Malahide Castle
Howth
We hopped on a shuttle into the city, stored our stuff at a hostel and then did some wandering around the city. We made our first stop at St. Patrick's Cathedral, which we both loved. When you first walk in it seems surprisingly small and dilapidated, but as soon as we started to walk around it quickly became an amazing place. There are so many statues, commemorative plaques and little alcoves with beautiful paintings, sculptures and scriptures dedicated to the memory of the people. It was very moving for me and Olivia - neither one of us wanted to leave. In the small chapel for private prayer, I lit a candle for The Nana.
Fish n' chips
After the cathedral we headed back to the hostel where we met our couchsurfing host, Peter. We had coffee, and then he took us to an East Asian exhibit at the library. It was Irish, but it was a really cool exhibit full of original scrolls, paintings, books and jewelry like I've never seen before in my life. After that we set up camp at his place and then went out to taste some Irish-y things. We had some greasy fish n' chips at the local fryer and then headed to a local bar for some guinness.
The bar was such an 'Irish' experience. As soon as we walked in, all the guys sitting at one end started talking to us. The bartender demonstrated a proper way to pour a guinness (pour, let it sit, top it off and then serve it), and then we had to wait for it to 'set' before we toasted with 'slaunchy.' We sat in the back of the bar in the 'beer garden' or 'smoking area' and every few minutes one of the customers would come back for a cigarette. It was a relatively small space and every single person struck up a conversation with us. Most of them were locals and regulars at the bar and knew most of the people that came in and out on a regular basis. They were delightful to talk to and most of them were really funny. They had a way of telling stories, monologuing kind of and staring off into space as they did it. They would laugh with you at the punchline and then wish you a pleasant stay and head back to the bar. Through one of these encounters we met someone who used to be a tourist guide and he told us we must go see Howth, a small fishing village about 30 minutes outside of Dublin. We hadn't made any concrete plans, so the next day we woke up early and headed to the train station.
We got a special day pass at the train station which we could use to ride any train for the next 24 hours. First we headed to Malahide to see the castle. We wandered around the grounds for awhile and took a nap on the lawn and then headed to Howth, which ended up being our favorite spot on our trip. The pier was full of restaurants selling fresh fish, there was a little lighthouse and the water was so clear you could see the bottom of the bay. We took a walk up the cliffs and sat for awhile enjoying the view of the coast. We had a delicious seafood sampler at one of the restaurants by the coast - the best seafood chowder I have ever tasted. It was early for dinner yet, so we were pretty much the only people in the restaurant. Our waiter chatted with us a little and I couldn't help but laugh because I had the hardest time understanding what he was saying. Olivia had no problem and couldn't understand why I was so slow to catch-on. But he was a very nice fellow and gave us all kinds of recommendations about places to listen to live music and little spots to explore in town. He told us Galway was a must-see, and since our first recommendation went so well, we planned a trip to Galway the next day.
Galway wasn't as lovely as Howth. But this was due in part to the fact that we were both really tired at that point, hadn't slept well, and we had crappy weather. It didn't rain, thankfully, but it was really chilly and windy. We explored for a few hours and then spent the rest of the afternoon in a cafe reading magazines and sipping coffee. It was nice to relax a little and warm-up. Galway is a very sweet town, but it's very touristy and I think the best time to be there is at night for all the live music. Unfortunately we had to head back to Dublin, but we did hangout and listen to some live music in Dublin before hitting the hay.
The following day we had a slow start and spent several hours in a little diner and slowly woke up over a HUGE plate of porridge and coffee. Then we met up with my friend Marcos and hopped on a bus with him to Dundalk, a town close to the border of Northern Ireland where he lives. Marcos and I were very good friends while I was studying in Champaign, although I hadn't seen him since I graduated. He married a girl from Ireland a few years ago and when we planned our trip I contacted him to see if he was available to get together. He immediately invited Olivia and I to come and stay a few days with them, so of course we accepted!
It was the perfect end to our trip. Marcos and his wife, Yasmin, have a lovely place and Dundalk is a sweet little town. They were the perfect hosts, and we did nothing but hangout, eat, chat and go for walks. Olivia and I slept so well and both Marcos and Yasmin are excellent cooks. The food we had was delicious. It was so much fun to catch-up. We laughed and laughed for two days straight. Our final day there they had a bunch of friends over and they all helped us stay awake and escorted us to our bus at 3:30am. It was a great send-off and by 6am we were on a plane back to Kraków.
Hangin out with Yasmin and Marcos
Marcos and I
Playing Wii
No comments:
Post a Comment