Cards Travel To Ireland
My name is Peter Card. I am currently teaching and living in Al Ain, Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). I am truly amazed at where life has taken me. I hope by sharing my experiences it encourages you to pursue your dreams as well. God Bless!
After our adventures in Spain, we took a brief but worthwhile trip home. Although our time at home is often less eventful, it is just as meaningful. There’s nothing like time with friends and family.
Our next destination was Ireland. It was raining the day we arrived which was a welcome sight to us as rain is very sparse in the UAE desert. Ireland is just the opposite with over 150 days of rain on average. There are many people from Ireland who work in the UAE, so it was nice to visit their native country.
Our first night we spent walking through downtown Dublin. This is often how we begin many of our adventures just to gain an idea of our surroundings. We visited a world-famous area known as Temple Street full of bars alive with live Irish bands, traditional and contemporary food selections and all the Guinness one could ever want! There is good public transportation, but Dublin is a great city for walking.
There are historical and architectural gems throughout the area such as Christ Church, Dublin Castle, and Phoenix Park, as well as a river that rounds through the city.
The rest of our time in Ireland we spent on day trips outside of the city. The first of those trips was to the Cliffs of Moher. These are beautifully amazing cliffs that highlight the natural beauty of Ireland. It also included a stop in the city of Galway, a charming small town.
The second day trip took us to the Blarney Castle. This is the much-fabled castle where one is supposed to kiss the blarney stone and receive the gift of clever speech. I feel like I had this already so it’s hard to say if it worked but Cheryl and I kissed the stone anyway. Just as interesting as kissing the stone, which requires you to hang just a bit upside down on the roof of the castle, is the journey through the castle. It is extremely narrow and built with safeguards against attackers throughout. The grounds surrounding the castle are tremendous as well. One cannot help but imagine what it would have been like to live here hundreds of years ago.
Our third and final day trip took us to Northern Ireland. Before moving overseas, I knew very little of the history between Ireland and Northern Ireland, but through my Irish teaching colleagues, I have learned a great deal. Our tour helped us gain a greater insight into that history. We took a brief, but informative tour of the city including many of the former areas of conflict, in one of the famous black taxis. Recently, Northern Ireland has been spotlighted in various films and movies including Transformers, Game of Thrones and Titanic.
If you would like to hear or see more of my adventures, look for Peter Card in the UAE on YouTube or the Peter Card Facebook page. As always feel free to email me at cardsimon@hotmail.com.
