In the summer of 2016, I went to Europe with my family. My oldest sister was actually studying abroad at the time, so we thought it would be a good idea to meet up with her in Prague, but before that, we took the opportunity to visit Ireland and France since she’s already been there.  We traveled to many popular destinations within three weeks including Rome, Florence, Paris, London, and Prague. But today I will be talking about the first destination of the trip to Dublin and Ennis, Ireland. I’ll be quite honest, it has been a few years so my memory of the trip isn’t as prominent, but I do have many pictures and a travel journal that I wrote at the time, and referencing back to while I write these posts. Although it’s been awhile, my trip to Europe will probably be one of my favorites and something that I’ll never forget besides some of the smaller details.

The flight to Ireland was over six hours nonstop. There’s a five hour time difference in Ireland compared to the east coast, so when the flight departed at 7:20 pm, we arrived in Dublin around 7 am.

Dublin, Ireland

They have a lot of hop on hop off tour buses there, which was super convenient to get to most of the sites. The bus drivers were always telling stories and sharing information about the history of Ireland. The weather in Ireland was always pretty cloudy and not very hot, which isn’t shocking because the gloomy weather definitely produces the greens that Ireland is definitely known for.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral

Even though I’m not religious, I definitely appreciate all of the cathedrals and churches we visited in Europe. There’s not much for me to say about each one specifically, so I’ll just let the picture speak for itself. I love visiting these places because the architecture is stunning and I just stand there and admire all of the artwork and detail that goes into these buildings.

Dublin Castle

Trust me when I say there’s going to be many castles and palaces in future posts. They are so breathtaking and it’s amazing to think that people actually lived in such luxury! All of the rooms are just filled top to bottom with priceless items and extravagant décor! Oh what I would give to just experience that for at least one day. The guided tour was really interesting just to listen about some of the history of Ireland!

One fact they told us on the tour was that delivery men were considered to have dangerous jobs. If they couldn’t remember a specific password at the doorway for deliveries, they would open the door outwards which would cause the delivery man to fall back into water filled with trash!

Kilmainham Gaol Museum Tour

I actually thought this attraction was very interesting. It was another guided tour that was about a different aspect of Ireland’s history. Gaol is another spelling of jail. So we were basically touring a prison! The tour really went into the construction of the prison and it’s efficiency when it was actually used. We saw the main 96 cells out of 200! We definitely heard not so nice stories, considering it is a prison. They told us about how one man had a nice room in the prison due to his influence; he could bring his own furniture, food, and visitors.

Ennis, Ireland

Cliffs of Moher

Furthermore, we went on a large bus tour to see sites outside of the city. The Cliffs of Moher was such a beautiful and peaceful place to admire the blue water and see the greens that Ireland is known for. Some people sold little crafted items there, and I bought this really cute small necklace made from clay.

On the tour we saw a lot of green scenery and surprisingly(or maybe not so surprising) many sheep! There were sheep all over the fields! A lot of the sheep are actually marked with different colored paints for identification. On the tour, they actually mentioned Pennsylvania and had asked if anyone was from there, which was so weird! They somehow related it to William Penn and his influence in Ireland.

This isn’t the best picture, as we were moving pretty fast on the bus, but the tour guide said that this was a leprechaun’s house! I just found this so amusing and definitely had to share this with you!

Spiddal Village

There’s something about small villages and shopping areas that I find very charming. This craft village was so adorable! There were small, bright shops that sold really cute items. I actually bought a blue leather bracelet with a clover bead on it, which I still keep in my room. I highly recommend going if you ever find yourself here!

Kylemore Abbey

This is probably one of my favorite places from the whole trip, and is definitely one of the attractions I remember the most. The first picture is Kylemore Abbey, and the second picture below is the Gothic Church! Again, I feel like the pictures themselves speak to why I absolutely love this attraction. The architecture is phenomenal and definitely something you wouldn’t find in the US! The Abbey is exactly what you would imagine a castle to look like, and the view was extremely beautiful. This attraction is self guided, so you can just walk through the rooms on your own and learn about it’s history and artifacts. If you ever go to Ireland, this is definitely the place to visit!

I hope you enjoyed seeing some attractions of Ireland! Next stop is Paris, France, which I’m super excited to talk about! You’ll probably be able to recognize most of the sites there.