As indicated in the title of this post, I spent the second half of last week on a roadtrip through Ireland with three of my friends here from UNC. Without a doubt it one of the most incredible experiences I´ve ever had and easily the best trip I´ve ever taken. Ireland is beyond amazing, I fell completely in love with it the second I got there. That being said, it was the most jam-packed 4 days of my life. Planning our trip was pretty easy considering my entire family it seems has traveled there before (thanks especially to timmy and chris for your travel advice, it was so helpful!), so going into it Elizabeth, Amanda, Jason, and I had a good idea of where we wanted to go and what we wanted to see. Naturally we wanted to see just about everything, so sleeping was very low on the priority list and now I am officially exhausted.
The journey started on Wednesday afternoon. We flew out of Malaga because it was cheapest, so Elizabeth, Amanda, Jason, Lauren, and I had to take a 2.5 hour bus ride from Sevilla. When we got to Malaga we took a bus from the bus station to the airport and then took an 8:40 flight from Malaga to Belfast. Our flight got in around 11:00 because Ireland is an hour behind Spain and then picked up our rental car at the airport. We immediately found out through the woman working the rental car desk that the Irish people are some of the nicest, most helpful people that I´ve ever met. Literally we didn´t come in contact with anyone who was the least bit rude or unpleasant the entire time we were there. Example: when the woman at the desk asked us what our plans were and we told her that we were planning on roadtripping through all of Ireland she gave us a free GPS system for our car because she was afraid that we were going to get horribly lost. In hindsight she was completely right because that GPS saved our lives, there´s absolutely no way we could have made it anywhere without it. After picking up the car we hooked up the GPS and Patty (our name for the GPS voice) got us to our hostel in Belfast around midnight. This was a bit of a low point - the hostel was pretty rough. It´s hard to complain about, though, considering we paid 12 pounds each for the night. Plus we had to get up at 5:45 the next morning anyway. It was a pretty awkward experience though - there were five of us, and we were in a room for six people. When we got upstairs to the room we found that there was another person in there, and he/she was asleep, so we never turned the light on. We just showered quickly and went to sleep for a couple of hours. It´s pretty weird - I can´t tell you anything about the room we stayed in because I never saw it. The other guy/girl (we never found out which because we never turned the light on) must have thought we were nuts.
On Thursday morning we got up at 5:45 because Lauren was going to Dublin that day instead of roadtripping with us and had a 6:50 train, so we had to drive her to the train station. After dropping her off, the journey really began. We all took 22 pounds out of the ATM the night before to pay for the hostel, so we had 40 to burn off before we left Northern Ireland. We found a grocery store and bought 40 pounds worth of food. I´m just going to note that food from the grocery stores here in Europe is significantly cheaper than it is in the US. 40 pounds bought us an obscene amount of groceries, far more that I ever could have bought for the same amount at Harris Teeter. After shopping, we piled back in the car and set off for the west coast of the Republic.
Driving was not nearly as hard as I thought it was going to be. The fact that we were on the left side of the road was not hard to get used to, the only time it got tricky was when we had to turn because our reflexes are backwards - for example, when we would make a right-hand turn it would be hard to remember that we were crossing two lanes of traffic instead of one, so we had to look both ways instead of looking just to the left. Amanda took the first leg of the trip. We set up our GPS to go towards Connemara National Park because of Timmy´s advice that he gave me. The drive was long but so much fun. Because of Patty we didn´t have to pull a map out once and therefore just sat back, listened to music, ate our snacks, and enjoyed the absolutely incredible scenery. Every now and then we would have to pull over to take some pictures from the side of the road because the landscape was so beautiful. As we got closer and closer to County Galway and Connemara, the roads got absolutely ridiculous. You couldn´t even call them roads. Patty had us taking multiple turns onto gravel pathways that were in theory two-lane roads but in reality were not wide enough for our car alone that weaved through miles and miles of green fields and nothing else. Multiple times we had to stop because there were sheep in the road. Again I say, Patty saved our lives, there is absolutely no way we could have navigated Ireland without her.
Our first stop in Connemara was Kylemore Abbey, a beautiful old manor house that sits on a lake at base of a group of mountains. We thought about touring the house and gardens, but it cost 8 euro a person, there wasn't a student discount, and we were feeling cheap - so we just settled for admiring it from the outside. After spending some time at the Abbey we headed over to Connemara National Park for some hiking. When we got there the information center was closed, but the trails were marked well enough so we threw the ingredients for PB&J's that we bought at the grocery store into a bag and set off. We picked the long trail that went farthest up the mountain, we just didn't realize at the time that it went literally to the very top. The hike was very challenging physically - at one point the trail gave way to huge steps made out of slate rocks that were each at foot high. Once we got to the top, however, it was well worth it - the view was incredible. The sights were great on the way up but once we were at the top we could really take the whole area in. It felt as though we could see forever, mile after mile of rolling hills, mountains, and sheep fields. In addition to the sights, the park was completely silent. It really felt as though the four of us were the only ones around for miles. It was a very peaceful experience - we just sat down and had a picnic of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
After hiking back down we piled back in the car and set off for Galway, where we were spending the night. It took about a little over an hour, so we got in just after 6. We checked into our hostel (which was significantly nicer than the one in Belfast...at least as far as I could tell because I never really saw the Belfast hostel), showered, and then headed out for dinner. My first impression was a good one, and held for the rest of the night - Galway is an awesome place. I don't really think you can call it a city, it felt much more like a bigger town with a very authentic Irish feel to it. I've never seen so many pubs in my life. We stopped at one for dinner. I ordered Shepherd's Pie and it was delicious, especially after the hike. After dinner we went around to a bunch of different pubs. All of them were great - they all had live Irish music and were filled to capacity with some of the friendliest people I've met since being in Europe; everyone seemed interested in having a conversation. We were having a great time, but headed back a little early because we were exhausted.
