by Hope Lee

Created on: January 11, 2009   Last Updated: March 15, 2012

The grass in Ireland really is that green! This was one of the earliest realizations that I made during a 1999 trip to Ireland. While studying abroad in England, six friends and I took our week of vacation and headed to the Emerald Isle.

We flew RyanAir into Dublin, where we stayed at a hostel in the Temple Bar district. A great location, to be sure, if you want to spend the night out drinking and crawl back to your lodgings. Not such a great location if you, like us, are planning to head out first thing in the morning!

In the morning, we got on a bus that took us to Cork. Immediately after checking into the Cork City Independent Hostel, a hostel with "character," we headed out to Blarney Castle. Of course, we did the obligatory kiss on the Blarney stone, held up by a little Irish man who told all the women, "Come a little closer, dear, come a little closer." However, the highlight of the trip to the Castle was exploring the grounds and taking some artsy photos of the seven of us in a large tree.

Back at the hostel, we took showers. Our options were a shower that opened right onto the landing of the stairs and the shower that was across the courtyard in a small hut. I opted for the hut shower, although it was a bit nippy on that October evening. We finished off the night with what became our Ireland tradition-a pint of Guinness and a shot of Irish whiskey.

The next day, it was another bus down to Killarney, right on the edge of the Ring of Kerry. This was my favorite part of the trip. We stayed at the Aghadoe House Youth Hostel, which was an old mansion built out of grey stone. Although the hostel was a bit out of town, they provided limited free transportation to and from town.

From the hostel, we were able to rent bikes, which we used to bike up to the Gap of Dunloe. This scenic stretch of Irish countryside is only accessible by foot or bike, and features streams, stone huts and sheep. It was gorgeous!

Another favorite trip of ours in the Killarney area was the trip to the Muckross House. Although the house itself was interesting and historical, our favorite part of the trip was getting there. We chose to walk, though it was a bit of a trek, and along the way we discovered treasures that were worth the walk and wet day. As we followed the hiking trail, we walked out in front of a gorgeously green field, complete with an Irish rainbow over top. Further along the trail, we discovered the Muckross Abbey, which had been partially destroyed by English Protestants. What remained was atmospherically Irish, complete with a Celtic cemetary.

Our last Irish adventure was getting back to Dublin in time to tour the Guinness brewery before it closed. We woke up early on our last morning in Killarney, expecting the taxi that we had arranged for to be waiting for us at the appointed time, but alas, no taxi. There was also no one at the front desk of the hostel, which was surprising for the hour of the morning. Suddenly, it started to dawn on us-was this the weekend of daylight savings time? We checked the TV, but no, the time there was what we thought it was. Finally, we realized that the TV channel was from France, an hour ahead of us, and yes, the clocks had been turned back the night before. After an hour, our taxi appeared. If only we'd know we could have slept in an hour longer!

The next morning we said goodbye to Ireland, sad to go, but richer for our experiences there.

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