Her View 

Republic of Ireland - Caywood's perspective

 

The four cities we went to in the Republic of Ireland were Sligo, Dublin, and Drogheda. Overall, Ireland was a beautiful country. It was gloomy our entire time there, but that didn't even matter. The people were beyond kind and helpful, I love the accent, and there are so many historic buildings and structures to see.

 

Sligo was only a three hour train ride away, so we decided to spend our first night there. We found a great hostel to stay in and the owner was kind enough to gives us a free upgrade to a private room since we were checking in later in the afternoon. Once checked in we walked around Sligo and chose to eat the traditional Irish meal, beef and Guinness stew. Delicious stew - one of the best meals I've had - and we split the meal for only 12 euros. Our home for the night was a small room downstairs with two twin beds, a small night stand, and a small table. Since this was our first night in Ireland (which is a five hour time change from where we were coming from), we went to bed at 8pm and got a nice twelve hours of sleep. We woke up the next morning refreshed and went upstairs to the common room for cereal, toast, and tea for breakfast. This gem cost us 18 euros a piece.

 

Another three hour train ride and we were back in Dublin. We walked a total of nine miles this day. We walked around different parts of the city, and split a delicious burrito for lunch at Mama's Revenge (student IDs got us this burrito for 5 euros, and it was plenty to share). After lunch we walked some more and stumbled across their outdoor shopping area - HUGE. It reminded me of a cleaner version of New York, with people that were more courteous and not in as much of a hurry.  Our next stop in Dublin was the Guinness Storehouse, a massive 7 story building that teaches you the magic of Guinness. Now, anyone that knows me knows that I don't like beer. But of course since I'm traveling the world, I'm going to suck it up and try local brews. I would never order it at a bar, but I definitely like stout beer more than pale ales. The Guinness Storehouse walks you through every step of the brewing process, and gives you a very neat lesson on the proper way to pour and drink Guinness. And the tour ticket comes with a pint for each person. (I drank about a quarter of mine and gave the rest to Feliks.) Our last stop in Dublin was the Temple Bar, recommended to me by many people. This bar is the oldest in Ireland (1840) and was our dinner choice for Saturday. We split a grilled chicken and veggie sandwich for less than 11 euros, and listened to a great local Irish band. Packed is an understatement for this place.

 

Right before bedtime we caught a quick 30 minute train to Drogheda, where we stayed in our first ever B&B together. For 75 euros, we got a hot shower, a memory foam bed with the best comforter ever, fast wifi, and a deliciously huge Irish breakfast in the morning. Peter from the Orley House was so nice, and I only have gracious things to say about our stay here. In the morning before leaving we took a quick walk to see the St Laurence Gate. Drogheda used to be one of many walled cities in Midieval Ireland, and this gate is one of the coolest barbicans in Europe, and has been so since the 1200s.

His View 

Republic of Ireland - Feliks' perspective

 

Our first stop, Ireland. All I could think of was Game of Thrones and Snatch. The thick Irish accents and the proud and loud drunk soccer fans singing old Irish songs. Ireland did not dissapoint. We landed in Dublin and due to the bank holiday, had some trouble getting a room for the night but we found one in Sligo and headed that way. 

 

Sligo was a pretty popular stop since more than half the people on the train from Dublin were heading there. We found a room at the Railway Hostel pretty much right next to the train stop. This was our first hostel stay ever and I must say that the experience was much better than I expected. Either most people have their expectation set too high, or we got really lucky. The hostel was pretty empty so the host hooked us up with a private room for the same price as the shared. The room was clean, beds were twin but pretty comfortable, and there was a TV in the room. The bathroom was down the hall, shared, with a shower. It was almost like a summer camp setup. Sligo itself was really cool. The background to the city was this rolling hillside with a good size peak on one end. The town was not that big but the shopping area was. I feel like it was set up for tourists but there were none in town because it felt somewhat empty. We walked around and pointed out all the weird things that we weren't used to. So many weird cars that I've never heard of before. Dinner was at a local pub/restaurant and we had a crazy good meal. We split the Guinness Stew and I swear that they gave us two normal portions because it was still massive. We hit the sack early, jetlag got the best of both of us. 

 

The next morning it was the train back to Dublin. We walked through Dublin a little the day before but this time we were there to explore. Our agenda mostly included siteseeing and a tour through the Guinness Storehouse. From the Connely train station we walked southwest through the city centre. We walked along the canal and saw the weird bridge you see in pictures, the building that looks like it's tipped over, and walked pretty much all the way around Trinity College. Honestly, it was not that much different than exploring a US city, beside the obvious. It wasn't until we got to Grafton St that I really felt like I was getting a good view of Dublin. The street performers were awesome, break dancers, musicians, leprechaun headstands (you take a picture of yourself with a leprechaun body), and entire bands. There was a family of young teens playing folk music and a couple of young girls tap dancing, Caywood's favorite I think. My favorite was the jazz band that looked like they should have been in a fancy club somewhere. They were all in suits and had about 6 members playing instruments with one lead singer. Best street band performance I've ever seen. We took our time getting to the Guinness Storehouse to look at the old buildings, stores, signs, people, and cars (Caywood was getting mad because I was more into the cars than looking where I was walking). 

 

The Guinness Storehouse was awesome. First, I felt like I was walking onto a movie set. The buildings were ancient and the smell in the air was something like fresh dough, I  don't know how to describe it better than that. The tour was self-guided and very well organized, almost better than the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame. I'm not a fan of Guinness but learning how it was made and how to drink it made it bearable. Two pints for me at the end, Caywood had a couple gulps of hers and passed it to me, and we headed to dinner at The Temple Bar. Packed beyond belief we got lucky and found some seats by the window. One chicken sandwich and some planning for the night, we decided to head to Drogheda, the only place were we could find a decent priced room. 

 

Drogheda was a nice little town with a lot of history, I read about it in the flyer at the B&B. Unfortunately we did not get a chance to explore due to our train leaving early. It was a good sight through the train window as we left.