There is something suspicious about the European public transportation system. For example, yesterday I took a two hour ferry ride from Dublin to the tiny town of Holyhead, Wales. In Holyhead, I walked down a short hallway to get on a train. An hour later, the train stopped two blocks from my hotel in Conwy, another tiny Welsh town. Really? Continue reading
Author: klmalcolm2014
Dublin
Clap clap clap! Dublin is very cool. I have never seen more pubs, cafes, restaurants, boutiques and churches in a couple of square miles anywhere. Visitors and locals seem happy, especially after a couple of pints and even after Ireland lost to France in the Euros. Continue reading
Hiking Northern Ireland’s North Coast
Ireland is one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited and the Irish are taking good care of it. Once you get out of town, no billboards, no rusting cars, no corporate fast food.
Celtic Summer Camp At Slieve Aughty
Slieve Aughty is my idea of paradise. It’s a riding center east of Galway way out in the countryside. With happy horses and organic meals and vegetable gardens. And fields of cross country jumps and miles of riding trails through fields and forests. Did I just dream this? Continue reading
Galway and County Clare
Alley wall in Ennis
I spent a few days in Galway on the west coast of Ireland, walking the coastal paths and eating my way through town. Musicians played on every corner and the city was jam packed with tourists. Galway is a party town, which means if your hotel is central (as mine was), you may have a hard time sleeping (as I did). Continue reading
Birds and Burial Mounds at Bru Na Boinne
This week, I visited the small town of Drogheda in the gorgeous Irish countryside about 40 miles north of Dublin. The town is near Bru Na Boinne, a UNESCO World Heritage site of mysterious and historically important neolithic burial mounds. And then I became a junior falconer! Continue reading
Belfast
I just spent a few days in Belfast, Northern Ireland and I loved it — friendly people, wonderful architecture, good food and, of course, pubs. But first, a reminder that Northern Ireland is a part of Britain and the Republic of Ireland to the south is an independent nation. This is relevant to the fact that twenty years ago, visitors to Belfast were the same kind of people who today would visit Damascus….. Continue reading
Somebody Else’s Armenia
What a relief to meet these two smilers
I went to Armenia because I thought it would be a good place to write — pleasant without a lot of tourist distractions. I expected to feel a special connection in Armenia. It is my ancestral homeland. I have wonderful memories of spirited gatherings with my Armenian family. And I believe in genetic memory, a physiological connection to our ancestors’ experiences.
It was pleasant and quiet as I expected. But I didn’t like Armenia so much.
Camino Milagro 
