Skellig Michael

Fri 28/8/26

Skellig Michael island

Early morning rise today. At 6.30am, I checked my email and also received an SMS that our landing tour to Skellig Michael island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site would proceed today. The tour costs EUR 270 or RM 1298 for 2 adults. After a self prepared breakfast in our self catering studio apartment, we checked out at 8.30am to drive about 20 mins to the Glen Pier or Skellig Falcon boat tour agency in Googlemaps.

the view to Glen pier

Glen pier

off to Skellig Michael

The boat trip to Skellig Michael island took about an hour with a stop near Little Skellig Michael island which had thousands of northen gannets flying and nesting, but unfortunately no puffins as it was already out of season. 

Little Skellig with the gannets

another view of Little Skellig

Little Skellig

goodbye Little Skellig

We landed on Greater Skellig Michael island at 10.30am and were given 2.5 hours on the island, i.e. we should be ready back at the pier at 1pm to make our way back to the mainland.

approaching Greater Skellig

there is a trail on Greater Skellig but not open to public

Greater Skellig

unique rock formation

landed at Greater Skellig

We were greeted by the Office of Public Works (OPW) officers for a short briefing before making our way up the 618 stone steps of stairs, carved directly out of the rock by early Christian monks centuries ago to the top of the island where the beehive huts, built using drystone or circular stone cells (called clocháns) without mortar, is located. 

let's go up

stone stairs

The views from and on the island, a massive vertical rock formation, Devonian Old Red Sandstone formed 360 to 380 million years ago, rising 218 meters above the Atlantic Ocean is beautiful. 

Skellig rock formation

the other side is not accesible

Greater Skellig rock formation

stairs by the edge of the cliff. Little Skellig in the background

After arriving at the top at the beehive huts, there was another briefing by the OPW officer on the history of the Christian monks who live in isolation there and some background on how the island was formed. We were also told if we wanted to eat our packed food, we should do it a bit further from the beehive hut to avoid the seagulls.

Skellig Michael island was also a filming location for the Star Wars : The Force Awakens movie. 

beehive huts on Skellig Michael

beehive hut

drystones or circular stone cells

Little Skellig visible from the top of Greater Skellig

About 30 minutes to 1pm, we made our way back down to the pier to wait for our boat for the return trip. There is no access to other parts of the island, and there were quite a few tour companies running today, so 2.5 hours is more than enough to cover the accessible areas for photography and self packed lunch. There are no shops on the island, only toilets near the pier.

more views of Skellig Michael

We then made our way back at 1pm. After reaching back Glen pier, we drove to the Kerry cliffs that we missed yesterday due to closing time. The entrance cost EUR 5 per person. There is an entrance fee due to it location is situated in a private owned land. I am curios why cliffs are privately owned. 

goodbye Greater Skellig Michael

Kerry Cliffs

The Kerry cliffs rise over 305 meters above the Atlantic Ocean and is higher than the famous Cliffs of Moher. It was formed about 400 million years ago in an ancient desert environment, featuring striking layers of Old Red Sandstone.

Kerry cliffs

Kerry cliffs

Kerry cliffs

After about an hour at Kerry cliffs, we drove to Killarney where we will based for the next 2 nights. On the way to Killarney, we stopped at 2 spots to take pictures, at Mountain Stage viewpoint of Dingle bay and River Caragh viewpoint.

view of Dingle bay

view of Dingle bay

River Caragh viewpoint

We arrived at our spacious accommodation Killarney Haven apartment (EUR 300 or RM 1453 for 2 nights) at 5.30pm, and were welcomed by an elderly man, Donal who insisted to bring up our luggage over the flight of stairs to the second floor, but of course we only allowed him to bring the lighter groceries bag. 

Killarney Haven apartment

We did our laundry tonight at the apartment's laundry room with washer and dryer (no additional charge). On hindsight, we should not have brought so many clothes as I already knew the apartment had laundry facilities. We also cooked our own dinner at the self catering apartment.

Tashkent

Tue 9/6/26

Today we only ventured out at 9am as we were still tired from late night arrival yesterday.

From our hotel in the train, we walked to the metro station Tashkent and took the metro to Chorsu station to do some shopping at Chorsu Bozor. Both are listed under the UNESCO World Heritage site. The metro ride was very cheap at UZS (RM 1) per person per way regardless of how many stops to reach the final station. We tapped our card at the turnstile during entry only and is not required at exit.

Tashkent metro station

We had breakfast of plov, shashlik and a pot of tea at a restaurant at Chorsu Bozor for UZS 70K (RM 21) paid by cash. After that we bought 1 kg of macadamia nuts (UZS 100K or RM 31), 1 kg cherry (UZS 100K or RM 31), 1 kg (UZS 130K or RM 40), halba sweets (UZS 30K or RM 10), a big bread and small bread (UZS 30K or RM 10 ), 10 fridge magnets for (UZS 100K or RM 31) and a traditional Uzbek long vest for UZS 65K or RM 20.

