April 30th, 2014 (Wednesday)
Megan, Bre, Regina, Suzette, Monica, Angelina, Marisa, and I arrived in Dublin pretty fairly early in the day, so we luckily had plenty of time to explore Dublin on the only day we didn't have day trips to other parts of Ireland planned. Our hostel was in a great location, only about a 15-20 minute walk from Trinity College, so we started our exploring there. Since some of us wanted to do the Guinness storehouse tour, we didn't have a whole lot of time, but we were still able to walk around several of the buildings. We got to the Guinness factory with a few hours until closing, so we went through the self-guided tour and learned about how the beer was brewed and how Arthur Guinness started his company. We finished off the tour with pouring our own Guinness (with the help of an extremely attractive Brazilian bartender who I may have fallen in love with a little bit) and being able to go up to the Gravity bar, which is on the sixth or seventh floor of the factory. All the walls are widnows, so you're able to get a full overhead view of the city. Those of us who toured Guinness then met up with the rest of our group for dinner at Wagamama's, a really good Asian food chain that's only in Europe. After dinner, we went to bed to prepare for the early morning ahead of us.
May 1st, 2014 (Thursday)
We left at 6:50am for our first of three day trips, this one to the Cliffs of Moher. We made a few stops along the way to see things such as the Limerick treaty stone and a couple of pretty places along the shoreline. Once we got the cliffs, we had a little less than two hours to explore, and honestly it wasn't enough time. I could have spent all day climbing around on the cliffs. It was amazing to me how you could just move in a different direction by two steps and have a totally different view. The view just got more beautiful the more we walked. After our time at the cliffs was up, we headed over to get lunch in a small town called Doolin, where I had a delicious pasta meal that came with dessert and tea. Once we finished eating, our tour guide took us to a place called the Mini Cliffs, which were basically a smaller, lesser-known extension of the Cliffs of Moher. I thought they were just as gorgeous, and it was nice to not have as many tourists walking around. We also stopped by the Corcomroe Abbey, a church and cemetary constructed in 1205. Our last stop of the day was at the Dunguaire Castle. Even just riding around on the bus all day was an adventure; when I wasn't napping, I was in awe of the number of sheep, cows, and donkeys just hanging out on the mountains and fields (fun fact: there are twice as many cows in Ireland as there are people). Once our tour returned us to Dublin, we all went to The Celt, a pub down the street from our hostel that had live music. Once again, it was an early night, considering we had another 6:50am bus to catch.
Megan, Bre, Regina, Suzette, Monica, Angelina, Marisa, and I arrived in Dublin pretty fairly early in the day, so we luckily had plenty of time to explore Dublin on the only day we didn't have day trips to other parts of Ireland planned. Our hostel was in a great location, only about a 15-20 minute walk from Trinity College, so we started our exploring there. Since some of us wanted to do the Guinness storehouse tour, we didn't have a whole lot of time, but we were still able to walk around several of the buildings. We got to the Guinness factory with a few hours until closing, so we went through the self-guided tour and learned about how the beer was brewed and how Arthur Guinness started his company. We finished off the tour with pouring our own Guinness (with the help of an extremely attractive Brazilian bartender who I may have fallen in love with a little bit) and being able to go up to the Gravity bar, which is on the sixth or seventh floor of the factory. All the walls are widnows, so you're able to get a full overhead view of the city. Those of us who toured Guinness then met up with the rest of our group for dinner at Wagamama's, a really good Asian food chain that's only in Europe. After dinner, we went to bed to prepare for the early morning ahead of us.
