Saturday, May 9, 2015

Day 108: Ghrian agus Spraoi i Barcelona

Just after classes ended and before school started, I decided to take a last minute trip to relax and enjoy some sunshine in the beautiful city of Barcelona. I spent three days there and did whatever I wanted each day that I was there.

The first day was kept very relaxed. I walked to the nearest shopping center for lunch (an amazing serrano ham sandwich) and then spent the rest of the day relaxing on the terrace of the hostel sunbathing.
view from the sun terrace

the Sagrada Familia from the shopping centre

The next day was spent walking around the gothic quarter and the art quarter of the city. I went on this walking tour that lasted over 3.5 hours and I never had as much fun on a tour as this one.  Our tour guide was really into telling us the history of the city and the layers that can be seen across it. Some of the really interesting things that we saw were the cathedrals, the original city walls, and a public art collage.

Santa Maria del Mar Cathedral

public art exhibit

Spanish and Catalonia flag on the parliament building

Saint Eulalia's Cathedral

carvings of Picasso's work

remnants of the original city wall

damage to a wall from bullets of executions and bomb during civil war

After the walking tour, I spent a couple hours sunbathing along the coast. Then it was time for my second tour of the day, a tapas tour! We went to three different tapas restaurants and tried different dishes among with the local drinks. We first tried the local cider which is poured from at least a meter away. It was pretty awesome, but not as sweet as the cider found in Ireland. The other cool local drink we had was wine poured from a porrón.  A porrón is a pitcher that has a spout attached to it for pouring the wine into your mouth. The trick with this drink is that like the cider, the goal is to pour it from a long distance and try not to spill any of it on you. At first I think I poured more outside my mouth than inside it, but over time I got better with each try.
sunbathing along the water

first tapas stop of the night

bartender serving us cider

drinking from a porron

the only way to finish a tapas tour? Sangria!

My last day in Barcelona was spent doing my own personal walking tour to the last two things I wanted to see there: the Sagrada Familia and the beaches along Port Olímpic. First I went to the Sagrada Familia. The exterior of the church was just amazing and really intricate with the details and figures all over. I spent about 30 minutes just staring at the front of the church trying to take it all in. My eyes just kept jumping from thing to another.
front of the cathedral


christmas tree sitting at the top of the church


Next, I walked down to the coastline and the beaches of the port. I loved it there so much I spent several hours just relaxing to the sounds of the waves and reading a book. The time just flew by and because I forgot to put sunscreen on that morning and ended up with a small burn on my shoulder.
Overall, it was a great trip to help me relax and forget for a while about the stress of taking finals. I got a little sun and fun.
Port Olimpic

the beautiful beach


Day 104: Bhlarna agus Corcaigh

I finally finished my Ireland checklist today! I kissed the Blarney stone and made it to Cork!

I took a guided day trip to Blarney, Cork, and Cashel. With Blarney being our first stop it made getting up early and sitting on a bus for a couple hours well worth it. The castle grounds were full of cute little gardens and blooming flowers all over the place.  At the top of the castle, you were able to see the whole grounds and of course where you kiss the stone. The best part of kissing the stone though is that you have to lie on your back and lean down the edge of the castle to kiss the underside of the stone.
me kissing the stone

one of the gardens

view of Blarney Castle

After kissing the stone, I went on a walk through the gardens and found the wishing steps. This is a small stone staircase that if you walked backwards up the stairs then down with your eyes closed then whatever you wished for would come true. The catch though is that it can take up to a year for that wish to come true. I did the steps the correct way, but while doing it I couldn't think of anything but not tripping over the stairs or hitting myself on the rock overhang.
walking up the stairs backwards

We then took the short drive down to Cork for lunch and a little look around the city. The one main thing that I wanted to do was visit the old market there. It was this old brick building hidden off a side road and full of little shops selling fruits, vegetables, meat, chocolate, and bread. I found this bakery stand and bought some amazing sourdough bread. For lunch, I went to a local café and bought a sandwich and some local chips.


Our last stop of the day was Cashel to visit the Rock of Cashel. Since I already went there with my family I spent that time just walking around the town and window shopping in the local stores. It was a great end of the day to just relax in a small town and go shopping. 

