Here we are at Part Two of our UK/Ireland vacation (you can read about Part One HERE). We arrived in Edinburgh right before sunset, so we headed to the hotel to find a place for dinner. We went to this charming little place that served the best Scottish pub food, and we were surprised to find they had a band playing live traditional music too. We were off to a great start!

We had plans to hike Arthur’s Seat on our first full day there (the crested point that you see in the photo below), but we changed plans and went to another lookout point that wasn’t as strenuous. This also meant we could sleep in a little, which was much needed at this point after averaging over 10 miles of walking each day!
Isn’t he handsome?
As we walked towards Edinburgh Castle, we decided to cut through Prince’s Street Gardens and I’m SO glad we did! The daffodils, one of my favorite flowers, were at peak bloom and we could not get over how gorgeous it was. It was like a blanket of yellow and orange…all the heart eyes!On to Edinburgh Castle…We walked the Royal Mile as we made our way towards Holyrood Palace. Edinburgh just felt magical with the castle, stone buildings with window boxes, and winding roads. I mean, there was a live owl display! 
No photos were allowed inside the Palace at Holyrood, but the outside had my favorite part. These are the ruins of the abbey there. Part of what Bradley and I enjoy most about traveling abroad is seeing places like this: something so historic that’s still standing and knowing how many people, royalty included, have stepped foot in the same spot.See how big these daffodils were compared to B’s hand?! The “cup” part was as long as my pinky finger!We finished the day at the Scotch Whisky Experience. It was touristy, but really well done and enjoyable. And we got to see the largest collection of whisky in the world…almost 3,400 bottles!This one was for sale in the gift shop…yes, that price tag reads 27,500 pounds!
If you couldn’t tell in the previous post, we are big fans of the Harry Potter series. And you can’t visit Edinburgh without seeing some of the inspiration for the books: Potterow, Greyfriar’s Graveyard which had Tom Riddel’s gravestone, Victoria Alley which was inspiration for Diagon Alley, and the Elephant House Cafe where JK Rowling wrote the first book at a table upstairs that looked out over Edinburgh Castle.
Flying into Dublin…it really was all green! And our beautiful hotel, the Shelbourne.On our first full day in Dublin, we took a bus tour to the west coast so we could see the Cliffs of Moher. This was at the top of my “must-see” list, and it did not disappoint. There was plenty to see along the way too: lots of castle ruins, tight curvy roads, and GREEN.Y’all, those tiny dots on the right edge are PEOPLE! It was super windy there that day, and these folks were trekking off the trail to get photos. I couldn’t watch because I was so sure someone was going over!Sorry to call you out dude, but this is how close people go to the edge. Five steps to his left is a straight drop off…CRAZY. We stayed behind the barrier wall!
The second stop on the tour was at these limestone gardens, which looked like another planet.
Last stop on the tour was a cute little town, Galway.
We spent our last day in Dublin trying to see as much as we could. The city was much more spread out than we expected! First stops were St. Stephens Green gardens, then St. Patricks Cathedral, and Christ Church Cathedral.You can’t go to Ireland without tasting their famous beverages: whiskey and Guinness. We started at Teeling, which is the first new distillery in Dublin in 125 years. It was an awesome tour (and an ever better tasting!) and we learned a lot of history about the whiskey presence in Ireland. Our favorite factoid was about the Great Whiskey Fire which sent rivers of burning whiskey into the streets of Dublin. Since water only made the flames get higher, they found the only way to stop it was with horse manure (something that was in abundance during a time of horse and buggy transportation)! As the firefighters continued to work in the burning buildings, crowds gathered in the streets and scooped up the free whiskey to drink…yes, the same whiskey that passed through the manure! The fires didn’t claim any victims, but there were some casualties for drinking “sh!tty whiskey” (as our tour guide said).

Hope to see you again soon, Europe!

SaveSave