Okay so on Friday, we flew out of Malaga to Dublin. Which meant that we had to take a bus to the Malaga bus station and then another bus to the airport (now I know what to do to pick up my family in 3 weeks!). Both bus rides were uneventful and we got to the airport on time, thank god - I hate having to rush. We did our Ryanair visa/passport check and then sat down to eat lunch. Going through security was fast and uneventful so we went and sat by our gate until it was time to board. The flight was uneventful too but I wasn't able to sleep - LUCKILY I had my newly repaired iPod to keep me company. Once we landed, we took a double decker bus into the city and from there, we walked about ten minutes to our hostel. The four of us were booked in a 10 bed female dorm and it was probably better than our hostel in Rome. Some girl from Poland had been living there for 3 months (!!) so she gave us advice on where to go and where not to go.
Once we put our stuff down, it was off to dinner! Of course we went to a pub with live irish music! I had a baked potato with chili on top - not traditional irish food but still spicy and delicious - with a Guinness, of course!
Probably the best beer I have ever tasted! After dinner, we went back to change and then we hit the streets in search of a true Dublin experience. On the way, we passed a girl drunkenly yelling at two cops and crying - welcome to Ireland! We ended up around Temple Bar and tried to go to one bar that reminded us of Harry Potter, only to be informed by the security doorman that we needed identification. Identification? I have never needed ID for a drink in Spain! We were taken aback for a moment and returned to our hostel to get identification. Round two, our first stop was a two-level bar with more live music! There was a woman playing violin and a man playing guitar - the music was so beautiful! Of course, we had more beer - I tried Irish cider, which was delicious! The bar was so cute - each beer was in its proper glass.
(The Bulmer's was mine and the glass on the left was Beck's)
From there, we went to the famous Temple Bar - where beers are 6 euro per pint and an Irish car bomb (I didn't have one) cost 10 euro. There was MORE live music here! - A woman with an amazing voice and the best guitar player I have ever heard!
Surprisingly, Guinness was the cheapest drink so of course, I had to have another - I was in Dublin, after all!
The people in this bar were so friendly! On the way to the bathroom, I had someone say "Hola" to me - I guess I looked Spanish? And then on the way back, someone started talking to me saying I had a Dublin accent. Whaaaaat? I just could not believe how nice people were! If they saw us taking a picture, they took the camera from us and took a picture of all of us!
Of course there were drunk people there dancing around to the music and all but it was just funny. The only thing that was a little difficult was understanding their accents - it sounded like some of them weren't even speaking English! I felt like half of what I said was "What did you say? What?" I met some people and told them I was from Washington DC - more well known than Baltimore - and one guy called me out on not being from DC when I didn't know the name of some bar. My excuse was that because I'm only 20, I can't legally drink at home. I still got ragged on for that and eventually said I lived just outside of DC but went to school further north. After some more music, the bar closed at 230 and we made it back to our hostel at 3am to sleep.
Saturday
We woke up around 8 to get breakfast and be out the door early. Our hostel stay included more free breakfast (yay!) so we stuffed ourselves and figured out our plan of action. Brittany and I both wanted to go to the Guinness Storehouse but Esme and Rebecca didn't want to go so we decided to split up - Brittany and I would go with Sam and Mackenzie (girls from our program who were also in Dublin AND in our hostel!) and Esme and Rebecca would go to two towns with one of the tour directors or employees or something. 10 am, we made it to the top of the Guinness Storehouse - the Gravity Bar - with a panoramic view of Dublin - even with a free pint! Even though it was early, I paid my entrance into the storehouse and I was going to finish my pint - no wasting money for me!
Pint: empty!
I did some damage in the Gift Shop but was able to get some presents for people aka you Dad. From there, we went to eat at SUBWAY for lunch. It has been too long since I've eaten some raw vegetables. But I did learn a lesson - don't drink a full pint of Guinness and then eat a 6 inch sub because you will walk around the rest of the day feeling stuffed to the brim.
We walked by Christ's Church on our way to the castle...which was a disappointment.
This is not a castle ^^. I was very disappointed. But we continued on towards Trinity College, which was beautiful, even with the construction.
From there, we went to a souvenir shop where I bought more presents. So many presents - I'm too nice! And then we found ourselves walking down a major shopping street. I bought a claddagh ring from a street vendor for 9 euro and I love it! We finally found the park we were looking for and it was gorgeous! - St. Stephen's Green. So many flowers in bloom!
We walked around for a bit before heading back to our hostel to meet up with the two other girls in Mackenzie and Sam's group. Once we met up with them, we were off to the train station to buy a ticket to go to Howth. It reminded me more of a metro than a train and the ticket was cheap - 2.20 euro one way. The little port town was SO CUTE.
When we got to the harbor, we noticed a crowd of people and when we walked over - we discovered that there were seals!
After watching people feed the seals, we decided to walk towards the cliffs. Little did we know, it would take a long time to walk there, so we stopped once we saw a beach.
Just me and the Dublin Bay!
We decided to take the train home so we could go out earlier - thanks to a 9am flight the next day. Once we got back to the hostel, we headed out the pubs once more and ended up back at Temple Bar! This time it was just me and Brittany so we sat in a corner and just people watched while we enjoyed some overpriced beer. By just sitting and listening to the music, we had so many people come up to us to talk! The "official" photographer for the bar, friendly dad-types from London, and a whole Gaelic football team. (I just youtubed Gaelic football and it looks more confusing than rugby. Kind of like basketball + soccer + volleyball + rugby). Surprisingly, multiple guys from the team were shocked that a girl was drinking Guinness. Why, I don't know but when in Ireland....
More camera stealing and craic. You can't even see Brittany's head.
Also, these guys had the thickest accents ever. And according to them, my name was Kristan....
Around 130am (thanks Daylight Savings Time) we headed back because we were planning to wake up at 530 to catch the 630 bus to the airport with Sam.
Sunday
We were up bright and early at 530 to be out by 6 to catch the 630 bus. So we went to McDonald's for breakfast where I got an Egg McMuffin that I had been craving since I left home. DELICIOUS. The airport was the usual, an airport, and we arrived at the correct terminal thanks to the help of a nice Irish man. And I passed out on the plane with a lovely window seat. Bus back to the airport, bus back to Granada where I met a guy from New Hampshire that is also studying in Granada who gave me advice about Amsterdam and Brussels, and then bus back to our street. I was sufficiently exhausted after a great 36 hours in Dublin. I definitely have to go back there - and travel around to Cork, Galway and of course, KISS THE BLARNEY STONE!
