Dublin and Galway

It was half term last week! Yay!

We had a nice couple of days doing not much of anything, and were getting ready to head over to Ireland with two friends, to see another two friends who worked at our school last year.  The day before we were due to leave, our pal's lung collapsed (again - it happened around this time last year).  He was in hospital in Dublin for the week, and had an operation to fix his lung up, so it won't happen again.  He got out of hospital today and is in good spirits, but it was such a shame that they couldn't come to Galway with us.

We had a good time anyway, exploring the pubs of Dublin for a few days before heading to Galway on the bus (2 and a half hours on the coach).  

We stayed in the fabulously decorated Bloom hotel in Dublin.  The hotel wasn't brilliant on the inside, but it was right in the centre of Temple Bar, which is the place to be in Dublin.  I understand now why people say Dublin is so expensive.  Compared to London, which is where we were living last time we visited, we didn't think it was too expensive, but this time, compared to Germany, it's super expensive!  We basically pub and bar and restaurant hopped while we were there.  We met up with one half of the couple we'd gone to visit on Thursday night, going to an American style diner.  We've done nothing but eat for 5 days!  We've also listened to some really cheesy Irish 'traditional' music, which was fab.

We went into the whiskey museum in Dublin, which was brilliant.  It was a walk around tour, not really a museum, just 4 rooms done up like a victorian bar, a monks distillery, a secret drinking room and the room below with original bottles of the distilleries that used to exist in Dublin before whiskey production pretty much stopped.  Our guide was really good, and we learnt loads, especially about 'Irish wakes' - they started because whiskey that wasn't distilled properly would send people into a 3/4 day coma.  The family would lay the body out and wait to see if their loved one would 'wake' from the coma - too many people had been buried alive!  Gruesome! 

We did a whiskey tasting at the end of the tour, trying 4 whiskeys from different regions and distilleries.  We were taught how to smell and taste the whiskey, and to see what difference a few drops of water in it does to the flavour.

On Friday, we got the bus to the lovely town of Galway, which is like a seaside town, with a quay instead of a beach.  There is a wild stretch of land to walk around, which gives nice views of the far off hills.

The town has lots of character - with bars, little individual shops, and plenty of jewellery stores selling 'Cladagh' rings which the town is famous for.  There was a lovely craft and food market, and a beautiful cathedral.

We had some amazing fish and chips while we were there, as well as the worst curry I have ever had in my life.  My tikka tasted like tomato soup, and it made me rather unwell!

On our last night, Saturday the 4 of us went to the local dog track.  Our friends had never been before and loved it!  My bets won two races!

It was such a good week with our pals, and we were sorry to leave the beautiful Emerald Isle.  I'd love to go back, rent a car and properly explore the country.