most impressed by the friendliness and politeness of the locals. Everywhere we felt very welcomed.