Folksy Travel by Bill Smale • Click on "Menu" below to search Country or City or to see Country Guide. Tip your phone sideways and you will see all aspects of the site.

May 28, 2026May 28, 2026

Isle of Man day one

the first thing you will see below is the money which is created for the Isle of Man. This money has the three legs of man on the front and the denomination. These pounds are equivalent to the pounds of England. You can use the England money in the Isle of Man but you cannot use the Isle of Man money in England so make sure you change it somewhere before you leave or use it all up. I have been told that you can take these notes to a bank in England and exchange them for England pounds. Scotland has their own notes as well and that is why I say “England“ pounds. This Scotland pound also is not usable in England. You will also notice some coins which have the emblem of the Isle of Man and people on the island have explained legally these are not usable in England but they are the exact same dimensions as the England coins so there’s a very good chance people in England will not notice if you use them.

again, traveling around it’s a good day deal if you get the pass that gives you unlimited travel on transport on the island if you’re going to be there for three or four days or if you plan to make three or more train trips.

something else to note is the north of Douglas is the departure of the electric train which goes to the junction for the Summit train and then ends up in Ramsey. That train is on the north of Douglas quite a distance from the Steam train which starts on the south end of Douglas going to the port of Erin. There used to be a horse drawn tram going from the north to the south of Douglas so along the promenade, connecting the two train systems. However, they redid the road to make it easier for pedestrians so the horse-drawn tram only goes halfway from the north, the electric train terminal to the south along the promenade. That promenade is a few kilometers long so get out your walking shoes.

Douglas to Peel

to get to peel from Douglas you take a bus

Pound note face Isle of Man — Noticed the Isle of Man three legs symbol on the face of the pound notes

Peel castle Isle of Man — on the back of the 5 pound notes you see the castle at Peel

Old house Isle of Man — Beautiful old house

Peel church Bill Smale — One of the churches in Peel

Shed Bill Smale — I could make up a story about this shed but I don’t know what it’s used for so I’ll leave it to your imagination

Peel castle Bill Smale — Peel castle from the beach

Millions of clam shells — This is just a small cove where the shells of dead clams collect. They are not only here in the millions but also all over the beach so you have to be careful if you’re walking barefoot

Nice beach — This is the beach area right by the clamshell collection

Peel castle history — The basic history of this island and its people goes back as far as the original inhabitants of Scotland and Ireland. Some of the names on the island are still the old Viking names

Rugged shore — It’s a rugged shore on which the castle was built

Old Cannon — Though the castle is very much a skeleton the preservation authority has done a lot of work in fixing up the castle and creating explanations of the different parts

Beautiful Grass interior — You have to watch for rabbit holes in the grassy areas. It’s nice that it was a beautiful day when I visited. In fact, the whole visit was filled with beautiful weather

Shell Beach — From the castle you can see the show beach in the foreground and the long beach in the background

Beautiful water — The water is really beautiful

Manx cat — The world renowned mascot that brought fame and notoriety to the Isle of Man is this cat, the one with no tail

These are small scallops called “Queenies” on the Isle of Man and maybe also in England. There is a little stand near the entrance to the castle and you have to try these because they are absolutely delicious and extremely well cooked. The nice thing for the lady who owns the stand, the dishes are shells which as I mentioned before are available in the millions. She could just rinse them off and use them again or she could throw them into the ocean and let them come back up nice and clean in a year or two.

Voting for dummies — I think this is a fantastic idea. If you offer free beer to come and learn about the voting system and maybe even about your own government I think you will have a lot of takers

Viking images — Relics of the Vikings who built the first castle which was built on top of some other building erected several thousand years before

Peel to Ramsey

take another bus from Peel to Ramsey, relax and take the sites

Newborn lambs — The newborns were everywhere

Ramsey

Old building — This is a beautiful old building, now a hotel, or baby it was always a hotel

Old ship — This is very interesting history of the old ship in San Diego California

CORNELL COLLEGE colors with the Isle of Man emblem

Ship information — Information aboard the ferry from the north of Ireland to the Isle of Man

