This past weekend I had what I would consider the greatest adventure of my life. In September, four friends and I planned a trip to Liverpool and Ireland (this past Tuesday was a holiday in Spain and so we had Monday and Tuesday off). Well it finally came and don’t get me wrong, it was fabulous but it was also a nerve-wracking experience. During the five day extravaganza we took almost every form of transportation that exists including planes, trains, buses, and cars and I felt that we were always on the move. We flew out of Malaga, Spain on Thursday morning and flew into Liverpool. I knew I was going to love Liverpool because the first thing I saw after exiting the airport was a huge yellow submarine statue; Liverpool is one big Beatles tribute which was awesome for me seeing as how I am a big Beatles fan! When we were on the shuttle from the airport to the city centre, we went through many neighborhoods and the houses looked very Dutch to me (my Dutch friend concurred); they were mostly all brick and were closely lined up one next to the other. The neighborhoods were all so quaint and in some places it reminded me of the neighborhoods surrounding Boston College. Although we planned to go to the Beatles museum, there was just not enough time and we were not able to get there although we were able to stop by a pub that the band used to play at which was pretty cool. I don’t think I would go back to Liverpool again, although I did enjoy my one day there. On the plane, a woman heard us talking about Liverpool and she asked us why we picked Liverpool out of all the places to go in England; our only reply was, “the Beatles museum!” The conversation made me determined to get back to England one day and travel through different areas.
On Friday we flew to Dublin and let me just say that I was and still am in love with Ireland. Although I am not Irish, I felt like I fit in there! There were so many red heads; I have never seen so many red heads in the same area at same time! The people were all so kind and helpful and everyone seemed to be smiling everywhere you looked. Is it the luck of the Irish? Maybe it is true. Dublin is such a gorgeous city. We visited Dublin Castle and Trinity College while we were there. The Book of Kells resides at Trinity College which is why the college is so famous. It is a beautiful campus. We all sat in the quad just taking in the sights and the sounds; pretending that we were students at such a prestigious college.
On Saturday afternoon we took a train to Galway and I am so glad we took the train and not the bus because we were had breathtaking views of the Irish countryside during the entire trip!! I saw so many Irish sheep! I proudly admit that I bought an Irish sheep sweater in Galway; I couldn’t resist. It looked so warm and fuzzy and it is green, one of my favorite colors! All but one of us girls bought a sweater so we were looking quite spiffy in the airport coming home wearing our sweaters (since they wouldn’t fit in our backpacks). On Sunday we took a bus tour of the West Coast through Galway Tour Company. We saw the Cliffs of Moher, the Portal Tomb, the Ballyalban Fairy Fort that is believed to be inhabited by leprechauns and fairies, the Burren (limestone landscape that covers 320 sq. kilometers), and the Dunguaire Castle. It was really cloudy the day of the tour but the scenery was astounding never-the-less. The Cliff of Moher are majestic; what was not so majestic was to hear that people fall off the cliffs on a regular basis and as you can probably guess, they do not survive; eerie.
On Friday we found out that our flight from Liverpool to Malaga was canceled to the French air strike so we had to reschedule and ultimately pay for a whole new ticket from Dublin to Malaga that left Monday night. We got into Malaga and then had to stay at a creepy hostel which you could not pay me to go back to. We finally made it back to our home in Granada on Tuesday morning and for the rest of the day I rested and thanked God to not have to catch any other plane, train, bus, or taxi. What an adventure…
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