IRELAND

Looking out over the Cliffs of Moher

"lots of crack."No, I did not do cocaine...in Ireland they use the word "crack" in place of "fun". I didn't know this and totally thought my tour guide was a cocaine addict. 

Kinlay House Hostel

SO...This Thursday I went to class, came back and showered, and packed for Dublin! Britt and I left around 1:00pm(Spain time) and headed to the metro. It was our first time using the metro in Valencia and it was easy and a success. We got on the super crowded metro and got to the airport in about 20 minutes. We stopped at Burger King (sick..I know, but when you come to Europe, you find comfort in Burger King and McDonalds) and headed down to security. The Valencia airport was small, but it was a nice airport and it wasn't crowded at all. As usual, the lady at the security judged us and sent us to another line (because we are American we assumed) and we went through another security line and then found our way to the gate. Ten minutes before boarding Tay, Molly, Caroline, and Joe showed up. We flew RyanAir--some thoughts--I hate RyanAir, they are VERY strict on luggage/carry-on, they keep the lights on the entire flight, you don't get food or water, everyone clapped when we landed (Molly and I wondered if this is because they usually don't land? just a thought), terrible service--but it was a quick 55 minute flight to Madrid. We arrived to the Madrid airport and had time to kill. We just walked around the airport, ate candy, and entertained ourselves until our flight at 9:05pm. We flew RyanAir again into Dublin. The flight was absolutely freezing which made it hard to sleep but luckily I was able to get some sleep. We got to Dublin and found a bus for 6,00 euro to take us to our hostel (Kinlay House). We got there and were SO tired that we decided to just stay in for the night since we had to wake up at 5:30am for our tour the next day.

Us in front of the Paddywagon!

Molly, Caroline, Tay, Me, Britt, and Joe

In front of King John's Castle -- Limerick City, Ireland

We woke up bright and early on Friday to go on our Paddywagon Tour. They served free breakfast -- Bread, jam, COLD milk, cereal, coffee, tea -- doesn't sound like much, but considering we can't get sandwich bread, jam, or cold milk in Spain...we were in heaven. We left for the tour around 7:00am on the Paddywagon bus. Most of us fell asleep for the first part of the drive. I woke up once our hilarious tour guide, Don, was yelling in his Irish accent over the speaker for us to wake up. I'm the biggest dork ever and chose to sit by myself in a single seat right next to the driver. Haha! We were on our way to our first stop, Limerick City, when we passed by the field where battle scenes from Braveheart were filmed! I was so excited and immediately thought of how cool my dad would think that was. It made me want to watch the movie again so I could pick out the scene. We also passed by a place where scenes for an upcoming movie, Knock Out, were filmed! When we arrived to Limerick, we stopped in front of King John's Castle by the Shannon River. The castle looked a lot like a fort to me, but it was really cool to see. It was the set of "Angela's Ashes."  Once everyone started waking up, I talked to all of the kids around me who were studying abroad in Italy and London. They were super sweet and also very hungover (one girl almost threw up in the seat behind me...that was comforting). There were also people on the bus from Brazil and Russia. Two Irish guys sat in the seat next to me and were training to be Paddywagon tour guides, so I talked to them a lot, naturally, but could barely understand that their accent was so strong. (No, they were not cute....all Irish people are ugly we discovered.) The tour guide gave us the itinerary for the day and was so excited that I was going to see 3 of the 4 provinces in Ireland. Its crazy to think that you can drive across an entire country in a day since the US is so freaking big. I was pumped! The next stop was a quick stop at Bunratty Castle. We went into a store there and thats where we found MEAD. Its the Irish "Honeymoon" drink. They had a sample pitcher and I wanted to try it -- it was AMAZING. It was a honey and whiskey mixture that was so delicious. I hate whiskey so that is saying a lot. We all split a bottle and I bought a little tiny bottle to bring back home to my family to try!

Not your typical golf course.

