Dublin in 5 hours, right good time laddie

Zach Abubeker November 25, 2013

Last Thursday morning around 6am I left Galway after 3 days and nights of hanging around and seeing the sights. I met some pretty cool people in the process. When traveling it seems like those who travel always seem to end up together - something in the way of like minds attract.

Anyways I left the place I was couchsurfing and headed for the bus terminal which would bring me to Dublin in about 3 hours time. It's right straight across the country. First time I can say that I've been across an entire country in one day.

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Upon reaching Dublin I noticed that its very different than Galway and the countryside sights that I had become used to. Its quite city like: metropolitan, diverse and much larger comparatively. The pastel coloring of Galway had been replaced by rather cold concrete and muted colors. I checked my bags into left luggage at the airport and took the bus into town for about 7€ not too terrible as that pass also allowed me to use the city busses all day. The left luggage area was only about 12€ for the day.

I got into town and was let off around O'Connell street. Coincidentally there was a statue of this O'Connell character - friend Jason (mentioned in an earlier post) said that this guy is his great-great-great Grandfather. So snapped a pic and sent it off to Jason. He'd seen it before a few years back when he visited but he was still psyched all the same to see it again.

The current state of O'Connell is being overwrought with pigeon / seagull issues.

As you can see from the picture, Dublin at first glance looks European overall - similar building styles, not to mention that kind of dome shape on the building to the right. I might not go as far as comparisons to Parisian architecture but its on the way there nearly.

The first stop I visited was the old Dublin Castle, now used for parliament and government business. It was originally a Viking settlement then converted into a grounds when the British government took over.

I had heard from a few people that I should check out the area down by the river as well - Templebar. It's a popular area to go, especially at night apparently but I wasn't around long enough to see it. There's lots of bars and stuff and I even came across a few art spaces, one being the photo archive, the National archive was also nearby.

Temple bar area. The streets are small and cobblestone. There's this viking dude hawking chicken wings or something or other.

Oldest fish and chips place ever apparently. Though I've only had one meal of Fish and Chips so far.

Street performers - not entirely sure what exactly they're performing other than a variant of blackface?

This was near the photo archive which was sadly closed for an exhibition.

After temple bar I headed for the Irish Museum of Modern Art which is about a 20-25 minute walk across town. In that time I walked pass the Guinness brewery - costs 15€ to get in so I passed. I took a few pics along the way anyway. Quite a massive compound that takes up a few city blocks.

This is nearby the brewery, the town seems a bit more run down in this area.

This is the entrance to the visitors section (I think). Like I said the compound is crazy big so I wasnt entirely sure. I gave some Spanish girls directions to this though - seems like a legit point of entry.

More sort of a stockade type looking building.

The art museum was well tucked into a kind of residential pocket of the city. There were quite a few blocks of flats I walked by till I nearly convinced myself I was going the wrong direction. Persistance paid however, as when I turned the corner it sprung out at me. The building is super nice. It's an old 17th century converted hospital, formerly Royal Hospital Kilmainham built around 1650. The museum has been there since 1990.

As you can see the structure is a really great example of 17th century architecture, and makes a great place to host exhibitions. The space was well utilized, they had a show on architecture, a collection show and one paid entry show of a contemporary artist. More info on here. Definitely recommended if you have a day or two in Dublin.

Yea so after seeing the museum I caught a bus back to downtown and had a Guinness just to say that I did. I noticed a bit more froth (or maybe I just thought I did, not sure). Either way my appreciation for Guinness has like quadrupled since I've been to Ireland now. After the beer I caught the bus out to the airport on my way to London. Will be updating soon with my first post from England in the next day or so.

Galway, good craic had by all!

Zach Abubeker November 22, 2013

I left Ballyvaughan on Monday for the Cliffs of Moher, and eventually headed onto Galway via Bus Eireann. I reached Galway around 530pm or so and had to go find the hostel that I would stay at that night. It's called Sleepzone - really great place and nice people as well. Pretty cheap overall, was around 12€ for the night. The following two nights I spent at a couchsurfer's place who lived nearby, in order to save some money. As my first time couchsurfing it was very nice, the person I stayed with was very accommodating and genial guy. I left Galway Thursday morning for Dublin, which I will detail in a following post.

