Dublin - 愛爾蘭的首都 Capital of Ireland

愛爾蘭環島遊(第6-7天) Round Tour in Ireland (6-7th Day) - 都柏林Dublin

在Cobh遊覽車了半天，我們便向北走，前往都柏林。車程約差不多3小時，所以我們選擇在兩小時車程的Kildare Outlet Mall休息，吃午餐並且血拼一番。
After spending the whole morning at Cobh, we started to drive north to Dublin which would take almost three hours.  Hence, we stopped by the Kildare Outlet Mall after driving for two hours to have a late lunch as well as a shopping spree.

Kildare Outlet Mall現不算很大，但都有不少香港人或亞洲遊客喜愛的品牌，如NorthFace、Asics、Samsonite、Crabtree & Evelyn、Furla等等；大部份的店舖都可提供表格或電腦咭讓遊客在離境時於機場安排退稅。這Outlet Mall正進行擴建工程，不久的將來會有更多品牌進駐。
Kildare Outlet Mall was not very large, but it consisted of many brands which people from Hong Kong or Asia loved, eg. NorthFace, Asics, Samsonite, Crabtree & Evelyn, Furla, etc.  Many of the shops could offer tax refund forms or record cards for tourists to submit tax refund at the airport upon leaving Ireland.  The mall was undergoing expansion and more brands would be moving in soon.

St Patrick's Cathedral

然後再開車大半小時，我們便到達都柏林，並在市內觀光一番。都柏林很熱鬧，有不少道路是單程，好彩跟GPS走都挺可靠。我們先前往St Patrick's Cathedral，然後向更中心的地方前進，但可能是時近5點才到市中心，人較多，找到車位後我們便徒步往部份距離不遠的景點，並走訪了Trinity College、市府廳、酒吧區等。

Continuing the drive for almost an hour, we arrived Dublin and grab the chance to tour around the city.  Dublin is a crowded city, many of the roads are one-way.  Luckily, the GPS was helpful and reliable.  We first went to St Patrick's Cathedral.  Then, when moving towards more centre of the city, it started to have many people as it was already 5pm.  Once we found a place to park the car, we visited some of the nearby tourist spots on foot, eg. Trinity College, City Hall, the bars area, etc.

Trinity College

Bewleys Hotel

由於第二天早上要乘早機離開，我們預訂了機場附近的Bewleys Hotel(現改名為Clayton Hotel)。酒店距機場只幾分鐘車程，並每20分鐘有免費巴士前往機場。 酒店房間很寬敞且設備齊全，Check-in之後，我們先到酒店旁加油站的餐廳吃晚餐，點了的wrap和漢堡都美味，然而製作需時，落單後要等大約10分鐘，但勝在新鮮炮製。

As we needed to take an early flight on the next day, we have booked the Bewleys Hotel near the airport (now named Clayton Hotel).  The hotel is just a few minutes of drive from the airport and it has shuttle bus every 20mins.  The rooms were spacious and fully equipped.  After checking in, we went to the gas station next to it and have a quick dinner at the cafe there.  The wraps and burgers were delicious though we needed to wait for about 10mins after placing orders.  But, the good point was they were fresh made.

晚餐後，部份人回酒店先梳洗，另外，其中兩人就駕車到機場還車，然後坐租車公司的穿梳小巴回酒店。Then, some of us went back to hotel for shower first and two drove to the airport to return the car.  After this, the car rental company sent us back to the hotel in their van.

在第七天的清早，我們乘坐穿梳巴士到達都柏林機場，辦理登機手續及寄行李，通過出境櫃檯後，我們便找尋辦理退稅的櫃檯，由於機場有部份地方正在翻新，有些地方被圍板遮蓋，我們還是邊行邊問，好快使找到櫃檯，有別於很多其他地方的機場要排長龍待官員蓋章，在這裡我們只需填妥表格，連同發票投入收集箱便可，或者，如果商戶是把可退稅交易儲於智能咭上，只要把咭在這裡的自動退稅機一掃，並輸入資料，連表格都不用填，之後，退稅款項便會存到登記的信用咭賬戶內。In the early morning of the seventh day, we went to the Dublin Airport by the shuttle bus.  After checking-in the luggage and passing through immigration, we looked for the tax refund counter.  As parts of the airport were under renovation, some of the places were covered with hoarding boards.  After asking a few staff, we had quickly located the refund counter.  Unlike many airports elsewhere at which people need to queue up for the duty stamp, we only needed to fill in the form and submited it together with the invoices into the collection box.  For transactions that were stored on smart card, we just needed to swipe the card at the self-helped machine and entered the relevant information without the need to fill in a paper form.  After that, the refunded tax would be deposited to the registered credit card.


