Alchemy is located at 28A Grafton Street in Dublin. You need to make your way through the clothing retailer BT2 and up to the second floor to gain access to the juicery.

Alchemy juices are cold pressed, raw and unpasteurized. Their food menu has vegetarian, vegan, celiac, ketogenic, dairy-free, sugar-free, paleo and low-carb offerings. And there are smoothies and health shots as well.

Juices come in four pre-chosen mixes. Tea, coffee and various baked goods are also available and the view overlooking Grafton Street offers a wonderful break from the hubbub below.

Open daily, The Farm has two locations in Dublin. We ate at the 133 Leeson Street Upper, Dublin 4 site, a 10 minute walk from Stephen’s Green, across the Leeson Bridge over the Grand Canal.

The Farm Restaurants are Irish-owned and family-run and they focus on Irish food with international inspirations, sourcing a lot of their ingredients locally. A great percentage of their meat, vegetables and other ingredients are organic and they have many gluten-free and vegetarian options.

Their menu includes crab cakes; free range Irish chicken wings; hummus; organic quinoa, chickpea and couscous cakes; fish pie; slow braised lamb shoulder; teriyaki salmon; sea bream fillets; organic stuffed peppers; rhubarb crumble; organic ice cream; fair trade coffee and tea and much more.

They also carry a nice drink selection, including non-alcoholic offerings like coconut water and Kombucha.

Check out their menus online as meals vary depending on time of day and season.

“From apple to bottle,” Highbank delivers quality. They make their own orchard syrup (Ireland’s answer to maple syrup), liquor, gin, spirit, vodka, cider (and driver’s cider for the designated driver).

We missed out on meeting the owners, the Calder-Potts. Rod Calder-Potts’ parents left South Africa at the first signs of apartheid in 1958, returning to Ireland and my hat’s off to them for it. They then bought the family farm off of Rod’s Uncle Billy.

Highbank is situated on the grounds of a 17th century farmyard whose soil is uniquely suited to produce delicious apples. They went organic in 1994 and began the process of returning the farm to a more environmentally inclusive husbandry.

The Orchard has won a plethora of prestigious — well deserved — awards.

The Orchard Shop even conveniently stocks Zwartbles blankets for sale.

Cobh, Co. Cork is such a beautiful town — an overhead view of the colorful town, the imposing St. Colman’s Cathedral and a lively harbor.

It’s also known as the final sailing point for the Titanic on its doomed voyage. The Titanic Museum, in town, is the official Irish word on the ship and its passengers. It’s a humbling reminder of the fragility of life.

Of course, the center doesn’t want visitors to leave depressed. It’s meant to be an educational albeit somber tour.

There are plenty of eateries and pubs ready to accept tourist euros and I was more than happy to oblige. Museum tour visitors wandered out occasionally on the verandah above as I sipped on a nice glass of wine at the dock where the great ship set sail. With a nip in the air, we had the outdoor seats to ourselves.

One of the highlights of Cork City is the bustling English Market on Princes Street in the city centre, which has been in operation since 1788. It’s one of the oldest municipal markets of its kind in the world.

Located in a roofed-in area, it is open 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, though individual traders might have slightly different hours.

Small upstarts sit alongside large-scale or long-established family businesses passed down from one generation to another.

There’s an excellent selection of meats, fishes (some you’ve no doubt never seen), herbs, spices, fruits, vegetables, sauces, oils, chocolates, cakes, cheeses and pastas. But you’ll also find non-food items like t-shirts, novelty items, clothing alterations and art.

The smell of the market changes from area to area more than the overall feel does, most especially, as you’d expect, along the seafood stalls.

If you’d like to get a sense of living like a local, it’s hard to beat the English Market.

We stayed at the Carole Ville Bed and Breakfast in Blackrock, Co. Cork, a wonderful place with a lovely host and as luck would have it, our schedule coincided with the Blackrock Village Sunday Market.

It was early yet, but we figured we’d take a chance and couldn’t have been happier that we did. Despite there being construction all around, only a handful of vendors and a bit of a chill in the air, the food was fabulous . . . and homemade. The rest of it just added atmosphere.

I enjoyed several delicious energy balls (pictured), while Conor had a chicken falafel from Sultan Street Food (Greek and Lebanese), that he still claims was the best he’s ever had. The main ingredients were boiled up in a large vat bursting with aromatics, spices and vibrant colors.

Unfortunately, the smallest bills we had at the time were 50 euro notes and the crepe maker didn’t have enough change, so we couldn’t sample the sweet or savory crepes, but the quick jaunt to the market made us realize that sometimes the best things can come on a whim.

Visit the Sunday Market on Facebook.