When you are at a bar, drinking with acquaintances/friends, have you ever come up with a plan to meet somewhere a few months down the road? Well, when an Irish colleague from SD let J and I know that he would be in Ireland in July, we were the the ones that took him seriously and booked our tickets :)
So, with temperatures in the 90's in Barcelona, we heeded everyone's advice, and packed jackets and pants and rain gear. I cant remember if I have touched on this before, but I'd like to take a second to talk about the low cost airlines. Three major "low cost airlines" that fly in and out of BCN are RyanAir, Vueling, and EasyJet. They all have the same basic premise, super low prices for certain flights, if you want to fly with a connection involved, too bad. If you want to check luggage, you have to pay. Want to print out your boarding pass at the gate, that'll cost ya. If your bag is over the specified size, 20 euros at the gate. If you want a drink, you have to pay for that too. However, with a little bit of prep work, you can get a good flight to a lot of different places for a good price. If you want to travel in comfort, it's not the right place for you, but for a relatively short flight, and a relatively short time, it is great. That is how for ~100 euro each, J and I landed in Dublin, to (surprisingly) sunny weather and (not so surprisingly) cooler temperatures.
I'll also use this space to brag on AirBnB.com. Thanks to J&B Tiernan (of Oktoberfest glory) turned me on to this site. Some people know couchsurfers.com, and this is somewhat similar. However, with this site, people can list entire apartments, private rooms or shared rooms. In Dublin, we opted to stay with a couple in the heart of town. They were a really fun couple. Daragh (I think pronounced Day-re) is a local Irish guy, that likes beer and wine, as well as typical Irish fare. Miguel, his partner, was actually from near Barcelona, and is not much of a drinker (a glass of wine here or there, but that's it). They had a beautiful room, but man were they cluttered! The pantry closet was a mish mash of various snacks, and there were 5 different types of sweeteners, spread across 3 different cupboards. So, what did J do the morning I decided to go for a run? She organized the cupboards... yeah... she really did...
I have to touch on the weather. Everyone warned us for weeks and weeks that it always rained in Dublin and the weather was going to be gross, even if the city was very cool. Well, it drizzled on us for about 30 minutes the day we were driving, and that was it. The rest of the time was sun or a slight overcast. It was quite comfortable, I spent most of the time either in short sleeves, or with my sleeves pulled up a bit. Even J said it was not very cold. Now for the sad part... the Dubliners were all raving about how great the weather was, and how this was the best weather they have had all year. While I quite enjoyed the weather while we were there, I would not want it to be the best weather I see all year!
What does one do in Ireland? Well, alcohol, meat and potatoes, churches, and green spaces. Our Irish manager friend told us that the Guinness Store was a must do, even if they did serve the beer too cold. So, off we went to explore the original Guinness factory. I must say, I was a bit disappointed. There was a lot of information there, but after visiting working beer factories in Colorado and San Diego, it is just not the same to hear about it on a video screen, compared to seeing the big vats, and the bottles shuffling along. Oh well, the nice thing is that you get a free Guinness at the end of the tour, with a pretty cool view of the city.
Aside from just Guinness, I was also able to try other Irish brews, such as Harps, Bulwer's cider (called Magners outside of Ireland). We also were recommended to a place that had their own microbrewery, so of course, a sampler of all their beers was in order. I dont know if it is the climate and hops that are grown, or the fact that it is generally colder, but I definitely noticed more stouts and porters, compared to more lagers and ales on the west coast. It was a good change of pace, but overall I think I am more of an ale/lager fan.
Not to be outdone by beer, we also went to the Jameson Distillery. Coming to Ireland, J thought she hated whiskey. So, where better to make the ultimate decision than at Jameson. In case you dont know me, I like trying things... and I love samplers, the ability to directly compare all levels of quality of whiskey?!?! you betcha. It was also a good way for J to determine if she hated all whiskey, or just cheap stuff. Well, we can now definitively say that she was ok with a hot toddy, but not a big fan of any of the whiskeys, dont think that will become a drink of choice for her.
People gave Irish food a kind of boring reputation. J and I were actually quite pleased with the food there. There was bangers and mash, Irish stew, Fish and Chips, all very classic and very delicious. Yep, potatoes in every dish! Fortunately, I LOVE potatoes, so that was fine by me. Other food ventures of the trip were more breakfast related. The Irish are apparently big fans of scones and cakes. So, based on recommendations of our hosts, we found several different cake places. Scones with Irish butter and fresh jam were really a big hit of the week. Another awesome surprise was "Full Irish Breakfast". Soft boiled egg, pudding (a mixture of oats and meat in a sausage) tomato, bacon, mushrooms, potatoes and bread. I can only assume that people dont eat that every day, or they have no other meals, because, man... if you ate that every day, then drank as much beer every day... Ireland would have to be more obese than the US, and they are definitely not as big as Americans.