一切辦妥，我們在機場店舖瀏覽一番後，登上飛機，完結了一星期的愛爾蘭之旅。
With all the things done, we browsed around some of the shops in the airport and then, boarded onto the plane to end our one-week Ireland tour.

有用網址 Useful websites:
Kildare Outlet Mall - http://www.kildarevillage.com/
Visiting Dublin - http://www.visitdublin.com/
St Patrick's Cathedral - http://www.stpatrickscathedral.ie/
Trinity College - http://www.tcd.ie/
Clayton Hotel (formerly Bewleys Hotel) - http://www.claytonhoteldublinairport.com/

Cobh - 色彩城市 The Town in Colours

愛爾蘭環島遊(第6天) Round Tour in Ireland (6th Day) - Kinsale and Cobh

離開Cahersiveen，我們繼續邊開車、邊欣賞沿途風景，朝著Cobh的方向前進。在到達Cobh之前，我們先在傍晚路經有多間海鮮餐廳的Kinsale，當然要在這裡先稍作休息，並吃個海鮮晚餐。本想嘗試的Fishy Fishy Restaurant，但見到它坐無虛席，查問侍應說那天晚上他們預訂已滿，後來我們改往Max's Restaurant，吃過後發覺原來也是個不錯的選擇。

After leaving Cahersiveen, we headed to Cobh while enjoying the scenery along the way.  Before arriving Cobh, we stopped by Kinsale where there are lot of seafood restaurant.  Originally, we would like to try having dinner at Fishy Fishy Restaurant but it was fully booked.  We shifted to Max's Restaurant and luckily, it was not a bad shift.

在Max's，我們點了一些侍應的推介，亦點了一些自選的新嘗試。

At Max's, we had ordered some recommended dishes as well as trying some new ones.

吃了豐富美味的晚餐之後，我們便驅車前往下一站 - 沿海的Cobh。

After the delicious seafood dinner, we started the journey again to Cobh.

在Cobh，我們預訂了Bella Vista Hotel，它位於半山上，離Cobh的地標St Colman's大教堂只兩街之隔，房間很寬敞舒適，可眺望海岸及大教堂。

We checked in Bella Vista Hotel at Cobh.  It situated on the slope, but not far from the Cobh's landmark - St Colman's Cathedral which was just two blocks away.  The hotel room was spacious, window opening to the view of the Cathedral and the shore.

第二天早上，在酒店的餐廳服務員殷勤的招待，讓我們邊享受從窗戶透入的溫暖陽光，邊享受半自助早餐，是這一天一個好開始。

In the next morning, we sat in the restaurant with attentive waitresses, bathing in the sunshine which seep through the windows.  The semi-buffet breakfast set us with a good start of the day.

Cobh是當年鐵達尼號沉沒前所停泊的最後一個城市，它的碼頭繁忙，帶著魚穫的漁船來來往往。

Cobh was the last stop of Titanic before she sank in the ocean.  The pier at Cobh was busy with ships coming and going.

St Colman's Cathedral

所有來到Cobh的遊人都一定會看看St Colman's大教堂，大教堂位於這城市的高地，聳立於五顏六色的小屋之中。一排一排漆上不同顏色的小屋，是Cobh的一大特色。從不同的角度看大教堂，都可以有不同的顏色小屋作襯托。

St Colman's Cathedral is a must-go for people visiting Cobh.  The Cathedral locates on highland, being surrounded by houses painted in different colours.  This is a special characteristic of the city.  When looking at the Cathedral from different directions, one could find these colourful houses to be next to it.


有用網址 Useful websites:
Max's Restaurant - http://maxs.ie/
Bella Vista Hotel - http://www.bellavistahotel.ie/
Visiting Cobh - http://visitcobh.com/


..... 待續 to be continued .....