Nothing much to tell about the Christmas Season as the compulsive spending season, but a little bit about what happend during that period. First, I moved to my new place! Hurray, now I live alone and I have a flat just for myself…, to clean I got this flat in beginning of December, and I moved quite slowly, and a lot of junk to carry! Seriously, I really don’t understand how can one gather that much junk in just six month!! Well, my last day at my “old” (not so old) place was the 22th, the next day (and night) was already at the new flat…, no internet (by then), nothing organized…, a strange place that now I call home

The 24th, my departure to Portugal. I had this flight booked since August, I wasn’t supposed to stay longer in Ireland, but good things happen and I was invited to renew my contract! But well, the flight was booked in a very erroneous way…, I don’t consider myself as a travel newbie, but sometimes I really do stupid decisions and this was a big pack of stupid decisions!

• Booked flight to December 24th (probably one of the most chaotic days to travel)
• Exchanging flight in London (probably one of the most chaotic airport in Europe…)
• Through British Airways (the guys that like to do strikes during holiday seasons)
• Returning flight for January 1st (I really don’t know where I had my head on when I booked this one)

Every single variable was enough for something to go wrong…, it didn’t

London airport (Heathrow) is HUGE! I heard about it, but it was my first time there…, I even got lost in the lounge, and I believe that wasn’t the biggest one at that airport… After ensuring that all my luggage was properly transfered to the second flight, I board glad that at least the presents would be delivered to the kids Santa’s in the house

Once in Portugal, after a full day trip and totally exhausted, the Christmas dinner…, well, that was one of the main reasons why I flew to Portugal Perfect, warm and loud (kids)

The following days were also quite chaotic, in between the new passport that I had to create and the friends that were asking to meet with me, I barely had time for my family…, one week is really short! But I managed to meet with almost everyone, I spend some time with my nephews and other family, I finally have my passport And I had 2 dinners with friends! Perfect, short in time but everything went as scheduled

The way back wasn’t that smoothly, but still as planned. I never saw Lisbon’s airport SOOOO FULL! When I saw the queue to the securities I thought it was just some pre-checking, that queue couldn’t be the queue to the securities… It just couldn’t! But it was! First of January, the worst day ever to travel! The airport was totally packed, I spend around one hour on that queue (thankfully I arrived quite early at the airport as well)! Damn, I was really surprised! Even passing through the security was a drama, the couple just before me had a baby…, oh damn, the mother had to taste all the baby-food, they had to disassemble the whole baby-trolly…, and I was there…, waiting for my turn! I arrived at the gate just when it open for boarding!

After that, was Dublin! Another post to write

Some highlights about 2010:

I’ll keep this goal, to go abroad, but now with a slight difference I won’t make such a big deal of it.

Considering that I am now working in Ireland, I can tell this goal was successfully achieved! The best part is that I really didn’t make a big deal of it, it was almost by chance. I tried unsuccessfully several times to get a job on another company abroad and at some point it was more important to me just change my job, when I gave up with the “abroad” idea this chance appeared and I didn’t let it go, again

Another thing that I want to change is my blog’s name, but for that I need that something changes in my life, something worthy.

Look Left looks like a name’s change And I guess I can say that something really changed in my life!

I need to do something meaningful with my life such as volunteership and helping those that really need it!

Not yet…, but I was part of the Movember Team, I believe that’s a start And I just realized that I never wrote about that…, shame on me! I should do that ASAP!

My goal for this year is getting a way of self-sustain and invest sometime to learn something that I can earn money working at home and anywhere, this doesn’t mean that I will quite my job but that I want to get a Plan B.

I totally failed with this one…, postponing it to 2012!

I will keep writing in English

Mission accomplished! This one was easy, and I believe I improved my English quite a lot this this “joke”

My feeling about 2011, before I (re)read the 2010 review and 2011 goals’ post, was that half of my year was again a total disaster…, but now I think that the whole year was a huge success! Every single step I did was in the same direction, even if I didn’t realize it by then, quoting Steve Jobs:

Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards.
So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

And I am already feeling like it!

A more deep review about 2011, despite the pre-set goals, 2011 was really another big year like all my latest years. In January I started actively searching for a new job, and because of that I gave up of some opportunities I had, it took me several months to get it maybe because of the crisis, maybe because of my lack of experience, maybe because of my CV. I don’t really know. Normally this kind of things leads to frustration, and at some point I lowered my goals and I decided  to”just move”.

