Put a Cork in it!

Next stop on the trip: Cork. Dubbed Ireland's "second city", this place was very different than the hip and fancier Galway I had just came from. It has more of a gritty feel to it, but also seems more "real", had a crap ton of music and would probably be a place I would love to live in. Less touristy for sure.

Modesty at its finest.

I arrived and quickly made friends with my new roommates who were traveling all the way from Taiwan! I grabbed some fish n chips take away from a fantastic place called "The Fish Wife" and settled in the common room to enjoy my meal. The hostel I was staying in was called Bru Bar & Hostel and had live music in the bar downstairs every night! Perfect! I didn't even have to get dressed up to listen to some good jams.

New roommates enjoying some music!

The musician on the first night was a girl who played a mix of acoustic covers and originals. I enjoyed some beverages with my new friends, ending the night when we lost one friend who went out for some air and didn't come back for half an hour.

Ring of Kerry

The next day I signed up for a bus tour of the Ring of Kerry. I had tried to extend my trip by another week to add more time here but had to settle for a bus tour.  I was gutted when I realised that if I had changed my flight a day prior, it would have been feasible (300€ return) but because I waited an extra day the flight home would have been 500€! So sadly, no extension for me.

Ireland is 😍

Luckily I was still glad I had a chance to get a taste of County Kerry. It was beautiful. We had a 2 hour stop in Killarney. Killarney is a town beside a national park and while it's rather touristy, it has good reason to be. Its beauitful and relaxed, very removed from the hustle and bustle of the cities nearby. I wandered around the Killarney House gardens (Queen Victoria once stayed there) and a saw a slight bit of the national park. I do want to come back and visit more of this area.

We then drove around the Ring of Kerry which is a beautiful drive along the coast. We stopped at the seaside town of Waterville (aptly named) for some lunch. Random Waterville fact: Charlie Chaplin used to vacation here and ever since then they've had a comedy film festival and Chaplin celebration every year.

We also drove along the coast and saw Skellig Michael from a distance. HEY NERDS, IT'S WHERE THEY FILMED THE NEW STAR WARS. Yeah man. #tripofthenerds

Skellig Michael from a distance.

I arrived home tired and lazy so the roommates and I just decided to take it easy and listen to the band performing at our hostel. They were a great rock/metal band covering Jimi and Black Sabbath as well as just tearing it up on the harmonica. 

Blarney Castle

Turns out it only took half an hour to bus it to the castle so I decided to do that on my final day in Cork. Even though I definitely do not need any help with being chatty, maybe I'll be a little less foot-in-mouth now that I waited an hour to kiss the Blarney Stone! Haha.

*Muah!*

The castle itself was pretty interesting to walk around. In addition to long halls and bedrooms, there were things like murder holes and oubliettes (Labyrinth anyone? I kept waiting for  Hoggle to hop out). There was also a Poison garden with all these dangerous plants, their descriptions and sometimes even cages around them. I kept referencing my herbology lessons from Harry Potter and felt very smart. Haha

Madrake roots are not screaming babies apparently.

The grounds itself were the most impressive though. The Fern garden and rock close were very pretty with a lot of gaelic/fairy/witches lore attached to it.

Fern garden 

Never one to turn down folklore and superstition, I walked down and up the witches stairs with my eyes closed focusing on one wish. I'll let you know if it ends up coming true. ;)

The witches stairs

After the castle and gardens, I met up with Christina and Cindy again to go on a pub crawl! Joining us was Christina's friends Susie and John and we had a great time roaming around Cork doing random shots in alleyways and getting hit on by bizzaro Italien men (hahaha, NO patch).

First bar on the pub crawl!

The train ride to Dublin was ROUGH the next day and I fufilled the Howse family motto of "Its Not a Trip til Susan pukes" with gusto. ;)

Next and final stop: Dublin.