Howdy guys!
I just returned last night from a weeklong trip in Ireland! You all probably knew that because most of you are Facebook friends with me. I visited in-between the two biggest holidays in Ireland: St. Patricks Day and the Irish Independence Day. My American friend and fellow Yellow Jacket, Amanda Binion and I visited the Emerald Isle for one week during Semana Santa. Semana Santa is huge festival celebrating holy week in Spain, and Málaga is famous for the processions and merry making. I get a little freaked out because the costumes of the processionals look striking similar to the KKK. Although bearing no connection, it still freaks me out a little bit.
But back to Ireland. I flew out of Málaga quite late on Thursday the 22nd, where I sat next to the kindest Irish couple on the plane. They helped me be less insecure about being in Ireland by myself for a couple days until Amanda flew in. They also bought me a coffee and KitKat from the plane!
I arrived in the dark in Ireland and rode a 6€ Airlink bus to my first hostel, The Spire. It had great reviews but I was quite disappointed. I had booked a 22 bed mixed gender room, which is a lot. However, it was full of older construction workers, which was a little unsettling. Some of them were sick as well. Therefore, I got sick too. Just a head cold but nevertheless.
I just returned last night from a weeklong trip in Ireland! You all probably knew that because most of you are Facebook friends with me. I visited in-between the two biggest holidays in Ireland: St. Patricks Day and the Irish Independence Day. My American friend and fellow Yellow Jacket, Amanda Binion and I visited the Emerald Isle for one week during Semana Santa. Semana Santa is huge festival celebrating holy week in Spain, and Málaga is famous for the processions and merry making. I get a little freaked out because the costumes of the processionals look striking similar to the KKK. Although bearing no connection, it still freaks me out a little bit.
But back to Ireland. I flew out of Málaga quite late on Thursday the 22nd, where I sat next to the kindest Irish couple on the plane. They helped me be less insecure about being in Ireland by myself for a couple days until Amanda flew in. They also bought me a coffee and KitKat from the plane!
I arrived in the dark in Ireland and rode a 6€ Airlink bus to my first hostel, The Spire. It had great reviews but I was quite disappointed. I had booked a 22 bed mixed gender room, which is a lot. However, it was full of older construction workers, which was a little unsettling. Some of them were sick as well. Therefore, I got sick too. Just a head cold but nevertheless.
On the one day I had before Amanda arrived I went to see the Book of Kells at Trinity College at Dublin, which was beautiful. I wanted to see it because of this wonderful children’s animated movie that is of the same name. The exhibition was overpriced (9€) but I think it was interesting.
The Book of Kells is an Irish manuscript with the four gospels written in calligraphy by monks in approximately c. 800. The exhibit showed the beginnings of manuscript writings in monasteries, different ways of making the “paper”, and the inks used. Paper was not as we know it today, it was made of calf vellum, which is very thinly stretched hide which was then written on and bound as books. The beauty of the manuscripts and the gold inlay blew me away.
Next I went wandering. I walked through the Dublin Castle, which is not really a castle at all. It is a gathering of different old government buildings when Ireland was still held by the British. I walked around Christchurch Cathedral (more on that during the last day!), visited the National Library of Ireland, and finally the Archaeology Museum of Ireland.
The National Archeology Museum was massive and filled with everything from prehistoric hordes of pottery to golden Celtic crosses and brooches. My favorite, however, was the exhibit on Irish human sacrifices. During the time before Christianity in Ireland, the native people would sacrifice humans to the gods or when a new king was crowned to signify rebirth and renewal. When digging through bogs, some of the mummified bodies were found. And that’s what I got to see!
For dinner, I went with my new friend Lily (from CT) to Umi, a great falafel place, and joined her friends at the Temple Bar. The Temple Bar is the “most famous tourist attraction in Ireland” or something like that. I drank half a pint of Guinness for Ireland’s sake, but Guinness is nasty. We listened to live Irish music and stood beneath a giant stature of the first leprechaun hunter in Ireland.
The Book of Kells is an Irish manuscript with the four gospels written in calligraphy by monks in approximately c. 800. The exhibit showed the beginnings of manuscript writings in monasteries, different ways of making the “paper”, and the inks used. Paper was not as we know it today, it was made of calf vellum, which is very thinly stretched hide which was then written on and bound as books. The beauty of the manuscripts and the gold inlay blew me away.
Next I went wandering. I walked through the Dublin Castle, which is not really a castle at all. It is a gathering of different old government buildings when Ireland was still held by the British. I walked around Christchurch Cathedral (more on that during the last day!), visited the National Library of Ireland, and finally the Archaeology Museum of Ireland.
