Dublin

My hostel in Dublin is lovely. It is covered wall to wall in murals of celebrities, political figures, natural scenes, and TV shows. The best may be a scene of apes smoking cigars. One ape, partly obscured by the railing, writes 'Brexit' across a sheet of paper.

The hostel is large, busy, and a bit of a maze, mirroring the city of Dublin. I spent all day Saturday wandering and observing the city centre. Each street led to a maze of alleyways, each with three bars and one antique shop. Each time I'd think to myself "now I am very lost," I would recognize a shop I'd passed from the other direction an hour ago.

Dublin tourists in the main tourist area are nothing like London tourists. In London, tourists seemed to want to blend in with the business and fashion scene. Here, they dye their hair obnoxiously red, wear the most hideous greens they can get their hands on, and sing drunkenly in the streets at 4pm. The hostel attracts more conscious travellers. I haven't seen anyone there behaving obscenely.

The city itself is lovely. I like the winding cobblestone streets, the historic buildings, and the air of rebellion. Paintings in shops and cafes recall past rebellion, while street art and stickers on lamp posts encourage future rebellion.

Dublin feels real and raw. An independent magazine I picked up from a vintage store spoke of Ireland's struggle to define their own place in the world while sandwiched between the UK and USA. The London underground trains were silent aside from the sound of wheels on the tracks. No one spoke except in hushed tones. I'm sitting on a commuter train to Howth now, and someone has a loudspeaker playing Party Rock Anthem. People looked around and laughed when it started up, and a few people up front are singing along.

Street art in the Temple Bar area

The famous temple bar

1800s mirror in the National Gallery of Ireland

My favourite painting from the National Gallery

Flowers along the road in Howth

Fish and chips in Howth

Statue across the street from the ocean

A wall in my hostel

The transit system here is more confusing than the London system was. It's confusing enough that I spent close to two hours today trying to figure out how much change I need to make an hour and a half trip out of the city. I'm fairly confident that I have the answer, but now it's too late to make the bus I need, so I'll be going tomorrow on my last full day in Dublin. If all goes well tomorrow, I'll go out to Glendalough to see some monastic ruins and hike in the Wicklow mountains.

And then I'm off to Amsterdam the day after that! One week has passed since I started this trip.

- Aliya