The last country that we went to while in Europe was Ireland. Adding Ireland to our trip itinerary was an easy decision. With our trip being two weeks, we didn’t want to travel too far into Europe and run out of time to see the things that we wanted to see. Plus, it would have added time to our travel back to the US which I think me and my husband wouldn’t have been a big fan of. Ireland was lovely and I’d love to go back.

One of the first places we visited while in Dublin was Trinity College. Trinity College is located in Dublin and is open to the public. The campus was stunning! The architecture is well-preserved and the buildings themselves are gorgeous. The real draw for me though was The Old Library and the Book of Kells. Wandering through the library made me feel like I was in a Dark Academia book. I love all things Dark Academia and Spooky in the books I read and going through the library was right up my alley. It’s interesting because when we were there, a lot of the shelves were empty. The books are going through a restoration process right now which I found fascinating. There were some videos displayed that highlighted what that process is like. Trinity College was one of my favorite places we visited while in Dublin.

Besides Trinity, me and my husband also went to the Guinness Storehouse and booked a Guinness tour. This was something that we booked far in advance. There aren’t that many beers that are as globally well-known as Guinness is. The Guinness Storehouse has seven floors. On the first floor, it talks about what actually goes into a Guinness and how Guinness is made. Throughout the other floors, it shows how Guinness has evolved. One of the facts that I took with me is that Guinness was the first beer to have Nitrogen added to it. During the tour, we had a free tasting along with a demonstration of how you’re supposed to drink a Guinness. At the end of the tour, you could visit the gravity bar on the top floor. The gravity bar is a bar surrounded by windows, so you could have a stunning view of Dublin. The Guinness Storehouse took a lot longer than I thought as we were there for almost four hours. There was so much to see and it was nice to have a pint after the tour.

One of the last things that we saw while in Ireland was the Cliffs of Moher. The Cliffs of Moher are on the Western coast of Ireland. To get there, we took a train from Dublin to Galway and then a tour bus from Galway to the Cliffs. The Cliffs are breathtaking. The grass is so green which makes sense because it was pouring the entire day that we were there. It was really windy while we were there. It felt like I was going to be blown over the cliff. There are a few pictures that me and my husband took and my hair is whipping around. We were at The Cliffs for two hours and I thought that was plenty of time. I walk fast, so I found that we climbed The Cliffs relatively quickly. Seeing The Cliffs in person was so worth it.

I wish that we had more time in Ireland. I’d love to visit Cork or Kilkenny, but we didn’t have the time. I feel like a broken record at this point, but I’d love to go back to Ireland. As I reflect on our trip as a whole, I do feel that two weeks was a long time to be away from home. In many ways, this trip has taught me a lot about how I like to travel and helped me prioritize different trips that I want to take in the next few years. I’m so glad that I was able to finally go to Europe, it was a trip that was a long time in the making.