May was the month that everything changed, and I say quite often that if someone told me in May that I would go to Peru in less than a year I would think that person was crazy or just trying to upset me…, and now I am preparing a trip to Peru in less than two months!

10th June, Portugal’s day and the day I left Portugal again! New country, still in Europe. The fourth country I lived in in less than 5 years! I am still amazed by how much my life changed, and eager to keep doing it! I’m only sorry for not starting this life earlier, because I am really loving being me just right now!

I miss my nephews’ birthdays, but as a present I brought them to Ireland, their first flight trip! Well, both are too young and they might forget about it soon…, but I was with them for at least a few days and that’s the more important thing.

In October one of the most important person of my life passed away, after almost three months it’s still hard for me to accept it…, but life’s goes on.

I am back in Portugal now, for Xmas and NYE, returning to Ireland today! Again, looking back I can say the year was a blast again! Some very bad things, some really good, but in general the good ones were the majority.

About 2012, I still want to learn or do something that pay me the bills, or at least let me travel and pay for my travel addictions. It’s easy to say “freelancing”, but harder to do it. I love my current job, and now that I have more free time I should invest it in other ways rather than pubs

About the volunteering, I won’t do it in 2012 for sure, probably small projects or campaigns like the Movember one. Volunteering is still a life goal, but I am sure that I won’t be able to do it properly in 2012, I want to take 4 or 5 months off for that and since I just got a new job that I really like, I’ll postpone it a while. Probably I’ll do it in 2013, who knows?

Learning Spanish! I don’t know why I never did this before in a very serious way! I know some Portuñol, I have the advantage that the Portuguese grammar and vocabulary are really quite similar with the Spanish one, and with a good level of Spanish I’ll have almost half of the world as a easy “target” to conquer!

Travel! That’s not a goal, it’s rather a lifestyle Until now I only have one big trip planned, to Peru, but I am looking forward for bigger days in Ireland because I want to explore deeper that country. I don’t believe I’ll do another big trip in 2012, maybe to Greece with my parents (if I manage to convince them…), but nothing more than that. But well…, already thinking about 2013 Planing travels is really addictive

Sports, I need to do more sports…, I started with the gym a few months ago, but I’d rather do more outdoors. After March I might apply to kayak lessons, and keep doing hiking. I’ll try to organize one or two hiking trips, Ireland is quite nice for that.

And I think that’s enough for goals, few but possible to achieve! Everything else is bonus

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is like the European Vegas, “our” sin city where everything can happen…, or at least most of the people hope so.

Unfortunately the city is mostly known for the drugs and sex liberation, probably more than half of the tourists go there because of that same thing which, as I said, it is really a pity.

I kind of try to “collect” countries, and the trip to Amsterdam marked my 16th country, Nederlands and not Holland. As usually, I had no clue of what I should expect and it was a huge surprise when I saw that amazing city. From the moment I saw its map, until the end. I am amazed by that city and by its beauty!

The city has around one hundred canals and about one thousand bridges, it’s really impressive just by looking to the city’s map. It’s culture and lifestyle are quite impressive as well, several museums for all tastes, parks, tours or just my favorite thing to do, getting lost. The city seems to be quite safe, however for some reason I didn’t feel that way but with no reason for that, the only “problem” are the bikes…, for the first time I felt more scared of bikes than cars, they are really crazy…

Regarding the bikes, that’s like a dutch landmark already, but in my opinion also part of the junk. There are way too many abandoned bikes parked through all over the city, which isn’t nice at all. Maybe for some nice photos, but…

About our trip, what happens in “Vegas” stays in “Vegas”, and I’ll do that! I’ll just write a few highlights about the trip.

For the first time on my life, I slept on a boat! And no, I was not drunk and I didn’t end up in a random boat…, we rented two floating boxes (some people might call it boats as well, without engine) for the three nights we stayed in Amsterdam. It was a weird feeling, once in a while the “box” moved a little bit, probably when bigger boats passed by, the specific rules about how to use the toilet and the sink, the fact that we had to pass through two other boat’s decks to reach ours, the neighbors, etc. It was really a nice experience, something that I never experienced before! Now I am looking forward for a real boat experience, not a floating box

About the cultural part, the city is not that big, but a lot of stuff to visit, some “neighborhoods”, some parks, some museums. About museums I only went to the Anne Frank House, considering the fact that I never read her diary, it was really a shock for me! Knowing part of the story is one thing, being there and seeing how they “lived” and watching her father’s interview after her death…, that was touchy. But prepare yourself for a long queue, or try to visit during lunch time, probably less people…, we “only” waited 20 minutes…

One detail about the trip, I should keep in mind before another “short” flight not to drink two pints before the boarding…, or else I might need to go to the bathroom twice in a very short period and I might not be able to…

The Amsterdam’s airport is huge! After the landing we were inside the plane “driving” for almost 20 minutes before we reached the gate, take that into account when you plan to go there! After the landing, you still have to wait a lot of time before you can exit the plane.