May 1st, 2014 (Thursday)
We left at 6:50am for our first of three day trips, this one to the Cliffs of Moher. We made a few stops along the way to see things such as the Limerick treaty stone and a couple of pretty places along the shoreline. Once we got the cliffs, we had a little less than two hours to explore, and honestly it wasn't enough time. I could have spent all day climbing around on the cliffs. It was amazing to me how you could just move in a different direction by two steps and have a totally different view. The view just got more beautiful the more we walked. After our time at the cliffs was up, we headed over to get lunch in a small town called Doolin, where I had a delicious pasta meal that came with dessert and tea. Once we finished eating, our tour guide took us to a place called the Mini Cliffs, which were basically a smaller, lesser-known extension of the Cliffs of Moher. I thought they were just as gorgeous, and it was nice to not have as many tourists walking around. We also stopped by the Corcomroe Abbey, a church and cemetary constructed in 1205. Our last stop of the day was at the Dunguaire Castle. Even just riding around on the bus all day was an adventure; when I wasn't napping, I was in awe of the number of sheep, cows, and donkeys just hanging out on the mountains and fields (fun fact: there are twice as many cows in Ireland as there are people). Once our tour returned us to Dublin, we all went to The Celt, a pub down the street from our hostel that had live music. Once again, it was an early night, considering we had another 6:50am bus to catch.
May 2nd, 2014 (Friday)
Our destination today was Connemara, an area west of Galway. Since Galway was on the way, we made a short stop there so we could walk around and explore the city a bit. Unfortunately, we couldn't find Whelan's, the pub that is used in the movie P.S.: I Love You, but I still really enjoyed my hour walking around Galway and looking in some of the shops. We got lunch at Kylemore Abbey, a monastery built int he 1920s. Although we didn't have time to go inside, we got to take some pictures of it from the bridge across the lake from it, and it was very beautiful. We finally arrived in Connemara and took an hour and a half long boat tour, which was really cool. We learned about the fishing industry in Connemara as well as some urban legends of the town, including one about a fox trying to eat a barnacle and drowning when the barnacle bit its tongue. Although the boat tour was really fun, this was probably my least favorite of the three trips simply because we spent more time on the bus than I had wanted. It was still a very cool trip however, and it was definitely more relaxing than the cliffs, which was perfect for our even earlier rise on our last full day in Ireland. We finished off another early night with dinner at a pub called O'Shea's, where I had the best baked potato EVER.
Our destination today was Connemara, an area west of Galway. Since Galway was on the way, we made a short stop there so we could walk around and explore the city a bit. Unfortunately, we couldn't find Whelan's, the pub that is used in the movie P.S.: I Love You, but I still really enjoyed my hour walking around Galway and looking in some of the shops. We got lunch at Kylemore Abbey, a monastery built int he 1920s. Although we didn't have time to go inside, we got to take some pictures of it from the bridge across the lake from it, and it was very beautiful. We finally arrived in Connemara and took an hour and a half long boat tour, which was really cool. We learned about the fishing industry in Connemara as well as some urban legends of the town, including one about a fox trying to eat a barnacle and drowning when the barnacle bit its tongue. Although the boat tour was really fun, this was probably my least favorite of the three trips simply because we spent more time on the bus than I had wanted. It was still a very cool trip however, and it was definitely more relaxing than the cliffs, which was perfect for our even earlier rise on our last full day in Ireland. We finished off another early night with dinner at a pub called O'Shea's, where I had the best baked potato EVER.
May 3rd, 2014 (Saturday)
I think Giant's Causeway was my favorite trip, even though we had to get up literally at the crack of dawn to go. We had the same tour guide as we did on Friday, so the trip was already off to a good start since we all really enjoyed him. Before getting to our first main stop, we stopped along the coast a couple of times to take pictures. After a few hours, we got to Carrick-a-Rede, a 40-foot high rope bridge built between two island mountain type things. Once you crossed the bridge, you had gorgeous views of the ocean, and according to our guide, you could even see Scotland on a clear day. Since it was a little foggy, we could only see a very faint outline, but I'm still happy I can say I saw Scotland because it's the one place I didn't get to go to on this trip that I really wanted to see...guess that means I'll just have to come back :) After the rope bridge, we headed out to the Giant's Causeway, a huge area of land on the coast that was formed when a volcano erupted, creating 40,000 connected basalt columns. However, the Irish have a better story as to how the causeway was made. Many years ago, according to this legend, the giant of Ireland and the giant of Scotland wanted to have a battle to prove who was the better and stronger giant. So, the Irish giant built the causeway for the Scottish giant to cross so they could fight. However, the Irish giant soon realized he would lose to battle since he was much smaller, but his wife had a plan: dress up as a baby. So, when the Scottish giant arrived for the duel, the Irish giant's wife told him her husband had just stepped out and would be back shortly. The Scottish giant saw the "baby" (the Irish giant in disguise) and freaked: how big was the Irish giant if his baby was this massive? So the Scottish giant fled and the Irish giant became known as the better and stronger one.
