Ireland!

Yes, you better believe it...Spain went on vacation! Instead of staying in Badajoz, which ranks third of the carnivals in Spain, I decided to take advantage of my break and travel. Kate and I flew out of Madrid and headed to Dublin! This was the perfect get-a-way from Spain.  Ireland was sooo refreshing, colorful, entertaining, beautiful, etc.  I don't think I stopped giggling at the Irish accents from the second I boarded the airplane.  

Kate and I only had a few days to spend in Ireland and I think we took advantage of every second.  We arrived Friday night and went to check in at our hostel.  Our hostel couldn't have been located any better, right in the heart of the city center.  We had a view of the Liffey River from our room.  

Colorful buildings along the Liffey River



Kate and I on the Liffey

We were pretty hungry after a day of travelling (3 hours to Madrid then the flight to Dublin) and decided to head out for dinner around 10 p.m.  Now you know you have been living in Spain for 4 months when this is your normal dinner time.  As we walked around, we noticed restaurants flipping their chairs preparing for closing time.  We thought this was strange...until we realized we were back to a culture that recognizes lunch time at noon and dinner around five or six.  Guess what time the pub crawl started in Dublin? 7:30! In Spain, a pub crawl wouldn't dare get rolling until midnight. The culture shock was coming at us from all angles;

1. No siesta hours
2. ENGLISH!!
3. ENGLISH..scratch that, IRISH!
My favorite comparison of the accents would have to be this...
Americans = "Thirty three and a third"  vs   Irish = "Tirdy Tree and a Tird"
4. Stores open and people partying on a Sunday
5. International food options
6. Awesome live music

Behind our hostel was the famous area called Temple Bar.  Full of Irish pubs, restaurants, stores, you name it. 

Delicious tea and even better ambiance

 

 

The most famous pub in Temple Bar
 

On Saturday we walked around Temple Bar and wandered into a gift shop.  I accidentally went overboard buying souvenirs but hey...I was excited to be in Ireland.  We joined in on a free walking tour of the city and had a great tour guide named Rob.  I video recorded parts of his tour so I could listen to his accent later on when I look through my Ireland album.  He taught us so much about Irish culture and history; all about the wars, the battles with the British, leprechauns, fairy trees, etc.

All of the signs are in Gaelic (Irish) and English

 

Dublin Castle during our walking tour

Christ Church and the Irish protesting around it
 

We stopped for a break during our tour to get food at the Temple Bar food market...and never returned to the tour.  The food was so good we decided to stay behind and keep eating it!

I wish I could eat here every Saturday

It was delicious..see pic below



The inside of the duck pie



Duck Confit Pie



Irish stew with veggies and lamb

Veggie quiche with goat cheese

 

Baileys + Coffee = Happy Samantha in Ireland

This is Rob, listen to that accent!

 

Later that night we went to an Irish Pub called The Porter House.  We sampled some Irish beers and scored a front row seat for the live band.  Kate and I had to remind each other that we were in Dublin, listening to Irish music, drinking with locals...something that we've both been excited about for a long time.  We called it an early night because we had to wake up at 6 a.m. the next morning for our bus tour to Galway (see my next post).

 

 

I never have listened to Irish music before but I really enjoyed it,  I wish I would have bought their CD!

The Porter House

I definitely would love to return to Ireland one day in the future.  There are many other things that we didn't have time to see; the Guinness and Jameson factories, the famous cemetery, Trinity College, etc.  Not to mention there are other cool cities like Cork, Killarney, or Limerick.  One of my purchases in the airport was this Starbucks mug.  Now I will think of this lovely country every time I have my morning coffee :)

 

Sláinte! (Cheers!)