Lots of rabbits — There are a lot of rabbits running around

Beautiful blossoms — The blossoms at this time of year were really beautiful

May 27, 2026May 27, 2026

Around the Isle of Man

Douglas to Erin buy steam locomotive

there are many ways to get around the Isle of man. You have a steam train, some electric trains and bus. I recommend a three day stay so that you can use all of them to see all the sites. You can buy a single ticket which will take you on all of the transports so find that pass and use it. It will be much cheaper if you take three or four train rides

Steam trains Around the Isle of Man — This is the Steam train which leaves from one end of Douglas, the south End. The electric trains leave from the other end of Douglas. The Steam train goes to the port of Erin

Nice Steam engine Around the Isle of Man — This steam train goes to a slightly different location but it’s a nice traditional looking Steam engine

Steam train Around the Isle of Man — This is the train which goes to the port of erin

Window control Bill Smale — The opening and closing of the windows is controlled by this leather strap, a very old method of opening the window

Seating area Bill Smale — Each of the doors opens up to a small four or six person seating area

Map of the train lines Bill Smale — This map shows the three different trains. In the south the red train is powered by Steam and in the north the main line is electric. Halfway up the electric line you can get off and take another train to the Summit,Snowfell, the tallest place on the island

Sheep and cows — There are a lot of sheep and cows on this island. It’s a very beautiful train ride

Pheasant — If you look closely you will see a lot of pheasant in the fields

Cute Steam engine — This is a cute looking Steam engine

Port Erin train station. This is a very walkable city or town and you can also catch a bus to go to other places on the island

Bay Hotel — One of the old hotels at the port

Nice park — A beautiful place to walk around

A pedestal — I didn’t research this but it certainly looks like something fell off the top

Bus road — From the port you can get on a bus to go all the way to Ramsey

License plate emblem — You can see the emblem of the Isle of Man on the license plate plates, the three legs of man

May 23, 2026May 25, 2026

Close to Criccieth

Blaenau Ffestiniog

Wales is a very beautiful place and it takes some time to visit the Small villages and countryside areas so plan on a minimum of one week but better too budget two or more weeks to really get to enjoy the people in the sites and the history. I stayed in Criccieth since it seemed to be a hub to wander off by public bus to places Close to Criccieth

Hungry seagull Close to Criccieth — This seagull was really interested in the small sunflower seeds I bought to feed the birds. Most seagulls were looking for bigger things like fish and were turning their beaks up to what I was serving.

Bus stop Close to Criccieth — This is where I got off the train to catch a bus

Train station Close to Criccieth — This is the small train station

Slate town Bill Smale — When you get up to this little town you see that it was used for slate mining and that’s about it. But it’s a cute place to spend a couple hours and walk around and see the abandoned quarries

Hiking path Bill Smale — A hiking path through the old Quarry

Layered slate Bill Smale — This shows how layered the slate is and how easy it would be to separate the layers depending upon the usage need

Many purposes Bill Smale — This rock is used for so many different purposes

Quarryview Bill Smale — The view from the quarry

I like dogs Bill Smale — While I have sympathies in this direction it reminded me of a certain friend who does dog rescue in Thailand

Beddgelert

for me this cute little town is in the top three in Wales. Of course everybody has their own things they want to see but the hills, the nature and the little village here is just so picturesque and quiet even though there are quite a few tourists

Moss growing — Just on the side of the path

River crossing — There is a river running through the village which you can cross using one of the Bridges

Fresh — I’m not sure if people go swimming here but the water looks very nice and fresh

Beautiful scenery — Beautiful mountain scenery and clouds and open fields

gelert’s grave — The tone was named after this dog but there’s a story about this.

gelert’s grave. A loyal dog misunderstood

OK, so this is the story of the dog that gave his name to this town. About 15 years ago I heard a story from my brother who rescued greyhounds after they had retired from racing. His story was about a Lord in England who had a greyhound and blah blah blah. It’s exactly the same story. It turns out, sorry to ruin the story, that, according to the information desk in town after I explained my brother’s exact same story, there is another story. Hundreds of years ago a shop owner in a small little village without a name started to lose business due to the reduction of customers and decided to create an interesting story to bring people back. He had a dog named Gelert who had died (I think I remember it correctly) and he made up the story about Llewelen, the famous unifier of the land owners of Wales in the 1200s, and his dog. So this is a real story but it’s a story. It brought back customers to the store and now it is a very famous place partly because of the story. But it is one of the top three beautiful little towns I visited in Wales so it really is a must visit place.

