St Pattys in Ireland!

I did not realize how much I would miss the greenery and miles of lush land. I was blessed this weekend to have been able to stay in Ireland for st patricks day! I can right off the bat say that I absolutely loved Ireland and it may be one of my new favorite places.

Our trip started out on Thursday night, and unsurprisingly we had a bit of a traffic jam in the Manchester airport as everyone tried to catch their flights to Dublin. Although I felt bad for TSA, I felt even worse for my roommate who had to deal with the meanest TSA worker I’ve ever met, and all because of a tiny little bottle of CeraVe. Once we were able to get through the TSA, we were quite irritated but we brushed it off and headed to Dublin. We arrived in Dublin late, but were excited to see our hotel. As we pulled up in a cab, we saw the biggest and most beautiful castle/hotel. My jaw dropped in awe and I was in shock at how nice it was and how expensive everything looked. I thought to myself; this is too good to be true. Unfortunately I was right. Turns out there was an issue with the room and the number of people they were allowed to accommodate per room. Ultimately we had to leave the hotel and find somewhere else to stay. We ended up in another super nice hotel in the cute town of Naas. The rooms were massive and even though we were all exhausted, we stopped and admired the lobby and decor. The decor reminded me of what I envisioned to be in castles (to which Ireland has many). All of us rested as best as we could and then then the next morning, geared up all of our energy to head into Dublin for the St Patty’s day festivities.

Dublin on St Patrick’s was absolutely WILD. Most people were foreigners (I was informed that Irish locals hid in their houses during this holiday). Regardless, there were parades all day long and every single person wore green. The streets were packed, as we stood shoulder to shoulder to watch the parades. Once the parades ended, we set off to find a bar and buy a signature glass of Guinness. I quickly discovered that I still don’t like beer, and even Guinness in Ireland didn’t change my mind. The glass was purely for the experience, but I don’t think I need to drink it again for a very long time.

Interestingly, most places other than bars, were closed. We did happen to find a gay bar that played absolutely amazing music and so in the middle of the day we danced our hearts out to 90s and early 2000s classics. It was an absolute blast and I didn’t want to leave. At this point, we were all very tired and not wanting to miss the train, we headed back to Naas. Once we got back we ordered room service and watched derry girls on Netflix. I loved the entire day and the atmosphere during the holiday. Every single person was friendly and cheerful, except when people were shoving through the sidewalks to leave the parade.

The next morning, 3 of us decided that we didn’t need to go back into Dublin and that we would rather spend our time heading to the cliffs of Moher. We bought tour tickets for the day bus tour called the “Pattywagon”. The bus was solid green and covered in clovers. Our bus driver and guide sang us Irish songs and gave us the insight of the sprawling lands and castles. We made quite a few short stops at a castle, a fishing town and a long stop at the Cliffs. The cliffs were stunning, and it made me feel as if I was back in Oregon. Similar to Oregon, the wind was insane and was so strong that it pushed me down a few stairs. I think if I would have jumped and flapped my arms I would have been carried away by the wind. The wind didn’t even affect the experience, because the cliffs were truly so breathtaking. All in all, the tour lasted about 12 hours. With a majority of time spent on the bus, but on the good side of things, we were able to see so much of Ireland and not have to stress about transportation or finding places to eat. The tour was worth the extra money and I would definitely do another tour with them again. Once the tour ended, we got back in Dublin around 8pm. We were informed that Ireland had just won the rugby game and that we would have a hard time finding a place to eat. This was actually very incorrect. We found a place almost immediately and I had the most delicious salmon salad to fuel us for the walk back to the train.

The next morning we headed to the airport and successfully managed to get back to Bilbao without a hitch! Overall I would say the trip was a 12/10 because the greenery reminded me of home and even though everything was expensive, the food was worth it!