The National Archeology Museum was massive and filled with everything from prehistoric hordes of pottery to golden Celtic crosses and brooches. My favorite, however, was the exhibit on Irish human sacrifices. During the time before Christianity in Ireland, the native people would sacrifice humans to the gods or when a new king was crowned to signify rebirth and renewal. When digging through bogs, some of the mummified bodies were found. And that’s what I got to see!
For dinner, I went with my new friend Lily (from CT) to Umi, a great falafel place, and joined her friends at the Temple Bar. The Temple Bar is the “most famous tourist attraction in Ireland” or something like that. I drank half a pint of Guinness for Ireland’s sake, but Guinness is nasty. We listened to live Irish music and stood beneath a giant stature of the first leprechaun hunter in Ireland.
The next day Amanda joined me in Ireland and we did some walking and sightseeing. Including typical Irish food. Irish food is much heavier then Spanish food. Meat and potatoes for an entire week wasn’t entirely unpleasant, but I couldn’t eat it for longer then that.
Next we took the typical Irish local bus, Bus Eirann, to Doolin. It was a six-hour trip. We left Dublin on our first bus which took us to Limerick, a city on the other side of the country. The scenery was beautiful, dotted with castle ruins and lots of sheep. We even saw a gas station called “Barack Obama” which we both found hilarious.
However, trouble was ensuing on the bus. A small girl, maybe one and a half, had been screaming at the beginning of the bus ride. She fell asleep until about an hour from Limerick. Then she began screaming that the two “parents” with her were not her father and not her mother. And that she needed help. The entire bus was extremely concerned and the “father” yelled at Amanda for looking back at the child during the bus ride. Another Irish woman confronted the couple and tensions began to rise and the bus driver became aware of the situation.
We finally reached Limerick where the bus driver and most of the bus went to the police who promptly drove away in their car after the couple. Amanda and I got hot drinks in the station’s Starbucks to calm nerves. We then caught out transfer bus to Doolin as it began to get dark.
We reached our hostel in complete darkness. The Rainbow hostel was very nice. We ended up getting a two-bed room with an ensuite shower for 50 euros a piece for 3 nights. That’s unheard of. However, the wifi didn’t reach farther then the main room (where the only heat source was-a wood burning stove). So that was somewhat frustrating. The whole experience there was nice but slightly unsettling as a worker there was a middle aged women from the US who had left her son and husband in the US to work in Ireland. She was extremely forgetful and absentminded, and bordered on extreme crazy at times. She chewed Amanda and I out for needed so much wifi as “our generation was too addicted to technology” or something like that. I politely explained that I needed wifi to speak with my family and my boyfriend. But alas, to no avail.
Next we took the typical Irish local bus, Bus Eirann, to Doolin. It was a six-hour trip. We left Dublin on our first bus which took us to Limerick, a city on the other side of the country. The scenery was beautiful, dotted with castle ruins and lots of sheep. We even saw a gas station called “Barack Obama” which we both found hilarious.
However, trouble was ensuing on the bus. A small girl, maybe one and a half, had been screaming at the beginning of the bus ride. She fell asleep until about an hour from Limerick. Then she began screaming that the two “parents” with her were not her father and not her mother. And that she needed help. The entire bus was extremely concerned and the “father” yelled at Amanda for looking back at the child during the bus ride. Another Irish woman confronted the couple and tensions began to rise and the bus driver became aware of the situation.
We finally reached Limerick where the bus driver and most of the bus went to the police who promptly drove away in their car after the couple. Amanda and I got hot drinks in the station’s Starbucks to calm nerves. We then caught out transfer bus to Doolin as it began to get dark.
We reached our hostel in complete darkness. The Rainbow hostel was very nice. We ended up getting a two-bed room with an ensuite shower for 50 euros a piece for 3 nights. That’s unheard of. However, the wifi didn’t reach farther then the main room (where the only heat source was-a wood burning stove). So that was somewhat frustrating. The whole experience there was nice but slightly unsettling as a worker there was a middle aged women from the US who had left her son and husband in the US to work in Ireland. She was extremely forgetful and absentminded, and bordered on extreme crazy at times. She chewed Amanda and I out for needed so much wifi as “our generation was too addicted to technology” or something like that. I politely explained that I needed wifi to speak with my family and my boyfriend. But alas, to no avail.
