From Cataño to the World: Ireland Day 2

Hello my people, so day two in Ireland was so awesome! I went visited the Cliff of Moher and what can I say...It's AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL. We had a wonderful sunny day and it was just a perfect day to see the cliff. I went with Wild Rover Tours and I can say that it was worth the trip. I would rather next time to rent a car and go to the country by myself but It was nice having a tour guide because on the road she would tell us Irish legends and folklore which was really educational. One thing that I've learned from being in Ireland in two days is that the Irish do not get along with the British and that there is a lot of beef between the Republic of Ireland and UK. The tour consisted of going to the west side of the island and go to the cliff of Moher, Atlantic Edge Ocean Walk and the city of Galway.

Obama in Ireland 

On my way to the cliffs, we stop in the Barak Obama Plaza. Yep, you read it the Barak Obama Plaza. The tour guide told us that prior Barak Obama won the Presidential Elections the people of Ireland, especially from that town, did an ancestry background and found Obama 5th great grandfather was from Ireland and gave Obama a picture of his ancestor in a frame and everything and dedicated that plaza to him. It blew my mind that Ireland would be doing something like that.


On the bus I made a friend Janina, she was so cool to talk to and so intelligent that I basically asked her to be my traveling buddy for the day and told her I would be her photographer if she would take my pictures and the rest is history we had a blast! ONe of the funniest things was how we introduced each other. I said hi to her and next thing you know this Asian girl had an accent and told me that she was from Australia and told me that her name was Janina and when I introduce myself I told her I was Puerto Rican and that my name was Steven. We laugh so hard because we did not fit the stereotypes of our physical appearance to our names. Later I learned she was first generation Filipino in Australia so I told her she is most likely to scream Aussie Aussie oi oi oi and she said yes. It was just such a fun time. It was a great ice-breaker. I asked her if she thought my name was going to be Pedro, Juan or Carlos and she said yes because I had the American/Latino accent so I confused her a little.

Janina and I at the Cliff of Moher (yes, that's the edge of the Moher's Cliff and we took a picture; We are daredevil like that). 

After the Cliffs, we went to the Atlantic Edge Ocean Walk for like 5 minutes. I believe it was a small stop because the tour guide was trying to get to Galway on time so I really did not enjoy that much of the view but Janina and I took a lot of pictures. We tried to play with our panorama pictures but we failed multiple times ha ha ha but we still had a nice time. The walk is just a route on the east coast of Ireland to see while visiting the Cliffs of Moher.

At the Atlantic Edge Ocean Walk

 The last place I visited was the harbor city of Galway a small town in the westside  Ireland an hour or so from the Cliffs of Moher. Well known as the "Venice of the west". It was a nice town to go and visit. Really different than Dublin and really colorful. It reminds me of Old San Juan with all the houses having a different pastel color to stand out. One of the stories that the tour guide told us was about the Lynch family.
Legends tell that the mayor of Galway had one son that would inherit all the family money and business but this son was really the opposite of what an example son of the mayor should be acting like. So one day at the pub he was drinking with the Spanish Armada and got into an altercation with one of the Spaniard that when he punched the Spaniard he felt and hit his head and die right there at the moment. In Galway, the law was that if I man killed another man his penalty to be death. An eye for an eye. The one thing that the mayor always told his family was that the city will come first before anyone and when he found out what his son has done he told the city that he would take care of it and he will be the one executing his son in front of the whole town. The town protested because the mayor was a good mayor and they did not want him to do it especially to his son but Mayor Lynch was so stubborn that he did not allow it and at his house in front of the whole town he hung his son. That is the reason the word Lynch means to hang someone because of the Lynch family and for what Mayor Lynch did in Galway to his son. I know so much worked into the legend to just come to the reason why a word got his meaning.

Somewhere in Galway, Ireland

Another legend that I learned was the one about St. Patrick. First I learned that he is not really a saint because he was never made a saint by the Catholic church so he was just a man of God spread Christianity in Ireland. He is known for using a three leaf clover to explain the holy trinity to the people in Ireland and he is also known for kicking out all the snakes from Ireland. Ireland does not have natural snakes but some believe it was just a metaphor for kicking out the pagan religions from Ireland.

