Day #5 : 24th December 2016 – First impression of Dublin
It was time to say Good bye to Galway and to Fabrizio’s fabulous house. I ran to catch my 8:15 bus to Dublin but I missed it by a few seconds. I was in luck though. Another bus from the same bus company was departing in a few minutes and the driver let me in.
I spent most of my time sending pictures to friends and family, chatting with friends, thanks to WiFi in the bus. I was in touch with Prajakta who was ready to receive me in Dublin. From Dublin city center I was supposed to take the bus no 40 or something to Coldcut park. An unfortunate incident happened on the pavement at the bus stop. An Irish family was waiting for the bus, their children were running around. One child distracted me and I dropped my phone on the footpath. The screen got shattered. Thankfully, the phone was working and only the display was broken. I was completely relying on Google Maps to reach Prajakta’s place.
Bus 40 took about 4o minutes to reach Coldcut from the Trinity college bus-top in the city center and I am not writing it only for the dramatic effect. It did take 40 minutes!
It wasn’t difficult to find her place. Just a 5-minute walk from the bus stop. Amit and Prajakta made me feel home with a warm welcome. Prajakta made mix-veg cutlets for lunch. Very delicious.
The weather was not great, still we went out for a drive. Amit drove through Phoenix park, the biggest park in Dublin. It reminded me of Amsterdamse Bos, a similar forest-like park in Amsterdam.
Amit was eager to prove his valour as a cook and so we went to do groceries. Amit took on a job of making “Pav-bhaji”, a traditional Indian party dish. He impressed Prajakta and me with his culinary skills.
We planned the next day excursion before going to bed.
Day #6 : 25th December 2016 – Christmas in Glendalough
It was settled. Christmas day away from the chaos of the city. Into the wilderness of Glendalough valley, south of Dublin near Wicklow mountains.
Before driving off, we had an authentic Marathi breakfast “Pohe” (made from flattened rice and select spices from India) along with chocolate chip cookies (am not sure if this is a part of authentic breakfast from any place in the world, may be America ?)
Amit and Prajakta had been to this place before and knew the best viewpoints on the way. Our first photo-spot was at a beautiful bridge seemingly vanishing into the greens.
As one might expect we drove through the Wicklow Gap when crossing Wicklow mountains. Amit and I grabbed the opportunity to do a short hike to the top of the viewpoint.
Upper lake was surprisingly crowded given the Christmas day. But then we couldn’t have been the only people to spend Christmas outdoors. In the parking lot of Upper lake, we met an Indian family speaking our tongue. They shared some fresh information about the walking-trails and there was a brief exchange of warm greetings.
Upper lake is a unique nature treat. Lake is surrounded by the Wicklow mountains.
There are beautiful walking trails and lush green grass everywhere.
Upper lake is a part of the Wicklow Mountains National Park which offers myriads of picturesque views. We couldn’t stop clicking our cameras:
Poulanass waterfall proved to be a disappointment. It was very short for a waterfall. It was called so only because the water was falling from a few meters height.
We had brought some refreshment with us. On a wooden bench in the park, we laid out our little picnic.
On our way to Dublin, we struggled to find the Victor’s way Indian sculpture park on the map. It was a beautiful surprise. It hosts an array of Ganesha idols along with some other Gods. It’s an open park however the entrance was fenced. We had to jump over to access the premises and take a closer look at the sculptures.
After this Godly expedition, we called it a day and returned to Dublin. (… To be continued)
"वाघिणीचे दूध" 
Really some great pictures 🙂
Thank you 🙂