Crying Street — The best translation I could get without talking with a Welsh person is “the crying Street”. But please don’t trust my translation.

Criccieth

this is a cute little town where you might want to spend the day. They have a couple very nice coffee shops and the castle is pretty significant historically so it’s worth a visit.

This repurposed old building is now an Indian restaurant

May 13, 2026May 13, 2026

Madrid Segovia Cuenca

late last year I went to Madrid to see my friends who you can see below. I spent some time there in Spain before going to Germany to see the Rod Stewart concert. I wish I was able to spend more time in Spain since I was just getting back up to speed with Spanish.

Madrid

visiting friends who are professional musicians and also play for the national Orchestra of Spain.

Venezuela musicians Madrid Segovia Cuenca — Venezuelans playing tunes they remember and created

Sergio and Omar playing Madrid Segovia Cuenca — Sergio and Omar playing

Cured ham Madrid Segovia Cuenca — So many places sell cured ham by the leg

Beautiful lake Bill Smale — Proof I was there at the beautiful lake in the center of the city

Nice time of year Bill Smale — It was a nice time of year

Street musician Bill Smale — And of course there was a very good Street musician

Gremlin fountain — The interesting fountain with figurines that look like gremlins

JardineS park — This is the large park in the center of Madrid

Green birds — The beautiful green birds gathered together

Beautiful day — It was a very beautiful day and seeing the birds was a real treat

I just took a few pictures of the colors because they were so striking. This was in October

Park explanation — The explanation of the park

Took took — They have duk duk also in Spain

the above was a menu for some things which I ordered

Tapas — These were just little things to fill up on

Pamplona

Reference to Hemmingway — In the city Hemmingway is very famous

Segovia

Small chapel altar — The altar in the small chapel

Ornate object objects — Very ordinate objects

Palace entrance — The palace at the entrance

Protection for a knight — Very good protection for a knight and his horse

Ornate ceiling — Incredibly ornate ceiling

Beautiful views of the surrounding area. What do you see in the distance is the Mirador de la Vera Cruz

Palace courtyard — Looking down under the courtyard

Old garden walkway — Walking down to an old garden

Beautiful photo — I just thought this was a beautiful photo

To a cemetery — The Jewish cemetery is way on the other side of the road and the graves are inside caverns

Cuenca

Fortress town — This is an old fortress town which is a lot of fun to walk up and down

A tourist restaurant — This was a menu in one of the restaurants. I don’t recommend eating up there since it’s fairly expensive and it’s tourist food

Museum — This is the monastery and now a museum

The Lord of La Mancha — Maybe this will remind you of the Lord of La Mancha, Don Quijote

May 5, 2026May 5, 2026

Try out Tallinn

back in Estonia there is this major and kind of nice little city, definitely the one city you should visit if you go to Estonia. So if you go to the Baltic states try out Tallinn.

Shopping area try out Tallinn — A major shopping area

Baby sled try out Tallinn — Bring your kids. You can buy a cheap sled in town which is a lot easier to use on the snow then I have baby carriage

Significant station Bill Smale — The railway station is pretty significant. But note that if you’re trying to catch a taxi you have to walk a little bit to the taxi area.

Map of Tallinn Bill Smale — The map of Tallinn

City wall Bill Smale — A huge castle wall and city wall are still in pretty good shape

Borscht stew — This is a local borscht stew which was delicious

Tortellini Bill Smale — These are kind of like tortellini

Russian comics — An old Russian comic show , maybe their version of Tom and Jerry

Flower shops near the main shopping area

Chinese pomelo. Actually, I would rather have a Thai pomelo

Boozer bar — At least they tell you a lot about their clientele

City Tower Bill Smale — The towers were good for spotting enemies and strange stuff

Pay tower — If I remember correctly you have to pay to go up into the tower. I didn’t go up.

