Our vital error for this trip was waiting too long to book it. There were SO many places we wanted to go and see that choosing the first one turned out to be the hardest thing ever. We went back and forth between Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Munich, Prague, etc. etc. and we tried the best we could to find the cheapest one. Hours and hours were spent searching for flights and we finally chose Dublin, but that was only 2 weeks ago, so as you can imagine, it wasn't too cheap! We realized we were going to have to fly out of Madrid to afford any trip at all, which we figured was fine because we could just take an overnight bus from Seville to Madrid, no biggy! Enter error number 2. The overnight bus that we had planned to take filled up, so we had to take a bus from Sevilla to a town an hour away where we could then catch a connecting bus to Madrid. We then realized that in order to come back to Seville from our returning flight, we'd have to take another overnight bus which, unfortunately, didn't leave until 4-5 hours after our flight got in...error number 3.
So we started our trip on Thursday night, with the most positive of attitudes...and then we got on the bus to Madrid, which was a 7-hour overnight bus. The brakes were noisy, we had an annoying, flirty and talkative pair of people in front of us. Needless to say, it wasn't what one would call a good night sleep.
Then, we arrived at the airport. We unfortunately got there at 6 am and our flight didn't depart until 11, so we were hoping to just go through security, get to our gate and sleep a little there. Aaaand error number 4. Apparently our airline didn't let you through security until 2 hours before your flight, so we were stuck in the waiting area where there was only 1 lousy cafe with tables. We tried sleeping by the wall in the corner, but some guard came and woke us up and said we couldn't sleep because they don't let homeless people do it either. So we just tried to sleep on the tables until we could go through security, etc. etc....oy. It was horrible.
BUT after about 20 hours of traveling, we finally in arrived in Dublin!! We arrived Friday afternoon and after we threw our stuff in our hostel we decided to go and walk around a little. We (Britt and I) went to the 'Temple Bar' area where there were tons of bars and restaurants, and mostly just looked around to see what we might want to do later. I think the best part of this entire trip was finding real milk!!!!!! I was so so so so SO excited to find milk. I bought a liter of it, and drank it walking down the street. Think I'm joking? See picture below:
That's right. If there's one thing I've learned being over here, it's to appreciate milk and all of it's deliciousness. Let me tell you, it was worth every weird look I got from attractive Irish boys. Here are some other pictures of the Temple Bar area.
That night we also did a little shopping because we found the best street for shopping in Dublin was right by our hostel...so really, how were we supposed to resist that? It's called Henry Street...pictured below, with an incredibly beautiful sunset! This may be one of my favorite pictures from the whole trip:
That night, we decided to go out for some pints in the Temple Bar area because it looked so fun! We ended up meeting some girls at this fun Irish pub with live music who were living in Dublin but had previously studied abroad in Spain. They invited us to go to a club with them, said it was really fun, lots of dancing and music...and how could we say no?! Error number 5. We had to pay to take a cab to the club, ended up farther away from our hostel, had to pay 10 euros to even get into the club AND I lost 50 euro that night!! However, we did end up having fun and we met some people who taught us that a 'Baby Guinness' is not in fact a small Guinness, rather a small 'shot' of Kahlua and Baileys, which looks exactly like a Guinness and is incredibly adorable, and delicious! We safely took a cab back to our hostel like sensible travelers would do. And for parents, grandparents, and worried coworkers, our hostel was very VERY strict about showing proof that you were staying there, and was in a very safe neighborhood.
Moving on.
Saturday. We got a nice early start to Saturday, starting out with the amazing free breakfast that we got included with our hostel, for only 12 euro/night might I add. For our Saturday agenda we started out with a 40 minute walk to Phoenix Park. It's one of the largest parks in all of Europe. To us it really just seemed like a park, but my guess it that we only saw a very little part of it, and had we had the energy to go further into the park, I bet it would've gotten a lot more interesting! Here are some pictures:
After the park we did what any person over the age of 18 does when visiting Ireland. That's right. We went to the Guinness Factory. On Friday night we talked to one of the girls staying in the hostel and she said that the factory tours used to be done with a tour guide that was usually really entertaining and fun, but now it's just one where you walk through on your own. The actual museum part itself wasn't anything overly exciting, it was more just one of those things you have to do! The best part came when you got a free pint on the top floor or the factory, which they recently re-did to be all glass, so you get a 360 degree view of Dublin. It was pretty cool, but difficult to get pictures because we went on a Saturday and it was really packed. Although I couldn't admit this in Ireland, I can now say that I don't really enjoy Guinness all that much. I only drank half of the free pint I was given (pretty much a sin in Ireland, but I'm a rebel) and even that was too much. But, none the less, I can now officially say I have been to the Guinness Factory. Below are some pics:
Advertising throughout the years...
