A recap for anyone who didn’t see the last post planning the trip: This year Easter brought with it a generous whole month off. With exams seemingly in the distant future, Ashleigh and I decided to make the most of it with a trip, rather than just studying throughout it. Italy was decided upon early, as we were both keen on heading there, and the timing of the break brought with it the perfect time to see Ireland – St. Patrick’s Day. Rachel, Ashleigh’s flatmate, had also offered for us to stay in North Wales with her. Guiseppe, my Italian flatmate, lent a hand in sorting out the Italian itinerary, and with that we were planned and ready. The 3 flights that we needed each cost only 10 Euro (before taxes), one of the benefits of short distance travel with budget airlines over here.
On the Sunday evening after term finished, we flew into Shannon airport and got a bus to Limerick. We’d decided on spending St. Pat’s there since accommodation in Dublin was either booked out of expensive. We were up early the next day and managed to explore some of the city. Plenty of history with King John’s Castle and the Treaty Stone to be seen. The march started at midday – we were both a little surprised as the march seemed to be more of an exhibition of local scout groups and marching bands than anything else. Still, it was good to be in on the day’s festivities. A few Guinness throughout the day ensured the authenticity of the event. Limerick wasn’t the loveliest Irish town we visited, with enough chavs to fill an English city, but it was good to stop in there for a couple of nights.
Onwards to Cork we went, a lovely city with the central island split from the mainland by the River Lee. We enjoyed exploring the town centre, by night and day, finding a couple of cathedrals and an art gallery amongst the main shopping hub. Really enjoyed my time in this nice, friendly city. From here we caught our second Irish bus to Dublin, for the last leg of our trip in Ireland.
We we taken back a little at first when arriving in Dublin as our hostel was in a pretty nasty looking location. A nice old lady recognised us as tourists and warned us of all the druggies around. With no particular itinerary in mind, we took to the streets to explore. We soon found ourselves in the immaculate Trinity College, and had a look around the campus there. We made our way back through Temple Bar, which is the well known pub district of Dublin. We found the National Museum of Ireland quite interesting, and there was an impressive looking Viking ship parked in the main square. A last minute decision to visit the Guinness Storehouse was made, though we were quite happy with the insight into the brewing practice that it gave us. Complementary pints were enjoyed whilst taking in the sights of Dublin from the sky.
We were all set to leave Dublin for Wales on the Dun Laoghaire-Holyhead ferry, but the journey was not as easy as we’d hoped. A combination of a three hour delay, rough waters and delayed docking once we finally made it to Holyhead lead to a long day of waiting around. The ferry itself was incredible inside though, and felt like a cruise ship with the various bars and restaurants around. Once we were back on solid ground, it was time to explore Wales.
PS. I planned on writing the Wales, Southern England and Italy posts immediately, but have been inundated with uni work since arriving back. Keep an eye out and hopefully I’ll get something out in the next week. Thanks for looking :)