1. I was noticeably breathing what is likely the freshest air I will breath in my lifetime.
At several points on the trip I would take a breath of the crisp Irish air and invigorated. This could easily be contributed to my constant pleasure and excitement at basically everything we were doing, but I thought to myself several times that I may never breathe air as fresh as this ever again.
2. The people of Ireland are some of the friendliest I've encountered.
Granted, I'm not incredibly worldly and coming from Italy, where if you smile at people on the street they'll glare at you in disgust, pretty much anything seems friendly. But traveling through three distinctly different cities across the country, I never felt looked down upon for being a tourist, never felt out of place or excluded and never once felt unsafe. The Irish are truly a very welcoming people, happy to share their beautiful country with whomever they meet.
3. The stereotypes you about Ireland are totally not but also maybe but definitely possibly not true.
There are many stereotypes about Ireland that we hear as Americans: the Irish are drunks who live on potatoes, Guinness and Jameson's, the Irish love St. Patrick's day and shamrocks and green is the color of Ireland, etc. From my observations, some of these are true. The Irish people do love Guinness and Jameson's--after these families established their companies, they built up the cities of Ireland and provided charitable donations in excess to the major cities for reconstruction and beautification. The Irish people do like St. Patrick's Day, although it's still crazier in most U.S. cities than it is in Ireland. The shamrock isn't actually a symbol of Ireland, but a harp is. And green is a symbol of Ireland as much as orange and white are--green stands for Catholicism, orange symbolizes the Protestant religion, and white symbolizes a mutual respect between the two.
Alright, so enough of my dull observations/notes. What follows is hopefully a brief explanation of my journey through Ireland bolstered by some of my favorite pictures from each place.
First stop: Galway
This was actually the second stop because our flight landed in Dublin and then we took a bus from the airport to Galway, but that's really just semantics, no?
After checking into the hostel, we ventured out to find a bite to eat and get some views of Galway before the sun went down. I had beef and Guinness stew for dinner--a very popular Irish meal, and I ordered my first Guinness to drink. The stew was DELICIOUS and came with a mound of mashed potatoes, and the beer was pretty good as well--I started the week liking it but got sick of it rather quickly. We walked around town for a bit after dinner and then popped into a bar for some awesome live music (there's live music at basically every bar 7 nights a week).
The Facade of our Hostel
Where the River meets the Sea--Galway Bay
The Extremely Fast-Flowing River
The next morning, we got on a bus to get on a ferry to go to the Aran Islands! Inis Mor (pronounced "innish-more), the big island, was our day's destination. Upon arrival, we rented bikes and set off around the island. The main attractions were grassy knolls, cows, stone walls, cliffs, and a wormhole. We rode out to an old fort--Dun Aengus--where I first laid on a cliff (and couldn't stop laughing out of nervousness). We then ventured off the beaten path to get to the "Wormhole"--a rectangular house-sized hole on the rocky coast often used for cliff diving (I almost got sucked into the wormhole by an unexpected rogue wave, I ended up with soaking wet legs for a few hours). We got a delicious lunch and then headed back to the port to catch the evening ferry back to Galway.
Our Biking Buddy
These Stone Walls Covered the Island
On the Edge
I'm just in front of the wave, running for my life
The Wormhole
The second full day in Galway was spent on a bus tour to the Cliffs of Moher. We caught the bus at 10am and went on a neat tour of Galway Bay that included a stop at a castle, driving though the limestone hills--the Burren--and a few other random pit stops before we reached our final destination. The Cliffs of Moher are amazing. I don't know how else to describe them. Miles (or kilometers) of rocky cliff topped by green grassy plains--it was gorgeous. This was the second time that I laid on the edge of a cliff (and again with the uncontrollable nervous laughter).
The Burren
The Cliffs of Moher
In the sixth Harry Potter movie when Harry and Dumbledore go to the cave to look for the necklace horcrux, they land on that rock before swimming into a cave--all filmed at the Cliffs of Moher.
The Path--if you slip, you die!
Our last day in Galway was spent doing mainly touristy things--buying postcards, stopping in all of the t-shirt shops to pick up St. Patrick's Day garb and going on a walking tour of the town. On the walking tour, I learned that Galway is the most international city in Ireland and has a very young population, many of whom attend the University in Galway. All of the locals that we talked to on the trip completely love Galway. In the words of our taxi driver in Cork, "It's just got a fuckin' VIBE, you know?". He's absolutely right.