Backstreet — Along the back city streets

Band books — You can see here which books were banned by the Soviet Union

Standing up in a Russian church — Inside the Russian church. No place to sit down. I guess that the strain of standing up is part of their religion

City gate — The old entrance to the city

Russian prison — You should go inside to see what the KGB prisoners were like in Estonia

Eggs Benedict — I always thought there was some catch to this food. I never could understand the mixture of flavors. I wonder where this food was invented.

Coworker — A fellow who was working on a Sunday and a cold and windy time it was

Hell hunt — Interesting name for a restaurant. You could see the prices of the food

Garage museu — Garage is during the Soviet Union time were not just for cars since not everybody could buy a car of course. They were used for a whole variety of things and that became part of the social fabric of the Balkin states. This museum is dedicated to the garage society.

Russian embassy protest — This and other anti-war and anti-Russian posters were on the wall of the Russian embassy

You can see all the demonstration posters outside the Russian embassy

Irish pub — And here we have the Irish embassy, also known as a pub

Karaoke bar — You can guess what this is

May 3, 2026May 3, 2026

again in Dublin

Dublin is a exciting city but it is definitely filled with tourist and a lot of focus on the temple bar area for drinking and music and other entertainment. So if you’re going to be again in Dublin see if you can find some comedy shows, theater maybe at the Abbey Theatre and some other varied kinds of entertainment.

Bring your humor again in Dublin — Irish people like to just have fun and joke around so make sure to bring your sense of humor and leave your serious self behind

Music in the pub again in Dublin — Of course you will find formal and informal places in pubs where music is being played. This is a very important part of Irish culture, not just for the tourist

Gum on the street Bill Smale — I’d come from a different culture so I don’t really understand why people are spitting their gum down on the pavement especially since there are so many garbage cans around asking people to make a contribution

Irish stew Bill Smale — And Irish stew was about the tastiest Irish food I had

Gelato Bill Smale — Gelato is a daily requirement. On the bottom is chocolate and on the top is, if I remember correctly, a nut flavored vanilla

Comedy show — Passing out flyers for the comedy show

Made where? — I bought some piece of clothing. Please tell me where it is made. It says Thai but it also says a popular name in Vietnam

Guinness has quite a few gates on St. James Street

Pearse House And education center

i’m sure you know by now that Patrick Pearse was one of the insiders and major leaders of the Easter rising and writers of the declaration of the founding of the Irish state in 1916. He was a very educated fellow who taught literature and the Irish language in trying to reestablish the Irish identity as opposed to the identity forced on the Irish people by England. This house is not only where he lived in Dublin but also his educational center.

Neolithic burial site — I didn’t check to see if this was a real antique but I suspect it’s something they put in the garden to represent the Neolithic history of the islands.

A brave man — He was not only a very intelligent fellow but he was also extremely brave, putting his life on the line for his people

Irish newspaper — He published a newspaper in Irish

Patrick’s bungalow — Patrick had a small bungalow in that area which is also a museum now

Ireland forever. Erin means “the land” and is the name of these islands. The English of course could not speak the language so they called it Ireland. The motto is Ireland forever

The harp — Of course you have to display an ancient harp since it is the symbol of the country

Whiskey tasting — I saw this place where I could taste whiskey’s and stopped in

Method madness — I tried this one and it was very tasty

Good pizza — This pizza was pretty delicious

Glycine jeweler — I bought a glycine in 2014 and still have it. It was not a major brand but it was popular among pilots so I suspect that this jeweler was selling a popular watch among the crowd of pilots and military people during World War I and World War II

Mother’s tank station — Is this where the mothers go to get tanked?

