I can’t even begin to explain to you exactly how I feel about Ireland. It is SUCH a beautiful place. The countryside is incredible, the coastline is breathtaking, the food reminds me of home, and the people are amazing. 

Having spent 11 days in Italy (in +30 degree heat & humidity), 5 days in Barcelona (again, +30 degree heat & humidity), 3 days in Lisbon (heat & humidity) and finally 3 days in Madrid (hot hot hot…yet again) I needed cool weather. I needed long pants, sweaters, rain and no more heat. While it made no sense for me to fly all the way north to Ireland, just to come back down to Munich, I didn’t care. I wanted to be cold. Besides that, this was my first time being completely solo since I left Canada. I wanted to be in a country where people spoke English. I certainly DID NOT regret my decision.

DUBLIN

Upon arriving in Dublin, I made it to my hostel and has about 45 mins to kill before I could check into my room. I headed for Grafton Street to find a SIM card and grab a bite to eat. One thing to know about Dublin, there are musicians playing everywh

ere. It seemed like everywhere I turned, there were people playing or singing on the street. It was beautiful.

Now, I didn’t know what to expect when I got to my hostel in Dublin. I’m an outgoing person, but I had this fear that I wouldn’t meet anyone and would be stuck wandering around Dublin by myself. I couldn’t have been more wrong. After returning to my hostel to check in, I quickly met Christine from Florida, Kassie from Winnipeg, and Katie from Colorado. All being solo travelers we quickly became friends and headed out to the Temple Bar District to have a couple drinks. We didn’t have to walk far before you could hear the sound of typical Irish music coming from a few pubs. It’s like they’re trying to call you to come inside. We chose one, managed to find a table and sat for a good couple hours. Just drinking, chatting and getting lost in the atmosphere. We quickly decided that all four of us we going to go on the pub crawl that our hostel recommended. So we had a quick bite to eat to head back to the hostel to change and get ready!

What a great night! Met tons of people from all over..drank a bit (some more then others ;)) and had a bunch of laughs. 

​

​​
​
The following day was a slow start. Christine and I wandered around the area surrounding our hostel, and on recommendation from the guy at reception, headed for a free burger at the Gourmet Burger Kitchen. Unfortunately, Christine wasn’t feeling that great and headed back to the hostel to relax and I ventured out to do the free walking tour. This has turned into one of my favorite activities in a new city. It was great! 

Following my tour, I headed back to the hostel to fold some laundry and relax for a bit. I later met up with Christine and Kassie for dinner before calling it a night. I caught a nasty cold as soon as I got to Dublin, and we were visiting the Cliffs of Moher the next day, which meant a VERY early morning.

Cliffs of Moher

First let me say, that if you are in Dublin, visiting the Cliffs of Moher should be one of the first things on your to-do list. Not only did we get to see the Cliffs, but we were taken to Galway, a small village on the coast with a lot of history. It was stunning, as were the Cliffs. 

BELFAST

The next day I took the bus to Belfast, Northern Ireland’s capital city. This is also the place where years of conflict between the Catholics and the Protestants took place. This is conflict that’s still going on. Not on the same scale, but you can still see and feel it on the west side of the city. 

The following day, I took a Black Cab Tour with a few people from my hostel. This was a one hour tour where a local driver (his name was Red) drove us around the West side of the city, and talked about Belfast’s tragic history. Red, who grew up during the conflict said that unfortunately, you just got used to hearing bombs go off. That you would see friends one day, and they would be gone the next. When he was 16, he and his parents moved to Australia to stay safe, but he quickly moved back at the age of 18. We drove by the Peace Wall, and I even signed it! We also drove through both the Catholic and Protestant communities. It was an eerie, but really good tour. I would recommend everyone take this tour when you’re in Belfast.

You can’t go to Belfast and not visit the Giant’s Causeway, so the next day I went on a tour that visited the Causeway, the Carrick Rope Bridge and the Dark Hedges. For all your Game of Thrones fans, you might recognize the Dark Hedges from Season 2.

​

​
Ireland was amazing (great craich as the locals say), and I didn’t spend nearly enough time here. I may have caught a cold when I arrived, but that won’t stop me from visiting again very VERY soon. There is still so much for me to see and experience here in the land of 40 shades of green!

Now I’m off to Munich to spend 10 days driving through Germay, Austria and Switzerland with my Mom!

‘Till later…

Ciao!

-A<3