Last weekend, Margi and I jetted off across the Irish Sea to Dublin, which was our starting point for our two-day bus tour of the Emerald Isle (bus tours seem to be a recurring theme of this semester). We landed in Dublin around 11 at night and made our way to the hostel in Temple Bar (just a few minutes away from Trinity College) and woke up early to meet up with the rest of the group.
There were 12 of us on the bus – nearly all Americans studying abroad or traveling save for the two German girls interning in Dublin. It was nice that the group was relatively small, because it meant we could get to know each other a bit better. We also discovered that there was another girl there studying at Glasgow Uni through IFSA-Butler, so it was interesting to hear her take on Glasgow and the differences between Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Our first stop was the Rock of Cashel in Tipperary, which is currently under construction, but pretty nonetheless.
After stopping for photos in Cashel, we made our way to Blarney Castle, known mainly for the Blarney Stone, which is said to give its kissers the “Gift of the Gab.” Whether this is true or not is up for debate, but it’s undeniable that the stone draws huge amounts of visitors here. In addition to this, there are also several gardens, a cafe, and beautiful ground around which you can walk.
After walking through the castle, we got lunch at the cafe on the castle grounds, where I discovered this poster hanging above the fireplace.
After trolling around the castle, gardens, and gift shop, we drove up to Ennis, where we stayed the night. Dropping our bags at the hostel, we immediately went to dinner with a few of the people we had met on our tour. Since we finished dinner pretty early and still had lots of energy, we sought out Irish coffee and some live music, and found both easily.
The next morning, we went to see the Cliffs of Moher. These are a hugely famous bit of scenery because they’ve been used in so many movies – think Cliffs of Insanity from The Princess Bride or the location of one of the last horcuxes in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
The cliffs did not disappoint. Once the fog cleared out, we had the area to ourselves and were able to take our time picking our way along the edge of the cliffs.
After we finished walking around the cliffs, we drove through the Burren, which is an area of Country Clare known for its limestone-covered, almost lunar landscape.
We continued up to Galway from the Burren, stopping for brunch before returning to Dublin and ending the tour.
Margi and I, however, had a long night ahead of us, as we had chosen a 6:35 a.m. flight because it was only £15. After we checked back into our hostel, we searched out fish and chips before going to see Skeleton Twins with Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader. The fish and chips were subpar (as they were out of fresh fish and could only offer us smoked cod or haddock), but the movie was great (as was the theater bar). Afterwards, we wandered around Temple Bar area of Dublin for a bit, where it seemed as though there was a band set up around every corner. We listened to a few of them perform before heading back to the hostel and hanging out for a few hours. Then we hopped on a plane and back to a rainy Edinburgh, capping off our speedy journey to Ireland. Though I wish I could have seen Dublin during the daytime, it was a fun little weekend trip and it was cool to see some of the places relevant to my Irish roots.