Chorsu bozor

breakfast of plov and shashlik

bread

Since our backpack has become heavy from the shopping items, we decided to return to our hotel and unload them in our room and rested for a bit before venturing out again, taking the metro to Yunus Rajibiy station changing line at Oybek to Ming O'rik to take pictures of the historic Hotel Uzbekistan with its Soviet brutalist architecture and then sitting on the bench at Amir Temur square park eating the bread we bought just now.

Tashkent metro station

Yunus Rajabiy metro station

Hotel Uzbekistan

Amir Temur and Hotel Uzbekistan in the background

resting at the bench at Amir Temur park

After it became too hot to endure, we made our way back to the hotel, but stopping by at Kosmonavtlar station to take pictures. 

Yunus Rajibiy station

Kosmonavtlar station

We went out to have late lunch at 3.30pm by taking Yandex to Glinka Besh Qozon restaurant for UZS 20.5K (RM 7). We had wedding standard plov and choykhona plov set, salad and soup with a pot of lemon tea for UZS 164836 or RM 56, paid by credit card. We initially wanted to order only 1 large set of plov as we were not that hungry but the waiter insisted that each person should order a plov. I did feel really full from all the rice taken.

wedding standard plov and choykhona plov set

lunch at Besh Qozon

After lunch, we went back to the hotel taking Yandex which cost UZS 17K (RM 6) and then packed our luggage, rested and waited until 8.30pm to leave for the airport for our flight back to KUL scheduled at 2350. The Yandex from Tashkent train station to Tashkent airport costs UZS 25K (RM 9).

We didn't get any lounge access at Tashkent airport for Batik Air's business class so we used the remaining of our UZS cash to buy a cup of hot tea for UZS 25K at one of the airport cafes after clearing immigration. Although the café displayed prices in EUR, we could still utilize our UZS cash. All the duty free shops after immigration displays the price tag in EUR. 

Our flight departed on time and we arrived KUL earlier than the scheduled time at 10am. However, we had to wait a while for our luggage, and then there was a drama with the KLIA taxi driver who insisted that the ride to our home should cost RM99 instead of RM 91. All the numerous times we took the KLIA airport had always cost RM 91, which I showed my receipt as proof (the latest trip being in April 2026), but the driver kept on insisting for us to go back to the counter which had cost us another 30 minutes. Perhaps next time we would consider to take Grab again.

late night snack

idli breakfast

briyani breakfast

good morning

Thank you Uzbekistan for the wonderful memories. 

Samarkand

Sat 6/6/26

After breakfast at 8am, we ventured out to Bibikhanum mosque first (ticket required for entry). Then we surveyed around the stalls in the Siyob Bozori (market), but would return later to buy some fruits and souvenirs.

breakfast at Istat

breakfast at Istat

Bibikhanum mosque

Siyob Bozori

Siyob Bozori

From Siyob Bozori, we walked across the pedestrian bridge to Hazrat Khizr mosque on the hilltop with vantage views of Bibikhanum mosque. Next to the mosque is the mausoleum of the first president of Uzbekistan which have beautiful decorations at the courtyard.

balcony at Hazrat Khizr mosque with Bibikhanum mosque in the background

inside Hazrat Khizr mosque

balcony at Hazrat Khizr mosque

courtyard at President's museum

Bibikhanum mosque view from the hill at Hazrat Khizr mosque

We then walked about 10 minutes to Shah-i-Zinda necropolis (ticket required for entry), which houses a mausoleum and other ritual buildings of 11th – 15th and 19th centuries. (wikipedia). There are separate prayer rooms for men and women at the entrance.

Shah-i-Zinda necropolis

From the necropolis, we walked back to Siyob Bozori and bought a strawberries (UZS 50K or RM15), yellow cherries (UZS 10K or RM 3) and some fridge magnets (cheapest one cost UZS 3000 or RM1 which have the tiger mosaic of the Sherdar Madrasa in Registan Square). 

After shopping, we went to a chaykhana (teahouse) near Bibikhanum mosque to have lunch of plov, beef samosa and a pot of tea for UZS 95.4K or RM 32, paid by card.

plov and samsa lunch at chaykhana

After lunch, we went back to the hotel to rest and take a respite from the sun. For afternoon tea, we walked to a nearby bakery Chorraha and bought some beef and pumpkin samsas for UZS 19K (RM 6) paid by cash.

beef and pumpkin samsas

There are free daily lightshows at the Registan, so at 7pm we walked to the Registan Square and waited. Finally the 15 minute show started at 9pm, but it was narrated in Uzbek. There was a supposed to be a laser show after a short break, but it didn't happen (we waited until 10pm). We went back to the hotel to rest for the day after the light show.

lightshow at Registan square