Sunday, April 19, 2015

Day 95: Rugbaí (UCD vs Trinity)

I finally completed another goal while studying abroad in Ireland... I made it to a rugby match! I went and saw UCD play Trinity in the Annual Colours Rugby game. It was held on UCD campus and as a student I was able to watch the game for free. I ended up sitting with one of my roommates and some other people I met earlier in the semester.

lining up at the beginning of the match

Before the game started, I did not know much of the rules and how the game was really played, so it was a learning experience throughout the night. I am happy to say though that by the end of the match I knew most of the rules.

rugby scrum between the two teams (UCD in blue; Trinity in white)

I had a lot of fun watching the games and the intensity of the players. The game was very close the whole time through. UCD eventually won with the winning "try"(similar to touchdown in football)  at two minutes left.

final score, UCD wins!!

Saturday, April 18, 2015

Day 93: Dún Laoghaire

I took a short break this day and decided to check off another place that I wanted to go to.  Dún Laoghaire (pronounced Dunn Leary) is a port town south of the city of Dublin but still in the same county. Most people would visit it to take a ferry ride over to Britain or around the coast line of Ireland.

Looking back at the docks for the ferry lines from the pier

I spent a couple hours down there just walking along the coastline and through a couple of the piers that surround the docks. At one of the piers you were able to get a nice view looking up the coastline to the other ports in the area and to some of the islands located just off the coast. This pier also had a nice lighthouse located at the end, unfortunately I was not able to get too close to it and go inside because it is still operational and used to help ships get in and out of the ports.

the lighthouse at the end of the pier

looking north at Dublin Port

It was a really cute area, but since I went down during the middle of a week day there was not much happening, so after grabbing lunch and enjoying the ever increasing sunlight, I left to go back to campus and duties of being a student finishing a semester of classes. (aka writing papers)

Monday, April 13, 2015

Day 86: Fiáin agus Mealltach i Albain

For Easter break, I spent 5 days exploring Scotland through a Haggis Adventure tour through the Highlands and Isle of Skye, and then I spent a couple days exploring the beautiful town of Edinburgh before flying back to school.

Day 1- Edinburgh to Loch Ness

                We started our tour early in the morning so that we could see as much as we could of the Highlands before stopping for the night. Our guide was named Katie, and our driver/2nd tour guide was Duffy, and our bus was called Brian.

our bus Brian

The first stop of the day was Dunkeld. We stopped to look around town and the local church. The church is well known because it holds the effigy of grandson to Brian Bruce (Alexander Stewart). It was a cute small town that had only one major road that went through the center and just residential alleys off of it.

Dunkeld Cathedral

On our way through the Highlands we had a quick lunch break in Aviemore. It is a small town built by the tourism board specifically for tourists to go skiing in mountains surrounding it. I had some delicious fish and chips for lunch and then stumbled upon an old-style candy shoppe that makes their own candies. So naturally I tried a few different types and bought a little bag of my favorite bonbons to enjoy.

Mr Simms Olde Sweet Shoppe

The next stop of the day was the Tomatin Whiskey Distillery. We learned how scotch whiskey is made and got a small sample of their 12 year-old afterwards. We learned that whiskey has to mature for at least 7 years to be of the correct age and strength. Each distillery will have its own distinct flavor due to the minerals from the local water that they use and some of the flavors are pulled from the oak casks. So they will use barrels that have held other drinks to pull into the whiskey (sherry, port).

some of the whiskeys that they currently sell

Our first night was spent in Fort Augustus. It lies on the edge of Loch Ness and has a canal bridge that connects the Loch to the rest of the canal way through the country. For dinner, I had my first haggis and was surprised that it was better than what I thought it would be. I would probably not have it again but it was worth the taste. After dinner, I went to small show describing how highlanders used to live in the wild and what life would be like for them. We learned how to put on a kilt traditionally (for men and women), and learned how to use some of the traditional weaponry too. After the show the hostel we were put up in had a special event because a local brewery had made a beer specifically for the hostel. We were the first people to ever try some of it. The beer was not too bad, but then again I do not like beer too much.

learning how to put on a kilt

Day 2 – Fort Augustus to Kyleakin

Our first stop was the Eilean Donan Castle. What currently sits there is not the original castle. It is a rebuilt after local stonemason had a dream as to what the castle had looked like originally before it was blown up. It is a very picturesque sight with the loch behind it and the mountains on the other side. 

