This month I finally got to check off one of the items on my bucket list: going to Ireland with my friend Leah. I'm not exactly sure how long it has been that we have been talking about making the trip, but it was definitely a dream come true! We went with her friend Christie who studied abroad in Galway two years ago. It was so much fun and I took plenty of photos. I will put up the best of the best here, plus some that go along with the fun stories!
We arrived in Dublin very early on Tuesday the 12th and tried to sleep a bit while we waited for Christie's flight to get in. Dublin's airport is very nice in the new parts, although not the most comfortable for exhausted travelers. Christie arrived and we caught a bus to Galway where we stayed for the majority of the trip. We stayed in the Spanish Arch Hotel which I highly recommend if you don't mind a little noise at night. It is right over a bar and on the end of the main drag for the popular bars in the city. But it is clean and comfortable AND it had a great shower - very key. Not too expensive, and in a great location. We were on the fourth floor and this is a view from the window in the hallway:
After we got settled in the hotel, we ventured out for some food. We went to The Front Door, which is a restaurant/pub that Christie recommended. Leah and I had our first Irish Guinness! I have to admit that I wasn't sure I would like it but it was really good! So different from bottled Guinness in the States. Apparently it is all about how you pour it. Yum!
I ordered the special - lamb with gravy and mashed potatoes of course! And it was soooo good. The perfect meal for the jet-lagged.
The Front Door is definitely another place I would recommend. The atmosphere is great - dark and cozy with dark woods and old stone walls. Lots of nooks and crannies and booths. Pretty quiet but definitely gets louder and rowdier as the night goes on. There are two floors with a total of four bars I think? The food was fantastic and affordable, and the Guinness well poured!
After we finished our meals we decided to venture out in search of another good pint and some live music. Christie took us to Tig Coili, which unlike most of the other pubs seemed to be filled more with locals than tourists. We were definitely in for a treat.
There was a man in the pub standing on a bench just spouting out amazing stories in rhymes off the top of his head. They were really very funny and then he picked up his guitar and would sing old traditional Irish songs. I remember listening to the children's song "Waltzing Matilda" but I had never heard the version that he sang and it seemed to really strike everyone in the pub. I found the version that he sang on YouTube by Liam Clancy. The man standing behind us listening told us that we came in on the right night because he had never heard the man perform like he was that night.
I also tasted my first Bulmers hard cider and it was the beginning of a beautiful relationship. Bulmers is just as popular as any beer over there and is just so good out of the tap. It is sold in the US as Magners, which is good but just not the same.
After a while there, we moved on to the next and last stop of the night - Taaffes. That's not the full name of the bar but I can't remember what it is and I wouldn't be able to pronounce it even if I could! This bar had many more tourists and a live band playing (not as traditional) music. We did however manage to find a very chatty local mixed in with all the spring-breakers. Or rather, he found us and latched on. I never got his name, but he was very interested in who we were and more specifically where all our families came from in Ireland. Thankfully all three of us have some amount of Irish. he told us the story of the Banshee and how only the O's and the Mac's can hear her. He said he remembered hearing about how all his relatives were together playing cards one night and his uncle ducked outside to relieve himself and came back in saying that he had heard the wailing of the Banshee. The next morning he didn't wake up. Well, I had never really heard this bit of Irish legend before so I looked it up and sure enough, the Banshee is a Gaelic legend. I won't type out the entire story here but if you are interested in reading it go here. Here is a picture of our lovely (drunk) story teller.
"Are you listenin' to me, now?"
We met a few other people that night, had another couple pints and listened to some great music.
Called it a night around midnight and went back to the hotel to crash. Wednesday Leah and I took a day trip tour to the Cliffs of Moher, but that's another post (with better photos!).
Thanks for reading!