Next stop: Portugal! Well, I am already here writing this post, so stay tunned for the next posts!

Oslo is an amazingly expensive city! Really nice and organized, but soooo expensive! I think this is a nice introductory note, so let’s start from the beginning because a trip starts the moment we wake up…, or at least when we should wake up

Our flight was scheduled to 9.25, or something more or less like that, from Dublin. So, we had to wake up early to drive there and we agreed to start our trip at 5am. Well, I was late because I let myself fall asleep (again), but I wasn’t the main reason why we started our trip later…, the car was broken! What an amazing start, having to catch a flight 300kms away from Cork and our only mean of transport was broken! The driver’s brother managed to help us with that, and we had to head really fast to Dublin! No time to stop nor…, to pee :X

We arrived at Dublin Airport really close to the gate closing time! Trying to find a place to park, after pre-paying the park, and then running like crazy to the check in area! Passing through the securities was also challenging, my ticket’s barcode wasn’t being recognized by the scanner, and I was really getting nuts! Time time time!!! We had to run to the flight gate, and guess what? The flight was delayed…, nice…

Then the flight itself, was also quite interesting and quite disturbing. Maybe before this part I should talk about another trip I had recently, but I didn’t write on my blog.

A few weeks ago I had to flight to Portugal, for reasons that I don’t want to write here, and the returning to Cork was quite interesting. The plane was landing, and I already could see my house, when the plane started to speed up up again! Back to the clouds! Was quite strange, everyone was looking to each other, until the pilot said that because of the wind we had to wait around 10 minutes before trying to land again. The second try was successful, but with a lot of turbulence, and a woman on my row just fainted! Guess what? When the plane landed, we had to wait for the paramedics…

This didn’t happen this time…, but wasn’t better either! A woman on my row, again, was the whole flight crying and shaking because, apparently because she was afraid of flying but I really don’t believe it…, wherever, she was REALLY annoying!!! But then…, she had very good reasons to avoid flying…, the landing was the worst I have ever had! The plane kinda of jumped upon the first impact on the track, not the smoothest landings…, not at all…

After 45m by bus from the airport to Oslo city, we had to meet with our host. We used airbnb instead of couchsurfing or hostel, in this case was way more private than any other option and way safer! Well, I was saying…, we had the wrong number, an “extra” 1 which was easily identified and solved, but we only got it when we were at the expected meeting point! It was kind of funny, because I heard the whole phone call from both sides, our host was close to us but we didn’t know who he was…, I got it when I heard him replying to my phone

The next steps were quite straight forward, visiting the house (and the cats living there), some basic shopping for breakfast (and extremely expensive), and then starting our tour First stop, tourist office! And that’s when I got my new nickname…, TomTom, I was never good following a GPS device, but old school maps never let me down

After buying our Oslo Pass, we could really start our tour in a very relax mode! Nothing important to do, just enjoying our time over there! So we headed to the Opera House, some walking and night sightseeing, some time to process my internal GPS to find the easiest way to the Ice Bar and there we went! The Ice Bar is really nice, and expectedly cold! Even the drink glasses are made of ice, we could felt it melting on our lips, and to grab it we had to wear gloves! Really nice!

After the Ice Bar, we tried to find another pub, but we ended in a different one on a balcony, really nice one but also could…, this time because it was really cold outside Alcohol is really expensive in Norway, and it was kind of hard to pay around 13€ for a pint…, but well, we were there to enjoy!

