Hello all!
Well traveled scholar here!… just kidding. But, my most recent adventures have brought me to the beautiful island of Ireland!
If you knew me it would not be a surprise to find out that I am Irish…my last name is McCray after all and once upon a time used to be McCrea!
Anyhoo… Ireland was absolutely stunning. The city of Dublin was as festive as could be for the holiday birthed in the very nation, Halloween! Yep, thats right! Celtic Ireland is where our beloved Halloween was created. It was so wonderful to walk around and see that every corner and detail was covered in the spider webbed, scary themed, decor. Quite impressive really to say the least that even the smallest store in Dublin showed their appreciation and that the locals were dressing up for the entire weekend!
If you ever have the chance to go to Dublin, I would highly recommend taking the tours available. I don’t know if there’s a long list of potential tour guides therefore making the competition tough, but all of the tours we went on had the most wonderful guides. We went through the city of Dublin with a man who taught us some of the well known Irish Folktales and even through in a few scary tales in the Halloween spirit. Then, we took a day trip on a bus to see the Cliffs of Moher, famously known as the location where scenes from the Princess Bride had been filmed! This proved to be well worth the 45 euro for the sights alone but there were some hidden gems along the way that made for an added bonus. Our final tour was in the Kilmainham Prison. This happened to be my favorite part. Never did I expect to learn such rich culture from the independency of Ireland from British rule. We were able to physically stand in the cells of the men and woman taken into jail who fought so fearlessly for the freedom of their nation.
One of the last things we did while in Ireland was go back to the warm, homey, pub we found in Dublin. The last night in Dublin was very well spent in that pub. The girls and I made good friends with some of the older locals and had many a good laugh with them that night.
Thank you Ireland!
You will forever be in my heart, and to John McGuir from our favorite pub, next time we’re in Dublin, the next round is on us!
