Snapshots of Ireland

I still have one or two more stories to share from my time in Ireland, but I thought it would be fun to just do a random assortment of pictures today for Instagram Travel Thursday.

Linking up with this group of fun travelers has been a highlight of blogging from Europe for me.  It is how I first found Tina, who did my first Expat Interview here on the blog yesterday,  so I was thrilled to meet a few of the other #IGTravelThursday gals in Dublin.  So fun!

Pictured above: Katja of Skimbaco, who lives in Sweden, but is currently in Italy speaking at another blogging conference.  Satu of To Destination Unknown who is living in Norway but is originally from Finland. Stefanie of Azzurro Diary, who lives in Italy but is from Germany and Alyssa of Vagabundus who is from the US but is currently wandering the world with her boyfriend.

This is a city street shot in Dublin.  I loved getting to know this city by wandering around on foot.  I didn’t get to see nearly as much of Dublin as I wanted to, but I had an adventure or two while I was there (sharing my favorite Dublin story on Monday), and now I can’t wait to go back!

The Dublin Spire is in the distance of the city shot of Dublin, but here it is close up.  I appreciated being able to orient myself around Dublin by finding the Spire in the distance, but my taxi driver told me in very colorful language that it was a huge waste of money that the country doesn’t have.

We had such uncommonly good weather on our tour of the Northwest of Ireland that I didn’t mind that it rained a lot of while I was in Dublin.  I was inside for a conference for so much of the time that I was happy to get outside and find I had not wasted a sunny day.

The doors of Dublin.  Oh my goodness.  I could walk around Dublin for a week and only take pictures of doors.  Love.

We stopped into lots of super charming pubs in Ireland.  This one is called Slattery’s and they have Michael Collin’s jacket framed on the wall.  Super fun.

I am not a huge beer drinker, but you have to drink Guinness in Ireland.  It tastes better there.

Pictured above: I had more than one drink in a pub, as well as many adventures with these two precious gals who were are on my same tour of Northwest Ireland, Stacey and Tammy.  They both work for Travel + Escape in Canada.

This is the wall of a night club in Dublin called 37 Dawson Street.  Somehow, the after parties of the TBEX conference always seemed to end up back here.  I went one night with Tammy and Stacey, and I was mesmerized by this wall of chairs and lamps.

So, I did see a little more of Ireland than the sweeping cliff views all along the sea.

Pictured above: Our guide along the walk to Banba’s Crown on Malin Head.  She is warning Peter Parkorr, as she did many a photographer that day, to back up from the edge of the wind swept cliffs.  She pointed out a cross along our walk where an unfortunate tourist had fallen to his death.

But seeing the Northwest of Ireland was the highlight of my trip for sure. Its wildness is still calling to me when I look through pictures.  I find I keep looking for a window to go back.