Tiger Woods played here once (pre-infidelity)

Claire County

More of the country

Then we had an hour and a half drive through the country to the Cliffs of Moher. This was the most amazing drive I have ever had in my life. The country is exactly how you imagine it. It was so awesome because our tour guide told jokes, stories, played music, and knew absolutely everything there was to know about Ireland and anyone famous with Irish blood in them. I got to ask him a million questions and  laughed my "arse" off the entire time at his silly jokes while I took pictures through the bus window. Claire County is my favorite county that I saw. It has the green hills that you always imagine in Ireland.

Cliffs of Moher

Scenes for Harry Potter were filmed here!

Looking out over the Cliffs

Just casually sitting on the side of a cliff ;)

Perfect day.

We could not believe the amazing weather we had. Our tour guide said word-for-word, "The weather is 3 months of winter and 9 months of shit." By my pictures, you can tell that is was the most gorgeous day ever. We got to Cliffs of Moher and realized how thankful we were for the perfect weather -- my pictures are prettier than the postcard I bought at Bunratty Castle. First we stopped in the little store built into the hill and I was SO excited because I saw one of those penny press thingies where they imprint a picture on a penny. Sam's little sister collects them and I did everything I possibly could to get Ellie this darn 5 euro cent with the Cliffs of Moher on it and could not get it to work. I'm sorry Ellie! I will try again if I see one anywhere in Europe! Anyways, we headed up the path to the cliffs and we were in SHOCK. It was definitely the most amazing landscape I have ever seen. Standing on 350 foot cliffs was a pretty incredible feeling...

Yummmmmmmm

Next we were onto the town of Doolin to go to our first Irish Pub! Doolin is Ireland's traditional music capital....boring. Exciting...we ate at a pub called Fitzpatrick's Bar. We had our first comforting meal -- turkey, potatoes, cabbage, and gravy -- and of course GUINNESS. It was incredible!!

Looking over the cliff on old ocean floor rock

Pretty blue water

Molly and I watching the sunset

After we left Doolin, we headed along the coast towards Galway. We stopped to take pictures in this area that used to be the ocean floor. It was so cool to see, the rocks were so weird that they didn't even look real to me. Once again, I wanted to stand on a cliff, so we all took pictures "livin' life on the edge". (I'm a loser...don't even laugh at that comment..lame joke from our tour guide) The sun was setting and we just chilled on the "ocean floor" watching the sun set. Saw another castle, more sheep, cows, and the beautiful stone fences. Pretty damn cool....

Leo Burdocks

Traditional Fish 'n' Chips

This portion was the size of a small infant -- you think I am joking?

Look at that grease. Bye bye patatas.

That night we got dinner at the famous Burdocks fish 'n' chips takeout stand. Don, our tour guide, told me that this is where all of the famous people eat when they come to Dublin. It was absolutely delicious and was a serving size equivalent to a small infant. This meal made us girls make a pact to never eat "patatas" (french fries) ever again because we are getting fat from this horrible spanish obsession. We literally put our hands in and yelled "no patatas". Hmm...anyways...that night we went out on the town for the first time in Dublin. We went to Hogan's, the Temple District, and a discoteca(which was terrible compared to Spain...actually, painful...the Irish CAN'T dance).

Christ Church -- Next to Kinlay House Hostel

Me in my version of Heaven -- Guinness Factory

I loved this -- This was the quote on the wall and then they had these

huge walls that you could hang a message on -- Mine was very deep.

Molly and I in the Gravity Bar -- Guinness Factory

The next morning we got up and had breakfast and were excited to explore Dublin! We left our hostel for the Guinness Factory (I was so freaking excited and acted like a twelve year old..haha!). We passed by Christ Church and took some pictures...we could hear the bells all day long in our hostel. It was a beautiful cathedral. Then we arrived to the Guinness Factory at St. James's Gate Brewery. It was such an awesome tour. The brewery is 7 stories and walks you through the history, ingredients, and brewing process. It was soo interesting and I am absolutely convinced that Arthur Guinness is a genius. A couple of interesting things -- The building is designed in the shape of a giant pint of Guinness and if full would hold 14.3 millions pints, Arthur Guinness signed a 9000 year lease in 1759 (picture on the left) for the St. James's Gate Brewery, he is the creator of the Guinness Book of World Records (that may be common sense but I never put two and two together!), Guinness began as a stout beer and was later changed into a porter in 1778, Guinness is very well known for their amazing advertising campaigns. When we finished the tour, we headed up to the Gravity bar that overlooks the entire city of Dublin to get our complimentary pint! We watched their perfect-pouring technique and drank the absolute best beer I have ever had. 

