Blog Post 18: Dublin and the Irish Countryside

So first of all, welcome back, it has been a while since I’ve blogged, and I’d like to apologize for this. The weather has been so nice in Madrid lately that I’ve been meaning to blog but it would have been a crime to not go outside and take advantage of the beautiful weather, so ultimately I elected to go do that instead of blogging. But I found the time today, so that’s good!

So, before I get started, I’d like to mention that I entered a blog post in a contest on an Erasmus website, and I could win a large sum of money and bragging rights if I won, not to mention it can do wonders for my career. If you’d like to read that blog, you can consult the following link: http://erasmusu.com/en/erasmus-madrid/erasmus-blog/how-my-exchange-has-changed-my-world-396567. Even opening the page and browsing through the article helps!

Actually, that blog that I linked to above is something I’d blog about here, but the contest has strict rules stating that the content located in the blog cannot be replicated anywhere else, so technically I am forbidden from using that same information in this blog post, however, I do talk about lots of interesting things on that one such as what I’ve personally accomplished since moving to Madrid and how I’ve actually accomplished more here than in Montreal, and of course my life lessons, what I’ve learned, so it would have been something I wrote about in this blog, but since it’s on that website it can’t be posted here but you can always go about reading it.

Now, I have lots to talk about regarding my last few weeks. Actually, I don’t think I’ve blogged since Paris, which means it’s been a while, and I definitely need to get going.

So first of all, after Paris I spent two weekends straight in Madrid. This had been the first time I’d done this since November, going to show how much I love traveling through Europe. Though I missed the travel, staying here was kind of nice and I guess it just reinforced how much I love this city.

I also learned quite a few valuable lessons from staying in town. First of all, most of my friends were out of town, most of them actually visiting places I’d already been to, such as Portugal or Valencia, so it served no purpose for me to join in. This meant that I was cooped up here in town in Madrid while most of my friends were out of town. And it was kind of pathetic the first weekend. Actually that weekend I had been sick so I made lots of soup, ate lots of oranges and kiwis (I bought a 4kg bag of amazing oranges for 2 euros!!!!) and watched lots of series on my laptop.

An uneventful weekend indeed, so uneventful to the point where I told myself that if this was my life when I was not traveling that I really need to figure shit out and be more active with my time.

See, back in Montreal, when I had absolutely no plans on my weekends, they were never as uneventful as that. Seeing as I live with my family, I’d always end up eating dinner with my family and we’d spend a day going to visit my Nonna and obviously I’d have a lot more homework needing to get done. I’d watch my sports, talk to some friends, figure it out. Also, Rosalie would actually be living in the same city as me so oftentimes we’d just spend the weekend together, literally her family would go off to their cottage for the weekend and I’d just spend the entire weekend with her at her house. It’s quite a good time, and seeing as I’d see her every weekend on top of all the aforementioned things, I’d certainly not get bored.

Here, however, it’s a whole different world. I don’t have Rosalie in town, and we’re essentially seeing each other on a once-a-month basis right now. I don’t have my mom, or my sister, or my aunts, uncles and cousins in town, I don’t go for dinner at my Nonna’s house and delight in her delicious food. No here, it’s all up to me, from A to Z, and if I don’t go out there, and if I don’t make plans, and if I don’t maintain communication with new friends that I’ve made from school/parties/activities, then I am alone, and that is that. When you’re traveling it’s easy, because you’re automatically accompanied on your travels (unless you’re traveling alone obvi), but when you’re just living, and in town, it’s different. So it’s a learning process.

On my second weekend of not traveling, so essentially two weekends ago, I not out every day/night, but I was more active. I went out for coffee with a friend and then attended a party at her house that night, I went and planned a trip with another friend, it was better to say the least. During the week at one point I went to the movies with friends, and other times we went to El Tigre or 100 montaditos to get a bite to eat. Really not bad.

Another difference, actually, between weekends in town here vs. in Montreal, is even the down time, meaning even if I go out every evening, my mornings and afternoons are free, and so even if you are active socially, you’re still ‘less active,’ and you’re not surrounded by people who you can talk or spend time with all the time when you’re at home. I think this also speaks to the difference between my living arrangements now and last semester. Whereas last semester I was with good friends, like Samo and Marlena, this semester my roommates are quite nice and I do talk to them, yet we don’t go out together nor share the same interests.

So, this weekend so far has actually been the most active, seeing as I’m in town again. Thursday we went out to the bar at night, yesterday we had a homecooked dinner all together (I cooked mostly!) and today I’m going out for a picnic soon in what is another beautiful day here in Madrid.

Another thing I’ve learned to do with my down time is spend time on my own outside of the house. I went for walks exploring new parts of the city over the past few weeks, and have taken up jogging again. Jogging in the Retiro Park at night has actually been one of the most surreal experiences of my exchange so far!

I visited this area in Madrid I hadn’t previously seen. The Madrid Rio, essentially the river traversing the city, is really modern, green, full of locals and nice to see:

There are lots of hidden gems in this city that the tourist books really neglect to tell you about!

And now, this:

Yes, I went to Dublin last weekend with Rosalie!

But, no, it was not only Dublin that I visisted, no no no, I also took a tour of some of the West of the Island, called the Burren, visiting the Cliffs of Moher, and I visited a small, but cute, port town called Howth.

So first off, let’s talk Dublin. I took a free guided tour of the city on my last day there and actually learned it was founded by the Vikings who came to Ireland to kill and pillage the locals. They also set up a port in Dublin to facilitate entry and exit into the country and to facilitate trade, yet over time some settled there and Dublin became more and more the city we know today. Interesting.

