I’ve been to Ireland many times in the last years. In fact, most years I visit at least once, making this my second (or third, or fourth,… ) home. I’m visiting a friend of mine whom I met in my London days when the animals still spoke. Usually we just go out for hikes, have nice food and chill. After a year of travelling, that’s exactly what I need! Just going to a place, unpack my bag and put my clothes in a closet, unbelievable. Having the time to sort out things that have been on my mind for a long time (i.e. work on the computer for hours on end on good wifi while my friend is doing her work…).
She happens to live in the quaintest village: Castleconnell (it’s currently been in the news a lot due to floods…). There are a couple of pubs, local shops, a fairy walk (which was flooded at the time of my visit) and a cute little tea shop, Angel Ways. This is such a lovely place, and it has upstairs rooms where you can rent spaces to do massages or workshops for just 10 euro per hour. Ideal if you are starting out as a massage therapist and don’t have the possibility to have a practice at home.
One of Castleconnell’s pubs
Elaine and her stunning horse, Miller
Killaloe pier
From Castleconnell, it is easy to venture into other villages like Killaloe, nicely located next to a lake.
There are a few great coffee shops such as Ponte Vecchio, which stores more books than many local libraries. Almost nextdoor there is an amazing ayurvedic pharmacy and retreat centre, Satmya. We went there for a one day yoga, meditation and ayurveda retreat which gave me some extra ideas about my future ;-)
There’s space in Ireland that you don’t find in many other countries in Europe (just look at awful Belgian spatial planning), so we went for a few hikes in the countryside. Even in winter, it’s so green…
View around Garrykennedy
The green, green grass
Frosty wellies
A typical front of house in Ireland
It is so nice to have a bit of winter time before jetting off into summer again. Just a teeny bit of snow… (I remember asking for snow before I left to Australia last year…). Because the thing about European winters is: they are just endless.