Managed a pint early on. This pub is directly off of Eyre Square. Stopped there immediately after getting settled into the hostel.

Lidl, an amazing German grocery somewhere between Aldi and Ikea.

Found some super cheap Brie and bread for the nights foods.

Galway is a pretty small town, with maybe something like 100k people living there total. At the center is Eyre Square. The sleepzone hostel was nearby, only about a 10 minute walk. Nearby are many attractions: A couple of historic Churches, the Corrib river, a Spanish arch, as well as loads of bars. It seems like most of the busy places was done at pubs really - drinking is a large part of the culture. And as they say when in Rome, drink a lot of Guinness.

The town itself is really quaint. It has a small town feel to it, the buildings are painting in a rather pastel fashion. There are shops and boutique markets that sell clothes and other goods. There were often people playing music on the street.

A street sign in Galway. They always use Gaelic as well as English on all the signs. This is in an attempt to preserve original language as its spoken by so few people now a days. I heard it spoken a couple of times - quite a nice language love the … — A street sign in Galway. They always use Gaelic as well as English on all the signs. This is in an attempt to preserve original language as its spoken by so few people now a days. I heard it spoken a couple of times - quite a nice language love the way it sounds.

You can see the festive decor already happening here. There was a nice feeling to the city.

Guy playing music, the street signs are cool.

The way into the smaller streets of the city.

The city has a path that leads out to the west off the Galway Bay to a place called Salthill. Its about a 30 minute walk from the main square. Its a really scenic walk starting from the river to the bay and eventually a nice look at the causeway and greater bay area.

Goose getting wacky out there on the river.

Caught a small arts exhibition while we were walking around town too. Its called Tulca and has been happening for the past 10 years or so. There were about 8 different spaces participating in it, all curated by one person. Galway actually has a decent art scene, theres a theatre in town as well as lots of visual arts spaces. It also hosts the Galway Arts Festival yearly July. Galway Arts Festival has gotten some international acclaim and one of the biggest arts event in the country.

So like I mentioned apart from nice scenery there is a bit of a nightlife. The city boasts quite a fair amount of traditional pubs as well as some clubs, though I never ventured out to those. I think part of the reason is that Galway is also a college town, having about 3 or 4 colleges in the near vicinity. We all know what college types like to do on their weekend time, or anytime really. As I was there during midweek it was decently busy, however apparently on weekends the hostels really fill up and the party really rolls into town. Below are a couple photos of the nightlife.

Yea, I mostly drank Guinness while in Ireland. Just made the most sense, I never used to like it soo much but I think primarily it was because it doesn't travel so well to the states. Here it was extremely smooth and creamy, and not too heavy either.

A local band playing some Irish tunes, really great experience. The guy with the harmonica was singing as well. It was really emotive, very pleasant.

Managed to attend also a silent disco. For those of you not familiar, there is no actual music played from loudspeakers. As you enter, everyone grabs headphones and tunes to either channel one or two. The two djs spin two different kinds of music an… — Managed to attend also a silent disco. For those of you not familiar, there is no actual music played from loudspeakers. As you enter, everyone grabs headphones and tunes to either channel one or two. The two djs spin two different kinds of music and you can switch back and forth during the course of the night. Super weird but I kinda liked it.

Overall I had a really great time in Galway. Of course I wish it would have been a bit longer stay but for the amount of time I was able to spend there it was well worth it.

Peace NYC, Hello The Brothers Austin.

Zach Abubeker November 22, 2013

So last Sunday around 5am I made it to Shannon Ireland. I hopped on a bus to Galway, after a few hours wait, as the bus didn't leave until 7:20am so had a bit of a chillout session in the airport, free wifi at least.

