Today I went to the Cliffs of Moher

Today I went to the Cliffs of Moher. Besides the fact that I spent most of the day on a bus it was a good trip. I also gained another travel companion for the day! One of my roommates here in Dublin, an Italian named Alex (Alessandro), traveled with me to the cliffs today. In truth he planned the trip, and I just tagged along like I did with Matt. We started out the day traveling out of Dublin and heading west towards the Atlantic coast of Ireland. The Cliffs of Moher is on the opposite side of the island from Dublin and it takes a few hours to get there. We stopped at a service station for a few minutes before heading out to our official first stop: Dunguaire Castle.

 

After that we stopped by the Baby Cliffs to take some photos.

We took a quick stop for lunch at a nearby village before heading to the cliffs. Lucky for us the sun decided to show up so we could get a good view of the cliffs.

Alex and I at the cliffs

After that we began walking to the other cliffs and left the "safe" trail and began walking on the unofficial trail.

However after 30 minutes we could see the clouds roll in and we knew that the weather was going to change.

After we left the cliffs we took one last stop at Bunratty Castle before heading back to Dublin.

We finally returned to Dublin around 15 to 8. We headed back to hostel and then grabbed a quick bite to eat. I was planning to pack and go to bed, however Kevin messaged me saying that he and his friend David were out for a pint. So on my last night in Dublin (and Europe) I joined them. David had to leave since he had work in the morning, but Kevin and I went to a couple of places for beer.  He introduced me to a few beers from near his hometown, and I ended my night with a pint of Guinness.

After that I took a taxi back to hostel and went to bed for a couple of hours before I had to head to airport. It was a good way to spend my last night in Dublin and it was great to see Kevin and thank him for his advice on my stay.

Daily Step Count: 20,686
Total Step Count: 324,633

Today I poured the perfect pint

Today I poured the perfect pint of Guinness. To recap on yesterday I spent most of the day traveling or at the airport so I'm not going to talk about it. I'll just add the steps onto this post like last time. As for today however, it is my first day in Dublin. I reached out to an old friend who lives here, Kevin, and he gave me a bunch of suggestions on places to go and things to see. Dublin isn't a very big city so it is easy to just walk everywhere. I walked over to the tourist office to book a tour for tomorrow, and on the way back I stopped by Dublin Castle.

After that I went to the Guinness Storehouse, thinking I could get some beer out of it. I wanted to visit the Old Jameson Distillery, but it is currently closed until next year.  They are renovating or something. Clearly I only visit places where I think I can get free stuff out of it.

Like the chocolate museum showed the steps to making chocolate, the Guinness Storehouse started with showing the ingredients in beer and then how they are processed to make Guinness.

I know so much about booze!

t-test!!

 After that I went into a tasting room to try some beer. It was super cool! They had these pools/vaporizers that emitted the smells of the different components of the beer to help enhance the taste.

After that I saw the Guinness harp and then went to the Guinness Academy to learn how to pour the perfect pint!

Then I just walked around, drank my beer and left. Kevin had been giving me a list of places to go and recommended a burger place I should try so I went there for lunch. After that I walked around some of the parks in the area, visited a few cathedrals, and then returned back to hostel.

Christ Church Cathedral

Dublinia

St. Patrick's Cathedral

St. Stephen's Green

Merrion Square

Oscar Wilde Statue

My phone, which I've been using as my camera, was almost dead so I needed to charge it before I did anything else. So I took the opportunity to take a nap. I think now I'll just eat and then turn in early since I have to get up for my tour tomorrow. I'm going to the other side of the island to see the Cliffs of Moher!

Daily Step Count: 17,819
Total Step Count: 303,947