I think Giant's Causeway was my favorite trip, even though we had to get up literally at the crack of dawn to go. We had the same tour guide as we did on Friday, so the trip was already off to a good start since we all really enjoyed him. Before getting to our first main stop, we stopped along the coast a couple of times to take pictures. After a few hours, we got to Carrick-a-Rede, a 40-foot high rope bridge built between two island mountain type things. Once you crossed the bridge, you had gorgeous views of the ocean, and according to our guide, you could even see Scotland on a clear day. Since it was a little foggy, we could only see a very faint outline, but I'm still happy I can say I saw Scotland because it's the one place I didn't get to go to on this trip that I really wanted to see...guess that means I'll just have to come back :) After the rope bridge, we headed out to the Giant's Causeway, a huge area of land on the coast that was formed when a volcano erupted, creating 40,000 connected basalt columns. However, the Irish have a better story as to how the causeway was made. Many years ago, according to this legend, the giant of Ireland and the giant of Scotland wanted to have a battle to prove who was the better and stronger giant. So, the Irish giant built the causeway for the Scottish giant to cross so they could fight. However, the Irish giant soon realized he would lose to battle since he was much smaller, but his wife had a plan: dress up as a baby. So, when the Scottish giant arrived for the duel, the Irish giant's wife told him her husband had just stepped out and would be back shortly. The Scottish giant saw the "baby" (the Irish giant in disguise) and freaked: how big was the Irish giant if his baby was this massive? So the Scottish giant fled and the Irish giant became known as the better and stronger one.
The rocks were so fun to climb on, and like the cliffs, there was always a different, more beautiful view to be seen from any angle. We were able to spend about two hours there before we had to leave to head to Belfast, where we had an hour to walk around. We stopped in a couple of stores and miraciously found an Auntie Anne's pretzel, so of course we had to make a short pit stop in our exploring, considering those are hard for me to even find in the States! We got back to Dublin in time for dinner, before we headed back to the hostel to drop off our bags and get ready to hit up the Temple Bar area for one last night in Dublin.
May 4th, 2014 (Sunday)
As always, Sunday is the travel day. We had a traditional Irish breakfast before using our last few hours in Dublin to walk around the main strip and do a little shopping. We caught a flight into Brussels International and then took a train into Lux, so I got home around 10:00pm.
Overall, I think Ireland was probably my favorite country. There are so many things to do and see, and it's so interesting to me how one place has so many different types of places within it. There are mountains, big cities (no two which are alike), and beautiful coastlines and beaches. Everyone was extremely friendly, and I fell in love with the Irish music played to us on the bus. There were so many animals too, which I also loved. Everything was so green and felt very clean and fresh. I had a great group of girls who I traveled with, and we all got along and had so much fun together. This will be my last trip while I'm here in Europe, and honestly I couldn't think of a better ending. I'm already missing Ireland and wanting to go back!
As always, Sunday is the travel day. We had a traditional Irish breakfast before using our last few hours in Dublin to walk around the main strip and do a little shopping. We caught a flight into Brussels International and then took a train into Lux, so I got home around 10:00pm.
Overall, I think Ireland was probably my favorite country. There are so many things to do and see, and it's so interesting to me how one place has so many different types of places within it. There are mountains, big cities (no two which are alike), and beautiful coastlines and beaches. Everyone was extremely friendly, and I fell in love with the Irish music played to us on the bus. There were so many animals too, which I also loved. Everything was so green and felt very clean and fresh. I had a great group of girls who I traveled with, and we all got along and had so much fun together. This will be my last trip while I'm here in Europe, and honestly I couldn't think of a better ending. I'm already missing Ireland and wanting to go back!