We experienced Dublin twice. We arrived on the ferry from Holyhead (Wales). We arrived at the hostel and it looked okay, great location, right on the river. But as we searched for our room in this 400 person hostel, we realized we had made a grave mistake.
After setting up in our 24 bed, heavily doted bunkhouse, we picked up some food for dinner at a nearby grocery store. We then attempted to cook our meal in the basement kitchen, while dozens of people milled around, also making their dinners. It was a bit of an unnerving experience, as the kitchen was extremely narrow and clogged with humans.
The living situation was such that no humans were interacting outside of their little clans. It felt almost jungle-like, with too many people around for anyone to risk social interactions with strangers. We decided to leave.
The next day we hurried to see a little bit of Dublin before shipping out to the west coast. We visited Trinity College Library, a huge compendium of knowledge that seemingly no one has touched in about a century, and the Book of Kells.
We headed off for Doolin, a village near the Cliffs of Moher. Our hostel there was the coziest. Our hosts Carmel and Mattie were kindly Irish folk and hospitable to the max.
After a restful night, we caught a bus up to the cliffs. The photos describe it better than words ever can, but we'll try right here. The cliffs were awe inspiring. We battled fifty mile/hour winds for amazing views. We toasted to our far off home, which we could almost see over the horizon ;)
That night at our hostel we met three other American travelers. Sarah, Michael, and Torie were great travel buddies for us. We trekked across Doolin with our fellow 'Muricans to find live Irish music. It was a wonderful meeting of people who would never have encountered one another in the US, but were pleasantly surprised to find friendly Americans abroad.
We returned to Dublin to a much better hostel, which was hotel-esque in nature. We went to Dublin castle and accidentally gained free entry to a place that requires you to purchase tickets. We also visited Christ Church and St. Patrick's. At St. Patrick's Cathedral we attended Anglican Evensong, which was a lovely end to our time in Ireland.
"Part of the ship, part of the crew"
- Giana and Micah