Gary Og is a very famous singer of rebel songs. He told a story that back in the 70s when he sang in Armagh, in the north, of course she was singing rebel songs popular especially in IRA in influenced areas. After he finished his gig he was outside the pub and asked to get paid and the owner said “you’ll not be paid since you’re not IRA“. But the fellow who arranged the gig for Gary no the top IRA members in the area and he told the owner of the pub that he really needs to pay Gary. The owner paid him. It was a tough time.

Howth

this is a small port area near Dublin, a very short ride on the bus. There is a Lookout point on a hill and I was not particularly impressed. But the port seems to have some good places for fish and nice fish smelling restaurants which should please people who especially like fried food. It’s a shame the concept of fish cooking is mostly fried.

back to Dublin

A play near the Abbey theater — I came to see a play at the theater adjacent to the Abbey Theatre. Of course it was full of Irish humor which was very satisfying

Another Guinness — Of course this is something necessary to have before or after a play

Declaration of the Irish state — Many places you go in Ireland you will see the declaration of the Irish state which was passed around in 1916 during the Easter rising and after.

Poke — The Hawaiians are taking over the world with poke

Auto stickers required — The L on the car is required for learners. The N is required for new drivers. So I can imagine there are two kids in the family who are about one year apart in age.

Collins barracks

this was British barracks but of course was taken over by the state of Ireland in 1921. It was named after Michael Collins who led the country after the signing of the treaty with England in 1921.

Thomas Clark was a major leader of the revolution

Giant Irish deer — In such a museum of course you need to show the giant Irish deer which is extinct

Patrick Pearse death mask — If I remember correctly this is a death mask of Patrick Pearse

Declaration of the state — The declaration of the founding of the state in 1916

Is this where the US “G men“ term came from?

May 3, 2026May 3, 2026

quaint Killarney

if you’re looking for a nice relaxing place to go where the historical attractions are very close than I recommend quaint Killarney. This is very much a tourist town but it is very interesting one and you should have fun going to the pubs and listening to the music. Just on the edge of town there is the first national Park which was formed by the estate of one family and then another estate joining it to create the national park. There are two old homes on those two states which are really worth visiting and it’s such a beautiful area with lake and animals here and there.

Horse buggy quaint Killarney — When you visit Ross Castle you come up to these fellows who will offer you a horse drawn buggy ride.

Ross Castle quaint Killarney — Ross Castle is not named after a family. Ross and Irish means peninsula

Castle River quaint Killarney — Beautiful river by the castle

First National Park Bill Smale — After Ross Castle you need to go to Muckross house. The last owners gave this state to the county and they created the first Killarney Park. When the Ross estate was left for the last time the owners decided to add this to the Killarney Park and it became the first national park in Ireland.

Closing keyhole Bill Smale — If you look at the next photo you’ll see what caught my interest. This keyhole has a latch. I don’t know why but it seems it would definitely keep it clean inside.

Great entrance — This is the great entrance to the house

Dining area — The dining area is very lavish

Silver mirror — This mirror is very old but doesn’t look like an old mirror , tarnish and so forth. The reason is simple. It’s made a pure silver. The story is the children used to bounce balls off of it.

1/2 larger than any billiard table I have ever seen

Saint Mary’s

Nice to know ducks have their own stores

Have you ever seen a “non authentic ” barber shop?

A little history of the fight against England’s oppression

April 28, 2026April 28, 2026

Douglas – the Isle of Man

coming back from Ireland I wanted to spend more time in Wales and then I saw the Isle of Man which I knew from my childhood study of stamps and coins and so I decided to go there. This is an independently governed tax Haven among the British Isles and it’s a very beautiful island with interesting small cities and fascinating modes of transport which will keep you entertained for at least three days.

