Hello World and Happy Friday!
I am sitting in a small park in London that is almost right behind my flat. Its a beautiful Friday afternoon and time for me to add another chapter to this adventure. This week I am going to dive into Dublin. And yes that was my opening line because I like the alliteration, I did not actually dive anywhere in Dublin I more of flew and then did a bunch of walking...Anyway Here We GO!
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IRELAND! A land, of grand green fields, ancient castles, vikings, Celts, and beer! This was part of a two weekend traveling spree that started with Romania the week before, but that is a story for another time. I decided in February that I needed to start knocking some places off my list and booked both weekends early in the month. This paid off on the price of the tickets and I managed a return flight for 60 pounds! The hostel was not as cheap however and most were booked up at the time. I found out why later. Apparently it was the weekend of a big Ireland vs France rugby match! I didn't get to watch much of it but I met plenty of fans. Ireland won so there were many sad French people wondering around the second half of my trip. Anyway, I got one hostel for the first night and switched for the next two nights. Gotta work with what I can get I guess...
So the first day I really didn't have a plan. I had a few ideas of stuff to do but left a lot of room for randomness just to see what happens. So, I dropped my bag at the hostel, grabbed a few flyers, and hit the town. Priority one: FOOD. Honestly, I didn't get anything particularly Irish for most of the time I was there. When you're really hungry cultural experience goes out the door and the first food you see is what you get. Plus it was raining when I got there so I wanted to find a place to sit and wait it out. I found a corner deli where I grabbed a sandwich and a seat in the window to relaxe a bit as I watched the city. I mostly just saw a bunch of normal people running around trying to avoid the rain, but not everything is crazy and exotic.
It was still raining when I finished eating but I wasn't about to let the weather stop me. I came prepared for this and had an umbrella!
Finally in a moment of magical Irish luck, the Leprechauns awoke from their hiding places and painted a rainbow over the city with beams of golden sunlight that began to stretch through the streets. Or a convenient moment of weather patterns revealed a natural and well timed spectrum of light over the city, but Isn't the first explanation so much better?
I eventually found my way to O'Connell Street which is a huge central shopping street with two lanes on each side and a walkway with a bunch of monuments right in the middle. One particularly stuck out to me, as it was an enormous, almost 400ft tall, spike! This is The Spire, or the Millennium Spike, and it was built to both celebrate the millennium and replace the half blown up Admiral Nelson Pillar that the IRA took a disliking too. It was definitely different than any sculpture I had seen before, and I couldn't shake the thought that if someone built a tiny 3D map of the city, Dublin would make the perfect paper holder for a desk. It has also earned quite a few interesting nicknames that I will leave to your imagination.
One of the flyers that I had picked up was for the free tours offered in the city so I decided to burn up some time and try to catch the next one in a couple hours. And of course as I normally do when I am just trying to kill time and am in a new place, I started wondering the streets. I found my way to the River Liffey which is the central river running through the city, and decided to follow it and see where I end up. I passed a couple cool looking buildings like the Old Jameson Distillery, the Leprechaun museum, and an old church that has been converted into a very cool looking pub! Leave it to the Irish to create a place where they can drink away their sins and pray away sobriety. After about 45 minutes of walking I realized I had another 45 to get back so decided to turn down a side street and head back.
I made it just in time for the tour and was surprised to see that only one other person had shown up for it! This is the first time I had seen a group of less than 10 and I wasn't sure if the guide would still do it. Fortunately this guy was a great tour guide and didn't even bat an eye. Peter, had been giving these tours for a few months now and was one of the only guides offering tours of the slightly less touristy north side of the city. The south side has all the classic pubs, the castle, the viking relics, and the brewery; the north has more of the political history but turned out to be equally as interesting.
