Irish Roadtrip

When Will and Kate's wedding was announced for Friday April 29th, the entire United Kingdom went a little mental with excitement and anticipation (I'm talking pictures of the royal couple on t-shirts, duvet covers, lamps, even refrigerators.  Yup, I know). 

The news of the wedding was exciting for me as well since it meant an extra long weekend to start the week back at work after the Easter holiday.  And of course, when given an opportunity like a four-day weekend, one cannot simply sit around and let that pass them by.  So just days after the wedding announcement Kari, Laura, Heather, Charlotte and I booked our trip to Ireland.  I was incredibly happy because I didn't think I was going to be able to fit Ireland in this year - thank you Will and Kate!

I have to admit, after getting back from Budapest I was so exhausted after two weeks of travelling that I wasn't quite as keen about my Ireland trip as I had been when I booked it.  When Friday morning came along, though, and the five of us were piling into Charlotte's boyfriend's car (he kindly offered to drive us to the airport), my mood had completely changed; I was overcome with the girly giggles and I couldn't wait to get there!
When we arrived at the Dublin airport the royal wedding was on TV – we were in the middle of renting a car but kept taking time-outs to go watch the ceremony (poor rental car guy). We decided to rent a car because we wanted to do loads of things all over Ireland; our tour book listed a bunch of trips we could take but the prices were outrageous and didn’t cover everywhere we wanted to see. It ended up costing us much less to rent and drive ourselves and it was totally worth it!
After we finally found a place to park we walked to the Guinness Storehouse to start off our Irish holiday!

Now as you probably know I’m not a beer drinker, but I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the storehouse. The self-guided tour takes you up through a massive, cylindrical building shaped exactly like a pint glass; they say it would take fourteen million pints of Guinness to fill it! All seven floors of the storehouse are circular and focus on a different aspect of the Guinness industry (the brewing process; transport and world-wide distribution; media and advertising; and the infamous Gravity Bar at the very top where you can enjoy your free Guinness while gazing out at the incredible view of Dublin).

Now, when I say “enjoy your free Guinness” what I actually mean is enjoy fake-drinking your free Guinness while you take loads of pictures so that it looks like you enjoyed your free Guinness. I did try it (a couple times even, as instructed to by my father), but I couldn’t acquire a taste for it at all. I have to wonder how much Guinness is actually wasted here every day (although I’m sure it doesn’t faze them financially in the least).

That night we shopped around for a reasonably cheap dinner venue - our hotel was located right at the entrance of Temple Bar, the "cultural quarter" of Dublin, so we were in the slightly more expensive part of Dublin.  We lucked out big time, though, and found this fantastic little Chinese place that offered three course meals for only €16.50.  We had our own little Chinese buffet for dinner that night and it was superbly delicious!

The next day was day one of our Irish roadtrip.  I hopped behind the wheel (naturally) and we were off to Cork and Blarney Castle.  Driving on the left-hand side of the road is interesting to say the least.  It wasn't as challenging (or as scary) as I thought it would be.  It took a bit of getting used to, but it wasn't long before I was a pro. 
We made it to Blarney Castle in one piece and had a little picnic lunch on the beautiful castle grounds.  It was a gorgeous day and the view of the castle from our picnic table was lovely.

After lunch we made our way up to the castle.  It is extremely old (built in 1446 and occupied by Cormac MacCarthy, King of Munster), so climbing up all the miniature staircases was interesting to say the least.  At the top of the castle is the legendary Blarney Stone and we, obviously, got in the queue to kiss "the Stone of Eloquence."  Once upon a time, visitors who wanted to kiss the stone had to be held ninety feet in the air by the ankles and lowered head first over the battlements in which the stone is embedded.  Today, thankfully, they are rather more cautious of the safety of we tourists; they actually employ this sweet old man to hold you while you lean backwards (while holding onto iron railings...for dear life) to kiss the stone.  The myth states that once you kiss the Blarney Stone you immediately will have the gift of the gab.  Not sure I needed the kiss for that, but at least now it's written in stone (ha ha ha). 

