Juan Convers

Dun Laoghaire is a beautiful coastal town located just south of Dublin. As I mentioned in a post a couple of weeks ago, I had the chance to visit Ireland recently and during the weekend, I took a trip to Dun Laoghaire.

I repeated a plan that I used to do quite frequently when I lived in Dublin years ago: take the DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit) train from the city center to Dun Laoghaire, walk all the way through the pier back and forth, and then head to the bookstore on Marine Road, grabbing a coffee and a scone in the café next door.

When I looked out the window and saw the church of St. Michael's, I remembered those days many years ago when I was in that same café writing the dissertation for my Master's degree.

Eurostat provides an interesting dataset about how EU residents travel, including where people go, how much they spend, and how long they stay. The 2023 data show that Europeans’ travel choices still reflect that the majority of foreign trips are carried out inside the union.

In 2023, Europeans made over 1.1 billion trips, spending 5.7 billion nights and €555 billion. Nearly three-quarters of these trips (73%) were domestic, though foreign travel accounted for a larger share of nights and expenditure.

Italy and Spain emerged as the top foreign destinations, while France also drew significant numbers of visitors from within the EU. Beyond the Union, the United Kingdom, Türkiye, and Switzerland were the most popular spots, with intercontinental destinations making up just 12% of foreign trips.

Overall, the data show a strong preference for familiar, nearby locations, balanced by the pull of longer journeys that contribute more heavily to tourism spending. You can read more about it here.

A couple of days ago I went with my family to visit the Wieliczka Salt Mine near Krakow. Going down into the tunnels felt like stepping back in time — endless corridors, glittering salt walls, and even chapels carved deep underground. The Chapel of St. Kinga was the highlight, almost like a cathedral hidden below the earth. It was fascinating to see how a working mine turned into such an incredible place.

A long time ago, when I first moved to Ireland for work, I was lucky enough to settle in Sandymount – a charming coastal suburb just south of Dublin’s city centre. My apartment sat right on the edge of Sandymount Strand, a wide sandy beach that stretches past one of the historic Martello Towers.

In the mornings, as I walked along the promenade, I would admire the twin chimneys that appeared in the distance: the famous Poolbeg Chimneys. These towering figures used to belong to the now‑decommissioned Poolbeg Power Station. Although the plant is no longer operational, the chimneys remain and have become an iconic symbol of the city.

Last weekend I finally had the chance to revisit that view in person. For many years I hadn’t seen those chimneys again, but this time I found myself walking along Sandymount Strand—reviving all the vivid memories tied to Ireland’s capital city.

One of the joys of spending weekends in Basel is being just steps away from the French border. It’s really easy to slip across early in the morning, pick up fresh bread from a local bakery, and return before sunrise — ready to enjoy breakfast with a still-warm baguette. And as if that weren’t enough, this trip often rewards early risers with breathtaking sunrises, like the one captured in the previous photo on Burgfelderstrasse.

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