Ireland and England are pretty traditionally protestant, the biggest church is St Patricks Cathedral. Other notable churches are Christ Church, which is one of the oldest stone buildings in Ireland, and also home to a huge crypt. And not to be forgotten, Trinity Church and Trinity College. The churches were very intricate, and very different from other churches that J and I visited in Spain and Rome. They are dark stone buildings, with stone carvings, and dark wood linings. Compared to the brilliant colors and ornate paintings in Rome, Irelands churches were much darker and "Earthier". It was very interesting to wander through the places. In Christ Church, there is a gigantic crypt, filled with artifacts from through the years. My favorite part of Christ Church was seeing a mummified cat and mouse that got stuck in the organ for years and years, and was eventually found. Kinda morbid I know, but they positioned them such that the cat was still chasing the mouse!
The thing I was most excited about was just how green Ireland is. Within the city, that really means 2 places. St Stephens Green, and Phoenix park. I was lucky enough to go to both. Phoenix park has an interesting horsegrounds, as well as being home to the US Embassy and Irish royalty. It originally began as a hunting ground for British royalty, with walls around the enclosure to keep the deer in! St Stephens Green was also pretty cool. We happened to see the end of the World Street Performers Festival in Dublin. J and I stopped to watch a sword swallower, who then upped the ante by juggling clubs on top of a 10 foot tall unicycle, blindfolded. I have no idea how he managed to swallow that sword, but it was still quite impressive.
From there, we rented a car to drive from Dublin to Cork. We were forewarned that even though it is only ~70 miles away, it can take 4+ hours to get from Dublin to Cork. Amazingly, they were right. It was, however, an amazing drive down through a canyon-y area called Glendalough (pronounced Glen-da-lock). I really wish now that we had spent a little more time there, but alas, I had another adventure earlier in the morning. As many of you know, they drive on the left in Ireland. The roads... also not so wide. So, winding through the old streets, a left turn at a normal angle means a left turn where you scrape the curb. Did you know that tires dont like scraping the sides of curbs? And also did you know, that Sundays in Ireland are similar to Sundays in Spain, where most everything is closed? AirBnB came through again, and our host called some friends that knew a mechanic that was open to come out and change the tyre. So all was not lost. Rural Ireland is a really pretty place.
One of the highlights of staying in a small town just outside of Cork was seeing the local newspaper. 64 pages of information on the local high school track and hurling teams, local fishing news, and the coup d'grace, the editorial on this new fangled sandwich chain called Subway. It is too great to just summarize, so I scanned here in its entirety.... enjoy!
So, with temperatures in the 90's in Barcelona, we heeded everyone's advice, and packed jackets and pants and rain gear. I cant remember if I have touched on this before, but I'd like to take a second to talk about the low cost airlines. Three major "low cost airlines" that fly in and out of BCN are RyanAir, Vueling, and EasyJet. They all have the same basic premise, super low prices for certain flights, if you want to fly with a connection involved, too bad. If you want to check luggage, you have to pay. Want to print out your boarding pass at the gate, that'll cost ya. If your bag is over the specified size, 20 euros at the gate. If you want a drink, you have to pay for that too. However, with a little bit of prep work, you can get a good flight to a lot of different places for a good price. If you want to travel in comfort, it's not the right place for you, but for a relatively short flight, and a relatively short time, it is great. That is how for ~100 euro each, J and I landed in Dublin, to (surprisingly) sunny weather and (not so surprisingly) cooler temperatures.
I'll also use this space to brag on AirBnB.com. Thanks to J&B Tiernan (of Oktoberfest glory) turned me on to this site. Some people know couchsurfers.com, and this is somewhat similar. However, with this site, people can list entire apartments, private rooms or shared rooms. In Dublin, we opted to stay with a couple in the heart of town. They were a really fun couple. Daragh (I think pronounced Day-re) is a local Irish guy, that likes beer and wine, as well as typical Irish fare. Miguel, his partner, was actually from near Barcelona, and is not much of a drinker (a glass of wine here or there, but that's it). They had a beautiful room, but man were they cluttered! The pantry closet was a mish mash of various snacks, and there were 5 different types of sweeteners, spread across 3 different cupboards. So, what did J do the morning I decided to go for a run? She organized the cupboards... yeah... she really did...
