Land o´ the Irish

So let´s talk Ireland.

Holy goodness people. This place ROCKED. Not only is it absolutely gorgeous, (I mean just look at it) the people and the culture are just so inviting and welcoming that it just made me so happy!!

So my friend Elise has a friend that lives in Dublin, Brontë, (obsessed with her name) who was sweet enough to let us stay with her this weekend! So with that, we left Friday afternoon, and the second I walked off the plane, I was already excited. The heat in Barcelona has been rough, and Ireland was about 10 degrees cooler, so that was such an amazing relief. 

We got to Brontë´s house, left our clothes there, and went to go grab some food. From there, we went to go meet some of her friends at their college bar/pub. And yes, I know we have that one place in the Union at UT, but this bar was way cooler, and I think someone needs to start a petition for one. Basically all of Brontë´s friends are from Ireland, so it was really great to actually hang out, and not just do the touristy thing. 

The next morning, after like two hours of sleep, Elise and I woke up early to take a bus to go to the town of Galway. It´s basically on the opposite side of the country, but since it´s pretty small, it only took like two and  a half hours to get there. 

From there, we went on another bus (they call it coach) and did a tour of this area called the Burren all on the way to the Cliffs of Moher. The Burren, is "the most unique landscape in Western Europe" according to our tour guide. It is kind of surreal looking, since most of it is covered in limestone rock that has been molded into these weird formations by acid rain. It´s home to like, a ridiculous amount of natural flora, so it was cool to have seen it.

Ancient Irish version of a tombstone

We kept on going through the countryside, which is basically like out of a movie. It´s all so lush and green, with these amazing rolling hills, and random castles along the way. I absolutely loved it. 

Traffic jam - Irish countryside style

Our tour guide, Chris, played traditional Irish music at some points on the bus, which I absolutely loved, I think it added to the experience. He told us about this little town called Lisdoonvarna, which is well known for it´s dating festival. It´s five weekends through September and October, and people come from all over the world to talk to a matchmaker, tell them their interests and what they´re looking for, and basically get set up. Apparently it has a high success rate.. So back off eHarmony.com, Lisdoonvarna is where it´s at! 

Later, we stopped for lunch at this pub in a town called Doolin. I got bangers and mash, and duh a beer, since I wanted to eat something somewhat tradtional. It was really good, but honestly how can you go wrong with meat and potatoes?

And finally, FINALLY, we were at the Cliffs of Moher. (like mow-her) I thought that after going to Mykonos last summer, I would never think that anything would be as pretty. But this place is a different kind of stunning. It´s like a more wild, rough beauty, and the cliffs just go on for foreverrr. It is kinda scary though, and my heart would start racing anytime someone got too close to the edge of the cliff... But honestly, I would seriously say this needs to be on your bucket list!

I swear this was actually candid!!

Afterwards we made our way back to Galway, and went out that night, and let me tell ya, the Irish can party... So after about an hour of sleep, Elise and I got up and went back to Dublin to walk around the city. And of course, we went to do a tour of the Guiness brewery, Cause if you didn´t go to Guiness, did you even really go to Dublin?

Heck yeah, poured my own pint

Afterwards, we walked around the city some more, went to some of the most famous bars, and toured Trinity College. Their library is ALMOST as pretty as the PCL...

After that, we had to go get our bags and fly back to Barcelona. It was such an amazing weekend, and I really hope I get to go back,because there was still so much that we didn´t get to go see!

Hope everyone has a really great rest of the week! Spain plays today, so FINGERS CROSSED! Also, my company´s blog (which I have been contributing to as well) has officially gone live, so check it out!

 http://www.shareisfashion.com/app/webroot/blog/

---M