Adventures in Europe: Dublin, Ireland

Today, my last in Europe, I took it really easy.  I began my day with a wonderful breakfast at the upstairs cafeteria of the Kilkenny department store.

From there I headed to the famous "GPO"--General Post Office, which is famous not so much for being a post office, but for its role in the Easter Uprising of 1916, when it served as the headquarters for the revoultionaries.

Having mailed my postcard, I went to this wonderful bookstore, which is right across the street from my hostel.

When I asked the older lady working if I could photograph the store, she said, "yes, go ahead." Then I said, "it's a wonderful bookstore;" and she said, "yes, it is, if I do say so myself!"

I bought a book, and enjoyed the cafe up above the bookstore for awhile.

After some lunch, I continued my relaxing enjoyment of Dublin through the afternoon and evening: I got a haircut, went for a cup of tea at a cafe, and then had a couple pints of Guinness at two bars in the famous Temple Bar district (which is just behind where my hostel is) while finishing Watership Down, the novel I had bought on the streets of Sofia.

Adventures in Europe: Dublin, Ireland

I am on my way home now, and my flight back to Canada leaves from Dublin on Thursday.  So today I flew from Barcelona to here on a Ryanair flight, arriving just after 12:00.

I caught a bus downtown, and checked in at my hostel, before heading over to the Guiness brewery for a tour of their storehouse.

The ticket is expensive (I paid €17.50, and that was apparently discounted from €25), but they sure give you an incredible experience!  There are three floors of exhibits on the history of Guiness and how it is brewed (including a lot of reminders on how special their yeast is--emphasized by this exhibit with the yeast in a safe!).

There is a whole floor on Guiness advertising campaigns!  

This gallery includes the beautiful old harp that inspired the Guiness logo.

There is a very strange clam, which I guess was used in ads for awhile.

But my favourite Guiness animal is for sure the toucan!

On the fourth floor there is a tasting room, where they teach you what flavours are tasted for in the daily Guiness taste tests.  

Then there is a bar where they teach you how to pour the perfect pint of Guiness.

And finally you can enjoy a(nother) pint in the bar at the top, with a panoramic view of Dublin and the brewery down below.

Somehow I was in the Guiness storehouse for over two hours, which quite surprised me, because usually I tend to go through these types of things really quickly.  Even then there were videos and write-ups I skipped.

It was dark by the time I left and so I returned to the hostel before having a dinner of fish and chips in an (Irish) pub nearby.  I had assumed I would enjoy a Guiness with my dinner, but I had had enough this afternoon, so I opted for a Smithwick's.

Adventures in Europe: Andorra la Vella, Andorra

While Melanie went off to school today, I headed out on a day trip to Andorra.  Originally I had intended to rent a car and drive, but for a couple of reasons I opted for the bus instead.  It was about 11:00 when I arrived at the Andorra central bus station.

From there I mostly just walked around the little city.

Soon after arriving I stopped for a coffee and a pastry at a cafe, and later early in the afternoon at another cafe for some lunch.  Really Andorra la Vella is not the most interesting place I have ever been, but it is quaint, and has a medieval feel in parts;

as well as some compelling public art;

and, of course, some great mountain views from pretty much everywhere.

One thing I found interesting about Andorra is its relationship with France and Spain/Catalonia.  

For example, the President of France and the Bishop of Urgell are Co-Princes of Andorra, and the post offices of both countries provide postal services.

There was, however, a vast difference in the service at the postal outlets of each of the post offices I went to to try to mail postcards.  At the Correos, I waited for 20 minutes, and was then told they had no stamps for me to send my postcard to Canada!  At La Poste, on the other hand, I was in and out in two minutes, and the lady even put the stamp on for me!

My bus back to Barcelona left at 15:00, so after a few relaxing and laid back hours in Andorra, I was back to join Melanie in Spain.

Adventures in Europe: Montserrat, Spain

After mass, Melanie and I caught several trains and made our way out of Barcelona and inland to Montserrat.  It was a three train trip and certainly took awhile, but ended up being well worth it.

At the Monistrol de Montserrat commuter rail station we transferred to the rack railway that takes you up the mountain.

The train climbs five kilometres out of the valley and up Montserrat, allowing for some pretty good views at times.

There are three stops total, with the final one being the complex of the Montserrat monastery, with views like this of the valley.

We still needed lunch, and actually there were not as many options as there sometimes are, because evidently the monastery was taking advantage of winter to do some renovations.  So, we were stuck (poor us) eating in what used to be stables from the 16th century!

This was the wonderful octopus leg we got to eat!

There are all kinds of fascinating things to do at Montserrat, but our time was limited, so really, besides our wonderful lunch, all we did was hike.  There is a visitor's centre that gave me a map of the trails, but it is not a very good map; anyway, we found a trail and set out further up the mountain.

Our route began here, where it seems most of the trail that go up the mountain begin.  

You can go right or left (roughly north or south), and we chose left.  Usually this funicular allows you to go up and/or down from the top, but today it, like some of the eating options, was closed for upgrades.  We had no interest in using it to go up, but later as we were coming down we would have appreciated it!

Evidently the first party of our trail was part of a way of the cross, or at least some sort of trail with religious significance. 

The trail was not especially steep, but we seemed to be climbing fairly quickly anyway--here we could look back and see the monastery complex.

From here more or less the path switch-backed northwest and began climbing further up towards the peak, and here are some pictures from our climb.

We could just see parts of Barcelona and the Mediterranean far in the distance.

The trail became increasingly rough as we moved upward.  At some point we reached the ruins of an old monastic retreat.

We did not make it quite to the top, as that would have required some serious rock climbing.

We got awfully high nonetheless, and had some great views, including this view of the main monastery complex we had eaten lunch at.

From here things turned less pleasant.  The fact is we had already hiked quite far, and I thought we could complete a loop back down to the monastery.  At least, that is what the map showed.  Sadly, trying to follow that trail turned out to be a mistake, and we only gave up on it after another two kilometres or so.  So, we had to double back, and then make our way down the way we had come up.  It was long past sunset (about 18:30) by the time we got back down.  The bells of the church were ringing just as we reached the complex, and despite how tired we were, it was sort of a nice way to end the hike.

It was another three train trek back into the city, but it had been a great day.