Week 8: Ireland (Dublin, Galway, Limerick, Cork)

On St Valentine's Day we hopped on a plane and landed in sunny (?) Ireland.  Our Dublin hotel was unfortunately quite out of the city and had no facilties within walking distance so our plan of blueberries chocolate and wine was let go.. instead we took advantage of the free drinks provided by my 'silver status' in the hotel rewards program and ordered room service - we all need to splurge sometimes, right? ;)

Dublin was an interesting mix of new on one side of the river with shopping malls, arcades and suvenier shops, and old on the other, with cobbled walkways, many pubs and tight streets with boutiques and chocolate shops. We spent a day on each side, and particularly enjoyed the tight cobbled streets, streetside flower stalls and cafes. At Trinity College we saw the funky globe outside the library that houses the book of kells, and found the first of the pigs scattered all over the city. In Dublin we also visited the Dublin Castle which didn't give much to get excited out, but there was a very nice park behind it.

The 10th Pig...

Sometimes you need to be 5 again :)

Out the back of a cathedral we saw a poster for a Pink Floyd show. It was a little pricey so we decided to have our own little show then and there.

After a couple of days in Dublin we headed west to Galway. The smells and sounds of the sea instantly relaxed us, it was great to be so close to the ocean again. Walking through the streets of happy people and worn shop fronts we found creme brule and nutella icecream and decided Galway suited us just fine. If that wasn't enough, we rounded a corner and found our favourite bookshop of the trip - a trade of some of our old books left us with a bit of store credit and we refilled our backpacks with some new stock. 

We arrived in Galway on Pancake Tuesday and saw first hand the catholic community that covers much of Ireland. The cathedral carpark was packed out, with small shrines scattered through the town and vans selling rosary beads, crucifixes and everything else a catholic could want - of course, Lent starts tomorrow.

On a day trip from Galway we drove through the west of the island and caught the Ferry to the largest of the Aran Islands, Inis Mor. From our bus we saw luscious green fields separated by low stone walls, just like in the movies. Ireland is beautiful. On the Aran Islands we hired a bike and rode from one end to the other, with stone-walled paddocks and ramshackle cottages on one side of the road, and ocean on the other. We stood on impressive clifs inside a fort, had bike troubles on a beach and got friendly with a little old lady selling Aran Sweaters. To recover from the intense gale (not sure we've EVER experienced wind that strong, we were lucky not to get blown of the cliffs!) and the spitting rain that somehow had us soaked completely, we took refuge in the only pub on the island for a warming pint of Guinness. If you're ever in Ireland, the Aran Islands are definitely worth the rocky ferry ride!

The horse bit him!

Well cooked! #StrongLegs #IronMan

So windy!!

#SafetyFirst

 

From Galway we headed south....

Two kids from Tas traveled far,

They enjoyed cold beers in the bar.

They rode on the train,

Through Finland and Spain.

Can you guess where in Europe we are?

Limerick of course! 

Limerick is a very small city. It has some cool bars. It's main street is O'Connell Street. Matt and I stood on O'Connell Street and said Limericks and laughed. And that's all I have to say about Limerick.

We booked ourselves in for our first guided tour, with Paddy Wagon to the Cliffs of Moher. We had been umming and ahhing about going to the Cliffs because the of the cost and awkwardness of getting there, and the tour turned out to be an ideal option. As well as the Cliffs of Moher, our friendly and animated Irish tour guide Tony took us to some mini-cliffs, through many little villages in County Clare, for lunch in Doolin where we tried some locally brewed beer and to Bunratty Castle for a cuppa. It was a great day and we left exhausted and so pleased to have seen the beauty of Ireland, scattered with green pastures and stone walls (which, by the way, aren't held together with anything - they're just stacked stone). Would defintely recommend to all!

The weather changed so quickly!

And quickly changed again..!

Bunratty Castle

 Our last day in Ireland was spent in Cork, a habour city in the southwest. In our brief visit we enjoyed The English Market full of chocolate shops, all kinds of bread, meat, fish, juice and buckets of olives. The ceilings of the market are high and arched and it's easy to imagine it being the primary market in the past for the city. The shops were lively on Saturday and we found plenty of pubs in the main streets. A very kind train station guard let us keep our bags in their office, adding to our tick of approval for this university city.

Tonight we sleep in Dublin, tomorrow we'll have lunch in Paris.