To the blog-reader's eye this picture doesn't really do justice to exactly how high I am, so take a look at a scenic shot I took from only a few feet away from the stone's location:

Ya.  I know. 
After we each kissed the stone we wandered around the castle grounds for a while, which are definitely worth the time.  Directly behind the castle is the Poison Garden, full of fifty or more poisonous plants and flowers (including opium!), some of which are kept behind bars.  There are signs all over the garden, labelled with information about the plants' toxicity, traditional and modern uses, and warning tourists not to touch or eat the plants - duh, they're poisonous!

On the way to the car we walked through the witch's area on the castle grounds (some say the Witch of Blarney was the one who first told MacCarthy of the power of the Blarney Stone).  The coolest thing in the witch's area in my opinion were the Wishing Steps - the Witch of Blarney instructs you to walk backwards both up and down the steps with your eyes closed, and if you can do that without thinking of anything but your wish, she says your wish will come true within the year.  Heather walked the steps first (with Laura holding her hand, guiding her), but I opted to walk them on my own.  I took my time and kept repeating my wish over and over in my head to ensure I wouldn't let any other thoughts enter my mind, and I did it!  Let's just hope my wish comes true...it's a good one!

We left Blarney Castle mid-afternoon and made our way to The Cliffs of Moher.  The cliffs rise 120 meters above the Atlantic Ocean and have been featured in numerous films including Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and (one of my favourites) The Princess Bride!  I didn't know this tidbit of information until we were already at the cliffs, and I actually squealed with joy at the news.  I was so excited to be looking at the actual cliffs that The Dread Pirate Roberts climbed to rescue Princess Buttercup; a bit sad, perhaps, but I love love LOVE that movie!  The cliffs themselves are absolutely breathtaking, take a look:

After the cliffs we drove another couple hours (about hour six of the day) to Galway, Ireland's "cultural heart."  Galway is renowned for its vibrant lifestyle and numerous festivals, celebrations and events, and I really wish we would have had more time there.  We didn't get to Galway until about 7pm and by the time we had dinner we were completely exhausted.  We took a walk down the town centre and watched an incredible three-man band for an hour or so before we decided it was time to head back to Dublin.  Thankfully Heather took a turn driving so I got to take a rest; I don't think I would have been able to handle any more that day.
The next morning we were up and at'em early yet again to continue our Irish roadtrip.  Sunday's pitstops included Belfast and Giant's Causeway.  Our drive to Belfast pretty much epitomises my stereotype of Ireland and I don't think I have ever laughed so hard in my life.  Okay - think of any movie you've ever seen that has been filmed in Ireland - there is always a driving scene where the characters have to stop in the middle of the road because a bunch of cows or sheep have gotten loose.  And, believe it or not, that actually happened!  We didn't notice at first; the traffic had slowed and we were just sitting in the car wondering what was up when suddenly Kari yelled, "Cows!  Get your cameras!"  We all burst into hysterical fits of laughter, quickly grabbed our cameras and snapped as many pictures as we could while the cows meandered past, tears flowing merrily down my face the entire time.  I will really never forget this moment:

We arrived in Belfast just before lunch and immediately booked the famous Black Taxi tour - this tour starts in the city centre and then moves through the Shipyards to where the Titanic was built and launched from.  It also takes you around to see the political districts which have bore the brunt of conflict between the Catholics and Protestants over the last thirty years; there are loads of murals that have been painted all over the buildings to educate about the history and culture of Belfast and Northern Ireland. 

The tour was very informative and I would have given it a ten out of ten apart from the fact that our taxi driver was probably one of the rudest, most ignorant men I have ever had the displeasure of meeting.  He made it very clear right from the beginning (without actually saying so) that he is Catholic and was so negative about the Protestant religion that I actually felt like he was trying to brainwash us.  He referred to them as assholes, called them thick ("with a capital T - a T so big that you would have to go to NASA and take a spaceship to reach the top") and even called them the C word!  I know!  We were in shock the entire time.  It was disappointing because the history of Belfast is super interesting; I just wish I could have listened to the unbiased version...
Next on our list was Giant's Causeway - this was hands down my favourite thing we saw in Ireland.  Giant's Causeway has been described as the Eighth Wonder of the World and was declared as Ireland's first World Heritage site in 1986.  Giant's Causeway is an area of approximately 40,000 interlocking balsat columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption.

