Ireland: Land of a Thousand Welcomes, and then some....

So this past week I spent in Ireland.  We arrived in Dublin on Tuesday and I just got back yesterday morning.  It was probably one of the most beautiful places that I have ever been to.  It kinda caught me off guard how beautiful it was, I wasnt really expecting it to be so amazing.  I will also say that Ireland has the friendliest people I ever met.  We were lost one day in Dublin, didnt even have a map out, and some man came over to us out of nowhere and asked if we were lost and needed directions, unbelievable.  People will also randomly say hi to you as you are walking down the street, it was great.  Dublin itself as a city was kinda lame.  It was a lot smaller then London, and didnt really feel like a "city".  It reminded me a lot like Philadelphia when compared to New York City-it just doesnt come close.  But we still had some fun in Dublin.  Temple Bar was a lot of fun.  It is the district where most of the night life happened in Dublin.  I will say this, Pubs in Ireland are a lot better then Pubs in London.  Most of them had live music, we went to this one pub that had traditional Irish music and it was so cool.  It reminded me a lot like the pub scenes in P.S. I love You, everyone was getting into it and singing along, some people started dancing-it was a great time.

Outside of Dublin we visited Howth, which is a seaside village and we did a day trip to Wicklow and Kilkenny.  Howth was unbelievable, it was probably our best day spent in Ireland.  The town had a really cool port, we walked along the docks and we saw a crowd of people looking down into the water.  When we got there and looked at what they were looking at we were speechless.  There were about 4 huge seals and the people were throwing fish to them.  The seals came right up to the dock and were jumping for the fish, I never seen anything like it.  After the seals we kept walking to the end of the docks and where we stopped and took pictures because it was really pretty.  After the docks we went and got some food.  I will say this, the one thing the Irish got on the British is definitely food.  Irish food is unbelievable good.  Its very homey and I felt like I was eating something that my nanny made.  I had Shepherd's Pie and Soda Bread.  After Lunch we decided to do a cliff side hike, that the guy at the tourist office reccommended.  It was the best decision we made in Ireland.  The hike itself was about two miles, but the scenery throughout the walk was breathtaking.  We got to certain points where it felt like we were the only people left on the planet.  There wasnt another soul to be seen, and no buildings, or noise to be heard.  That being said we had an unbelieveable time in Howth, I would go back to Ireland just to visit this town again, it was that great.  Later that night we went out to this club and I got to see my old friend from elementary school Dylan, which was nice, I think the last time I saw him was about ten or so years ago.  He seemed good, and told me that he may be studying in the states next year, so I told him if he does to let me know and we'll plan
something.

Anyways the following day we had our day tour through Paddywagon Tours.  It was a very awesome day once again.  The tour started in Dublin and took us to Glendalough, which is this really pretty area in Wicklow National Park.  I felt like I stepped into a Thomas Kincaid painting, there were cottages everywhere and the mountains and lake were the backdrop of the scene, it was very pretty.  Wicklow is also the area where they filmed a lot of movies, like P.S. I love You and Braveheart.  After Glendalough we went to the site where they shot some scenes of Braveheart.  It was the gorgeous plateau surrounded by mountains.  After taking a ton of pictures it was off to Kilkenny,  Kilkenny was a very pretty city, though kinda touristy.  We walked around where the food stalls were and got lunch.  I had a falafal which was delcious, and then after lunch we stopped at a stall and go chocolates, I had two truffles a Chai Mocha and a Dark Chocolate which were both unbelievabley good.  After walking around the grounds of Kilkenny Castle it was time to go back.  The tour was great and the overall stay at the hostel was great, I would definitely recommend that hostel to anyone who plans on visiting Dublin, you cant beat the deal we paid (25 Euros for 3 nights, plus the tour itself which was 25 Euros but we got it free since we were staying at the hostel).