Our perfect honeymoon

What an eventful year this has been! In July, my darling Ian all of a sudden proposed to me, and we decided to get married!! There were some technical difficulties, though, that made our wedding plans look a bit – crazy… I had to go back to Greece to get the necessary papers (and to help my parents after my Mum’s gall stone operation), and as soon as I came back to London we gave notice of our intended wedding at the local civic centre; but, of course, we’d have to wait 28 days until the wedding date, and since I’ll have to go back to Greece again in early November because my Mum’s having a knee operation, we decided we’d just have our honeymoon BEFORE the actual event. Sounds weird? Well, I can tell you it’s worked out JUST fine!

We’d already planned on holidays in Ireland this year – but who would have thought it would be our honeymoon?? We’d booked the hotels, the trains and the ferry in advance, so all we had to do was be on time… We headed out from London to Holyhead, Wales, and got the ferry boat to Dublin – back in Ireland at last! We both love Ireland, and yet neither of us had been to her lovely shores for more than 20 years… And, though it’s changed in many ways, to me Dublin STILL is the prettiest little city in the world!

After three days of sightseeing and pub evenings, we went on to Cork by train – a wonderful journey right across Ireland. The place we’d chosen to stay at for most of our honeymoon was the Driftwood Country Hostel outside Skibbereen, in the Western part of County Cork; and we were simply stunned when we saw it! Way above Skibbereen, literally in the middle of nowhere (good thing we’d hired a car in Cork!), far away from all the hustle and bustle of the city – EXACTLY what we wanted. But it was way more than that: our wonderful hosts, Heidi and Des, provided us with everything from tea to firewood to board games, our room was really spacious and comfy, there was a warm fire and a TV set in the living room, and a kitchen where we could prepare our meals. AND, outside in the garden, there was a hot tub! What more luxury do you want for your honeymoon?

County Cork is enormously rich in all sorts of sights to see, so there was a great choice for us for little day trips in between enjoying the peace and quiet of our lovely hostel. A pirate village, an ancient Bronze Age monument, and Skibbereen itself, a beautiful little town with a big history. And, of course, this being Ireland, a nice pub with a good drink, music and laughter was never far away!