For those tourists who choose to use a bit of imagination, however, the legend of Giant's Causeway is much more colourful than the boring scientific explanation.  The story tells that the causeway was built by a man named Finn MacCool as a walkway to fight the Scottish giant Benandonner.  Apparently when Benandonner walked across the causeway he was too terrified to fight Finn and ran away back to Scotland, ruining the causeway as he went.  I like this version much better (plus it explains the giant rock-shaped foot that stands in the middle of the site).  The five of us had our picture taken on Benandonner's foot; enjoy that and many others:

That evening when we got back to Dublin we had a nice (and very late) dinner and then hit up the pub scene in Temple Bar.  It was such a fun night - we hopped around from pub to pub, enjoying live Irish music, dancing around with the locals and other tourists and, obviously, drinking our faces off.  My favourite stop was The Temple Bar (yes, there's a bar called The Temple Bar in the area called Temple Bar, confusing I know). 

The band there was incredible; the guitarist is actually attempting to beat the Guinness World Record for guitar playing - he's going to play (or try to play) for four days straight!  I hope he achieves his goal because he was outstanding.
On our last day in Dublin we took the New Europe Free Walking Tour.  I was really happy that we had a chance to do the tour; these tours are always fantastic and we hadn't really seen a whole lot of Dublin since we arrived in Ireland. 
Our tour guide was born and raised in Dublin so we were really lucky to have a very knowledgable guy bringing us around the city.  He took us to the castle to start, which is a mixture of gothic, classic and modern designs.

The grounds just behind the castle, currently used as a helipcopter landing pad, used to be a small river where the vikings would dock their boats - this area is also where the name "Dublin" originated.  Right across from the castle, on the same grounds as the helicopter pad, is the Chester Beatty Library (apparently very famous for its collections of Islamic artefacts). 
The next stop on our tour was the birthplace of Jonathan Swift.  I am a huge fan of his The Modest Proposal so I was pretty excited to see the door of the house where he was born (it's not a very attractive door, but still).

We then journeyed to Christ Church Cathedral, the eldest of Dublin's medieval churches, and Dublin City Council, the site where only recently a load of viking artefacts have been discovered.

The tour then took us across the river Liffey and over Ha' Bridge (named as such because they used to charge a half penny to cross it).  After hearing some information that I cannot remember, we crossed back over to the south side, over O'Connell Bridge, and made our way to Trinity College.

Trinity College is a very impressive building with a very interesting history - apparently Protestants were not allowed admittance to the college until only very recently.  The college is also home to the famous Jedi library where the even more famous Book of the Kells (an illuminated manuscript Gospel book written in Latin) is kept.

Unfortunately we didn't have time to go in the library and see the book because we were running short of time.  The last stops on the tour were the building the White House was modeled after; Saint Stephen's Green Park (home of a very interesting-looking Famine memorial); and Shelbourne Hotel, where the Constitution for modern Ireland was signed in 1922.

This marked the end of our tour and we made our way to the Porter House pub in Temple Bar for an early dinner before we had to head to the airport.  En route to the pub we stumbled across a self-service Tim Hortons and had a little sentimental laugh, naturally.  The Porter House pub was recommended to us from a local who said the food and atmosphere were a must-see/eat for all tourists, and boy was he right about that!  The pub had five different floors and was made entirely from wood - very cool.  And the food!  I had a fish pie (a concoction of haddock, salmon, shrimp and cod all baked together in a seafood sauce and topped with a mound of mashed potatoes) and it was so delicious I talked about it for days afterwards.

Sadly our trip was over and we drove our rental car back to the airport and boarded the plane to go home.  It practically brought tears to our eyes; we loved Ireland so much - it was so amazing, words (and pictures) can't really describe the overwhelming beauty that each and every place we visited offered.  I will definitely go back to Ireland at some point in my life, and I hope that when I do I have just as much fun as I did this time around.

Hungary for More

When we arrived in Sofia we needed a little down-time so we had a three hour nap at our hotel before making our way around the city.  We were in a really good location so could walk everywhere we wanted to see.  We first stopped off at Saint Nedelya square, the location of the Sveta Nedelya Church, a medieval church that has suffered destruction (fires, bombings, you name it) numerous times over the years and has been reconstructed many times. 