Getting off the ferry the Isle of Man — Arriving on the ferry from Larne just north of Belfast

GayetyTheatre the Isle of Man — This theater is still in use several times out of the month

Empress Hotel the Isle of Man — The Empress Hotel

Local beer the Isle of Man — The local brew was pretty good

Manx cat Bill Smale — The famous Manx cat with no tail

Normal cat Bill Smale — But this is the cat you see walking around

HQ restaurant Bill Smale — At the HQ restaurant I had very delicious salmon tacos and a crab croquette

Promenade Bill Smale — The promenade is about 3 km long reaching from the ferry terminal to the electric train terminal which takes you to the northern part of the island

The Bee Gees — I did not check why the Bee Gees are statued here

Rescue to — Two photos below this you will read why this safety tower was built. This might be a complicated harbor to sail into

Purple tower — The tower is beautifully lit up at night

History of the tower — The history of the construction of the rescue tower

War memorial — Of course you need to have a memorial for World War I and World War II

Map of the island — Douglas is on the southeast coast. You can take a electric train to the north, a steam train from Douglas to the southern port on the other side and there is another train which goes from the middle of the electric train line up to the highest point on the island. In addition there is bus service. You don’t need to rent a car here

The ancient Irish deer some of which were alive with humans. They call it the Irish giant deer because there were so many fossils found in Ireland

Old writing stone — One of the famous stones left from the neolithic period with the old writing system of scratches on the corner

Sound translation of the scratches — This is the writing system transferred to sounds which then can be translated

A translation — Another carving on the stone as a translation

The symbol of the Isle of Man — Nobody knows the origin of the three legs of man

The three leg symbol is used for everything related to this island

Old price list — An old drink price list

The TT race — I learned what TT means. It’s the famous race set up at the turn-of-the-century to compete with races on the continent

Yearly race — This race is held on this island every year

First racing motorcycle — One of the first motorcycles used

The local parliament building — The island Council building

A birds view — This war memorial gives birds a good view of what’s going on at the promenade

April 28, 2026April 28, 2026

around Roscommon

Roscommon is a beautiful countryside area about 1 1/2 hours drive Northeast from Galloway. The main attraction I found interesting was the national famine museum which is very extensive, built by the former Lord of the estate which is still standing with its complete contents left for the public to enjoy. The famine museum is important for the story of the people who died and survived and also left Ireland for someplace they could get some food and just survive. Anyone interested in recent Irish history would enjoy visiting this place and coming to understand why the famine happened and how it could’ve been avoided.

View outside around Roscommon — The view outside my bed-and-breakfast

Letter of appeal around Roscommon — This letter was an appeal by the people living on this Lord’s estate for work other than farming since there was nothing to farm, the potatoes all died.

He could’ve been one of my ancestors, a fellow who signed the appeal for work.

A genocide Bill Smale — The famine was turned purposely into an attempt to reduce the catholic population by the British occupiers. There was plenty of wheat and other crops but those were taken by the Lords of the estates, almost all protestants and loyal to England, and sent to England and other countries for profit. The local catholic population was left with only potatoes which were dying from a fungus.

Reason for the famine Bill Smale — The land was let out to renters who subdivided to other renters who then subdivided to other renters and resulted in plots so small most of them had problems producing enough to feed themselves and to pay the rent which was incredibly expensive.

The remaining house Bill Smale — This is the estate Manor. The last inheritor of the estate, an old lady, sold it and it was left as she loved it. All of the contents of the house are still there. This is a very rare situation for the large estates in Ireland after independence. Many of the old houses were destroyed by the angry people who were subjugated by these lords. One interesting thing to note is that the side portions of the building are all just façades and were designed to indicate a large house with large portions on the left and the right. They were just walls with decoration to impress visitors.

Family member portraits — Portraits of family members

School exercise — On this dictation exercise the young student was not evidently very clever

The estate — This is the estate and all of the lines indicate boundaries of rented properties so subdivided most of them were very tiny

The playroom for the children kept with all the original artifacts and toys

Every Lord needs to have his gallant portrait

Telephone — A telephone was installed at some point

Guinness barrel — The kitchen. Behind me was an open walkway almost one floor above for the lady to come and give commands to the cooks

Silvermines

this is actually the name of a small town where I stayed. It was a very nice bed-and-breakfast

Tralee

even many small towns in Ireland attract the tourist but this town seems to be very inactive and people there are lamenting the lack of business. But it’s a cute little town and people are very friendly so you might want to visit for an evening at the pub.