Dublin might be the greatest place on earth. I flew to Ireland on Sunday morning and got checked in early so that was huge for the program. Early in the week I met Manuel online he is another solo traveler and we planned doing the Guinness stock house tour later in the day. After I checked in I walked around and got some food, I when to this little pizza shop that had an incredible deal for 10 euro you could get a personal pizza, lemonade and fries. So i was quite excited to see that deal.
I walked to Manuel’s hostel after lunch because it was on the way to the Guinness house. We headed up to the stock house and took the tour and got a Guinness with our faces printed on it. Then you head up a few floors and you pop out on a rooftop bar with 360 degree views of Dublin it was so pretty and the weather was perfect so that was a cherry on top. Other than the view and beers it was pretty underwhelming. Granted I’m not much of a museum fan but if you are the tour is definitely worth it. We headed out of the stock house and started to make our way towards downtown and hit a few bars along the way home and enjoyed some Irish music.
I finally made it home and needed some food so i ate at the hostel because they had a bar and restaurant so that was super convenient. I had to run to the grocery store to get some snacks. I went back home and saw these two girls named Laura and Emily playing cards with a sign that said join us. So I sat down and we started talking and had a few drinks. I told them i was going to head to the Temple bar area and meet up with Manuel and asked if they wanted to join. So we all walked to the main bar area, they have this area called temple bar which is kinda odd because ever bar down there is called temple bar then there bar name. But there is also a famous bar that is the actual Temple bar. We were there until 12:30 or so. All of us were hungry and got some food and started to head back home around 2.
Monday was a nice and slow day i got up kinda late slowly made why down to breakfast got ready and texted everone i met last night to see if anyone wanted to explore Dublin so laura and i walked around for 2 hours and went to this little coffee shop. A good afternoon coffee will go a long way and you will be thanking yourself at 3AM. We made it back and i went to go get some food and explore a little more. I found the world portal this thing is actually so cool it is a live stream from all over the world and you can see other people on the other side of the earth I played rock paper scissors with some lady in Philly. It was kinda refreshing to see that you can connect with people all over the world in just the purest most basic human form. Everyone was waving at each other from literally all over the world it’s very difficult to put into words but it was a very refreshing feeling.
I was having a beer at the lobby bar and this guy named nick came up and sat down at the table. We got to talking and we decided to do a pub crawl later that night our hostel was hosting it so it was super easy and incredible value 14 euros for 1 beer, 4 shots and VIP entry to a nightclub, so that was a huge plus. Manuel met us at our hostel to do the pub crawl with us. We met Hannah and Thomas they were two other people from our place that was also doing the pub crawl. We were not sure what to expect with this pub crawl on a Monday but it was actually so much fun we got to meet so many new people from all over the world everyone was os friendly and just wanted to have a good time. We eventually made it home and said bye to all my new people i met. It’s quite an odd felling even thought i had only know them for not even 48 hours it was still kinda hard to because you know you are going back to being alone but knowing you were going to meet new people but not sure when or where.
Cork for the Night
I took a quick trip to cork for the night I was planing on staying for 2 nights then i kinda felt rushed to get to Galway then back to Dublin to meet some friends from college so it was a quick trip to cork and i felt like I saw most of what i wanted from cork.
I arrived around 12 and walked around for 3 hours getting lunch at the English market in town. This was a super cool place tucked away in an old building with quite a few venders and restaurants in it. I got a “traditional” Irish Ruben. Who know what a traditional Irish Ruben because it was almost the exact same thing as what i get at Sloans in Edgewater, never the less it was a great and would highly recommend. The super nice receptionist lady at the hostel gave me a map on what i should see in cork, she told me i can either do it in 2 days or just 1 but that was pretty much all cork is according to her. So I followed it and she gave me the most efficient route so that was super helpful. Luckily the first stop was that English market with food.
The second stop was Elizabeth fort this was an old fort Built in 1601 during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, it was designed to guard the city against foreign invasion and local rebellions. It was a pretty walk and not much to see.
The third stop on the journey was St Fin Barre’s Cathedral and this one was the coolest by far. I have never really seen a real old cathedral so when I tuned the corner of the wall that was guarding it, i was blown away with how cool it was and I got an uneasy feeling about it because it was super gloomy and rainy. It felt like something out of a scary movie and something bad was going to happen.
Next stop was probably a 15 minute walk to the University College of Cork. This was pretty cool to see and walk around. It’s crazy how different universities are over here than they are in the states I’m sure some of the ones in the states look like the ones here but definitely not the majority. So that was kinda cool to experience.
The next 2 stops were kinda forgettable and nothing too special. One was a museum and the cork city Gaol. Would not recommend going to them but what i could recommend is seeing the rugby field and there sports complex’s. They were state of the art and absolutely massive so that was quite cool to see.