Directly across from the church, a Buddy Bears exhibition was set up in the square - this Art of Tolerance exhibit of two meter tall bear sculptures travels around from country to country promoting tolerance and international understanding worldwide.  There is a bear for nearly every country in the world and they are all decorated differently with vibrant colours, wonderfully artistic drawings and fantastic designs; naturally I snapped a photo with the Canadian bear :)

Our next stop was the Church of Saint George, which was built by the Romans and is considered the oldest building in Sofia.  It is located among ancient remains of the remote town of Serdica.  We wandered around there for a while looking at all the ruins, and then we were off to see yet another changing of the guard at Parliament.  This one was not nearly as fascinating as the one in Athens.  Time to move on and quickly. 
On our way to another church (which, as it turns out, is pretty much all Sofia has to offer) we stumbled upon a great little flea market type thing and I bought myself a sterling-silver ring for...guess how much?  THREE EURO!  I was so pumped about my new, yellow gemstone ring and I wore it for the rest of the holiday. 
The next churches on our list were the Church of Saint Nikolas the Miracle Maker, a Russian Orthodox church, and Saint Alexander Nevsky Patriarchal Cathedral. 

Both were very beautiful, but honestly, after waking up at 4am and spending the entire day hung-over, Kari and I were ready for some food.  We had dinner (traditional Bulgarian sausage and mashed potatoes for moi - hang-over remedy extraordinaire) and made it an early night.  We desperately needed it.
The next morning we enjoyed our delicious continental breakfast and then rented a car so we could go on a little day trip.  We wanted to go to the Rila Monestary which is a couple hours south of Sofia, but the trip offered lasted eight hours and cost a ridiculous €45.00.  After some research we realised it would be cheaper (albeit potentially more dangerous) for us to rent a car and drive up there ourselves.  Kari's license expired a while back so yours truly stepped behind the wheel; luckily for us they drive on the correct side of the road in Bulgaria so things weren't too scary...except for the fact that we were essentially driving around in a hearse.  It wasn't an actual hearse, but it could very easily pass as one.  Check me out: Driver of the Dead.

The Rila Monestary is regarded as one of Bulgaria's most important cultural, historical and architectural monuments and is located in the absolutely breathtaking Rila Mountains.  It was pretty nippy in the mountains, but it was so peaceful and quiet that we walked around for ages enjoying the enchanting serenity that the monestary had to offer. 

That night we stopped for dinner on the drive back to Sofia and had another early night.  We needed to be up early again the next morning for our flight to Bucharest, Romania.
When we arrived in Bucharest we obviously went exploring around the city.  We walked past the Orchestra House, the National Bank of Bucharest, the Military Club (home of some war memorials), and the National History Museum (all very old and equally beautiful buildings) and spent the afternoon wandering around several lovely parks that were all decorated for Easter.  One of the parks even had a little section loaded up with outdoor exercise equipment - what a fantastic idea!

We went for a traditional Romanian dinner that evening.  It was very fancy, the servers were super friendly and the food was to die for.  I had sausage and mashed potatoes again that night; I figured I had better try all the Eastern European sausage meats, plus it was a good excuse to indulge in mashed potatoes before returning to my no carb life in England.

The next day we went for a ridiculously long walk to the Arch de Triumph and some building we were told was a must-see but was super lame and kind of a waste.  On the way back, though, we walked through another really nice park (with an area full of massive heads...don't ask), and since it was such a gorgeous day it ended up being a fun, relaxing time. 

That afternoon we went to the Parliament Palace.  This is the second largest building in the world next to the Pentagon.  We just made it for the last tour and the inside was pretty incredible, apart from the most depressingly boring and disinterested tour guide I have ever had.  I could write about the things she said but my words would not express the utterly miserable tone of her voice, so you will just have to imagine it for yourselves.  The tour was supposed to last forty minutes but Kari and I timed it and we were in and out in just over twenty; she obviously couldn't wait to go home for the day.  It was probably for the best though; she was boring me to tears.

On our last day in Romania we took a four hour train journey to Bran to see Bran Castle, commonly known and marketed as the home of Bram Stoker's Dracula.  The castle is now more of a museum for tourists and displays art and furniture that belonged to Princess Marie of Edinburgh, wife of Ferdinand the first of Romania.  There is also a room dedicated, of course, to Bram Stoker and Dracula, which was really interesting.  It was a long day but totally worth it.

Last but not least on our amazing April adventure was Budapest, Hungary.  This was by far my favourite country of the entire two-week trip.  There was so much to see and do, the people were incredibly friendly, everything was super cheap, and the buildings were absolutely beautiful.  Not to mention the weather was  GORGEOUS the entire time we were there - doesn't hurt, that's for sure!

