Irish You Were Here!

Hello darlings! This weekend, I headed out to Ireland with Courtney. We stayed in a hostel Wednesday night near the Rome airport so we could catch our early flight. The room was painted bright orange and had a giant fan pinned onto the wall.

We eventually made it to Dublin Thursday afternoon. Courtney and I went straight to the hostel to drop off our luggage. We stayed at the Generator and it was by far the best hostel I’ve ever stayed in. There was a bar and a restaurant connected to it.

After we dropped off our things, we headed out to grab a bite to eat. We ended up at the Porterhouse. I had a delicious chicken and potatoes.

After our lovely meal, we wandered Dublin. Every street was decked out in Christmas spirit. We ended up getting delicious organic ice cream at Murphy’s. I got coffee made with whiskey and a sea salt flavor.

Friday

We started the day with a two hour walking tour of the city. We saw a lot of cool graffiti and the Dublin Castle. The guide told us the story about St. Patrick. I did not realize that he used a clover to explain religion to the king. That the clover represents God as a whole but there are three parts- father, son, and the holy spirit. I found it so fascinating. St. Patrick was also Welsh, but he brought Christianity to Ireland. That is why he is celebrated.

We ended up going inside the Trinity Library after the tour. We were able to see the Book of Kells and their beautiful library.

The monks used these materials in order to color some of the letters in the Book of Kells.

After I nerded out from that beautiful library, we headed to Elephant and Castle to get lunch. We were recommend by a few blogs and our friends. It was very good. I ended up getting a chicken curry sandwich. If you ever get the opportunity to go, they’re known for the wings. Courtney ended up ordering their wings and I snagged a few of them.

We then hustled our way to the Guinness factory. For someone who does not drink/like beer it was so much fun. The factory was so cool! There were so many unique things in the building. For example, they had interactive movies, a photo booth, a random talking clam, advertisement section, and even an area where you get to play with the barley. Since my brother is a brewer, it was cool to learn about the beer making process.

I even tried a glass of Guinness! This particular glass I poured myself!

Later that night, we went out for dinner. I got some delcious fish and chips. It’s funny to think I didn’t like seafood three years ago!

After that lovely meal, we went out to Temple Bar. The entire bar was decorated in Christmas presents! There was even a giant Santa doll floating from the ceiling! If you look really close in the picture, Santa is holding two beers.The band was really good! They played many American songs and a few Irish songs.

We had a great time just observing people in the bar. There were so many groups celebrating someone’s birthday. The people were so amusing! One particular group of women were going up to everyone and just having a fantastic time.

Saturday

We headed west to see the Cliffs of Moher. While we were driving, we had to stop a few times because of some ‘Irish Traffic.’ Basically there was a bunch of cows that needed to cross the street and we had to wait for them to cross.

The cliffs were such a cool thing to see. It’s something that you kind of just stare at in amazement. Not one of these pictures does it justice. Also, the pictures don’t capture how freezing cold and rainy it was. We saw rain, hail, and sunshine in the matter of 5 minutes. I guess that’s Irish weather for you!

We then hopped back on the bus and headed to Galway. It was about a two hour ride and about 3-4 people got sick. Courtney and I aren’t sure if it was because of a ‘fun’ night out or just because the roads were extremely wavy. Regardless… it was an ‘amusing’ ride there.

When we arrived in Galway, we headed straight to the Christmas market. It was pretty tiny but it was the cutest thing ever. There were Christmas lights everywhere, a ferris wheel, slides, hot chocolate stands, food stands, and ornament stands. Since I love Christmas (who doesn’t), it was a fabulous time.

I ate this lovely pulled pork wrap with stuffing.

After dreaming of a white Christmas, we headed to the shopping district of Galway. They had the cutest little shops. Since I still don’t know if I’m allergic to wool, I tried not to touch anything. Look how beautiful the streets were!

Before getting on the bus once more, Courtney and I went inside this beautiful church.

A took a picture of this random pole in the hostel. I just love the saying.

Sunday

The next morning, we checked out of the hostel and grabbed some breakfast. Since I’m not really a fan of breakfast (I know, I’m sorry), I ended up getting lunch. I had this delicious chicken, pesto, tomato, and goat cheese sandwich. It was so phenomenal.

Courtney had breakfast food, like a normal person. We both tried the black pudding (pig’s blood). It was surprisingly really good!  It just tasted like a sausage with a spicier flavor… a very different texture though!

One last beautiful picture of Dublin.

And the sunset on the plane home.

My last big trip is this weekend. Thursday, I’ll be heading to Florence to Catch a bus to Budapest. I can’t believe I have so little time in this beautiful part of the world! Stay tuned to see the pictures of Budapest!

As always,