Sunday, August 5, 2007

More about Ireland

Yesterday I told you that I'd write more about Ireland so here goes! A few friends had been on a Paddywagon tour and they raved about how awesome it was so I decided to go on the same tour as them. I did the 6 day all Ireland tour which took me across Southern and Northern Island.

Basically, Northen Ireland is part of the United Kingdom and Southern Ireland is it's own country. Southern Ireland even uses Euros instead of pounds because they don't want to have anything to do with the British.

During the first two days I thought that we had a pretty awesome tour group but we soon found out that there were a lot of skanky girls on the tour. I love observing people so I found the group dynamics interesting to watch and it provided many laughs. Luckily there were a few great people on my tour who I had lots of fun with too. We drank pretty much every night and partied loads - and why not! We're still young. There are a few good clubs in Ireland which was awesome for me because I haven't really been to many clubs in London. The music was awesome and the atmosphere was great - I'm going to be seeing if my London friends want to go out to more clubby places when I get back!

Our tour pretty much covered the coast of Ireland which was amazing. We saw some beautiful sights along the way. In Belfast I did a black cab tour where they took us around to all the murals and explained the religious beliefs of the city. The Prodestants and Catholics don't get along and there are murals which show the two groups fighting because of their religious/political beliefs. I don't entirely understand it all but I did not feel safe in Belfast. We were told not to wander down certain streets at night because the people did not like tourists.

We headed towards Derry and along the way saw the Giants Causeway and walked over the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge. I have to admit that I was a bit let down by the Giants Causeway. I thought it would be more impressive than what it was. Still good though. We went on to Galway which is the party capital of Ireland and I have to admit I got pretty smashed there - cheapish drinks and a good club atmosphere left me feeling a bit worse for wear in the morning.

My favourite part of Ireland was the Dingle Penninsula because it was absolutely beautiful. Killarney was amazing as well. So pretty and green. Dingle was most beautiful fishing village. It was touristy but nevertheless, the charm of the village wasn't lost on me and I bought some gorgeous jewelry from there.

We went across to Blarney Castle and I kissed the Blarney Stone so apparently I will have the gift of the gab for the next 7 years - like I need that luck!

Hannah and I are off to watch hurling at a local Irish pub. Not entirely sure what hurling is but it's some kind of sport that's played with a stick. Looks interesting though!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Awesome Prodestants. You know so much about Ireland.