“Guinness is not beer for the Irish – it is strong tea!”

Luck of the Irish? I don’t believe this to always be true. Our Ireland adventure began VERY early Thursday morning, with an hour drive to our 7am flight to Dublin. Well, our plane sat on the runway for half an hour, getting us into the Emerald Isle around 9am. Luck was not in our favor.

Once we got in the city and checked in to the hostel (and got free breakfast, score!), we spent the morning exploring the Temple Bar area, the Medieval/Viking area, and the area around Trinity College, finding ourselves at the busy, pedestrian Grafton Street for lunch. We saw Dublin Castle, the Christ Church Cathedral, and lots of pubs during this morning walk and decided to get a bite to eat at Bewley’s, a tea room that Amy’s dad had recommended.

 During the afternoon, we decided to wander around Trinity College, the oldest college in Ireland. It is said to have inspired the architecture of Oxford and Cambridge – roaming around the old buildings was a wonderful way to spend the afternoon. And, just like in Scotland, Ireland boasts wonderful colors of Fall foliage, adding to the magnificent look of the campus. This campus has been used in the Harry Potter movies as well as many other popular films, as it is quite a picturesque school. 
  

While there, I got to see the Book of Kells, a wonderfully ornate Bible from 800 AD. It was one of those things you just simply could not take your eyes off of, and to think how much time, talent, and dedication it took to make such an intricate document was mind-numbing. Also, got to see the Long Room, aka the most amazing library I might ever see in my life. I felt like Belle when Beast shows her the library in his castle, except 20 times more exaggerated.*

I was in heaven.

After all that walking around, we decided to go grab ourselves a Dublin staple, a Guinness. I was asked to take a survey about Ireland when leaving the country and one of the most important questions that was on it: Did you have a Guinness? Even though I do not generally like beer**, I felt that I had to try this beer, as it is so deeply rooted in the culture. It is different than other beers in the way it is made, with nitrogen gas rather than carbon dioxide. When they pour it, they pour part of it, let it settle and then fill the rest. It is a very delicate art. Although it was not really my cup of tea (though for the Irish it is, noting the title of this post), I am really glad I decided to give it a go in the birthplace of this beer.

Where we downed our Guinness

For dinner, Amy and I went to a restaurant called Elephant and Castle. Hearing mixed reviews from several people before going, we were not sure what we would be met with when we arrived. We decided to get hamburgers, as France’s burgers have generally shown to not be great quality. We were sourly disappointed with our overdone burgers, making us think that maybe Irish food is not one of the things that are lucky.

Friday morning, Amy and I set out for a day trip to the place I was most excited to visit during this whole vacation: the Cliffs of Moher. Although the forecast looked a little grim, we still woke up at 6am and were already fallen asleep on the bus by 7am. We awoke to the sun rising over the beautiful Irish countryside, as green as ever. The luck of the Irish continued to be in our favor, as we were blessed with a beautiful, sunny day driving to the West Coast of Ireland. We passed through Limerick on the way but reached the “Edge of the World” while the sun was at high noon.

Irish green.

Looking out onto the Atlantic Ocean from the cliffs, you truly did feel like you were on the edge of the world. With it being a little breezy and a few of the pathways being muddy (with no fence at the edge, mind you), it appeared extremely easy to fall to your death. As we all know how klutzy I am, it shouldn’t surprise you that I slipped once, but as I am still here to write this post, the fall was not to the depths of the cliffs. 

The view of the cliffs is again one of those things I can’t explain – you just have to see it for yourself. As I gazed out onto the horizon, washing the waves crash into the cliffs with such sheer force, combined with the natural beauty of the rock against grass… it is a sight that everyone should experience. Again, the sense of calm I found here was something one can’t find in a bustling city like Dublin. The hour and a half that we spent wandering around was simply not enough, I could have spent a whole day there!

A five minutes’ drive down the road from the cliffs, we stopped at the Burren national park. Completely different scenery in such a short distance away – the landscape was covered in split rock, making it hard to walk around on (especially as there was a sprinkling of rain by the time we reached this stop). Again, I may have tripped here, and landed on my ankle funny, but it was all worth it to see this interesting landscape. We also stopped at the abandoned 12^th century Corcomroe Abbey, in an isolated field in the countryside.

After getting back quite late, we met up with Katie to go get dinner and drinks. However, upon going out we found a huge cultural difference: pubs in Ireland don’t sell food past 9:30pm. So it was to the supermarket we went, although Katie soon found out another cultural difference: supermarkets don’t sell alcohol past 10pm. Seriously? This actually kind of shocked me about Dublin, which seemed so progressive in many ways.

Saturday, our final day in Dublin, Katie and I decided to the free walking tour provided by the hostel. The tour ended up becoming an all-day affair, linking up with a bigger group of people to go on a 4 hour walking tour. It helped that our guide was quite entertaining and knowledgeable about Dublin, making stories come alive as we roamed the city. However, about halfway through the tour, the heavens opened and it began to pour. As neither of us had an umbrella and I only had a flimsy raincoat, we ended up soaked from head to toe. I think my boots might still be wet. At the end of the dreadful tour, we made our way shivering to O’Neill’s Pub, where I finally got to have some traditional fish and chips and warm up a bit.

That night, we had planned to go out and get drinks, as it was the second biggest party weekend of the year. I didn’t realize that Halloween is a celtic celebration, with its roots in Ireland. As we were there the weekend before Halloween, the city was as alive as it could be. However, after standing outside in the cold and rain all day, I was feeling quite ill and opted to buy tea from the supermarket and get a good night’s rest before leaving for France Sunday morning.

All in all, Ireland kind of disappointed me. I shouldn’t say that – Dublin disappointed me. It was actually quite ordinary with how it looked, reminding me of a suburb of Chicago. It had a hint of being extremely Americanized, with the shops and restaurants that were there. I had heard a lot about the Irish being the friendliest people so I was excited to be welcomed in this culture. However, I wasn’t overwhelmed with how nice the people were, and some were actually quite rude. Now, my experience in the Irish countryside was purely amazing. If I would give any advice for travelers wanting to go to the Emerald Isle, find more time to venture in the countryside, and less in the city of Dublin. I can still hear the swells of Danny Boy while looking at the rolling green hills and will never forget the feeling of standing on the Edge of the World.

*Fun fact: George Lucas copied this library exactly to use in Star Wars. He asked the college to use it first, they denied his request, then he did it anyway. Look for the Jedi library and you will see the Long Room from Trinity College.

**Yet another understatement in this blog.