After arriving to Galway I waited another hour to catch a bus to Ballyvaughan, where good friend Jeff Austin is studying abroad at The Burren College of Art. The Burren is an area of southwest Ireland surrounded by big hills and massive limestone deposits. From Shannon the bus ride down to Ballyvaughan is about an hour, I made it into town and got off the bus in what I considered to be the center of town. A lucky guess as Matt and his mom were staying in the hotel that I happened to walk into to have a coffee. It's called Logues and from what I gather is the only game in town. Waited a bit for Jeff to arrive from his place into town - the school boarding is about 15 minutes walk from the center of Ballyvaughan.

Picture of Logues sign offering breakfast, hotel not pictured.

So we all met up had a quick bite and Jayne (mother of Jeff and Matt) wanted to go check out The Burren Perfumery just outside of town. They offered quite a variance of perfume types made from flower extract. They produce other kinds of of products such as direct extract, lotions, shaving soaps and much more. Funny thing is though that the Irish gov't has sort of place a protection status on the indigenous flowers they were using, now all of their flowers are imported - funny how that works out.

After that Matt and I went to tour Jeff's studio. The school on the same grounds as an old castle just outside of Ballyvaughan. Super cool - here's a couple of photos. Matt had of course seen it in the time that he'd been there. He even was also gave an artist talk - you can find Matt's work here.

Photo of the actual studios and main building.

The next few photos are of Jeff's work in the studio. This really great piece below is a wall work comprised completely of dead flies found around the studio.

I gathered that the fly aspect has sort of taken over the whole of the program. Lots of dead flys everywhere, and everyone was finding them randomly on walls and around their space. In some instances the placement of the flies was completely unknown… — I gathered that the fly aspect has sort of taken over the whole of the program. Lots of dead flys everywhere, and everyone was finding them randomly on walls and around their space. In some instances the placement of the flies was completely unknown adn random. It started to worry me a bit after awhile.

He's working on stuff besides flies too so thats good.

Really like these concepts he's working with here. Strays into design and utility concepts.

Jeff has been really productive in his short time here. It's great to see his developed ideas inside studio. He's gotten into a groove and found a style to work with that can carry through to the future devlopments of his work. Check out more of Jeff's work here.

Safety first guys ok. Thats Jeffs residence in the background.

Matt playing a ukulele Jeff bought on his time here.

Now it can be said - why in heaven's name did you go visit two guys you know from back home for a total of 10 hours in a small nowhere town of southwest Ireland? Well fact is that I couldn't resist. Its not that I'm chasing the feeling of familiarity when I'm traveling but really, why wouldn't I opt to see them? I've found that it really changes everything when you see someone over a great distance later. This summer when I found friends in LA that I had known in Addis it was really great to see them. We continued building a friendship and the importance grows because we cared enough to meet over such a distance.

So you want to see cliffs ya?

Zach Abubeker November 19, 2013

Went out to see the Cliffs of Moher my second day in Ireland. It was about a hours drive from Ballyvaghun (Ballyvince vaughn). They happened to change the bus schedule from the Summer to Winter timings - without my knowledge of course. So instead of 930a it turned into a free breakfast for me and departure time of 1125. Was met by a the driver Richard - husband of Elizabeth. He's Irish through and through - been driving for quite some time. Said hes got the worst route on the island, what with having to drive out to cliffs every shift. He said he used to live in London with his wife, but he had to move because he didn't want to cause any commotion with the Queen. Her name being Elizabeth as well - same as his wife.

Drive up was really pleasant - crazy curves in the hills and all. Quite nice views.

The bus stop is in front of the "Spar" small grocery chain - much like 711.

My free breakfast - eggs over medium and country ham, Irish enough.

So we reached the cliffs in about an hour. Richard would pick me up back at the same spot around an hour later. Was really great timing cause I could leave all my stuff there in the bus for the duration and just walk with my camera. Had been worrying about the logistics of the bags but so far its worked out fairly well. The earliest lodging on the cliffs is said to be a 2000 year old fort - there are no remnants of it but they have built a small tower on the former site. This is apparently the most visited site in Ireland - so lucky me to have gotten there in the 2nd day of my trip. On with the pictures.

Dublin in 5 hours, right good time laddie

Galway, good craic had by all!

Peace NYC, Hello The Brothers Austin.

So you want to see cliffs ya?

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