Days 16-17 (July 15-16, 2025): The road home — via Dublin

With a 10:30AM departure to Ireland, we had adequate time to have a buffet breakfast at the hotel and get a cab to Sabiha Gocken Airport. Sabiha Gocken is the hub for Turkish low-fare carrier Pegasus, which has grown exponentially since we first took them about 15 years ago. It has outgrown Sabiha Gocken, which was wall-to-wall with passengers when we arrived. Despite that, we were able to stop by a crowded lounge for a cool lemonade before boarding, which was on time, and enjoyed a smooth flight to Dublin.

Dublin Airport seemed just as crazy as Istanbul. Irish tourism definitely seems alive and well! A long wait for our bags, due to a lack of baggage handlers, meant that we didn’t catch our bus to the hotel for an hour after landing.  It was a showery day in Dublin, with sporadic downpours from the time we landed until late in the afternoon. After getting settled away at the hotel, we set out at 4PM and did several hours of sightseeing and walking, which was quite nice! Central Dublin is a very walkable place with no end of things to see.

By 7PM, we were ready for dinner — and our Irish pub experience!  It was a great way to end the vacation.  By the time we made it back to the hotel around 9PM, we were completely zapped, due to the time changes from Kazakhstan and Turkey.  

A solid rest and a 6AM rise, and we were off to the airport at 7:45AM.  We had breakfast at an airport lounge and took off on time at 10:20AM.  A smooth crossing with a nice meal and a 15-minute early arrival, and we were met by our friends, Boneta and Floyd, for the drive home.

What a wonderful 16 days it has been!  All has gone smoothly from a logistics perspective, and the sights and experiences have exceeded our expectations: seven countries (not counting the jumping back and forth into Germany from Luxembourg!), 10 cities, 10 flights, seven hotels.  Now to ponder’ where next’ — which is half the fun! :-)

Thank you for joining our travel adventure via this blog.

Very new Pegasus Airbus A320neo from Istanbul to Dublin. We had the entire row to ourselves. 

Our hotel, the Skylon Dublin, was a smallish hotel on Drumcondra Street, halfway between the airport and Central Dublin. Small rooms, but really comfortable. And a Dublin Bus stop was right outside, which made it easy to get to both Central Dublin and the Airport. For 8 EUR, you can get a ‘Transport for Ireland Leap Card’, which is good for 24 hours on all buses, trams and trains. 

Once in Central Dublin, we began a 5.5km walking route, from the north side of the River Liffey, over the river and around Central Dublin, south of the river. 

The Famine Memorial:

When we last visited Dublin, several years ago, this memorial was the thing that impacted me the most. Honestly, I have never been able to forget the haunting statues of the memorial - starving Irish folk, desperate to find a new home across the Atlantic. So, for me, it was essential to make it back to the memorial to see it again.

The Famine Memorial.  In May 1847, at the height of the Great Famine, 1490 tenants from the Mahon Estate embarked on the gruelling 165km walk from Strokestown in County Roscommon to the Dublin Docks. Their landlord, Major Denis Mahon, organized an emigration scheme to North America. Over half of those who crossed the Atlantic on the ‘coffin ships” Naomi and Virginus died at sea en route. Many of those who did make it died of fever upon arrival in Quebec. Only one third of the 1490 ever got to start a new life in North America. 

Of the seven figures in the memorial, including one of a man carrying his dead daughter, this statue of a woman has been branded into my memory since our first visit. Her gaunt look and eyes speak to utter despair and impending death.

Prime Minister Jean Chretien opened the memorial on June 6, 1999.

Bridges over the River Liffey:

The Sean O’Casey Bridge pedestrian bridge was our route across the river.

The lyre-shaped Samuel Beckett Bridge. 

St. Stephen’s Green:

St. Stephen’s Green is a park in Dublin’s centre which has an ornamental lake, a waterfall, and about a dozen sculptures.

The Green played an important role in Ireland’s history. During Easter week 1916, 100 members of the Irish Citizen Army Volunteers occupied the Green, which holds an important location in Central Dublin. Along with a few other occupied sites, including the GPO Building (see a little further below), the group was seeking independence from the UK. The Green was the site of the most ferocious battle of the uprising. While the uprising did not result in independence, it did pave the way, with a Free State eventually being achieved six years later, in 1922.

Entrance to the Green.

