My name is Marion Vermazen. I am a traveler, hiker, reader, Sun alumnus, computer geek, YouTuber, Spanish and French language student, knitter, weaver and genealogist.
To make it easier for you to follow our 2026 Spring European trip from the beginning I’ve linked the blog posts in order.
You can go to the first blog post of our trip by clicking on this link.
At the end of each blog post after that, there is a link to the next day’s blog post.
Thursday morning we walked to the train station in Dublin and took a train to Belfast. The ride took about two and a half hours and there was some beautiful scenery.
In Belfast we took an Uber to our hotel. The driver told us that there is good food and music in the Cathedral district on Hill Street. So we walked over there and did find both good food and music.
We went back to the hotel, played some cards and then went exploring again. We were reading some signs about Sinclair Seamen’s Presbyterian Church. It’s right across the street from our hotel. A group of church members were cleaning the Church. A very enthusiastic man offered to open the church and show us around. Coincidentally the church is dedicated to John Sinclair who was from here and made a big contribution to build the Church back in 1856-7. Sinclair moved to Iowa, founded Sinclair Meat packing in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and died there. Cedar Rapids is only about 40 Miles from Manchester, Iowa where Duke and Roger grew up.
Wednesday was a busy day for us. We started by visiting Guinness. The Guinness brewery and storehouses cover a big area about a mile from where we are staying in Dublin. The building that you tour is seven stories tall. Although I couldn’t imagine it would be much more than a Disneyland-like experience, it was actually very interesting and well done. I really enjoyed it.
The section about Guinness advertising was a surprise. I loved this ad. It made me laugh. I found it on YouTube here. https://youtu.be/Xt05ZN-C26k?is=xH7tPMdPoksKLNDJ
Next we walked to Dublin Castle. We didn’t tour the state apartments but it is an interesting place to see the outside of.
From Dublin Castle we went to Trinity College. You walk through a gate and you are on a university campus. The peacefulness is quite a contrast from the busy city on the other side of the walls.
The Long Room in the old library is supposed to be iconic but apparently you can only see it if you do “The Book of Kells Experience”. The experience costs something like €25 and requires a reservation. We decided to pass
For dinner we went to Blind Pig Speak Easy. In true Speak Easy fashion there were no signs. We had to go to the basement and touch the brass pig’s head, and then the hidden door opened. We had an excellent dinner.
After dinner we went to a nearby pub, P. Kearney, and listened to some wonderful Irish music.
Today we traveled pretty much all day. As happened when we arrived in Ballina, we couldn’t get a cab to take us back into town where we were planning to catch our bus. We tried for over an hour and then finally gave up and walked the 1.8 mile to the bus stop.
We caught a bus to Sligo where we got a train to Dublin.
In Dublin we went out to dinner at a nice pub called Tho Oval. Duke and I had “Steak and Guinness pie” and Gail had lamb stew.
The grounds around the Belleek Castle Hotel were converted into a public park in the 1970s. There is a very nice 3 mile loop trail in the woods along the River Moy. We walked half the trail this morning and half the trail this afternoon.
This morning, in Galway, we walked to a nearby bus stop and caught the bus about two and a half hours north to Ballina.We are staying just outside of town at Belleek Castle Hotel. The building is a manor house that was built between 1825 and 1831.
When we arrived in Ballina this afternoon we went to the grocery store and then called the hotel and asked them to order a cab for us. After more calls and waiting over an hour the cab never came. A very nice man came out of the grocery store. We had been standing there when he went in and he asked us if we needed help. After we explained he offered to drive us and our bags to the hotel and eventually we arrived.
We had a fabulous meal in the hotel restaurant.
Tomorrow we spend the whole day at and around Belleek Castle Hotel. If you would like to read tomorrow’s blog post click here.
Marion's Blog 