Next Stop: Cork
That's right, you're only 33% done with reading this, HA! We took an evening bus to Cork, and it was about this time that a mild stomach flu began to set in for me. We arrived at the hostel around 9:30 and I was perfectly fine with the decision to take it easy for the night. Our first day in Cork was St. Patrick's Day, so we woke up and decked ourselves out (it was really just a headband, a scarf and some socks) with the garb we'd bought in Galway. We were feeling a bit sheepish when we left the hostel and it seemed no one else was wearing green, but once it got a bit later in the morning, everyone's Paddy's Day spirit was showing. There was a market on one of the main streets in Cork where businesses brought tents and sold food and drinks at a 20% price increase to all of the festival participants. Around midday, there was a parade through the city with some incredibly odd floats (like giant robotic insects-type oddness) and local groups showing their pride. After the parade we immediately went into a bar and discovered with great horror that they didn't serve food! So we grabbed a quick bite and went to a larger bar where we spent the remainder of the night listening to awesome Irish folk bands and watching the locals dance their crazy Irish jigs to the songs! It was such a fun night, and an amazing way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day (it was also around this time that I grew tired of Guinness, so the bartender made me a Jameson Ginger and Lime--a new favorite!).
Our Lovely Hostel
Enjoying the Festival
Twinning at the Bar
The next day, we went over to a tourist information hut and booked tickets for a Blarney Castle day trip. We drove about 15 minutes on a minibus to Blarney Castle that same morning, just as the mist was starting to dissipate--it made for beautiful views of the castle grounds! We got right up and kissed the Blarney Stone (you reeeeally have to lean back to get it!) and then spent about 2 hours strolling the beautiful landscape. After the castle, we went over to Cobh (pronounced "cove", the Irish language is not a phonetic one), which was the last stop of the Titanic before it sunk. There, we got lunch and visited a Historical Museum (it was also a HUGE port for European emigration) before hopping back on the bus. From here, we could either have gone to the Jameson's Distillery or a Wildlife Park for 2 hours, so we made the obvious choice and went to the Wildlife Park (along with only 2 other people, strangely enough). The park was cool--there were kangaroos, lemurs and pelicans just waltzing around--and after a couple of hours there, we went back to Cork.
Blarney Castle
Kissing the Stone
I also could have bought a picture for 10 euros...
The Castle Grounds
Our last day in Cork was spent doing self-guided walking tours. There were maps and checkpoints all over the city to make these easy, and we walked around and saw a lot of new sights in and around Cork. We made our last stop at the University College Cork. The campus was beautiful and it was a nice way to end that part of our trip.
The City of Cork
River on the UCC Campus
Last Stop: Dublin
We took another evening bus from Cork to Dublin, and after dropping off our things that the less-than-satisfactory hostel, we went out in search of food (and some decent beer). I saw a sign that read "CRAFT BEER", so I steered us in that direction. It was the J.W. Sweetman microbrewery in Dublin, and I had a fantastic dinner of bangers and mash paired (by the brewery) with the Sweetman Porter. It was sublime!
The next morning, we set our on our own just walking around the city. We caught a free walking tour at 11 which took us (very slowly) to all of the main attractions on the south side of the river including Trinity College, Temple Bar, St. Patrick's Cathedral and Dublin Castle. We then got lunch in the Temple Bar area of the city (a mistake--it's the most touristy area) and then walked through St. Stephen's Green (a very lovely park) and went to the National Archaeological Museum which was full of Viking-era relics. We got another delicious dinner at the Porterhouse Brewery and heard some fierce pipe music (on the Irish flute and uilleann pipes) by a local folk band.
The Famous Temple Bar
St. Patrick's Cathedral
Trinity College
The Ha'Penny Bridge
Dublin Castle
For our last day in Dublin, we booked a "P.S. I Love You" Tour, which we had been told was very little about the movie and very much about beautiful sights in the nearby Wicklow National Park--which was an accurate description. We were in a cosy van with 13 other people and a quirky guide and we drove though some of the most beautiful terrain I've ever seen. I'm not ashamed to say that I got tears in my eyes at some points! Our first stop was Glendelough--a small town in the valley of the park. We stayed here for 2 hours, walking a trail through the nearby lakes and taking in the spectacular views. We then drove up into the mountains to a region known as the Guinness Family Estates and overlooked a gorgeous lake and valley--a popular site for movie crews. It was a gorgeous day and our guide was incredibly knowledgeable and honest--it was very fun. We spent the evening at dinner in the oldest pub in Dublin--the Brazen Head. We caught another amazing band's performance at a bar nearby our hostel and called it a night around 11:30--we were due up at 3:30am to catch our shuttle to the airport!
The Views in Glendelough
The Views in the Guinness Family Estates
The trip was one for the books to be sure. My parents are likely already sick of my telling them how much they HAVE to visit Ireland. And I urge the same of you. Ireland is a must-see destination for everyone. The sights, the air, the people cannot be beat! I'm so thankful to have had the amazing opportunity to stay in Ireland for my spring break, and I know I'll be visiting there again.
Things to look forward to this week: a break from traveling (my immune system will be thanking me), a day trip to Assisi on Saturday.
Thanks for reading,
Kasey Ann
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