Other Sights from Central Dublin:

The historical GPO Building now houses a museum about the Easter 1916 Easter Uprising and modern Ireland’s history.

Built in the late 1700s by James Gordon, the neoclassical Customs House has always been one of the first eye-catching buildings for those sailing into Dublin.  Perched on the banks of the River Liffey, it was originally the hub for customs and excise. In the struggle for independence, it was burned in 1921, but was later restored. 

Moored at the Irish Emigration Museum, the Jeannie Johnston is a replica of the 19th century tall ship that took Irish emigrants to North America to seek a new life.

Halifax has its Harbour Hopper amphibious vehicle that offers tours. Here in Dublin, they have the Viking Splash Tours, using similar vehicles.  All the passengers here are offered a Viking helmet to wear - such a cool touch!

Parliament square at Trinity College. The famous ‘Book of Kells’, which is one of Dublin’s greatest treasures, is kept here. Having seen the Book on our last trip, we didn’t bother to access the museum to see it again.

Parliament House is an18th century building, which has been converted for use as the headquarters of the Bank of Ireland. 

Busy Dame Street (caught during an unusually calm moment) is one of Dublin's main commercial streets. 

The National Museum of Ireland. (Time didn’t permit a visit, but such a nice round design.)

The National Library features a round design, similar to that of the National Museum.

Ever popular Oscar Wilde monument in Merrion Square Park. We visited this monument on our last visit and wanted to return to see it again. 

Typical Irish working class neighborhood. 

Kennedy Pub Drumcondra:

As we did on the last night of our last visit to Dublin, we decided to have dinner at an Irish pub. While the city is chock-a-block with pubs, many of them in the city center cater to tourists. We chose one in the vicinity of our hotel, as we hoped it would have more of a typical working class neighbourhood feel. And did we luck out!  Not only was the pub fare delicious, this was one of those places where everyone knew each other. You could tell that most of the clientele come here on a regular basis. While some were there to watch the sports shown on the TV screens, others were there for their regular catch-up with friends. At a table near us, one of the three guys broke into a six-verse ballad, singing about some battle; his two buddies joined in on the chorus.  He was an awful singer, but it was so neat to hear something so authentic. 

Pubs all over the city, like Kennedy’s where we ate, are adorned with these massive pots of trailing petunias. 

The interior of Kennedy’s Pub, with its leather seats and stools and walls adorned with framed photos of local rugby and cricket teams. It was a true cultural experience.

Pam had been hoping for roast beef and was so disappointed to see that Kennedy’s had changed their menu recently and had deleted their roast beef. To her great pleasure, the server said, “And we have a Tuesday special - roast beef with onion gravy and mash.”  Pam loved every bite!

I went for a chicken soup, which was incredible thick and was enough to feed an army.  My eyes were bigger than my stomach, as I also ordered a crazy-generous beef nachos.  I could only finish half of each.

The trip home:

“DUB” is the airport code for Dublin. We took the double-decker Dublin Bus to DUB for our flight.

WestJet Boeing 737 Max 8 homeward bound. 

On our June 30th flight to London, we paid $330 to sit together, as the only seats that were left were in Westjet’s new Comfort Plus section. When we tried to complete our advance on-line check-in for our WestJet flight home from Dublin, we were randomly selected for physical passport verification at the check-in counter and could not check-in or choose seats in advance. So we assumed that, yet again, we would be split up and would have little or no choice to select seats together. A very kind WestJet agent not only found us two seats together, he gave us a complimentary upgrade to Comfort Plus. And, even better, the person who was supposed to sit on the aisle didn’t show up! So we ended up with a full row of Comfort Plus across the Atlantic.  Thank you, WestJet!

Dublin Airport is one busy hub!

The motorway and Irish countryside northeast of Dublin. 

The view of Dublin from just north of the city. 

Ahh… the Irish countryside in all its beauty. 

As mentioned about the flight from Halifax to London, WestJet has finally improved its food offering across the Atlantic. This chicken with fingering potatoes was really delicious. 

It was so good to look down and see the northwest corner of Newfoundland, 40 minutes before landing in Halifax. After all the miles traveled on this trip, there is a joy to seeing “home”. In the photo, one of Newfoundland’s best beaches — the white sands of J. T. Cheeseman Provincial Park, just north of Port-aux-Basques — can be seen.