Belfast and Dublin

It started out with a simple question between Shire and me: what are you doing next weekend? Finding both of our schedules cleared, we decided to plan a quick trip to Ireland. In a matter of a few hours, we had booked our flights, trains, and hostels, and just like that, we were ready to leave merry olde England. We had the most incredible weekend together, full of great stories, funny memories, and lots of laughs.  

Shire (a junior at George Mason currently in the exchange program with me, and my next-door neighbor) was the perfect traveling companion. We divided and conquered: she planned the transportation, I tackled the accommodations in hostels, and between the two of us, we planned the perfect trip. We traveled to Belfast with another friend of ours from the program, Sonia, where she met her father who was also traveling there on business. Shire and I only stayed in Belfast one night, then spent two in Dublin.

We left Friday morning at 1am. It was a three hour bus ride from Oxford to London, Stansted airport. Then, we waited until 7am for our gate to be announced, boarded the plane at 8am, and finally arrived at 9am. Getting there was definitely the toughest part. We were grateful when we finally touched down. But it only got better and better from there!

We had lunch at ‘The Streat’ café in Belfast, and ordered – what else? Irish potatoes for lunch. After checking in at ‘The Global Village’ hostel, we toured the botanical gardens before meeting up with Sonia’s dad. We walked around the city proper a bit, until we stumbled upon the annual Beer and Cider Festival in Ulster Hall. We just had to go in and sample the local fare! After a few half pints, we walked to City Hall and took a quick tour. The MTV Europe Awards had just been held in Belfast and partially hosted in City Hall, so Shire and I were really excited to see this landmark!

Belfast: City Hall at night

Then, we hailed a black cab and got a tour of Northern Belfast from a local who had lived through The Troubles. He took us around neighborhoods that had been deeply affected by the war between the Catholic Nationalists and Protestant Loyalists, and showed us some of the famous memorial murals painted on the side of houses. Shire and I were very hungry after a long day of sight-seeing and touring, so we walked back to the hostel early in the evening and crashed.

The Peace Wall seperating the Catholic and Protestant sides of Belfast

The next morning, we went to a Christmas bizarre in the City Hall Square. There were booths representing all the different countries of Europe, and Shire and I over-indulged in too much food there: macaroons, Dutch pancakes, Polish kielbasa, and washed it all down with some German gluhwein.

The Christmas Bizarre in Belfast

We rushed from there to catch our train from Belfast to Dublin (on very full stomachs, I should add – not a good idea). That train ride was one of my favorite parts of the trip. Shire and I couldn’t tear ourselves away from the window – the view was breathtaking. The countryside was the most pure emerald green I’d ever seen. The gorgeous rolling hills were relatively untouched, except by a few grazing sheep every few kilometers. When we finally arrived in Dublin, Shire and I checked in to ‘The Four Courts’ hostel, which was situated right on the River Liffey (which splits north and south Dublin right in half). We had the most gorgeous view!

The view from our window at the Four Courts Hostel in Dublin

After meeting our lovely hostel roommates Julie and Caroline, the four of us went out for a spot of dinner at the Turks Head. We had heard about a pub-crawl which our hostel sponsored which went all around the famous Temple Bar area, and we decided to check it out together. The event was massively popular, and (it being a Saturday night) ended up attracting other people staying in hostels all over the city. Our group was huge – at least sixty people or so. We started out at the Mercantile, and made our way to The Old Storehouse, where we heard an authentic Irish band (complete with guitar, fiddle, flute, and drum). They were singing traditional Irish songs, which the whole bar knew and sang along to as they swung around their pints of Guinness. It was very Irish indeed! The night carried on and on, but Shire and I (not having Irish blood in either one of us) called it an early night again. We still had so much of Dublin to see the next morning!

An Irish band at The Old Storehouse Pub in Dublin

Sunday, Shire and I took a three-hour walking tour around Dublin. We saw just about everything: Oliver Street (a favorite haunt of James Joyce), the Project Arts Centre (where U2 was discovered), City Hall, the Dublin Castle, The Coach House, the birthplace of Jonathon Swift, Christ Church Cathedral, the Ha’penny Bridge, the Spire, Trinity College, and St Stephens’ Green.

The Ha'penny Bridge, Dublin

After all of that walking, Shire and I were quite thirsty indeed, so we opted to tour the Guinness Factory. We learned all about the brewing process, were taught how to pour our own pints, and ended the night in the Galaxy Bar at the top of the factory – which is a circular bar entirely made of windows, so we got a 360 degree view of the city lit up at night! It was absolutely beautiful, and well worth the price of admission.

The Galaxy Bar in the Guinness Factory, Dublin

Shire and I left the factory to have a Sunday Roast dinner at the Brazen Head pub, Ireland’s oldest pub (built in 1198!). Soon after, we met up with Julie at the Legends Bar to watch the evening’s featured Irish dancers!

Irish Dances at the Legends Bar in Dublin

The next morning, Shire and I left Dublin for Oxford. We both agreed, we had a fantastic time and couldn’t wait to go back again. Our only regret was that we didn’t have enough time in the beautiful city of Dublin.

A view of Dublin from the clouds