The final stop was Shannon Bells & Tower you could have paired to ring the bells that doesn’t do much for me so I passed on that. But was definitely cool to see and walk by. I had quite the hike home and i mean hike i was going up and down hills, it felt like the hill i just went up i was heading back down again. This could have been partly my fault because i was just following my soaked paper map i got from the hostel. I told myself I was not going to use maps, and see if I could get around on intuition and that paper map. I got back home but my legs definitely payed the price.
Here are some photos from my adventure in cork
Galway for a few nights
I got into Galway on the 26th around 3 after 4 hours trying to navigate the rail system from cork to Galway. I thought i was lost many times and was just on the wrong train, but luckily from asking enough people and google maps i did not get lost and ended up in Galway.
On the way over I was trying to figure out what to do for the night so i got on my hostel world app and found a conversation where there was a group of people meeting at a restaurant so that was perfect because i was so hungry. Little did i know it was 4 girls 3 of them were American and the other 1 was Australia. So it was cool to meet someone from Australia and compare differences between the US and Australia. There was this one girl who was so annoying and just an absolute buzz kill. At dinner all she could talk about was how horrible American was and how she hates it. Just very annoying for literally meeting 20 minutes ago. We got through dinner and went to a bar to have some drinks and listen to live music, this band was great and played a great mix of Irish music and rock and roll. I had to go home because I couldn’t deal with that person anymore. She hated how loud it was and how many people were there. It’s like you are in an Irish pub at night WTF do you expect. And don’t say you will do anything and don’t care what we do or where we go if you hate live music or crowds of people.
I got up early to make it to the bus to head to the cliffs of Moher, a cave tour and castle viewings. Our first stop was a small castle about 30 minutes outside of Galway. I was expecting a huge castle but i was definitely underwhelmed. It was definitely cool but not what i was expecting.
The second stop was a cave discovered by a farmer chasing his dog back in the 70’s. It was very cool to see and learn how it formed. Apparently a long long time ago there was a river through the mountains and through the process of cavitation and erosion it formed this cave. It was about a 30 minute tour we saw a few water falls and a few other natural things that can happen over millions of years.
The third stop was the main attraction, it was the cliffs of Moher. I was a little worried because the weather was so bad and super foggy so we were not even sure of we were going to be able to see them. But luckily when we pulled up it got slightly better so that was huge for the program. The cliffs are anywhere from 75 meters high to 200 meters high and they stretch for 18 kilometers. It was so pretty and incredibly busy.
The firth stop was to get lunch in this little town at a restaurant where everything they serve comes from a 30 mile radius so everything is incredibly fresh. I got the fish and chips they served it with this curry sauce that was delicious and a pint of Guinness of course. The final stop of the day was a field and the only way to describe it was what i think the moon will look like. Millions of years ago a glacier slid across the land and ripped all the trees and vegetation off the land and just exposed the bedrock and limestone.
The bus dropped us off in Galway and I decided to explore the town a little and have a few pints at different pubs around the city. So all i did was walk around and did just that until i went home and watched some golf and went to bed. So I could get on the train in the AM the Dublin.
I headed back to Dublin for a night to meet Bergen and Eli. They are two good friends from college and they are going to be studying abroad in Cork. We meet up with him and his family for some drinks to walk around and get some food. It was great to see someone i knew and they were just a great time to hang out with. It was a short stay i jumped on a train the next morning at 9:30 to Northern Ireland.
I hoped on the train early and headed up to Belfast. Northern Ireland is not the cleanest city i have ever been but it was nice enough. The only reason i came up here was to go to go to Hollywood because Rory Mcilroy was born here and i am such a fan boy i wanted to see where he grew up. I was expecting to see way more stuff dedicated to him and I didn’t see a single thing so that was quite disappointing. I could of walked to Hollywood Golf Club but it was a 30 minute walk and i was not really in the mood to walk that far so i got some lunch and just walked around the Main Street, got back to the train and headed home. It was a pretty disappointing day really.
Stock up stock down
Stock down Hollywood very underwhelming. Stock up Bergen, Eli and their families just so nice and welcoming. Stock up the tour guide on the cliffs trip just incredible nice and very knowledgeable and took us to an incredible restaurant. Stock down Botanic Avenue Hostel the room was probably 100 degrees and smelled real bad and to room door didn’t have a lock on it. Stock up the English market in cork they had wonderful food and a great environment. Stock up all the people i met in Dublin just wonderful people. Stock up all the places i stayed in Dublin rooms were very nice and clean so that was huge for the program. Stock down the food in Ireland besides the fish and chips, they have beans and toast for breakfast so that is kinda blasphemy. Stock up the Guinness all over Ireland just phenomenal. Stock up the people of Ireland very nice people and there accents are awesome.
What’s next
I am in the airport heading to Scotland to hang out with Sam for a few days. It’s going to be good to see someone i know and hang out with. I am going to explore Scotland for a few days and head down through the UK and i will be in France next Sunday at this time.
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