Dublin is a small city, the Greater Dublin Area being home to roughly 1.2 million people. For the biggest city on the island (in both Ireland and Northern Ireland) and a capital city, that is relatively small, but Ireland is not a very big country. To put this size in perspective, the Greater Montreal Area houses roughly 3.8 million people, about half of Quebec’s population, and the Greater Madrid Area houses roughly 6.3 million people. So yes, Dublin is tiny.

And the city itself does not feature a standout amount of architectural gems. You won’t find a Fontana di Trevi or a Puerta de Alcala in Dublin, the architecture is relatively simple and plain. But you don’t go to Dublin or to Ireland for its architecture, the beauty of this country is found in it’s green countryside. And Dublin is known for it’s vibe and pub atmosphere, something that you get a feeling for as soon as you arrive.

Needless to say, Dublin does boast some nice visuals.

Main sighs in the city include some nice churches, Trinity College, the Dublin Castle and the River Liffey. And, of course, you don’t want to miss the Guinness storehouse, famous for it’s beer AND it’s amazing lookout over the city.

Nothing beats an nice old Irish pint of Guinness. Actually Guinness would not be my beer of choice, it’s a darker ale, which is not my favorite, but when in Ireland…

Now, another famous thing to see if Temple Bar. No, that is not the name of a bar (actually there is a bar called ‘The Temple Bar, but that is not what I’m referring to), Temple Bar is a neighborhood in Dublin famous for its bars and Irish pubs. This actually was really unpopular back in the day, and city council was ready to demolish the area and use it as a bus terminal, but since it was historic they decided to think about other ways to reform it instead. So what they did was while they were thinking of a solution they rented the apartments in the area, and they rented them for super cheap, and so who moved in? Students! The neighborhood is located five minutes away from Dublin’s biggest university, so it just made sense. And these students brought youth to the city and with this youth movement Temple Bar eventually became the cool place to be. So much so that today it has even become somewhat of a tourist trap. Interesting.

We actually visited Dublin on the first and last day of our stay, and for part of the third day. The rest of the time we were off visiting other parts of the country.

And so on the Saturday we embarked on probably what has been my most epic day trip yet. It was kind of expensive, but the trip ranged from 7 AM all the way until 9 PM, so it was quite the busy day, a day full of amazing sights and great food.

So it takes about four hours to go from East to West of Ireland, leaving from Dublin. Dublin is probably the biggest ‘day trip’ city I’ve been to, because the island is not that big and from Dublin you can do a bunch of day trips, like visiting the Cliffs, like me, or visiting Belfast and Giant’s Causeway, or visiting the South and Ring of Kerry.

So yeah, we were off to the West Coast of Ireland, in an area called the Burren, with some pit stops along the way to visit some historic things, like a castle or an ancient tombstone. Plus, we had a super amazing guide who taught us quite a bit about Irish history.

So, our first stop was in Kilkenny visiting an ancient caste. The castle was nice, but the surrounding area was beautiful!

I like those houses with straw rooftops, it reminds me of the ‘Palapas’ I saw in Cancun, except these were in cold climates…

So, one lesson that I learned was the one about ‘penny walls.’ These things.

It’s actually quite a sad piece of history. During the Irish potato famine, they turned to the Brits for help because they were literally starving to death. The Brits then told the Irish to spend the entire day toiling and building these walls, and there are literally so many of them throughout the countryside, and at the end of the day they would be compensated with ONE PENNY. One penny each for a day’s labor building walls that serve no purpose. And as if this could actually afford decent food.

There was lots of tensions between the Irish and the Brits historically, I’m starting to get why.

Another stop on our tour was to an ancient Irish tombstone. This was the tombstone…

An interesting piece of history to say the least.

Here is just a snippet of what else we saw along the countryside on our way to the Cliffs.

Finally, we arrived at the Cliffs. They actually warned us not to get too close to the edge before going, and rightfully so because apparently a good 15-20 people die each year because they try to hard to get the perfect photo or the perfect selfie. I actually saw a guy jumping in the air for a photo right near the edge. Buddy, a strong gust of wind hits you and you’re dead…

Anyways, just take a moment to admire this beauty.

They actually filmed a scene of Harry Potter there, the scene of The Cave in the sixth book/movie! Words cannot describe the sheer amazement at seeing how huge and imposing these cliffs are.

After a long day on the Saturday, we headed to Howth on the Sunday morning. It is a small quaint little fishing villages with nice views and great food.

A little word on Irish food on that note. After some research, Rosalie and I determined that the most famous food is: fish and chips, clam/seafood chowder and Irish stew. Determined, we had to try them all!

One final word. We stayed in an Airbnb in Dublin, but we weren’t in Dublin city, we were actually out a bit in the suburbs. The bus ride into town was circa 15-20 minutes, so it wasn’t that bad, but it did pose somewhat of an inconvenience commuting into town every day. However, it was probably still more worth it seeing as a place in town would have cost us double.

Our hosts were so sweet. It was a couple with their four-year old son David. They were actually Romanian immigrants and really sweet and nice to talk to. It was weird because it was the first time I’d ever stayed in an Airbnb with the hosts living in the same house, though I have stayed in Airbnb’s where I’ve had the entire apartment to myself, notably in Florence, and that was amazing. Regardless, it was a good experience and a great occasion to meet nice people. They provided us with everything we needed and were always at our disposal!

Irish people in general, on that note, were really nice to us, much nicer than those Parisians, which gave Rosalie a hell of a shock. Once we got lost trying to locate our Airbnb and a couple of people at a nearby church lent us their phone and chatted with us and even invited us in for coffee!

Oh yeah, and check out these great visuals I caught from the plane leaving Dublin. That green countryside wow!