Souvenirs from the Journey: Amazing Ireland.

If I had to describe Ireland in one word, it would be green. This trip was amazing: traveling around Ireland, seeing the sights, and being with family. Ireland has a LOT to offer...

I left Geneva on Thursday afternoon, and I was wary of the trip getting off on the wrong foot when my plane was late. But my attitude changed when I met the flight attendants, who could only be described as jolly Irishmen. Their accents and attitudes reminded me of leprechauns (except they weren't wearing green!). Plus, I had a seat to myself in the very front row, so it almost felt like first class.

I landed in Dublin and found Rebekah, Adam, and Grace without a problem. We took a taxi to our hotel and explored the city a bit before dinner. We ate at an Irish pub called O'Neills, and to me it was everything an Irish pub should be. I quickly learned that the Irish people love meat, potatoes (I had potatoes cooked four different ways on my plate), and beer (especially Guinness). Walking around the city, it almost reminded me of a hipster culture with all the restaurants, bars, and live music.

Trinity College

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Dublin Castle

The next morning, we started off on the three day bus tour of Ireland on the Paddy Wagon, which is easily recognizable by its green color with an orange leprechaun on the side, and its funny tour guides. We started the tour traveling west from Dublin towards Galway.

Map of Ireland for reference

Ready to go in the Paddy Wagon!

We drove for a few hours through the countryside before stopping in a small town called Cong for lunch (the first of many plates of fish and chips). They also had really cool ruins of an Abbey there.

The monks would fish here

The countryside is really breathtaking in Ireland. It's full of mountains, lakes, bogs, sheep, cows, and horses.

We finally made it to Galway after all on day on the bus, and that's where we stopped for the night. Galway City is on (not surprisingly) Galway Bay, which is fed by the Atlantic Ocean. It was pretty cool to see the Atlantic Ocean from the other side!

After settling into our B&B, we headed down to the toursity town center. Here we found lot of shops, restaurants, and bars. All of the buildings were colorful and lively. We ate at The King's Head, which has some pretty awesome history. After a yummy dinner of Irish burgers we were ready to head back to the B&B for some much needed rest.

The second day was my favorite day. After an early start, our first scenic stop was Dunguaire Castle. It was beautifully settled on the coast of Galway Bay.

After a rest stop in the nearby town of Kinvarra, we stopped by the Corcomroe Abbey, another ruins site.

One cool thing we stopped and saw on the side of the road was a Famine house, where over a dozen people would live during the Great Famine. There is so much history wrapped up in the hills of Ireland with the religious and political events of the past centuries.

Famine House

As a side note, I learned a lot from our Paddy Wagon tour guide, Val. Firstly, we learned about the history of everything we were seeing! I also learned other, less serious things. Like the girl band B*Witched, who sang the annoyingly catchy song C'est La Vie from my Radio Disney days, is an Irish band. Also, Irish Gypsies (like from My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding on TLC) are real. Oh, and that song Bog Down In The Valley that we sang in chorus? That's real too.

Anyways, our next stop was the Baby Cliffs of Moher, which were just a taste of the real thing to come. Don't get too impressed yet, it gets better.

Note to self: put hair up before going out on cliffs

After stopping for a yummy salmon lunch, we went to the main attraction: the Cliffs of Moher. This was my favorite part of the trip. Breathtaking views and beautiful colors make up the famous cliffs, which you might recognize as the "Cliffs of Insanity" from The Princess Bride. You can hike all along the top of the cliffs, and they did not disappoint. I think the pictures speak for themselves.

I mean, they are amazing right?!

After the cliffs, we drove to our final destination for the night: our B&B in Dingle near the westernmost part of the country. The town that we stopped in was really small, but that was okay because we were so exhausted that we just went to bed after dinner.

A rainbow in Ireland...where's my pot of gold?

Day three started with a carriage ride through Killarney National Park. We saw some pretty great views and learned about the wildlife in the park. Plus, Grace loved the horse drawn carriage.

St. Mary's Cathedral in Killarney

We stopped at a cafe for a delicious chai latte before heading out towards the day's main attraction: Blarney Castle. Blarney Castle is a famous landmark in Ireland because of its tradition. It was built six hundred years ago, and the highlight of the castle is the "Stone of Eloquence" which is rumored to give you its powers of eloquence when you kiss it. In order to kiss it, you have to lay down on your back and lean your head backwards (over the edge of the castle) to reach it. It's actually pretty funny to see a line of hundreds of people waiting to do something so ridiculous. Apparently they say you can't come to Ireland without kissing the Blarney Stone! (Thinking about all those people kissing the same stone made me germaphobic, so I fake-kissed it. Don't tell!)

From the top of Blarney Castle

The last stop on our three day tour was Dunamase Castle, which was a pretty awesome finale. It's another ruin, surprise surprise, but this one is special because 1. It's a hidden gem and 2. It's up on a hill and you can see the awesome views of the surrounding valley. Check it out: