The flight was quite enjoyable because Marnie and I were able to sit next to each other. When we got off the plane we had to go through Passport Control and finally received a stamp in our Passport, which we were thrilled about. Getting through Passport Control took a bit longer than we anticipated because of some issues with one of the groups in front of us. Apparently they had overstayed their allowed time in Ireland and weren't supposed to be in the country at all. As one can imagine, these people did not appreciate this and acted quite hostile to the poor Passport officer. After getting through we grabbed a bus into the city center. The bus driver was incredibly helpful, by telling us what stop to get off and even getting off the bus to give us directions to our hostel, The Generator. At the hostel we ordered a pizza and demolished the entire thing with our very first Irish beers before calling it a night.
We were woken around 6am by our gracious roommate that for some reason decided to turn the main light on instead of her own personal one. She eventually left to shower, at which point I was relieved, since I would be able to fall back asleep. Just as I fell asleep, she returned to the room, turned the light back on, proceeded to straighten her hair, and make an excessive amount of noise. When we saw her later in the day she apologized for the morning, and we ironically ended up becoming decent friends with her.
After a couple more hours of sleep, we started off the day with breakfast provided by the hostel (which I still am unsure if we were allowed to have). Then we were informed about a free walking tour of South Dublin, so we decided to check it out. We met the group at the Spire, which is basically a huge needle monument that was built on O'Connell Street for the Millennium. In true Irish fashion it wasn't finished until 2001, thus making the Spire somewhat pointless. The Spire has many entertaining nicknames, such as the "Stiletto in the Ghetto", "The Stiffey by the Liffey", and even "The Erection at the Intersection". At the beginning of the tour we crossed the river of Liffey and saw the Ha'penny bridge. However, our tour guide advised us to not walk over it because it is a cast iron bridge, located over salt water (brilliant idea), and to top it all off it was constructed by the same man who built the Titanic.
Our next stop was Dublin Castle, a major Irish government complex. Our tour guide informed us that recently they had Queen Elizabeth II visit, which was a big deal because it was the first time a British Monarch has visited since Ireland broke free from England.
In order to safely transport Queen Elizabeth II from the airport to Dublin Castle an armored car was needed. Unfortunately, the Irish government did not have one prior to her visit, so naturally they confiscated one from a nearby drug cartel. I can't help but wonder if the Queen was aware of this at the time.
Following Dublin Castle we went to Trinity College, which was founded in 1592. The library in the college is world renowned, and was used as a set on multiple occasions for the Harry Potter series. Unfortunately the tour didn't include a stop in the library so we were unable stop.
The next stop was at the Temple Bar region, which is an iconic part of Dublin and is known for it's nightlife and traditional Irish pubs.
The tour concluded at Saint Patrick's Cathedral. Legend says that Saint Patrick explained the concept of Christianity's Holy Trinity by using the shamrock. The three leafed plant illustrates the Christian teaching of three persons represented in one God. As this story was explained to us, my eyes wandered to the grass in search of a shamrock, which I took with me as a souvenir. As we were taking pictures in front of the cathedral, we noticed a dog had approached us with a rock in his mouth, indicating that he wanted to play with us.
After the tour we grabbed some fish and chips at a place suggested by a local, with a girl we met on the tour from California. We then made our way back to the hostel to enjoy a free whiskey tasting. Prior to coming to Ireland I have never tasted whiskey or had any interest in trying it, but when offered to try it for free... I obviously couldn't resist. The tasting wasn't as casual as I thought it would be, and we actually got yelled at for using our phones. The man running the tasting was asking us what flavors we tasted and what we smelled, as if we were Whiskey connoisseurs.
After the tour we grabbed some fish and chips at a place suggested by a local, with a girl we met on the tour from California. We then made our way back to the hostel to enjoy a free whiskey tasting. Prior to coming to Ireland I have never tasted whiskey or had any interest in trying it, but when offered to try it for free... I obviously couldn't resist. The tasting wasn't as casual as I thought it would be, and we actually got yelled at for using our phones. The man running the tasting was asking us what flavors we tasted and what we smelled, as if we were Whiskey connoisseurs.
For dinner that night we searched for a restaurant for quite some time. Finally, we stumbled upon a restaurant called The Turk's Head completely by accident. Come to find out - it is one of the more renowned pubs in Dublin. For dinner, Marnie and I both ordered lamb burgers and it was one of the best meals I have had in my entire life. We also received some good life advice from a sign sitting at the bar next to us.
We left the restaurant highly satisfied and entirely stuffed. When we got back to the hostel we were pleasantly surprised to hear live music coming from the bar. We grabbed a table and gawked over the young guitarist, who we thought was Irish.. but ended up being from Venezuela. Regardless, he was ridiculously talented and Marnie and I may have had a tiny crush on him, especially when he sang 'Sweet Home Alabama'.
Prior to coming to Ireland I had decided that booking a 3 day tour would allow us to maximize our experience during such a short stay. On Friday at 8 am we made our way to the tour office, Paddywagon Palace, and joined 7 other people to begin our tour of Southern Ireland. Accompanying us was a couple from Australia, a mother and daughter from Hawaii, two girls studying abroad in Spain - originally from Wisconsin and Alaska, and a women from Virginia. Our tour guide, Ruari, began the tour with many humorous stories. He informed us that right next to the famous Guinness Storehouse, there is a rehab center for recovering alcoholics. On top of that there is another distillery being built on the opposite side of the center. Talk about cruelty.