I've learned that these tours each have their own flavor. Sometimes there are many stories told, sometimes its a lot of jokes, sometimes its a lot of history. This tour ended up being very history heavy and focused a lot on the fight for independence in the early 20th century. The guide walked us through some of the memorials and told us some stories behind some of the people on them. My favorite was actually hidden in a small alleyway and would go completely unnoticed if you didn't know it was there. On the side of this alleyway is a plaque with a letter that was written by Michael O'Rahilly. This letter and location is significant because it was written after O'Rahilly led a rebellion charge in the Easter Rising of 1916 and was shot by a machine gun. He ducked into this alleyway and as he was bleeding to death he scratched out a letter to be delivered to his wife with his final goodbyes....I bet every one of you just thought awww at the same time.
The rest of the tour was good as well but you will have to take it yourself to hear the other stories. Afterwards I was pretty hungry so decided to venture to the south side and find some grub. I ended up finding a pub that offered pizza and a pint for 11 Euros. Now....my first true Irish pint of Guinness! I had heard that it is especially unique in Dublin and taste better hear than anywhere else in the world. So...
I declare BS!!! It taste like Guinness to me but that is about it. Perhaps a bit creamier and definitely very thick, but I am pretty sure this is just a really well distributed marketing ploy to get people to come to Dublin. Well played Ireland. But hey if you don't believe me, come try it yourself! ;)
So i had to try a couple more just to make sure. I found my way to the historic Temple Bar area to explore what I was told is the most touristy part of the city. So this Temple Bar is not a bar. It is an area by the river that has grown to be the home of a bunch of pubs and shops. Think bar as in a sand bar on a river. However (more clever marketing) there is a bar called The Temple Bar. The bar actually changed the name of the place to this a few years back in what must be the most clever naming technique I have ever seen. Naturally people think this is what the area is named after and instant success!!
Well the bar has definitely become a tourist hit but for more than just the name. It really is a cool pub! It is famously over priced but it has a really lively atmosphere and live music almost every night!
Day 2
I crawled out of bed around 5:30am to make it to my bus tour meeting place. Today I was taking a tour all the way across Ireland to the Cliffs of Moher on the western coast. Fortunately Ireland is a fairly skinny country so it was only about a 4 hour ride to get there. It did take a bit longer for our tour since we made a few stops along the way. Each stop was pretty cool though so definitely worth it. The trip through the country side was pretty enjoyable as well as it gave an opportunity to see that beautiful green landscape that the emerald isle is so famous for.
First stop was an ancient Irish castle situated on the edge of an Atlantic bay. We couldn't go inside the castle but you could walk around it and look through the massive Iron gate into the court yard. This ended up being just one of many castles that I got to see this day. However, this was the only one we stopped at. These castle like outposts were set up all over the country for a variety of reasons. Some for defense, some as watch towers, and some as community centers. The one behind me was set up to house the master of the harbor where he could rule over the bay.
We also stopped at a fairy ring! Ok actually it is a fortress from ancient times that consisted purely of a raised ring of ground that kept out bears and wild animals at night. However, legend says that after the humans moved out thousands of years ago, the fairies moved in! We were told to walk counter clockwise around it to avoid enticing bad luck and curses.
We made two other stops before the cliffs. The first was at an ancient burial site that is estimated to be about 4000 years old, which is older than even the Egyptian pyramids. It mainly consisted of a few large slabs of of stone set up like a shelter that couldn't have been taller than I was. The surrounding area had few inhabitants and very narrow roads. At least they felt very narrow in comparison to the coach bus I was on. Interestingly the landscape had changed from the green meadows to a rocky lunar like surface full of cracks and crevices. The last stop we made before the cliffs was at a small Irish pub called the Gus O'Reily Pub for a bite to eat. I found out when we stopped that the person sitting right in front of me was actually from North Carolina! For those of you not from the states that is almost beside where I am from,West Virginia. Just goes to show what a small world it really is! She is there working for the Irish Embassy as an internship and had decided to see some more of Ireland that day.
And finally we arrived at the cliffs!!! You see, I thought I had seen cliffs when I walked through the Appalachian Mountains for two months...nope, those apparently were small drop offs or steep hills. These Are CLIFFS!!!! Over 700 foot drop nearly completely vertical straight to the crashing waves way below. The impact of the waves must have been strong because you could see and hear them leaping up the cliff side but they seemed so tiny from up top.