A small, but very important, detail about this trip…, I carried a teddy bear with me to Oslo and I took photos of him everywhere! Every single touristic spot, or nice landscape the teddy bear was there! Why the teddy bear? Let’s say that’s a private joke And that I am not ashamed to carry with me a teddy bear and take photos of him even inside a pub

 Second day

This one had a funny start, time changing due the DST, we were awaken by our friend and she said that was already 10 past 10…, damn…, we were late…, we toke a fast shower, fast breakfast and when we just finished it I looked at my iPhone and the time was exactly 10 past 10! So, basically we virtually didn’t spend anytime at all

That day was planned to be the Museums’ Day, first was the Norsk Folkemuseum which, in my opinion, was a too fast visit but to do everything we had planned it had to be that way. Then was the Viking Ship Museum, quite small but totally worth to visit! There you can see one of the Norwegian’s icons (if not THE one), and I have to say that I was impressed with that, it’s truly a magnificent ship (and others in bad shape)! Teddy bear was here, by the way!

Then we walked a bit to the next and last two museums we visited, and the ones that made me dream and still dreaming about traveling! The Kon Tiki Museum, and this was REALLY impressive! The museum itself is nothing special, ok, it’s really impressive but not the kind of stuff you are waiting for when you go to a museum, but the story of it…, oh gosh, it’s really amazing! I’d love to write about it here, and probably I will soon in a different blog post, but the best is to go there and see for yourselves, it’s really amazing!

Next to the Kon Tiki museum is the Fram Museum, this one was my choice and I had just an idea of what I should expect, however it totally blew my mind as well! These norwegian guys are totally nuts! And thinking that I am portuguese and that for some reason I might have some adventurers blood running on my veins, this is really way more than I was expecting! Here the story it is a blast, but the ship itself, where you can visit from inside and you really see its majesty a few centimeters from you and that you look up and you only see the hull, it’s really impressive! Another museum that I really recommend to visit! With the Oslo Pass you can get it all for free, and please do it!

After the museums, we headed home but I ended stoping at the Vigeland Park, here was time for a little bit of fresh air, fun and more creepy photos to the Teddy Bear…, some people really looked at me with that odd thought of “What the hell is he doing with that?? Is he mental??” Well…, I might be

After the cultural day, time for the chill out night! One of us had a list of pubs to visit, and therefore we headed to one of them…, which happened to be closed. Sundays…, I think that’s kinda of expected. Funny thing, someone tried to rob me…, maybe that wasn’t that funny after all, but in a few minutes after I was waiting for a great dinner, with an expected visit… A guy, norwegian I believe, just joined us at our table. The guy started to speak in a language that wasn’t familiar to us, most probably norwegian, I think that guy was a freeloader trying to get a cheeper meal or even free…, no luck, Oslo is too expensive to be nice

After the dinner, we headed to a second pub which happened to be… also closed We ended in another pub just for a pint or two, and then home. Huge day, everyone was really tired.

Third day

… and the last one Pity, Oslo is really nice. Since we had a very short day, we decided to do the islands trip, and since the Oslo Pass doesn’t allow free rides with the touristic boats…, we did our free tour with ferries The small isles next to Oslo, about two 45 minute trips to visit those isles without leaving the ferry. However, was the day that I shot more photos. And again, creepy photos with Teddy bear…

Back to inland, we enjoyed the very few hours left in Oslo, we crossed a park on our way home, we packed and we left to the airport. The flight was again quite interesting, Halloween night with sound effects done by one guy of the crew. Crazy people…

Back in Ireland, time to check if the car was could start, which after some prayers started to work at first try! And back to Cork, where I fall asleep in a few minutes and where, apparently, the driver was so tired she had to stop several times :X Shame on me, but I barely noticed whatsoever :X

PS: After several days upon our trip, the driver (which had that awful start with the car), finally managed to get her iPhone work again after a “phone-bath” minutes before the problem with the car! That first day was really tough for her, but everything ended well

A few weeks ago, more precisely 9th October, I went for my first kayak trip! Which was amazing I don’t remember that much the details, but I’ll try to write as much as I can remember.