We planned on getting on the road by 9:00 the next day, so I set my alarm for 7:45. When we woke up the sun was still down, which made it that much harder to get out of bed. We went down to breakfast and then packed up all of our stuff to go check out. At that point Jason checked his watch and saw that it was only 7:15 - apparently I forgot to change the time on my phone, and since Ireland is an hour behind Spain, I accidentally had everyone wake up at 6:45. Whoops.
We started the day by driving about 90 minutes to the Cliffs of Moher. Just as we arrived we heard on the radio that they are under consideration for being named one of the seven natural wonders of the world. Now I haven't seen a lot of the world, nor do I know what other sites are being considered, but if the cliffs received that title I wouldn't be surprised. They were incredible, the most beautiful sight I've ever seen. They even outshone Ronda, and that's a tough thing to do. It's more or less impossible to describe them - hundreds of feet high, made of slate rock washed almost black by the water and covered in green moss, with violent waves crashing at the bases. I felt as though I could have spent hours looking out at them. Unfortunately we were on a bit of a schedule, plus the weather was really cold, so we stayed and walked around the site for a little while before getting back in the car.
Next we set off for the Ring of Kerry. Before the trip Chris had e-mailed me an article from the WSJ about roadtripping through Ireland and it had two distinct days for the Cliffs of Moher and the Ring of Kerry - unfortunately we didn't have an extra day to spare, so we had to do the two in one. We set Patty up to take us to Kilarney, which is where our guidebooks recommended starting the Ring of Kerry drive. Again, we didn't pull out a map, we just listened to the GPS. We got to Kilarney around 3:30 and started the drive according to the National Geographic Ireland travel guide. It ended up being a great source because in addition to the general drive (which was beautiful in itself) it gave directions to a couple of recommended side sights that were all amazing - we saw a great lookout point over a mountain lake, a rocky beach on Dingle Bay, and old stone forts from the Iron Age that were still perfectly preserved. The drive took all afternoon, but it was well worth it. The Ring of Kerry was just as beautiful as everyone makes it out to be.
When it turned dark and we couldn't see the scenery anymore we set off for Kinsale, a small harbor town south of Cork that Chris recommended we visit. This part of the drive was difficult - imagine the same type of "roads" that I described earlier, only at night. We stopped off in Kenmare to get Fish n' Chips for dinner (delicious) and then got to Kinsale around 10:15. We made one more stop off on the side of the road by the lake to take in the night sky because it was the clearest one I've ever seen. It seemed as if we could see every star, shooting stars included.
We stayed at a Bed and Breakfast in Kinsale - great decision. It was so comfortable, the woman who ran it (like just about everyone in Ireland) was so nice, and the traditional Irish breakfast in the morning was awesome. I didn't realize how sick I am of having nothing but toast every morning until I got eggs and bacon. After breakfast we explored the town a little bit and after about 5 minutes I decided that I want to move there. It was the absolute cutest town I've ever seen - cobblestone streets, pastel-colored buildings and houses, and a small harbor filled with little white sailboats. It was ideal in every way possible.
We left Kinsale in the morning and set off for Blarney Castle - we figured we couldn't go to Ireland and not kiss the Blarney Stone. The castle itself was pretty cool and the grounds were gorgeous; the stone was a little anti-climactic, but I kind of expected that. After Blarney we went to Kilkenny for a late lunch and to see Kilkenny Castle. Again, another awesome town. After that we headed for Dublin and got in around 6:30. We checked into our hostel and ate the rest of our PB&J for dinner. We went out to the pubs a little while afterwards and there were people everywhere, naturally because it was the Saturday before St. Patrick's Day so everyone was going crazy. It was a lot of fun and we went to some pretty cool bars, but I definitely prefer Galway. Dublin more or less just felt like any other big city.
On Sunday morning we went to Powerscourt House and Gardens on the outskirts of Dublin. I didn't think Ireland could have gotten any greener until we got inside the grounds; the grass was so green it seemed to be glowing. We wandered around the gardens for awhile before heading back to Dublin to see St. Patrick's Cathedral (beautiful, but I've seen a lot of Gothic style cathedrals over the past two months and they're all starting to blend together) and to get lunch. After that we headed to the airport because our flight left at 3:40. This part of the trip got tricky. Our flight was scheduled to land in Malaga at 7:35. The last bus from Malaga to Sevilla left at 7:30, so that was out. There were two trains going back to Sevilla that night, one at 8:13 and one at 8:15 (how that schedule makes sense I don't know but whatever). If we missed those trains, our next option was hanging out in Malaga to catch a 3:15 am bus and then having to go to class about 2 hours after arriving in Sevilla. Obviously no one wanted that so we were determined to make one of the trains. A last testament to how nicely the Irish treated us, when we landed the entire plane let us get off first, which saved us a lot of time, we all jumped in cabs, and made the 8:15 train.
So at the end of the day, I was exhausted yet exhilarated. Ireland is an incredible place, I plan on getting back there as soon as I can.
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