Met up with a tour group today to get the lay of the land here in Dublin. Our guide was great, native to Ireland and a graduate of Trinity college in history and drama (betting this wasn't the job he was aiming for, lol) but the combination made him a great guide. We toured through the temple bar district, past Christ Church Cathedral, and Dublin Castle. Tons of tidbits of interesting history that I will probably forget. Though one of the more major streets, O'Co...

Got into Dublin a little later than planned so the explore plan was scrapped. Plan b, find dinner. Oh my god, found this tapas restaurant in the heart of the temple bar district, Fade St. Social. Great cocktail list (I had this awesome gin and elderflower with fresh grapefruit combination) and the best tapas I've had since Seville. Octopus carpaccio, pork belly, potatoes with hollandaise....it's moments like these when I think I should probably take some cooking ...

Belfast, the capital city of Northern Ireland. What can I say? A nice city to wander in, well laid out for pedestrians, and great food and shopping. It's also the home of the Titanic museum, their number one tourist attraction. The museum was massive, I didn't even think there would be that much information available to put on display. Everything from the construction of the ship itself, to the ship building history in Belfast, to the entire passenger manifest. ...

Up and at em', because today I'm tackling the 16km coastal hike between Carrick-a-Rede and the Giants Causeway, the two main outdoor attractions on the northern coast. It was a gorgeous hike, and I lucked out in more than one way. Not only did I have perfect sunny weather, I accidentally managed to time my hike perfectly for low tide; thank goodness for that because some of the beach scrambles I made following the trail would absolutely have been underwater com...

Spent most of the day on a bus from Cork to Londonderry, with a change in Dublin. Long bus ride but got there early enough to explore the city (more of a town really). Londonderry, known as Derry, was one of the last walled towns built in Ireland. Technically I'm now in the UK, as Derry is in Northern Ireland and belongs to the United Kingdom. The town itself is very cute, though it closes up pretty early (5:30pm). It was also one of the main sites of Ireland's r...