The Land of My People

When I decided to go to Ireland I was unable to find anyone else in my program in Spain who was frees at the same time as me and wanted to go to Ireland as well. At first I was afraid this would mean that I wouldn't be able to go at all. As luck would have it a travel insurance company based out of Italy that also has a basis in Spain was having a sale on different trips one weekend. Since all direct flights from Sevilla, Spain to Dublin, Ireland were extraordinarily expensive, I decided that if I was going to go to Ireland at this would be the best way for me to do it. Not only would it be cheaper but it would also be safer traveling with a group of people. The trip that went to Ireland through this program was a coast to coast trip. As I explain the trip this will become apparent why.

Since there were no direct flights that were cheaper I had to take two separate flights there and two separate flights back. On the way there I flew to Santander, a city on the northern coast of Spain, and caught a connecting flight to Dublin, Ireland. When I landed in Dublin it was already dark but wasn't actually that late since it was the weekend after the European time change. When I was taking the bus to the area where my hostel was I could hardly believe that I was actually finally in Ireland. I've ALWAYS wanted to travel to Ireland. I was also terrified since I was alone and had to manage to find my hostel, though the program gave very accurate directions.

After not knowing what street to turn on only once I found my hostel! It was an extremely nice hostel, especially considering the one I had stayed at in London. Downstairs I met one of the program directors and checked in with him. By the time I got upstairs I had completely forgotten which room number he had said I was in and the card did not have a number on it. At this point I thought I was in trouble since I didn't want to go back downstairs and ask I decided I would just try every door until it worked on one of them. Somehow it worked on the very first door that I tried.

In the room there were two other people already laying down on their own beds. We introduced ourselves, the girl was Carly and the guy was Dave aka “Old Man”. Ironically enough once I started talking to Carly I discovered she was also studying in Spain but in Granada. I told her I had friends who were studying there and told her their names and, small world, she knew them! That night the program didn't have anything planed but was going to walk over as a group to were the main street with food and pubs were for the people that wanted to. I tried to run to market and grab something to eat before then because that was a couple of hours away and I was so hungry. Before I left Spain I didn't with draw any cash from the ATM and I tried to find one that first night and was unable to find one that was functioning. Thus began the theme of this trip.

When it came time to meet to go find food the three of us went downstairs and were not able to find anyone in the program. Dave thought he knew where the area was that they were going so we headed out in search of food. We stopped in a pub and sat down and ordered some drinks, I tried my first Irish coffee and it was sooo good. Then we asked for food menus and they told us the kitchen was already closed for the night. Since they didn't separate our bill I paid for all of our drinks and Carly and Dave gave me cash for theirs. Next we walked and found food district that's open all night. We went to the first one we saw that was open and we all ordered some form of fried chicken. There we met and talked to and English woman from Australia who was in Dublin on Holiday. Since we had to get up early the next day we headed back and went to sleep.

The next day we had our walking tour of Dublin. Our tour guide was a very interesting young Irish woman. I loved hearing the history of Ireland and the struggle she has fought with England for the right to rule themselves. At one point it started raining and it was miserable  I had stupidly decided to leave my umbrella in my room thinking I wouldn't need it. You always need an umbrella in Ireland. At this point I also truly discovered how non-waterproof my boots were. My feet were constantly cold and wet when I was there. I finally found an ATM that worked but I forgot my pin. So I couldn't use my card and since my Spanish phone didn't work in Ireland I had no way to ask back home what it was I had no way to withdraw money. We had lunch at a pub called O'Neils, which is ironic because there is an Irish pub by the same name in Sevilla that I walk by everyday. Luckily they accepted cards here and I could still use my card as a debit. Lunch was amazing. I had Irish stew with potatoes and carrots, and there was so much food.

After lunch we went finished the walking tour off and then went to the Guinness factory. The night before I had tried Dave's Guinness so I knew that I liked it. We opted to do the self guided tour of the factory. I enjoyed finding out about the product, how it's made, and the history behind it all. The factory always talked about the fifth ingredient being belief in the product and Arthur Guinness showed that belief by signing a 9000 year lease on the building. Things have turned out well for the Guinness family because of this bold step. At the end of the tour you arrive at the very top of the factory and as part of the entrance fee you receive a free pint of Guinness. Since I ate so much at lunch I was unable to finish mine before we were ready to leave. Then we had free time before the pub crawl that night. Since I was tired and cold I used my time unwisely and took a nap instead of going out into the city.

That night I decided to do the pub crawl because I had never been on one and thought it would be a good way to see another part of the city. It was a lot of fun, Carly went with me and we stuck together throughout the crawl. We didn't go to get food before we went on the crawl so we were both so hungry. So instead of going to one of the pubs we decided to go to a restaurant that was near it. We ordered breakfast plates and it was amazing. Breakfast in Spain is just toast and coffee and they don't eat 'breakfast foods' during other times of day like we do in the US. The pub craw ended at a dance club but neither of us really wanted to stay so we left pretty quickly after arriving.

The next day we got up early and got on a bus for three hours to go to the Cliffs of Moher. It was completely beautiful. Freezing. But beautiful. It was also very very windy at the cliffs. At times it was difficult to even walk straight because it was so windy. The waves crashed up so high up the cliffs at points that they constantly sprayed the walkway. We walked up one side towards the castle/tower and where about halfway up the other way when I could see what looked like rain coming in off the ocean and I really didn't want to get caught in it. As we approached the door to the building, which was built into a hill btw, it started to hail. Straight up hail. Luckily we headed back when we did and made it inside before the worst of it. Cold and wet again we all ordered some soup to warm up and fill up our stomachs.

After the cliffs we went to Galway. This is the city that is famous for making the Love, Friendship, Loyalty rings. I bought one at the Cliffs of Moher store because at that time I didn't know this. Still I am very happy with my purchase. When we arrived it was raining and we had the option to go on a walking tour of the city or to go on our own. I choose to do the tour. Big mistake. It was raining so much and my umbrella was broken at this point so I was getting drenched. The three of us decided to bail and find a pub and order something small just to get out of the rain. Then when the rain let up we walked around the city and looked at shops a bit. That night we arrived back in Dublin and had a little time to rest before we went out to find food again. We managed to make it to a pub before the kitchen closed and had another wonderful meal. The next day I had to get up sort of early to go to the airport. Going back I flew to Palma, an Spanish island of the coast of Spain, and have to spend around 5 hours at this airport before flying to Sevilla. All in all, I loved Ireland and would love to be able to return one day.