A thirty foot watch tower sits like a crown on top of one cliff. It has been used over for hundreds of years to spot ships as they would come in to shore. I am picturing Lord of the Rings type fires at the top being lit as an ancient battle ship appears over the horizon and slowly a line of fires appear going all the way to the city where the war drums begin to beat.... Ok I know I watch way to many Sci-Fi films. That may have never happened....But Maybe!!!....probably not.. but..Maybe...
There is a fence on part of the cliffs, however only a small stretch of them is considered a national park and the rest that are on private property are just bare open edges. There were warning signs telling people the edge can collapse but that did not seem to keep many people from risking it anyway. I avoided the overhanging portions but saw a great photo op on a very solid looking piece of cliff. I saw a few others taking pics where they were sitting with their legs over or laying down with their head over the edge so I figured it was relatively safe. I stuck my feet over but only long enough for the pic before sliding backwards away from the edge. I am normally not afraid of heights but even looking back on that now it makes me shutter thinking of that drop off. The tour guide did say a few people a year fall over, but who knows how accurate that is.... Gulp
A small museum is carved into the side of the hill where you can eat in a cafe overlooking the edge and learn the history of the cliffs. Apparently daring natives use to climb down the sides on ropes to collect eggs from the many cliff dwelling birds. Now that is a scary job!
Despite the terrifying height, the cliffs are truly a beauty of nature. Honestly they are something so remarkable that seeing them actually took my breath away! Like I made a genuine gasp when I saw these things... Truly freaking awesome
The ride home was pretty quiet since everyone was exhausted by this point. We drove along the coast and made one final 5 minute stop at the "baby" cliffs. These were only a couple hundred feet tall and offered a much closer look at the crashing waves below. And again no railing, so if you visit...don't trip. We pulled back into Dublin around 9pm and despite how much I just wanted to lay down in my hostel room and go to sleep, I had work to do. It was time to switch to my second hostel which just happened to be on the other side of the city... Note to self... when stuck booking two hostel, next time make them close to each other! When I did get to my room I hit my pillow and was out!
Day 3
I didn't get quite as early of a start this morning. There wasn't a free breakfast at this hostel to entice me to get up so I took my time and slept in until 11am. It was Sunday and I had planned to make it to a service at St Patrick's Cathedral but that bed was comfy and after yesterday I figured God would understand.
I found a nice little diner across the river (I was still staying on the North Side) and enjoyed a hardy English breakfast. Irony in eating an English breakfast in Southern Ireland?...nah they taste really good and the beans have kinda grown on me.
I spent the next few hours wondering around the south part of the city. I walked past the Cathedral but mass was still going on so couldn't go inside. From what I could see on the outside though it was impressive and definitely on my top 10 list for European Churches. The Cathedral itself was alright but the park on the outside is what really amazed me. It was like a green meadow laid out beside it. I walked around it for a minute and enjoyed the sunlight before wondering on through the city.
Moving on I took off for Trinity College Campus to have a walk around it. It is an incredibly old Protestant university in the middle of an ancient Catholic city. Yeah there's been some friction there. I walked around the fenced in squares of grass that are strictly off limits to walk on and found the library building. I was hoping to get inside to see the Book of Kels and the impressive collection of 4.5 million other books being kept on file....but unfortunately it was closed on Sundays. Oh well, now a great reason to come back!
I realized it was beginning to get a bit late and decided to take the Guinness tour since I had to get on a plane the next night. I took the classic picture of St. James gate before heading inside the the Willy-Wonka factory of beer!
