My Irish Adventure Begins!

I decided to take a tour of Ireland and Scotland with CIE Tours after a lot of research. I found that with many tours you pay all this money upfront, and most of your food and excursions aren’t included, which is very annoying. CIE is known for having all excursions, and two meals a day (for the most part) as a package deal. I also had to coordinate all this with another friend’s schedule, so we ended up taking two separate tours during off season (April), which had its good points and bad points…I still had an amazing time and don’t regret going. But to warm you, it can get pretty cold, so bring your winter gear. It also rains frequently so be prepared for that (waterproof jacket and shoes, along with a hat are musts). On the plus side, we saved around a thousand dollars, and avoided crowds. If you are into photography like me, you will appreciate not having other people in your pictures, which would not have been possible during the summer. There are were times when I visited certain castles, and I was the only person in a room…loved having old places like that to myself…

The two tours we took were Irish Adventure and Scottish Dream. They are both eight day tours, and we knew we would not be able to see everything since both countries have so many amazing places to see and experience. So keep that in mind when you are booking your trip: you can easily spend two weeks in each country. The Irish tour had allot of flaws, but we knew that going in since the dates worked with connecting with Sottish Dream. The Scottish tour was amazing as you will see if you keep reading my posts…

We started the tour in Dublin, and came a few hours before it began.  I didn’t like the hotel since it wasn’t at the center of the city…it was a pretty long walk from most places we wanted to go. We were tired, and just cabbed it after a while since we only had one day in Dublin.  I recommend you come or stay an extra day if possible. We decided to go to Phoenix Park since it wasn’t on the itinerary of the city tour we’d be taking later. We walked around the park, and saw the Wellington Monument (the large obelisk you can’t miss), which commemorated the hero of the Napoleonic wars. The park has gardens and even deer roaming it, and you can rent a bike if you want to take a ride through it. Since I went during the spring, there were beautiful flowers and plants to take in…I love giant parks in big cities; they provide a great escape.

After the park, we decided to visit Dublin Castle, which fortunately for us, is free on Wednesdays. This was our first castle on this trip, so we were excited. The castle can trace its origins to the 13^th century when it was just a fort. All that changed after 1922…Since Ireland is a republic, the castle is used for the inauguration of Irish presidents and state dinners. It used to be utilized by the representative of the monarch of Britain, or the Lord Lieutenant.

We roamed around looking at the beautiful rooms, like the Drawing Room, St. Patrick’s Hall and the Throne Room. There are volumes of government journals on display that are massive…moving those around would be a great workout. I also loved seeing the portraits of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, especially after watching the show based on her reign. After walking the grounds of the castle, we spotted Christ Church Cathedral, which is also known for having the oldest crypts in the city. It’s a beautiful medieval church and older than St. Patrick’s. You do have to pay to go in so we passed since we didn’t have much time to make it worth the price admission.

After walking through the Temple Bar district to avoid the evening craziness, we met up with our tour group. Our group was pretty small; only fourteen people, which was really nice. Therefore, we had a smaller bus, which was also nice since it was new and you could charge your phone. Our tour guide was also our driver. He was pretty strange. He didn’t seem to enjoy his job and didn’t talk much. The local guide was great though…every single local guide was great. They were all really engaged and energetic about what they were talking about. Our guide  did redeem himself to me by taking us to some extra places, which I’ll explain later…

Mary, our local guide, took us to Oscar Wilde’s statue and showed us where he lived in Merrion Square. Wilde left Ireland after serving his sentence (he was imprisoned for “gross indecency” and never returned home. He died in Paris. We also got to do a quick stop at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, founded in 1191. Handel practiced the Messiah there. That’s I love about visiting Europe and Asia; you have these ancient temples, cathedrals, castles…it’s incredible!

The best part of the tour was visiting Trinity College to see the Long Room and the Book of Kells, which has been there since 1660. The college was founded by Queen Elizabeth I for Protestant men; now women and Catholics can attend…progress…  The Long Room looks the library from Beauty and the Beast…it is one of the most beautiful spaces I have been in! If you love books and history, this is the place for you. Every book published in Ireland is housed there, consequently, the roof had to be raised to add more space. There are marble busts on display of notable figures like Sir Isaac Newton. You can take a look at some first edition books by Jonathan Swift, a notable Irish author.

The book of Kells, which comes from the Abbey of Kells, is on display at the college and is a site to behold. You are looking at something created in the 9^th century by monks…it is amazing! The book contains the four gospels and uses illustrations of people, animals, mythical beasts, and Celtic symbols to translate the Word. Many people could not read or write so illustrations helped translate the teachings in the Bible. Only two gospels were on display when I visited. I am also happy to say it was not terribly crowded so I could stare at the pages for a while…

After the tour, we went back to the hotel for a welcome drink then we were on our own again. It was strange to not have dinner included, and we honestly could have stayed by the college since we would have been closer to the place we got dinner. Dinner at Umi, a Middle Eastern restaurant, was good and reasonably priced. You’re probably wondering why I did not go to a pub, but my friend is a vegetarian, and would have to suffer through pasta as her dinner option, so it offered some good options. Plus I love any kind of ethnic food I can try. Lastly, I know we did a lot on our first day, but I’m glad we had time to explore before the tour since we were off the next day…Our tour also ended in Dublin since we did a circle around the country, so most people stayed an extra day in the city.  I would recommend at least a couple days there to explore.

You can like my Facebook page in order to get notifications on future posts since there is more to come! And you can follow me on Instagram as well: I’m wayfaringgal. Thanks for reading!