A Fear and A Dream: Ireland Part One: Dublin!

I have always wanted to go to Ireland, partly because some of my family emigrated from County Cork, Ireland and partly because I grew up watching movies like The Quiet Man. So this February I decided to travel there with my friend Sarah. We chose to spend nine days in Ireland, visiting three cities. I've divided the trip into three blogs to save your eyes a little bit. Instead of having to sit reading for an hour (I hope they're not that long), you can read one and come back later (hopefully they're interesting enough to come back to!). Our first destination and thus my first post was/is Dublin!

Statue of Justice

We landed in Dublin around 1am and immediately headed to the hostel we would be staying at for the next three nights. After getting a tad lost, we arrived at Four Courts Hostel and at once went to bed. For our first day we decided to go on a three hour walking tour of the city. Our tour guide: an attractive, "struggling" actor. Perfect! The first stop was Dublin Castle and after every traveling student got exciting group pictures of people they'd never see again, the tour officially got started. Dublin Castle is not your stereotypical castle, no turrets or moat (there is one remain tower but it is barely visible from the inside courtyard). The castle is, however, one place where we saw a symbol of the oppression that the Irish people faced under British rule. There, the statue of Justice has her back to the outside of the castle, turning her back on the people of Dublin. She is also supposed to be blind-folded, symbolizing her being blind to discrimination. As you can see, she is not. From there we walked to Trinity College, something like an ivy league in Ireland. Apparently some scenes from Harry Potter were filmed in the buildings there. Another highlight was St Stephen's Green, a beautiful park in the middle city. The birds there were huge and James Joyce used to write there. And, according to my older sister, a bridge in the park was in the movie Leap Year. Those were just the highlights because if I gave you a more in depth description you'd never need to visit yourself!

Bridge in St Stephen's Green

From there we headed to the Guinness Storehouse and let me tell you, it's ginormous! There are seven flours, shaped like a pint of Guinness. Each floor details a different part of the Guinness making process, ending at a bar in which one can learn to pour the perfect pint. So, with enormous amounts of concentration, I pulled a perfect pint (not to toot my own horn or anything!). Then Sarah and I were able to enjoy the Guinnesses we poured, or pretend to enjoy it as was the case for me. Guinness isn't really my cup of tea.

Kilmainham Gaol

Sarah and I began the next day by visiting an adorable farmers' market and partaking in fresh made smoothies. Next on the agenda was the Old Jameson Distillery, which, in my opinion, is the better of the two alcohol tasting tours. We participated in a guided tour with a choice of Jameson neat or Jameson ginger and lime. I chose the latter and highly recommend it!

Fun fact about me, I love prisons. So, after we finished our beverages, Sarah and I visited the Kilmainham Gaol, an old prison from the 1780s to the 1920s. The tour started with a museum, detailing the history of the prison. Many people were incarcerated there during The Famine and through the many revolutions. We then got to go into the prison. Our guide told us that many movies, including Shawshank Redemption, have been filmed there.

Our third day in Ireland was a Sunday and I decided to head to Christ Church Cathedral, an anglican church, for eucharist. I was thrilled to be able to attend a church so similar to my own. And the choir was fantastic!

When church let out, Sarah and I met up for a traditional Irish breakfast: eggs, sausage, hash browns, beans, "bacon," mushrooms, and black and white pudding. I wasn't a big fan of the puddings. It's a texture thing.

After that delicious breakfast, we made our way to the National Leprechaun Museum. It was really geared more towards children, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. We snuck under the giant's causeway into a giant's hut. Luckily the giant didn't show up! We walked through a rainbow to find a pot of gold. And we stopped in an enchanted forest, all the while learning about Irish folklore.

That night we packed our backpacks and got ready to travel to Cork the next morning!