Budapest is home to the largest synagogue in Europe (second largest in the world), which was right on the corner of the street of our hotel.  We were in a great location and could walk, in minutes, to the elegant Opera House; the Jewish Heritage site; Budapest Parliament, the third largest Parliament in Europe; St. Stephen's Basilica, the largest Roman Catholic church in Budapest, below; a fantastic market with delicious fresh fruit (strawberries please!) and loads of different types of paprika (the symbolic spice of Hunagry's cuisine); and Vaci Street, the famous pedestrian shopping street lined with high-end shops, restaurants and cafes.

After wandering around "Buda" for a while we crossed the Liberty Bridge (decorated with mythical, falcon-like birds) to "Pest" where we climbed Gellert Hill, overlooking the Danube river. 

The hill is named after Saint Gerard, an Italian bishop who was responsible for converting Budapest to Christianity.  Saint Gerard was thrown down the hill by rivals and killed, hence the hill's title.  The view from Gellert Hill was absolutely stunning; you could literally see all of Budapest from the top.  We took our time wandering around, enjoying the gorgeous greenery (and laughing at an archery lesson performance taking place) before making our way back down. 

That night for dinner we enjoyed a gorgeous evening outside, drinking wine and eating a traditional (obviously) Hungarian meal.  I had the beef goulash (for you, dad), but I have to say, it definitely wasn't the best meal I had on the trip.  The dessert we had afterwards, though, definitely made up for it.  We spotted a place called The Cake and, well...need I say more? 

The next day was the day Kari and I had been waiting for: our spa day!  We walked up to Heroe's Square, the area surrounding Szechenyi Bath and Spa, and couldn't wait to start our day of rest and relaxation.  Unfortunately it took a bit longer than we had hoped to get started.  The spa was ridiculously disorganised and for some reason they couldn't find our booking.  After waiting around for over a half an hour for them to sort the problem, we finally were permitted entrance to the thermal spa.  Even though the start of our spa day was pretty frustrating and stressful our moods changed quickly when we walked outside.  The spa is unbelievably beautiful and we spent the afternoon basking in the sun, bathing in the thirty degree pools and basically living like queens.  We even pampered ourselves with a full body aroma massage - what strenuous lives we lead!

That evening we had booked a dinner cruise on the Danube river so at about five in the afternoon we began our journey back into town for some drinks before the cruise began.  On the way we stopped by

Vajdahunyad Castle, a breathtaking building designed with a mixture of Romanic, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque styles.  I got pretty sappy and nostalgic gawking up at this magnificent building; it reminded me of the castle in Beauty and the Beast and brought back memories of my childhood when I would dream that I was a princess. 

After our pre-dinner drinks we boarded the boat for our dinner cruise.  The boat was much smaller than we anticipated, but there was such a cute atmospehere on board.  We were offered a glass of champagne to start and enjoyed a delicious Hungarian buffet (second attempt at trying beef goulash, only this time in soup form - much better, I must say!) while listening to a fantastic three-man Hungarian band.  The views from the Danube were lovely at sunset, and we sat outside for the majority of the cruise taking it all in...how romantic!  We were so happy at this moment; it was literally the perfect way to spend our last full day on vacation.

The next morning we walked over to Pest again to visit Castle Hill.  This hill offers an unbelievable view of Buda, especially of Parliament.

Castle Hill is home to the Royal Palace, Magdalene Church Tower, and Buda Castle Labyrinth.  The entire area was so pretty and we spent a few hours up there, dreading the afternoon when we had to make our way to the airport.

Before heading back to our hotel to pick up our luggage we walked up to Parliament (had to see it up-close- and-personal) and sauntered along the Danube for a while.  At the riverside was the most touching and unique memorial I have ever seen; there were probably fifty or more shoes cemented to the ground in memory of the Jews whose lives were destroyed during the Holocaust.  I just think this is such an interesting way to pay tribute to a group of people:

Unfortunately our time was up and we had to return to our "boring" lives in England.  We didn't get back home until after midnight, but I didn't even feel tired.  I was not only consumed with memories of the past two weeks but also with excited anticipation of my weekend to come.  I couldn't wait to get through the three days of work to celebrate the royal wedding...Irish style!