Milton and I

On this trip, I also met a really nice guy from Portugal named Milton. Just pure coincident but we both had the same tour in Galway and we both were staying at the same hostel. We spend the night talking about the trip and our personal trips. We later started to talk about colonization, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Spain and Portugal and how we are all similar but different at the same time. Then he mentioned Christopher Columbus and I told him we do not like him in Puerto Rico because of the things that he did to the island. This guy cracks me up because when I said that he looks at me and says "Really man, it happened 5 centuries ago get over it". I was like oh no you did not just tell me to get over it and we just started laughing. It just funny because it is true and it brings another side of things because he is from the country that used to colonized other regions in the world and I am on the other side of the spectrum from the region that was colonized by a European country and its all about rest each other opinion but to also understand the other side of the coin even when you do not meet eye to eye. Milton was such a nice person to meet and I wish him safe travels. We are so mature about things that we have the plan to wander around Dublin a little bit before I departure to my next destination Malta. Now, I am giving him shit because Portugal lost against Uruguay in the World Cup 2018 in Russia.

Thanks to everyone for reading my post and liking and sharing my blog. Next stop Malta.

From Cataño to the World: Ireland (Day 1)

  

On my way to Dublin with Aer Lingus. 

Hello guys, I know it's being a while since I post something but now that I am on a break from work I want to share my month long journey in Europe with you guys. I forgot my journal back at home so I am using this platform to write about my day. It's something different and I will be posting something every day at the end of my day. Even though I am going to be working in Malta and working on my master's classes online too. I will make sure I post something every night.

My flight with Aer Lingus was not bad at all it was just not enough space for my legs and two out of their 4 bathrooms were not working so it was painful to make a 5-10 minute line to get to the restroom. Besides that my flight was pleasant. The picture on the left is one of plenty of pictures that I took of the sunset on the plane. The view was so breathtaking.

Spire of Dublin

So, like always when I arrived at custom the guard asked me questions like why are you in Ireland? for how long? whats your next destination? and because I am super tired do not look at all like my picture of my passport he asked me to show him my booking confirmation while here in Ireland and my confirmation flight to the next country that I am going. I am not surprised at all because it always happens. At this point, I am immune to it. I just wanted to arrived to my hostel after an 8 hours flight.

When I got out of the airport I got a two-way ticket from Airlink Express for 12 euros and made it to the hostel in less than 30 minutes and the stop was two minutes away from my hostel. One thing I notice right away was that Irish people use a lot of public transportation and that they are always late because they are running chasing their public bus or their metro. It was hilarious watching them sprinting in their suit and tie. Because my checking was not until 2pm I left my things at the hostel store room and started exploring the city early in the morning. One thing that Amazes me was the Spire of Dublin is one of the tallest sculpture in Ireland and in the world I believe.

A meal at O'Neill's 

After exploring on my own and getting some lost. I decided to go back to my hostel charge my devices and get myself informed about things to do in Dublin and looking for tours. My hostel recommended me to get a free walking tour of Dublin for two hours and hey, its free and I was not doing anything because I still had 5 hours until check-in so I did. During the walking tour, I met Luis and Angela cutest couple from Puerto Rico. As soon as we introduce ourselves to the group and we heard we were from Puerto Rico we were like a magnet and got together and talked about Puerto Rico and our traveling plans. While in the tour we visited Temple Bar, Dublin Castle, Christ Church, Viking/Medieval Area, Old City Walls, City Hall, Trinity College (the outside) and the Liffey (Ha'Penny) Bridge 1816. We did the walking tour with Sandeman's New Europe tours. After the tours, we took some pictures with Mary Mallone and we had to touch her breast for good luck so I did. After the tour, I went to O'Neill's and wow that was some good. Totally recommended this place to eat plus they have live Irish music while you eat so you get authentic Irish food and music in one sitting.

The street sign that saved my life. 

After my lunch, my day got slow because the jetlag was killing me so I did my checking and went to sleep for 3 hours then got up and walked some more. Some places I still want to get to see are the St. Stephen's Green, St. Patrick Cathedral, Natural Museum, and National Museum and Trinity College Library. While walking around to get something for dinner I walked by the Grafton Street where I found a lot of bars and live music. Definitely, the spot to be if you want to drink some beer and dance. One thing that I need to keep in mind is that here in Dubin they drive on the opposite side of the street and instead of looking left first I have to look right. Thank God for the signs on the floor that reminds me everytime I am about to cross the streets.

Some highlights of my day were going to the place where U2 used to play in Temple bar areas before becoming famous and visiting one of the scenes where P.S. I love you was recorded. A lot may not know this but that is one of my favorite movies. I am a hopelessness romantic what can I say.

If you want to see more picture of my first day in Dublin just stop by my Insta: stevenrcamacho and my Snapchat: srcamacho.

Thank you for reading and stop by tomorrow for day 2 in Dublin. :)