The tour takes you into a small part of the factory where you follow a path through a twist of machines and history. I had no idea that the making of wooden barrels was such a competitive occupation back in the day! A sad victim of industrialization though as machines now produce them perfect everytime. But Industrialization was a big help in making Guinness available all over the world so it kind of evens out... I also enjoyed the wall of fame where they have posted pictures of the many famous faces that have explored Guinness Land. Including: Bill Clinton, the Queen, and the Obamas! The final stretch of the tour was a free pint of Guinness that a Master Brewer (yes that is a title) teaches you to properly pour. To top it all off the top floor of the factory is a glass room that offers the best view in the entire city for you to enjoy as you sip a cold, but not too cold, Guinness. Feels oddly like a certain magic elevator at the end of a certain movie about a chocolate factory...except with beer. Of course if you want to see it yourself then don't worry about it going anywhere. When Mr. Arthur Guinness started this company he was pretty confident in it because he signed a 9000 year lease ...yes nine THOUSAND years. And it aint running out anytime soon! 
After the brewery I headed back across town to grab dinner. I had a great Irish stew that was perfect for the cold day that it had been. This ended up being another fast meal however, because I got talking to a group of locals at the restaurant and next thing I know they invited me to join them for a pint. What got us talking was them noticing my accent because apparently was American and apparently they really enjoyed talking American politics. We ended up spending the next couple hours talking while exploring a few of the true local hidden gem pubs around the city. Just goes to show you never know who you may meet while your traveling and life is full of surprises.
The Final Day...Day 4
The last day in Dublin and I knew exactly what I was going to do. Step one check out of my hostel. Two find breakfast, and three find the South Dublin walking tour! I packed up my backpack and took it with me since I didn't plan to come back to the hostel. Lugging it around for one day isn't too bad anyway.
I had been looking forward to this tour all weekend since the south side has a lot of the ancient historical stuff. Old stuff is cool! I had already passed by many of the stops but hearing the stories behind them really helps to add a bit of context to what I was looking at. We started around the castle which wasn't exactly the most medieval looking fortress I have seen but it was definitely the most colorful.
From there we went through the Temple Bar area, learned about the history of the Viking settlements and headed to Trinity College to wrap it all up. Trinity College was particularly interesting. Not so much the history part but the rules and entitlements that are still in place regarding the scholars. You see not all students there are Trinity Scholars. To become one you need to be reaaaally smart. You take an impossibly hard test and those that pass are given certain benefits... Some of these were normal like free housing and scholarships, however, since these were written a very long time ago a few of them are showing their age. Like the ability to bring your sheep to graze on that precious grass while you are in class if you had sheep, or have the teacher bring you a pint of beer while you take any future exams, Doesn't sound to bad!
After the tour I had just long enough to grab some lunch before walking to the bus station to get to the airport. I guess I could have had longer in some places but walking to the bus station was the alternative to taking a different bus across town to the station I needed. It may be hard on the feet but hey how often am I in Dublin!! I decided to enjoy the walk!
A few hours later I was taking off over the Dublin Skyline, headed home to London. And of course since the two countries are right beside each other, only 2 hours later I was home and asleep in my bed after an exhausting weekend.
And finally...
Top 5 things I learned while exploring Ireland!!
1. Real cliffs are pretty scary. but truly awesome.
2. Miniature Dublin would make an excellent paper holder on a desk.
3. Knowing your politics can pay off. If you're from the US and are gonna travel outside the US then make sure you have an idea of what's going on in the US. You may be surprised when many people from other countries do. As a side theory perhaps the relatively close proximity to so many other countries in Europe has made people much more aware of the activities of other nations. I don't really know just theorizing a bit. Anyway, you never know when it could come in handy and land you a fairly epic night.
4. Being a Trinity Schol has got to be awesome!! I mean come on, I would get sheep just because of those rules.
5. A second trip to Ireland is needed. Even for a tiny island I have seen only a small chunk of it. With a countryside full of small villages, random castles, and ancient history, there is always more to see. For next time Ireland.
Anyway I am finishing this thing just in time for the "Happy Friday" in the beginning of this post to still be relevant. Its about 11:45 pm here at the moment so about time I call it a night...amendment to previous sentence: I decided to edit before I publish and since I am really bad at spelling/ grammar/ writing stuff correctly... it is no longer before midnight. The "happy Friday" is still relevant to half the world though so yeah....still counts.
As always World, thanks for reading! and until next time!
Goodnight!!!!!!!!!!!