Saturday night I was so sick that I couldn't move out of my bed at the hostel. My stomach was so upset I could only eat a rice cake and I was basically in tears I was so sick, and definitely upset that I had to spend one of only 3 nights in Ireland in bed. That was the low point of the trip! So I went to bed early, and Britt got to go out with some girls that had just arrived who were from France and Germany.
Sunday. Felt a little bit better, and I also found some Sudafed which helped a little as well. This ended up being my favorite of all days spent in Ireland! I loved this day. On Sunday, we decided to take a bus tour to see more the 'scenic' parts of Ireland and not just the city of Dublin. I highly, HIGHLY recommend this to anyone planning on traveling there. It was so gorgeous, beyond gorgeous, there aren't even words. We chose Wild Wicklow Tours. They were very nice and the tour guide did a good job of giving us information, but making it at least mildly entertaining. We got on the bus in Dublin and our first stop was a part of Dublin Bay call Dun Laoghaire:
We continued on to make a stop at a cafe, which was very random, but they had REALLY amazing scones, so I won't complain too much :-) From there, we went into the countryside of Wicklow County. Wicklow is where numerous movies have been filmed...and when I say numerous...I mean numerous. For those of you who like 'chick flicks' P.S. I Love You was filmed there, for men reading the blog Saving Private Ryan and Gladiator were both filmed there...and for everyone Black Beauty, and Lassie. But that's just to name a few. Our tour guide went on for almost 2 minutes. Apparently, Ireland is a very popular place to film because you can do it tax free there...just an interesting fact for you :-) Here are some pictures of the gorgeousness:
Note: It was absolutely crazy windy and cold in these mountains!!! We got free shots of Jameson when loading back on the bus after this photo stop - think it was to warm us up?!
We continued on from here to Glendalough. The entire way we were driving up skinny roads, at a very steep incline, and the bus driver kept making jokes about how his morning pints of Guinness helped make the roads seem wider...clearly he was joking, but not necessarily what you want to hear after putting your life in his hands! Glendalough is a famous city in Wicklow because it has a graveyard of Monks and Priests who were killed in a moment of historical importance. Now, which moment of historical importance, I can not remember. Forgive me, I was taking cold medicine...that's really the only excuse I have haha! Glendalough is home to 2 lakes called 'Upper Lake' and 'Lower Lake'. I'll let you in on a secret: one, is higher in the mountains than the other. Whoever named them was clearly not feeling very creative at the time. But, the scenery there was breathtaking, pictures below :-)
On Monday, we had our flight at 2:45 so we spent the last morning just walking around Dublin, taking a few more pictures and enjoying our last few hours not traveling! Then, our departure for Madrid began, and all went smoothly there. We did, unfortunately, have to take the overnight bus again. And lucky for us we had a 5-hour wait for our bus after landing. By that time, both of our computers were dying and the old, somewhat disgusting, bus station had no internet. For those of you over the age of 30, really, what DID you do before the internet?! Sometimes it scares me how much I truly depend on the Internet for...well...everything! Especially when I'm traveling! Anyways, the overnight bus was much better this time, probably because I was just so sick and tired that I could've slept on stone stairs in cold and wind. So long story short, we made it back home safe and sound.
I've realized through this trip that paying extra money to get a flight from Seville really will be worth it in the long run, as we spent literally 37 hours traveling! By the time I account for how frustrated, cranky and just overall uncomfortable I was, it's truly not worth it.
One awesome thing I realized this trip, is how much I truly love being in Seville. And I now know that chose the exact right city to be in for these 4 months because the entire time I was in Dublin and everything kept going wrong I kept thinking about how much I just wanted to be in Seville! That realization to me, is priceless.
So, I apologize for the lengthy blog post but I hope you enjoyed seeing the photos at least :-) I look forward to my relaxing weekend spent in the lovely city of Seville and I will fill you in again soon!!
P.S. Don't worry family, the U.S. will forever be my true home and I have no intention of moving to Seville, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy my little 'affair' here :-)
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