The following day we decided to go to the Cliffs of Moher. However, we missed the bus and ended up walking 5.7 miles uphill with intermittent rain and hail. Yes, I said hail. We bought some very warm Irish wool stocking caps to keep warm during the walk. It was harder for me to enjoy the cliffs because I was basically a very cold version of myself who was incredibly grumpy. And the wind. Oh my goodness, it was so windy that sometimes we had to huddle down on the side of the road so we wouldn’t get blown away. We took some cool photos and then took a bus back to our hostel.
Suddenly it was Easter Sunday and I was one sick puppy, as a man from the last hostel gave me a cold. We ate lunch at the Doolin Café which was adorable, painted purple, and served the best food in Ireland, I swear. We spent a lot of time inside but did some walking around Doolin and ate dinner at this nice pub with our friends we had met in the hostel. Monday swung around and we were back on a bus to Dublin. Manda and I both felt very carsick on the bus ride and couldn’t figure out why. We both realized it’s because our bodies aren’t used to driving on the other side of the road.
We had a bus transfer in Galway, where we once again ate at the best fast food place in Ireland:
Supermacs. They have incredibly good food for fairly inexpensive. We caught our next bus and finally returned to Dublin where we checked into our next hostel. To our displeasure, we were placed in a 10 bed female only dorm with women who had moved in, literally. These women were Hispanic and were working jobs in Ireland. It was strange for us to be staying one or two nights in a room of women who looked like they had been there for months. And they were all sick. Which made it worse.
Manda and I visited Christchurch cathedral the next day before my flight. It is the oldest building in Dublin and had many different crypts filled with dead men. The stained glass was gorgeous. They even had a stained glass of St. George and the Dragon. The best part, however, was the underground crypt that housed a mummified cat and rat, which had fallen into the organ and stayed there long enough to be preserved. When the church replaced the organ and found the bodies, they were permanently put on display. So creepy and cool!
My flight home was uneventful, and I even got my own row of seats at the back of the plane. I landed and ended up back at my apartment safe and sound. Overall, Ireland was a great experience, as well as a beautiful country that reminded me of home. The ancient castles and green pastures were just like in movies and the people were so helpful and kind. Hostels aren’t my favorite thing, but it’s worth some slight discomfort to say I’ve seen Ireland.
"May you alway walk in sunshine.
May you never want for more.
May Irish angels rest their wings right beside your door."
-Irish Blessing
Suddenly it was Easter Sunday and I was one sick puppy, as a man from the last hostel gave me a cold. We ate lunch at the Doolin Café which was adorable, painted purple, and served the best food in Ireland, I swear. We spent a lot of time inside but did some walking around Doolin and ate dinner at this nice pub with our friends we had met in the hostel. Monday swung around and we were back on a bus to Dublin. Manda and I both felt very carsick on the bus ride and couldn’t figure out why. We both realized it’s because our bodies aren’t used to driving on the other side of the road.
We had a bus transfer in Galway, where we once again ate at the best fast food place in Ireland:
Supermacs. They have incredibly good food for fairly inexpensive. We caught our next bus and finally returned to Dublin where we checked into our next hostel. To our displeasure, we were placed in a 10 bed female only dorm with women who had moved in, literally. These women were Hispanic and were working jobs in Ireland. It was strange for us to be staying one or two nights in a room of women who looked like they had been there for months. And they were all sick. Which made it worse.
Manda and I visited Christchurch cathedral the next day before my flight. It is the oldest building in Dublin and had many different crypts filled with dead men. The stained glass was gorgeous. They even had a stained glass of St. George and the Dragon. The best part, however, was the underground crypt that housed a mummified cat and rat, which had fallen into the organ and stayed there long enough to be preserved. When the church replaced the organ and found the bodies, they were permanently put on display. So creepy and cool!
My flight home was uneventful, and I even got my own row of seats at the back of the plane. I landed and ended up back at my apartment safe and sound. Overall, Ireland was a great experience, as well as a beautiful country that reminded me of home. The ancient castles and green pastures were just like in movies and the people were so helpful and kind. Hostels aren’t my favorite thing, but it’s worth some slight discomfort to say I’ve seen Ireland.
"May you alway walk in sunshine.
May you never want for more.
May Irish angels rest their wings right beside your door."
-Irish Blessing
Further Reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_Church_Cathedral,_Dublin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_Bar,_Dublin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doolin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_Éireann
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliffs_of_Moher
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Kells
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_Ireland_–_Archaeology
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_College,_Dublin
Umi Falafel, Dublin - TripAdvisor
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_Church_Cathedral,_Dublin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_Bar,_Dublin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doolin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_Éireann
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliffs_of_Moher
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Kells
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_Ireland_–_Archaeology
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_College,_Dublin
Umi Falafel, Dublin - TripAdvisor