Well, it started with my team (again, they are amazing) and they found this deal for 13€ a half day kayak or something alike. Nice deal, for irish standarts, so we bought several tickets for us

Ireland is a very peculiar country, amazingly green (I wonder why…) and with very few metropolitan areas, I think the fact that Ireland has just 5 million people explains the fact, therefore things that we would assume as normal like phone coverage, isn’t that good outside the cities because they just don’t need it (that much), and the place where we have been is like a black hole, no civilization

We went for sea kayak, though it was a bay and the website says that it’s seal’s watching kayak or something alike…, however no seals But a lot of fun As I said before, it was my first kayak experience, so the first minutes I had to manage how to deal with the pedal, the kayak, with myself on the kayak, etc. Really funny and at first seemed quite hard, but it isn’t

When we all managed to deal with the kayak and the pedals, we started our tour throughout the bay, that bay has a few isles quite small, so we headed to one of them. The one, according to the girl at the kayak place, that would be more likely to find seals…, nop…, no seals And I not even reached that isle. And why not? Because some things only happen to me

I was quite far away from the dock, and close to the isle, however the wind was quite strong and against my route…, what happened to me? My pedal broke in half!!! I had to options:

• Keep my path, and fighting against the wind
• Going back and ask for a new pedal

Guess I chose the second one, and it was REALLY hard! With half of a pedal is really hard to move a kayak and going straight with it, even worst when the wind is pushing you to the rocks and you really can’t rest nor even for a few seconds. I don’t know how long did I take to reach the dock, but it was really hard!

When I reached the dock, I asked the girl for another pedal and she gave me another broken one…, but that one I could see that was broken. I immediately said no to that one, and she said that that one was the only one for adults left…, not I took a smaller one for kids :X Ok, better a smaller one than another one broken!

When I went back to the bay, my colleges were already heading to the second isle, which is closed to the dock, so I went straight there! And now pedaling seemed really easy…, after several minutes pedaling with half of a pedal, even a pedal for kids it’s easier to handle if not broken!

That morning was really amazing, the next days we all were totally sore…, but the fun totally worth it!

After the kayak we went back to Cork, a stop for lunch in a small town (without phone coverage), and then home! The Kayaking 2nd part should be soon, scheduled for 13th November Let’s see, that one seems even more promising :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgOpDlv-tQE

Versão em Português:

Se há coisa que todos sabemos, é que nunca se sabe quando o pior calha a nós. Desta vez calhou à minha familia, mais concretamente com a minha avó. Na semana passada recebi a triste noticia de que a minha avó teve um AVC, se é complicado saber que alguém que nos é bastante querido está mal pior é saber que não tem as condições necessárias para um acompanhamento minimamente digno.

A minha mãe tem passado tanto tempo quanto possível no hospital a acompanhar a minha avó, mas infelizmente também é ela que acaba por ter de a limpar, de lhe dar comida e de lhe dar os tratamentos básicos. Não existem pessoas suficientes (auxiliares) no hospital para prestar uma assistência devida a todos os doentes, por mais que queiram não têm tempo para tantas pessoas e acabam por tratar os pacientes como se fossem objectos. Não por descuido ou por falta de humanidade, é mesmo porque não podem mais.

Eu pensaria desta forma se visse alguém a ser tratado dessa forma, alguém a quem apenas limpam o corpo com uma toalha sem sequer passarem com água ou um toalhete. Se visse alguém ser tratado assim ficaria revoltado com as pessoas que fazem este serviço, mas elas não têm culpa. Simplesmente não existe gente suficiente para tal.

Alguns membros da minha familia têm assistido a isto, e essas pessoas trabalham imenso e mal têm tempo para pensar o que fazer a seguir. Não há tempo para delicadeza, todos precisam de assistência AGORA!

O nosso Governo cortou nisto. O nosso Governo cortou na NOSSA SAÚDE. O nosso Governo NÃO corta nos gastos internos, nem corta no número de representantes. O nosso Governo NÃO QUER SABER! É revoltante saber isto, mais revoltante é saber que a minha familia está a sentir estes efeitos na pele, e eu aqui à distância. Quando os interesses do Governo estão acima da saúde pública, algo está bastante errado mas ninguém diz nada e ninguém faz nada. Sempre soube que estamos na cauda da Europa, mas sempre pensei (erradamente) que Portugal não era um país de terceiro mundo. Obrigado por estas décadas de má governação.

English Version:

Everyone knows (or should) that bad things can happen to everyone. This time was my family’s turn, more precisely my grandma. Last week I got the sad news that she had a stroke, that’s sad enough but can be even worst when the basic health care doesn’t work.

My mom spends most of the time at the hospital as expected, but doing much more than it was supposed to. She’s the daughter, and of course she want’s to help taking care of her mother, but she isn’t helping at all, she’s doing other’s people work. Not because they don’t want to work or because they don’t care, they just don’t have enough time to do their duties with the minimum care. They just do what they can.