Throughout the tour we saw numerous castles. Some of which were fully restored, and others which had only few remnants of their existence. The main castles included:
Corcomroe Abbey - Country Clare, 1205
This castle was one that is generally not included on the tour, although our tour guide decided to add a couple extra stops in, Corcomroe being one of them. The rooms intertwined throughout the castle gave it a maze-like feel that challenged my ability to navigate out of the castle. Nonetheless I eventually found my way.
Cong Abbey - Cong, 7th Century
I can't really explain the feeling you receive when you enter a castle as old as this. You can truly feel the history and stories that lurk within the ruins immediately upon entering. It's a strange combination of eerie and captivating.
Ross Abbey - County Galway, 1351
Ross Abbey was one of my favorite stops on the whole trip. The window, shown in two of the pictures above, was magnificent in size and allowed for some incredible pictures. We also managed to take a picture with our tour group, that we eventually nicknamed "Fifty Shades of Green".
Ashford Castle - County Galway, 1228
This hotel was previously owned by the Guinness Family, and is now a five star hotel after a meager 47,000,000 Euros was spent on restorations. Unfortunately, this hotel was slightly out of our price range for our recent visit to Ireland - maybe one day.
Blarney Castle - Cork, 1446
Blarney Castle was absolutely incredible, more so because of the story of the Blarney Stone. The castle was built by Cormac McCarthy. Legend says that McCarthy was involved in a lawsuit, and was thought to be doomed due to his lack of eloquence. The morning of the trial he went to the goddess of the hills, Cliodhna, and asked for her assistance. In return, she instructed him to kiss the first stone he found - enter the Blarney Stone. McCarthy ended up winning his trial with his new found articulacy. As a result, he built the stone into the battlements of the castle. Today, it has been kissed by millions all over the world, myself included, hoping to receive "The Gift of the Gab". I'm not sure if it's the Placebo effect, but I do indeed seem to be a bit more eloquent than usual, since kissing the stone.
As we traversed the Irish countryside I noticed a common theme of stone walls, sheep, and GREEN. The old stone walls are made out of blue limestone and constructed without any mortar. Irish law bans landowners from removing these walls to preserve the authentic Irish landscape. No matter the direction I looked, I saw a vast amount of green - which made it clear why Ireland is represented by that color. It was also evident why lamb is such a popular Irish dish.
Our first night was spent in Galway Bay, where we were able to reconnect with two fellow Clarksonian's studying at the University there. After grabbing drinks with them, we went our separate ways and rejoined the tour group for the "best fish and chips", according to our tour guide, at McDonough's. They certainly lived up to my expectations. At dinner we informed Ruari that we didn't want to leave Ireland, so he needed to find us two Irish men to wed. He suggested that we join his site "SheBay" - the EBay of women.
On our way from Galway to Kerry, we journeyed through what is known as the Burren. The Burren is known for it's lunar landscape that is thought to be formed over 300 million years ago, the oldest landscape of this type in the world. While passing through, Ruari said he had a surprise for all of the ladies - a stop at a famous Irish chocolatier. The chocolate is homemade in the Burren with fresh Irish Milk, and was absolutely delicious.
Another stop we made was at the 'Mini Cliffs'. When we arrived at the cliffs I was enchanted by their beauty, yet puzzled why they were called the Mini Cliffs because they were far from 'mini'.
On the last day of the tour we did a group carriage ride through Killarney National Park.
Our horse Deliah guided us through the park for an hour providing us with wonderful views of McGillicuddy's Reeks, the highest mountain range in Ireland. We were also able to see Ireland's only native heard of red deer.
Our tour eventually came to an end and we had to part ways with our Paddywagon crew. Our last meal in Dublin was at the oldest pub in Ireland - The Brazen Head. There we had an amazing Irish stew with, yet again, lamb.
The next morning we went to the Guinness Storehouse, before heading back to Copenhagen, for a healthy breakfast - an ice cold Guinness. At the factory we became certified pourers of Guinness, only after completing all 6 steps correctly. By 11pm Marnie and I were on the top floor having our proper breakfast, and planning out how we were going to get away with stealing our cups. Luckily our scheming paid off, and we successfully added the Guinness cups to our collection. Cheers to that!
Something that I was incredibly grateful to be able to experience were the Celtic tales that our tour guide shared with us. My favorite tale was about the fairy rings in Ireland. Fairy rings are basically a group of trees that naturally form a perfect circle. Before the Celts inhabited Ireland, it was thought to believe that magical creatures, such as leprechauns and fairies, resided there. When the Celts tried to occupy the land, a war broke out. After many lives were shed, the Gods intervened and created a treaty between the two groups. The treaty indicated that the Celts would be granted access to the land and the magical creatures would be allowed to reside underground. In order to access the underground, fairy rings were created as portals. Because of this, fairy rings hold a great importance in Irish culture. It is thought that if one was to disturb a fairy ring, his or her family would be cursed for seven generations. There is only one documented case in history of the destruction of a fairy ring, and it was by an Irishman that later migrated to America. It seems as if the curse was legitimate because this popular American family, currently on it's seventh generation, has had a plethora of horrendous luck. Can you guess the family? - The Kennedy's.
My favorite part of the trip was the Cliffs of Moher. It was made clear to me after seeing these cliffs, why the Mini Cliffs were allotted that name. I could write out all the reasons why it was my favorite, but words can't even begin to do it justice. We were beyond fortunate to be blessed with such a beautiful day here. It is truly a moment that I will hold with me forever and never forget!
Looking back, the decision to sit on the edge of the tallest cliffs in Europe was not one of my brightest ideas. It was definitely a bit intimidating, however, I made it out alive and got a pretty sweet memento.
Until next time,
R-
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