On the third day in a row of our Irish city excursions, my friend and I headed south to his college town, Cork. Significantly larger than the towns from the previous two days, there was more walking to be done, but that didn’t stop us from sitting down with some great peppermint hot chocolate. We saw as much as we could, considering many things were shut for the holidays…did two free museums, went to the park, visited the college, and admired many churches. It’s definitely a cute college city with plenty to do and lots of good restaurants, so before we left we had a tasty burger for a late lunch and some delicious Turkish Delight to-go afterwards.
On the train back, my friend hopped off in Roscrea and continued onto Dublin to meet with our other friend. I stayed with her and her lovely family until after New Year’s. The next morning, we went for a stroll in the surprisingly large and confusing Phoenix Park and saw the Dublin deer! They were smaller than you’d think, but absolutely adorable and pretty comfortable around people. Afterwards, we ate at The Hole in the Wall – apparently, Ireland’s longest restaurant. 🙂 Each room was a different Christmas theme and they went all out because every inch of that place was covered in snow, presents, Santa, and garland! My friend and I headed into town after and saw the Ha’penny bridge, walked around Temple Bar, Trinity, and tons of side and shopping streets that included Molly Malone, an adorable post office Christmas village, and the spire. I loved that Dublin was still decorated for Christmas because it made everything glimmer. After a long day, we ended it by eating what is probably considered an unhealthy amount of gingerbread. 🙂
The following day we visited the Dublin “castle”, which oddly enough had a little antique car show going on, visited the Chester Beatty library (really cool), Archaeology Museum, and Natural History Museum. The Archaeology Museum had a super interesting section on bog people and displayed them with their histories and theories as to how they ended up dead and buried in the bogs. They were so well preserved – honestly kind of crazy! We hit the town for New Year’s Eve, but still got up at a decent time to go to Howth the next day! It was an adorable village on the edge of Dublin along the Irish Sea. That day the wind was so strong and the sea was so rough though! We saw one seal in the water, but I honestly don’t blame them for not being out and about. We walked along one part of the beach, despite the tide being high and then went in the other direction up the hill and along the cliffs to have a super great view! We would have stayed longer or walked farther, but the wind was literally blowing us from side to side, so we headed down for a warm drink and a train back.
I flew out the next day and was sad to leave behind the friendly and polite Irish. Even at 6 o’clock in the morning my taxi driver was cheery and I hope one day I’ll make it back! It was so fantastic to visit friends who I met while studying abroad in Germany and what made this journey that much better. 🙂
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travelmickey 