Friday 2/26- Day 1 Ireland: (sorry about the under lined...i could not figure out how to get rid of it)
We were exhausted as we had to wake up at 3AM to catch a bus to Luton airport to make a flight to Dublin!! It was all worth it, though. First, ill give daily summaries, then my thoughts and reactions of each day.
We ended up arriving at our hostel at about 10 AM, checked in, and got to have their free breakfast they have every morning consisting of toast, cereal, eggs, coffee, tea, and juice. Having this breakfast was great because 1) didn’t have to buy it 2) kept us energized until lunch. Our hostel was a big one with staff that knew the city really well. They provided guide books, maps, and any info we needed. We decided to do a free walking tour of the main part of Dublin at 1PM. So, we had some time to wonder around our hostel and took our time walking to where the tour met. The tour was one of the highlights of the trip. We had an amazing tour guide who was totally Irish with her red hair and accent!
The tour consisted of stopping at some major places and she informed us of the history and other information about it. It lasted until about half past 3. The tour took us through temple bar (a really cool part of Dublin with the cobblestone streets, tons of irish pubs, and traditional irish food), across the famous Ha’Penny bridge, and ending in St Stephens green, a really pretty park in Dublin.
After the tour, we needed to rest a bit, so after a good recommendation by the tour guide, we headed to Grafton street to the café. We enjoyed hot chocolate and scones, and then headed to the Temple bar section to experience the Irish culture, walk around, eat their food, and enjoy life! We found a restaurant that had an “early bird saving” deal where you get soup, a main entre, and dessert for 10 euros. So, we did just that. Sonya & Chelsey got trad’t Irish stew and I got a garlic and cashew chicken stir-fry (wasn’t too fond of the stew).
After dinner, exploring the night life of Dublin, and heading in some shops, we were off for our first train ride to attend a traditional irish music dancing and music experience. It was at this place called Comhaltas…it was real Irish people singing, playing music and dancing traditional irish! It was really sweet to experience and be involved with their culture. It was an adventure finding the place, though! It took us about 1 ½ hours to find it, so we didn’t have too much time at the place. This was another highlight of the trip. We headed back to town and experienced our first night in a hostel full of other backpackers and students traveling.
REFLECTION ON DUBLIN-
My first thought of Dublin was that it is smaller than London and more laid back. this is something I will experience in any other city because London is one of the world's biggest cities. Dublin was a nice city, although I can't see myself living there. What I loved was the countryside, mountains, and seaside of Ireland!!! Those caught my breath away and makes me want to visit Ireland again...not for Dublin. Dublin also has a terrible transportation system. I guess I am spoiled by London's underground tube system. Dublin also had a lot of graffiti everywhere on teh buildings and a little more trash than London. On a good note, Dublin is known for its "doors." It has cute colorful doors on its' buildings everywhere. It makes the city more colorful and vibrant.
*our sweet tour guide for the free walking tour!
*the actual Temple Bar - traditional irish pub in Dublin
*Grafton street at nightSaturday 2/27- Day 2 Ireland:
After getting the recommendation from Jeanette to go to Glendalough (part of the Wicklow mountains…..it is known as the fairy tale land) and seeing pictures, we made sure to include this in our itinerary! We had an option to either go on our own, walk and explore by ourselves, or do a tour that would drive us through the mountains and end in Glendalogh to explore there. The thing was that we had already booked a hostel in Glendalough, so if we did the tour, we would not go back with them. We chose the tour and LOVED IT SO MUCH. Our tour guide, Paul, was hysterical and every minute was worth the price. It was in a small bus with some other students visiting Dublin, and we rode along the mountains and stopped at various places to view the SPECTACULAR scenery. Ill go through the stops:
1) overlooking the city of Dublin. This was really neat to see. I love seeing cities from above.
2) overlooking Wicklow mountains…gorgeous greenery and some snow atop the mountains
3) overlooking more mountains and hillside. This was the stop with a hidden lake…we had to walk a little bit to get there. It felt magical! This was my favorite!! Something that has stuck with me is the driver said to us when we got back to the bus, “Wow, all your eyes are just in awe and gleaming!”…which was true.
4) overlooking where “the braveheart” was filmed…pretty much a valley with mountains in the background
5) where “PS I love you” was filmed. The exact bridge Hilary Swank is on in the opening shot of Ireland in the movie. We all took snapshots reading a mpa how she does it in the movie
6) overlooking a gorgeous lake surrounded by mountains (once again) and trees. The lake is known for looking like a puddle of Guiness.
7) overlooking a huge waterfall! Then, the bus driver rode down the road so we got to walk along the street. One of the best walks o my life!!!!
8) lunch in small village
9) Glendalough. We walked through the historical parts of it, and then the others got to explore the other parts. Us three went off on our own to hike through the mountains and such before it got dark in about 3 hours. We went to the small lake and then the upper lake. They were both gorgeous.
We then went back to our hostel, freshened up and went to one of the three spots for dinner. after enjoying our dinner, we were exhausted and went to bed pretty early.
I now understand why people call this place the “fairly tale” mountains. It feels so magical, looks magical, and feels like your in a different world when you’re here. There was one point when I wanted to just jump into the forest because it looked fake!...(and I ended up running through it). Glendalough and wicklow mountains so far is one of my favorite places in the world.
Having the awesome tour guide that we did made it especially better. He made us laugh hysterically, told stories, and gave so much information about what we were seeing and driving around.
*me, Sonya and Chelsey at the second over look of the Wicklow mountains
*the hidden lake at one of the stops. this was gorgeous. 
Sunday 2/28- Day 3 Ireland:
After catching an early bus back to Dublin, we decided to go to a real Dublin flea market that was recommended by our hostel staff. This was a great Irish cultural experience because there were no tourists and all locals (I bough a hat). After this, we took the train for another day trip from Dublin to the town of Howth. This was a sea side village, on the coast of Ireland about 30 minutes from Dublin. We all loved it so much..the atmosphere was small, quaint, and like a sea side village. When we first arrived, there was a market going on, so we took some time tasting samples of amazing curry, sweets, and cheeses. (markets are one of my fav things to do in other cities) We then explored the town a little bit, which consisted on a lighthouse, pier, promenade, restaurants, cafes, shops, homes, a big tower, AND OF COURSE THE SEA AND CLIFFS!
This was another remarkable experience…being on the coast was amazing. There was one point when we all sat on the pier really close to the water overlooking cliffs when we were all amazed and in awe of our surrounding beauty!!! Before it got dark, we decided to walk around some more and see more of the “local” side of town.
As were were walking, we came across this secret pathway that lead us to an amazing spot overlooking Dublin and was surrounded by green bushes. It felt like we were in a movie. We layed in the grass and watched the sun set over Dublin. This was definitely another highlight of the trip!! (there seems to be a lot of highlights for this trip).
After watching the sunset over Dublin with surrounding mountains and the ocean around us, we headed for another traditional irish eating experience. We found this awesome restaurant that had live jazz music, so we enjoyed that a while before we ate. The restaurant had a deal where you get any entrée for 10 euro, including steak!...so I got it, and it was delicious!
We headed back to Dublin and experienced our last Dublin adventure by going to “Irelands oldest pub,” called Brazenhead. It was a great night to end an amazing weekend!!! We had to wake up super early again to catch a flight Monday morning back to London!
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