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!!

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)

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/2^nd 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.

Day 70: Spring Break Part 3 (Is cuma báisteach nó ghrian)

The last five days of my break was spent in Spain. I spent one day travelling Madrid by myself, then I went on a 3 day guided tour starting in Madrid ending in Costa del Sol, and then one last day in Torremolinos before flying back for school. I was supposedly in the driest area in Spain, but I happen to come for the one week were it rained everyday and we got very little sun. Though it was wet, it still didn't dampen all the fun and experiences that I had on the trip.

Day 1: Madrid
This day had two different purposes, the first was to regroup after St. Patrick's Day in Dublin, and to explore Madrid because I was certain that the tour that started the next day would not highlight anything in the city itself. In order for me to fill both of those purposes, I decided to take a hop-on hop-off bus tour through the city. It did a great job explaining all the historical buildings in the town and it also kept me dry from the rain. For lunch it was recommended for me to go eat at a small Asian restaurant that was literally underground in the car park entrance for Plaza Espana. They had really good and fairly priced food, I ended up ordering egg fried noodles (similar to lo mein but with rice noodles) and steamed vegetables.

Plaza Mayor

Some of the street signs

One of the buildings found on the tour

my lunch!!

After exploring the city for a while, I thought it would be smart to go back to the hostel that I was staying at to relax for a bit and figure out what to do that night for dinner and afterwards. The hostel that I stayed at was in a great location and had a more relaxed and mellow atmosphere than what I was expecting. The people there though were really nice and helpful about what to do in the city and providing me assistance with arriving and leaving when it came time to.

That night for dinner the hostel had a representative from a group called Mad Ride come and recruit people for a Tapas and Flamenco Crawl. I was one of three people that showed up for thus event and the three of us plus the guide had a great time talking with each other and just enjoying what the night would bring. We started off at a restaurant that served four amazing dishes of tapas. they gave us a dish each of sausages, potatoes, meat and cheese, and goujons. After spending around 1 hour there, we made our way over to the next stop of the night for the flamenco show. It was a cute little 1 hour performance where they had a guy and a girl perform dances on the stage with a vocalist and guitarist staged further back. While the show lasted an hour, they performed a good amount of dances together and as soloists. After their performance, the last stop of the night was to join up with the pub crawl in Madrid and hit a couple bars before going to bed. The pub crawl itself was fun because we were able to meet up with more people and continue to have fun but with a safer environment. The group of us spent about an hour in each place enjoying the atmosphere and whatever drink special they had before moving onto the next bar.

Tapas dinner!!

Flamenco Show!!

Day 2: Cordoba
The guided tour started this day and we left Madrid around 9 in the morning to travel 250 miles to our first stop of the day. About halfway through the drive we stopped at a rest stop for a break and lunch. When we eventually got to Cordoba the weather was looking a lot better and we were all just glad to get off the bus and explore more of Spain.

Views of olive bushes the whole drive down to Cordoba

In Cordoba we had some free time to walk around the city and do some shopping before the guided tour started. We then had a guided tour of the Mosque and the Spanish quarter from a local guide. The Mosque is this beautiful massive building that has been used for religious purposes through history in the Christian and Islamic faiths. It is dominated by beautiful arches made from marble and stone and in the center of the building, you can find that a cathedral was built and they had two amazing organs that were still playing when we arrived. They still had portions of the building dedicated to the Islamic faith even though most of the building had been transformed back to the Christian faith. The amount of architecture and the attention to detail in the place was breathtaking and you could spend hours just looking at everything and enjoying all the pictures and mosaics.

one of the organs

the arches that seem to go on forever

Unfortunately, we had to leave after a couple hours in Cordoba so that we could make it to Seville in time for us to get our hotel rooms and regroup before we ate dinner in the hotel.

Day 3: Seville
This was our free day in the city of Seville. It started off with a two hour walking/bus tour of the Expo '29 area and the Jewish Quarter. The Expo area is filled with different pavilions (buildings) created by different countries showing off the pride and architecture of that country. Each building had some unique feature and you could see the beauty in all of them. The major piece in this area is the Plaza de Espana. It really is the big semi-circular plaza that represents Spain and all of its people. Along the main building they put together big ceramic mosaics for each province showing a big moment of their history and a map of that province. The Jewish Quarter was very picturesque with its narrow streets and cute little shops and houses.

Argentinian Pavilion

Plaza de Espana

Ceramic Mosaic of Malaga

It was after that where we all went in our own directions and did whatever we thought would be fun. I decided that doing another hop-on hop-off is the best way to see everything so I took that around the city a couple times and got off a couple times to see things that seemed interesting to me. The first time I got off was in the Expo '29 area because they had this cute little science building. While the place was small, it did have some great stuff in there for the smaller children and I was more fascinated with the architecture of the building than the exhibits inside. The rest of the time was spent just walking around the city and exploring some of the side streets and the local shops.

Torre del Or

inside of the Casa de la Ciencia

Day 4: Ronda and Costa del Sol
This was the last day of the guided tour through Spain. We left Seville after breakfast and made our way down to the coast through a small town on a cliff side called Ronda. Even though we came on a cloudy day, the views of the mountains and even of the town were amazing and covered in the nature that surrounded them. The town itself is split into two different parts both physically (through a valley between the two cliff edges) and historically. On one side is the urban city where you can find the Plaza de Toros de Ronda and where I happened to spend most of my time. On the other side is the old city where you can find more of the mining station and quaint buildings. These two sides of the city are connected by one bridge.

view at over the landscape

view of the old city from the bridge

I decided that after a great lunch to walk around the bullfighting arena and the museum to see the history of the sport and some of the beautifully decorated costumes and horse apparel. The arena itself was pretty big and you could imagine all of the people cheering on the men and the whole atmosphere that would take the place over.

Plaza de Toros de Ronda

some of the costumes with a cape in the background

inside of the arena

We eventually had to leave though in order to get down to the coast in time for me to part ways from the group and try to get some time on the beach with the sun. I was lucky enough to get down to the beach and checked into my hotel with the sky clear and the sun out. I then spent a couple hours just walking along the beach and enjoying walking in the water too. My day ended at a restaurant on the beach with a nice kebab dinner.

view of the distant coastline

so pretty!! with the grass umbrellas

kebab dinner with some sangria

Day 5: Torremolinos
Torremolinos is the town in Costa del Sol that I stayed at for the two nights. And I lucked out with finding a hotel that was really cheap and just across the street from the beach. I even lucked out with getting a room with a balcony and a partial view of the sea.

View from the balcony of my room

However, it decided to rain the whole day, so I was stuck under an umbrella and on the sidewalk the whole time. After a disappointing afternoon of walking along the coast and standing in the rain, I spent the rest of the day just relaxing and reading in the airport before my flight back to Dublin.