Sabrina in Spain: Back in Ireland

Oh Ireland... where to begin with you? With every visit to this country I find my heart growing fonder and fonder of it. From the gorgeous countryside to the friendly locals, there isn't anything I can think of that I don't love about this country. Granted I have never visited during the winter time when I hear its hell, but hey. Every country has its downside.

Second time round to Ireland was amazing. I had just left my Madre behind in Barcelona and was a bit nervous about traveling alone but all my rickety emotions went out the window the second I landed in Dublin airport. There's something about that airport that puts the goofiest grin on my face every time I get off the plane. I had smooth sailing all the way to the hostel and once I was all checked in and my bags were tucked away in my room, I set out to explore the city once again.

After a few hours of strolling around temple bar district where all the pubs, restaurants and gift shops were, I made my way to the Mercantile Bar to kick off my first night with a pub crawl through the city. We ended up going to four pubs and a club and I met more people than I could keep track of that night. Highlight of the night, and probably my entire trip was at the club ( I can't remember the name of it for the life of me) where I met people from all over the world. There was a group of people visiting from Portugal, a girl from Sweden, a local from Ireland, some guys from France and more who all spoke different languages and even though we couldn't communicate, we could all jump up and down together with our arms wrapped around each other belting out every lyric to "Don't You Worry Child" by Swedish House Mafia. I definitely reveled in that moment and went home that night more than satisfied with how my break had kicked off.

The next day I decided to join a free three hour walking tour through Dublin. My guide was a local and over the course of the tour she taught us a lot of history about the city while giving us the chance to see a bit of Dublin. The city isn't big at all so not much walking was involved. While on the tour I ran into two girls I had met at the pub crawl the previous night. They were two friends who had been studying abroad in Paris for a year and had come to Dublin for a long weekend. We reminisced over the pub crawl and after the walking tour decided to get lunch together. After that we fell into being travel buddies and spent the next two days exploring the city and going out to the pubs together.

We met up for drinks with some friends I had made the previous night and all sat around together enjoying the live music at some of the pubs. It was an enjoyable night in good company and the following day I met up with the girls to visit the prison in Ireland. We joined a tour and learned about how the Irish had designed the prison to be torturous to its prisoners with no windows, individual rooms etc.. and learned about some of the famous people who had been prisoners there. It was a bit creepy if you ask me but that's prison life I guess.

After the prison tour, we goofed around in downtown Dublin, took a stroll down Grafton Street and through temple bar once again. I met up with them one last time for drink that night and after listening to the live band we parted ways. I had more than enjoyed their company and was glad to have met them but now I was going to explore on my own for a bit.

I woke up the next day in the wee hours of the morning to go on an all day tour that took me up along the east coast of Ireland to the Giants Causeway and to visit Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland. Once again I had my breath taken away by the ocean side view from Ireland. I love how green everything is and when the sun reflects off the hills the world looks as if it is made of gold. I enjoyed Belfast as well. It was a cute town with a bit more of a city feel to it than Dublin. Overall the trip was incredible and I had been blessed with gorgeous weather again, aside from the strong winds. Walking anywhere was a workout with the force of the wind blowing me every direction except the one I wanted to go but it died down towards the end.

I ended my last night in Dublin at a pub where I met yet again more people. They were locals from Dublin and happily invited me to hangout with them for the night. I went back to my hostel in good spirits and left Dublin the next early afternoon. As I got ready to board my plane to Rome I thought about my time in Dublin and all the people I had met. I'm grateful for the incredible opportunity I had to meet people from all over the world and I love that after a few hours of chatting you can be considered friends. I'm leaving Ireland behind with a whole new perspective on the world, and with all the friends I've made, there's no doubt in my mind that I'll be back some day.