I have to touch on the weather. Everyone warned us for weeks and weeks that it always rained in Dublin and the weather was going to be gross, even if the city was very cool. Well, it drizzled on us for about 30 minutes the day we were driving, and that was it. The rest of the time was sun or a slight overcast. It was quite comfortable, I spent most of the time either in short sleeves, or with my sleeves pulled up a bit. Even J said it was not very cold. Now for the sad part... the Dubliners were all raving about how great the weather was, and how this was the best weather they have had all year. While I quite enjoyed the weather while we were there, I would not want it to be the best weather I see all year!
What does one do in Ireland? Well, alcohol, meat and potatoes, churches, and green spaces. Our Irish manager friend told us that the Guinness Store was a must do, even if they did serve the beer too cold. So, off we went to explore the original Guinness factory. I must say, I was a bit disappointed. There was a lot of information there, but after visiting working beer factories in Colorado and San Diego, it is just not the same to hear about it on a video screen, compared to seeing the big vats, and the bottles shuffling along. Oh well, the nice thing is that you get a free Guinness at the end of the tour, with a pretty cool view of the city.
Aside from just Guinness, I was also able to try other Irish brews, such as Harps, Bulwer's cider (called Magners outside of Ireland). We also were recommended to a place that had their own microbrewery, so of course, a sampler of all their beers was in order. I dont know if it is the climate and hops that are grown, or the fact that it is generally colder, but I definitely noticed more stouts and porters, compared to more lagers and ales on the west coast. It was a good change of pace, but overall I think I am more of an ale/lager fan.
Not to be outdone by beer, we also went to the Jameson Distillery. Coming to Ireland, J thought she hated whiskey. So, where better to make the ultimate decision than at Jameson. In case you dont know me, I like trying things... and I love samplers, the ability to directly compare all levels of quality of whiskey?!?! you betcha. It was also a good way for J to determine if she hated all whiskey, or just cheap stuff. Well, we can now definitively say that she was ok with a hot toddy, but not a big fan of any of the whiskeys, dont think that will become a drink of choice for her.
People gave Irish food a kind of boring reputation. J and I were actually quite pleased with the food there. There was bangers and mash, Irish stew, Fish and Chips, all very classic and very delicious. Yep, potatoes in every dish! Fortunately, I LOVE potatoes, so that was fine by me. Other food ventures of the trip were more breakfast related. The Irish are apparently big fans of scones and cakes. So, based on recommendations of our hosts, we found several different cake places. Scones with Irish butter and fresh jam were really a big hit of the week. Another awesome surprise was "Full Irish Breakfast". Soft boiled egg, pudding (a mixture of oats and meat in a sausage) tomato, bacon, mushrooms, potatoes and bread. I can only assume that people dont eat that every day, or they have no other meals, because, man... if you ate that every day, then drank as much beer every day... Ireland would have to be more obese than the US, and they are definitely not as big as Americans.
The thing I was most excited about was just how green Ireland is. Within the city, that really means 2 places. St Stephens Green, and Phoenix park. I was lucky enough to go to both. Phoenix park has an interesting horsegrounds, as well as being home to the US Embassy and Irish royalty. It originally began as a hunting ground for British royalty, with walls around the enclosure to keep the deer in! St Stephens Green was also pretty cool. We happened to see the end of the World Street Performers Festival in Dublin. J and I stopped to watch a sword swallower, who then upped the ante by juggling clubs on top of a 10 foot tall unicycle, blindfolded. I have no idea how he managed to swallow that sword, but it was still quite impressive.
From there, we rented a car to drive from Dublin to Cork. We were forewarned that even though it is only ~70 miles away, it can take 4+ hours to get from Dublin to Cork. Amazingly, they were right. It was, however, an amazing drive down through a canyon-y area called Glendalough (pronounced Glen-da-lock). I really wish now that we had spent a little more time there, but alas, I had another adventure earlier in the morning. As many of you know, they drive on the left in Ireland. The roads... also not so wide. So, winding through the old streets, a left turn at a normal angle means a left turn where you scrape the curb. Did you know that tires dont like scraping the sides of curbs? And also did you know, that Sundays in Ireland are similar to Sundays in Spain, where most everything is closed? AirBnB came through again, and our host called some friends that knew a mechanic that was open to come out and change the tyre. So all was not lost. Rural Ireland is a really pretty place.
One of the highlights of staying in a small town just outside of Cork was seeing the local newspaper. 64 pages of information on the local high school track and hurling teams, local fishing news, and the coup d'grace, the editorial on this new fangled sandwich chain called Subway. It is too great to just summarize, so I scanned here in its entirety.... enjoy!
All in all, it was quite a fun trip, I definitely would like o go back to Ireland, and see more of the countryside, from southwest Dingle all the way to Belfast in the northeast. Next time I will definitely bring an umbrella, because there is no way I can get that lucky again.
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