Eilean Donan Castle

Our next big stop was the town of Portree for a lunch break. It is called the capital of the Isle of Skye because it is the largest town in Isle of Skye and located on the eastern edge of the isle. This harbor town is known for a couple different reasons. It is the location of the Highland Games each year, however I was there during the off season, and the main pier is well known for the colorful buildings that line the pier. I did spend some time looking through the local craft shops there and walking along the pier. While waiting to continue to the next stop, I relaxed in the town square listening to some teenagers play the bag pipes.

The main pier

Street performers

The rest of the day was spent driving through Trotternish. We went to a viewing point, but it was too overcast and windy to truly see anything special or even the road ahead of us. It was a one lane street and it got very interesting when had to pass cars coming the other way. The next stop was to Kilt Rock. It is volcanic rock that has split form the trapped heat and formed to look like the pleats of a kilt.

our supposed great view

Kilt Rock

On our way to the stop that night we passed Old Man of Storr. It is a rock formation with a story of a sad old man with his wife next to him but smaller due to arthritis and eroded away. Beneath the rocks is Loch Storr holding the tears of the old man

Old Man Storr

We stopped at Kyleakin for the night. I had a great dinner of a creamy mac & cheese at a local restaurant. And before it got too dark that night I went to see the castle on one of the points. However, I came too late because the tide was rolling in and the pathway was beginning to get blocked that led to the castle. I made it about 2/3 of the way before it got too difficult.

Kyleakin Castle

Day 3 – Kyleakin to Edinburgh

The last day of the tour was spent with lots of driving through the mountain ranges (Glencoe and Trossachs). It was a great day because we had a clear sky with no clouds and warm weather. Our first major stop was the area where the Massacre of Glencoe happened. It is a beautiful area of mountains and we were able to take a short walk around the area and get a better view of the mountains. We stopped in the section called the Three Sisters. It was quite a great view.

perfect reflection of the mountains on the lake

Three Sisters Mountain range in Glencoe

Our last stop of the day was the National Wallace Memorial. It is in the town of Stirling and is across the river from the Stirling Castle. The walk up to the memorial was steep but the view from the top was well worth the climb up. We could see the castle and the Trossachs in the distant, where we had just came from.

National Wallace Monument

The Trossachs

It was a fantastic tour that kept me busy, but I was happy to be back in Edinburgh where I could relax a little more and move at my own pace to see the city.

Day 4 and 5 – Edinburgh

                These two days were spent touring around the city of Edinburgh on the hop-on hop-off buses. On the first day I went to the Royal Yacht Britannia and the Holyrood Palace. It was interesting visiting the royal family residences while they are on the water and in Scotland. They were very beautiful, but in a simplistic classy way. There were more pictures of the family than anything that would suggest their wealth. It was a great look into who they are as people.

old fashioned tour bus

The Royal Yacht Britannia

Queen's Bedroom

pictures of the royal family in the Queen's office

Holyrood Palace

                On the second day, I saw Edinburgh Castle and the National Museum of Scotland. There is so much to the Castle and the amount of buildings inside it was amazing. They still use some of the buildings for military planning and other military use. But most of them were open and turned into museums that detail the history of the Scottish branches of military. They also had an exhibit about the history of Scottish royalty and I was able to see the crown jewels on display. The national museum, to me, was a little underwhelming because the exhibits that I wanted to see were under construction and the ones that were open was nothing too special. I enjoyed walking around the exhibits that were open and the building itself was beautiful.

The royal apartments in Edinburgh Castle

one of the military buildings that are still used

the inside of the National Museum of Scotland

                Beyond these visits, I just enjoyed walking around the Old Town of Edinburgh and especially through the Royal Mile area. It was a great vacation in Scotland and I enjoyed Easter in my own way.