Tag: travel

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Barcelona Trip

Now on to the second leg of my europe trip, what can I say, I loved Barcelona. The design of the city makes it extermely walkable, long courtyards, fun playful design, and the works of gaudi were the highlights. One of my friends was a big fan of the siesta and would like to go take a post lunch nap so I didn’t do as much sightseeing or take as much photos as I would have liked. Here are some of the highlights.

Park Guell – A beautiful park with some real neat design. I really liked how this, like a lot of other gaudi’s works were so playfully designed. A nice walk for about 1.5 to 2 hours. You do have to pay for a ticket and I’d advise doing so ahead of your trip as Ive heard that they can sell out. You also get some great views of the city.

Opium – This was the best of many clubs we went to, I did also like Razzmatazz on Wednesday, that is the day to go, everyone we spoke to gave us that day It was nice but I did not like it more than Opium, which is closer to the beach.

Picasso Museum – I would absolutely recommend this museum. Chock full of the world famous Spanish artists works. A deep and interactive museum that will take at least an hour to go thru. Also shout out to the beautiful and unforgettable Anna from Brazil who I meet during my stay at the museum.

Guell Palace – Another and the only other Gaudi work I saw. This was nice and also literally steps outside of my hotel so doing this happened to be very convienent for us.

Honorable mention – Try Cava, Spains version of champagne. Not to shabby. The food and the culture were the real highlights. I really enjoyed seeing the archtecture of Anton Gaudi who has several large projects throught barcelona. I did not get to see the sacrada familia sadly. Barcelona is also incredibly walkable and safe, even alone at 5AM I did not feel scared, although I did see some questionable things on this walk, we wont talk about that here. Overall I really enjoyed Barcelona and really think its a special town, it gave me new york city vibes but with an even stronger emphasis on public spaces to use however people see fit. Did see a lot of skaters.

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Dublin trip

So I mentioned earlier I would talk about my first ever Europe trip, which was ten days and 2 countries. I started my trip in Dublin Ireland. I wanted to go day by day but I’ll instead just talk about the highlights and what I thought of them. All pictures are my own.

Kilmainham Gaol – A jail in Dublin with amazing history and a famous list of convicts, including Joseph Plunkett and many others involved in the 1916 easter uprising (famously called bloody sunday also the title of the irish band U2’s song). Almost didn’t go here, was totally unplanned and needed to get a ticket, I am lucky I arrived early in the morning and even though I didn’t have a ticket I was able to get in the upcoming tour and boy am I glad, this was actually my favorite museum in Dublin, so much history and an amazing building. My guide Daisy was also very attractive which was pleasant but honestly I think this is an absolute must for anyone visiting Dublin.

Temple Bar – I went here twice, once to eat lunch and later in the same day to drink. This is definetly the most popular area in town for drinking and was very busy on the friday night I went, but as the night went on I saw a group of girls, who seemed to be local huffing nitrous oxide ballons and that was enough for me. I left shortly after and did not return except to pass through. I still liked this area as it is the party area in town and has the best nightlife and honestly was having a good time until seeing these girls. As someone who has battled with addiction it made me very uncomfortable to see this. Plus drink prices in this area are higher than other areas as it is a very touristy part of town. If your’re in this part of town stop by bunsen for a delicious burger.

Phoenix Park – absolutley massive park near dublin, I rented a bike and barely did it all in an hour, probably should’ve rented for 3 hours and just given it back after 2 and at least done the whole thing but oh well, did get really luck and saw some very freindly deer, I didn’t have food but it didn’t matter I was still able to get very close to them.

You will see this pillar from the Guinness brewery rooftop

Guiness Brewery and tour – this was a pretty nice tour for being self-guided, there’s some interesting things to learn like the imagery of the harp and the toucan and other animals. that have become symbols of guiness, or that they are the only brewery to roast their own barley, which makes for its distinct color and flavor I also learned a butt load is an actual unit of measurement (125-150 gallons, depending on where you are in the world). You do get a free beer at the top, and it offers some great views of dublin, I went a bit crazy in the merch shop here, I love guiness as a beer and enjoyed the tour, which takes 30 minutes or so to really soak it in or a few minutes if you just run up the stairs to get a “free” beer at the top which I can’t blame you if you did.

Dún Laoghaire – That’s not pronounced how you might suspect. I came here on my last day and took the DART train. I did not have to wait long either time for a train. It was several stops and took roughly 20 minutes to arrive. It was a rainy day the day I arrived so it was very calm and quiet, I did dip my toes in the very cold water, which is what I really wanted to do anyway, as I like to touch water in every place I visit. I ate a lunch at a mall near the railway and got ready to leave.

Jameson Distillery tour – This is a tour with a guide, you will also get a free drink coupon you can enjoy your drink before, during or after the tour. You also will get a few tasters at the end of the tour. I would personally prefer this tour to the guiness one it terms of value.

Frank Ryans/Fidelity bar/Brogans/collins barracks – honorable mention places I’d recommend.

Overall I loved Dublin, It was totally not on my radar at all but I really think its a nice town with a lot of rich history, a tradition of of fighting for independence, being the first country to legalize gay marriage in 2005, exceptional quality in brewng and distilling, and some absolutely massive sea gulls (of which I did not photograph) I loved dublin and it was an unexpected treat, 5 days was the perfect amount of time there I was able to do and this was mostly everything I did in the 5 days, I hope one day to return to Ireland’s beautiful coasts again.