Britt, Tay, Caroline, Molly, and I in front of St. Patrick's Cathedral

Inside of St. Patrick's Cathedral

Next we walked to St. Patrick's Cathedral and toured the inside. It was absolute gorgeous and had so much history. It was kind of eerie to know there were dead bodies behind all of the tombs, but it was pretty awesome to see. We wanted to go to mass there that night, but they said it was a lot smaller and not held in the main cathedral -- they only hold the full service once on Sunday and we couldn't make it..bummer. 

Grafton Street

Some guys singing Beatles on Grafton Street

Taylor and I at Trinity College

We walked down Grafton Street towards Trinity College. This was my absolute favorite street in Dublin. The city seemed SO dead and unpopulated until we hit this street. It is the shopping district and was PACKED full of people. There were people playing live music everywhere, street performers, a ton of amazing stores, and finally people our age. It was soo awesome. We were broke by this point, so it was so great to be so entertained for free! Then we walked through Trinity College and it looked at lot like UGA -- haha, YEAH RIGHT. It was super old and I would've loved to go through the library to see the Book of Kells with Caroline, Joe, and Molly, but Britt and I were BROKE. Britt and I decided to find a pub to watch the Ireland vs. France rugby match. Everywhere we went was totally packed and everyones' feet were killing them, so we decided to go back to the hostel and take a nap. We got up and go ready for dinner! We decided to treat ourselves for one meal while we were there and all decided on MEXICAN at Acapulco. THIS WAS THE BEST MEXICAN FOOD I HAVE EVER HAD IN MY ENTIRE LIFE. I never would have thought that the best Mexican I could have would be in Ireland, but its definitely true. We got chips with cheese and salsa (that was devoured in about 1min, not joking), chicken fajitas, the best margaritas I've ever had (I think the secret ingredient was vanilla thanks to my educated palate..haha jk), and amazzzzzzing fried ice cream.

After that we went back to the dorm to drink before we went out since drinks were so expensive in the bars. Next to the lobby in our hostel there was a dining room that all the young people went and drank in at night. We were being loud and obnoxious Americans as usual and caught the French kids' attention when we played Zumi Zumi (a drinking game that requires you to sing and pound on the table). The kids from France joined our table and we taught them the rules of the game. Then, we all headed out to a bar owned by Czech Republicans called "Czech Inn". It was an awesome bar with a dance area that we immediately headed to, of course. We eventually had to leave due to the terrible Irish dancers and the smelliest fat man on the dance floor. It was repulsive and unbearable so we headed off to Camdon Street where we met our Irish friends Aonghus and Sam. They were soo goofy and a blast to adventure around the city with. Something interesting in Dublin is that they have bikes lined up on the streets that you can just put euro in and rent and then you just return them back to one of the "docks".  Of course we got on them and played!! We headed to William Street--went to South William Street Bar and Dakota bar with our Irish friends and had a blast and laughed all night long!

We woke up the next morning and headed for the airport back to Madrid! It was such an amazing trip and was such a comforting trip. Ireland was a lot like America in many ways and felt a little bit like home. I would have to say that the most satisfying part of that trip was the people. They were soo friendly to us and never treated us like crap. It was really hard to come back to Spain that night to be treated like dirt the second we stepped off the plane. Madrid seems to be the absolute worst to me. The people there are kind of like New Yorkers, caught up in their own world and don't want to deal with anyone else. I never really have a desire to return to Madrid, really...the people are that bad. Haha! But it was so refreshing to go to a country where I could talk to anyone and everyone on the streets, in restaurants, on tours, etc without people acting like I was a piece of poop on the ground...

I definitely want to return to Ireland one day! It made me think of my dad and my brother a lot while I was there. Of the places I have been so far, this would for sure be their favorite place. Lots of history, beautiful scenery, great people, yummy food. When I go back, I am going to go to Galway and do another Paddywagon tour to a different part of the country. I love Ireland....

View from the plane -- The mountains in Spain