More photos...

Gorgeous! You are so fortunate to get to visit all these wonderful countries. Thanks for sharing with us.

Hi Carol! Long time no see you, I am glad to hear from you and don't be a stranger.:)

The pictures are from Killarney where they have the racing horses, it is big in Ireland this sport and they had all the famous horses and stories, very interesting.

Yes, there are a lot of rhododendros at the numerous places but they are invasive and are taking over the native trees so they are pulling them out, they just started flowering right now. The last picture is rubarb and they make it savory with cheese and butter.

More pictures for you, we stay at different places in Manors and Castles, this is one of the castles that we stayed.

The Victorian gardens at the Abby

I like this wall

Thank you D, sharing the pictures with all the friendly gardeners makes me happy and I get to live again those wonderful moments!

First time having different varieties of gin with elder flower water, they were fantastic!

And more pictures for all of you.

A rural landscape, the yellow flowers are weeds but they are edible.

A type of Christmas tree

A very old tree

A geranium at the wall of the Victorian gardens

Omg so that is where you have been, I hope it wasn't too rainy. I love Ireland. Might be a little bit partial being of Irish decent. Beautiful pictures. did you get a good taste of all the different cheese? Dublin is known for its cheese.

Hi Glenn

After visiting Ireland, I have a great view of what it means to be there and spend time with the locals, visiting the famous and historic places, see nature at its best, such green and wonderful place, the nicest and warmest people! I even like the way they talk. If you like Guiness, you are home.

On the food category a lot of root vegetables, potatoes, carrots, turnips, parsnips. Very popular pureed soups and soda bread. The seafood was so tasty! Seafood chowders, prawns, and the salmon was freshly caught at the lake in one of the castles that we stayed. One time, I ordered the cheese plate to sample and I was in for a surprise, even the blue cheese that I don't like was so good! It must be those happy and well tended animals that you see everywhere, the cheese and butter are tops.

The economy is also very good, all the big companies are there, internet and pharmaceuticals. Schools are excellent and so are the health plans. And here comes the but, it is cold and damp, that is the only thing that I don' like but the plants do! lol

I will be reviewing more pictures soon....

Silvia

Silvia it is always wet. That is why it's so green. Last time I was there my cousins got me some local hard cheese. that made my whole trip. I made a great Alfredo with chicken out of it.for the whole family. I also made them BBQ. They had never had American BBQ.so that was a real pleasure for me to make. I learned how to make soda bread.t hey took me to the blarnie stone and the tome of our ancestors in Laramie. All in all it was a great trip and my family was really great. Especially since I don't speak Gaelic well.also I hate Guinness but I did drink a really good red beer from Harp.

I always enjoy seeing your trip photos. Silvia. Thanks!

Glenn, I am glad that you enjoyed your last stay in Ireland, it must be nice spending time with family that have other customs. I noticed that the food was very bland but tasty, no spices and hardly any salt or pepper. I visited some local supermarkets and bakeries, they are big on sweets and scones, a lot of apple, pears and blackberries. At the road, they sell some potato moonshine (not legal) and I bought a local blackberry jam and sampling now in my house, it is the best!

Talking about Gaelic, I learned a few words and songs when there, I probably forgot them by now. All the street signs have both languages.

I don't like beer but I had all the different gin tonics but with bottle elder flower water, they do taste better over there. I heard people saying the same thing about the beer and the whisky.

Potatoes are king over there but I did not see ketchup, which I don't use it anyway.

Hi Writersblock! It is always nice to share the pictures, I am still reviewing them...I took them with my small camera and the 2 phones...

Silvia

For those of you who came here before and all the others who did not come.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMY-lMzSNSg

Sylvia - Lovely pictures and video. When you start that blog of yours, you should have a section on all your travels.

vml68

I have a lot of material from my travels, keepsakes and tons of memory pictures. We also make collages for the walls in the bedroom after we finished the trips.

Keep on eye on the videos, there will be more....

Silvia

Looking forward to more pics and you can find ketchup but it hard to find. I got some at the American grocery store in Dublin. I had a lot of fun going to that store. it was so funny to me. I loved a farmer's market we went to. Your right about the seasoning and potatoes. Traditional Irish is very bland with a lot of stew or boiled dinners.

Glenn, I got busy with the tomatoes from my garden. We will put together more pictures soon, we visited so many beautiful gardens! If I have to pick my favorite would be the Victorian Gardens at the Abby. The nuns make all sort of things, I bought the honey and dark chocolate and they are very good, I am enjoying them right now. And no, I was not looking for any ketchup because I don't use it at all.

I have story to tell you, while we were at the last castle that once had a famous pirate woman, the workers at the bar told us that some room was hunted. And I thought great, now I won't be able to sleep. But to my surprise that night I slept like a baby, I was so tired from walking and after the gin with elder flower, I forgot all about the ghost.:)

And to make the Florida gardeners happy I have to let you know that they did have some kind of mosquitoes but they called them different name, I had a couple of light bites and I was wearing a jacket.:)

Silvia

Silvia thanks for sharing your beautiful photos.

Glenn, care to share the soda bread recipe?

Bea give me a few days and I will see if I can find it. I make it Christmas so I will just have to get a chance to look.

Thank you Bea, during the trip people asked me about the trip to Greece last year and I told them it was great! 5 stars for sure.

During one of the trips in Ireland we went around the Kerrigold company, very big there and maybe the recipes from their website are authentic like Glenn's. The locals also gave me the recipes for their food, breads and scones and I will have to look where I put them. They use daily the white and the brown variety soda breads with their soups, scones are popular too.

https://www.kerrygoldusa.com/grazings/darina-allens-irish-soda-bread/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIzaiMmZmj2wIVB9bACh1iQwwLEAAYASAAEgJ16_D_BwE

Sylvia,

Thank you for sharing the great info & pictures from your trip. My wife is of Irish decent and we plan on going there.

Craig

Hi Craig

That will be a great trip for both of you! The beauty, the scenery, the friendliest and peaceful people, have all the ingredients for a good time in a vacation.

It is a good place to work too, like I said the big companies are there they have a good quality of living. Traffic is difficult in Dublin, but no road rage there.

You have to visit the pubs! where everyone sings the same songs and dance with different age groups, everyone was drinking Guiness and I heard people saying that it tastes different than in the States. I just enjoyed the crowded place and everybody was happy, it is contagious!

My favorite Victorian Gardens

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARaz6uHoIJQ