I would think this way if I saw what my family sees, they do the very basics, they clean with a towel and they even don’t use water. That’s not their fault, they just don’t have enough people to do their work “humanly”. These people work hard and they barely have time to think or to rest, nor giving a care to the patients, it’s just sad but that happens in Portugal.

The Portuguese Government decided to cut on the Health System. They cut on OUR HEATH! The DIDN’T cut on their internal costs nor the number of representatives. Our Government doesn’t CARE. It’s frustrating knowing this, more frustrating is knowing that my family is living this and I just can’t do a thing for them. When the Government’s interest are above the public health, something is REALLY wrong! And nobody do a shit. What’s more sad is that I was naïve thinking that Portugal was “just” behind all Europe, we are a 3rd world country attached to Europe and just that. Thank you for these decades of bad management.

PS: Comments are disabled from this post / Os comentários estão desactivados nesta mensagem

This is starting to be scary, once again my huge luck is surprising me and those around me…, we planed to go to the Cliffs of Moher during last week, a great sunny week (for irish standarts)…, however everything has to end and also the good weather. Today we started our trip around 9am, a rainy day was ahead and as everything in Ireland we shouldn’t postpone this trip because the weather will always be unpredictable. Ok, lets go! Cliffs of Moher!

Rain, rain, rain all the way…, and I was all the way barging about my huge luck and that we would have a great sunny day at the Cliffs… But before the cliffs, we had to make a stop for gas and food (fast breakfast) were we met an American guy hitch hiking also to the Cliffs. He asked us for a ride, but we were already 3 and a dog…, so we said no. But on the car we decided “let’s help the guy”…, we has already gone Pity….

Back to the road…, rain, rain and more rain…, oh wait…, some sunshine… now some real sun and just cloudy…, oh there’s the cliffs and a blue sky!! Yep, it happened again!

The cliffs are great, but to be honest nothing that surprising. Just some cliffs, quite high though, but nothing too impressive. In my humble opinion there are way more impressive things in Ireland, but I still think it worths the trip!

The path is quite easy to do, always close to the scarps but nothing too challenging. We had a situation with some cows and Kaja (the dog that was with us), which forced us to run a little bit close to the edge (that was funny ) and tens of photos! We didn’t go until the end, after a while we decided to go back and go for some food, after all we didn’t have any lunch and it was already almost 4pm. And when we decided to go back…, who did we find in the cliffs?? The american guy that asked for a ride!

Apparently today someone died (or disappeared) in the cliffs, Steve (the American guy) told us that they were looking for a guy that decided to do part of the trail alone…, the typical situation that you tell your friends “I am just behind you” and that everything goes wrong… Hopefully everything is ok with the guy, we had no more news about that.

Back to the car, which we paid 18euros for parking… tip for those driving there: Do NOT go to the park with a car full of people, every each of them will pay 6 euros while nobody is checking for the tickets at the cliffs entrance!

Well, we gave a ride to the american guy to a town which I don’t remember the name, but before that we stop for “lunch/dinner”. While there, he asked us if he could go with us all the way to Cork! Well, no trouble at all! And the guy has an amazing life-story, it is always great to meet new people even better when they are such unique!

The way back wasn’t that exciting, some stops for photo shooting to the sunset, and nothing more than that, just that Steve might be now camping at the University College Cork’s campus Good luck with that!

I went with my flatmate there for a photo-shooting trip, I heard about the food, I knew that’s a town by the sea so it only could be a nice place for some photos, and it is! My surprise was reading everywhere spanish names, restaurants, streets, etc. Not knowing anything about Kinsale, it was like a surprise and feeling that something really important happened there, my curiosity made me google for it and learn somethings about the Spanish and Irish history.

The town is definitely a place to return, next time for dinner at a good restaurant and to visit the town itself, this time we tried to find the Charles Fort and we spent some precious time doing it, but it worth it!

We were 5 minutes late, the doors for the last visitors closed minutes before we arrived at the fort but we managed to shoot some photos from outside, which is really great as well! I don’t believe we missed that much from inside, but I still want to visit it someday soon. Something that I truly recommend is walking from the town to the Fort through the costal path, part of that path is just for pedestrians and it is really nice.

However, now I am a little bit sick due the strong wind we got there…, I heard that the hurricane passed through Ireland (way weaker) during this weekend, which explains the strong wind on both days…, and thanks to that, I am now like a snail…, though, I am already planning my next trips