Recently, I was lucky enough to travel again across Europe, to Ireland and back. I visited 5 counties in total, had two weeks of fun and laughter, met extraordinary people, saw amazing sites, landscapes and scenery and ultimately I had a blast!
Here you can see the route that we took:
The whole trip was a pilgrimage to Taize, which is an ecumenical monastic order in Saône-et-Loire, Burgundy, France. There, we had one week of peace, prayers and inner relief. Being kind of a non-believer, I kind of skipped most of the religious part of the week, and focused on meeting the people that come to these pilgrimages, for each and every corner of the world.
Reflecting upon this, I still feel that this week of religiousness has brought me kind of reflection upon life. I had one week to think about what life has given me, and what I want to make out of it. The atmosphere of the pilgrimage was really touching.
After a week of religiousness we set of on a journey to Ireland and back. We were kind in a hurry to reach the ferry so we ended up leaving Taize whilst the last prayer, running with our candles in our hands. But, at least we reached the ferry. Next stop, Manchester!
Hello England, got any tea?!
So, after 21 hours of driving the bus needed to stop for 9 hours, this meant that we had plenty of hours to discover Manchester. The problem was, that we arrived late in the after noon, so everything was closed (we did manage to see the Old Trafford). No worries, the parties have just started. We visited the gay village section of the city, got a chance to see Alan Turing's statue, got stalked by a transvestite, and ended up in a great party, where we had a blast.
After the great Manchester we got the chance to see Liverpool, but only for a few hours. Here we visited the Beatles museum, the China town and the Liverpool Cathedral.
After that we went to Conwy, a town on the north coast of Wales. Here we visited the Cowny Castle, which was built by Edward I, during his conquest of Wales, between 1283 and 1289. But yet again, we couldn't spend much time here, because we needed to reach the ferry. Next stop> Dublin!
Here, our first action was to visit the Guinness brewery, of course :P
After that, we roamed the city and ended up going to a great party, yet again. The problem was that I kind of run out of battery on all my devices, and with no chance to charge I left the photographing to others.
Our next stop was one of my favorites. Arriving to Cashel, we visited the Rock of Cashel, and has a chance to see the Irish lands in their full beauty. Nothing compares to those wast, green Irish lands, the sound of the grass crushing under your feet and the smell of goat shit in the air.
After that we went to see the Killkenny Castle, this castle was restored to its former appearance. Each and every room had been redecorated. As you can see, even the air-heater was beautifully carved and preserved.
While visiting Salisbury and its magnificent Cathedral, we had some spare time to waste, but the fact was that we were tired as hell with all that bus riding, so after a quick meal in the city we snoozed a little on the cathedral's yard.
... and we reached our destination!
The Stonehenge was our final destination, and after two weeks of awesome places we finally reached it. Although we didn't pay the 18 euro fee to enter and see the rocks from 5 meters, we still managed to get quite close without paying (Just one word: sheep gazing)
Although I am really bummed that we couldn't get up close and personal with the rocks the whole scene was magnificent. Ancient times (and a whole heck of people) just standing in front of us..... I would recommend it to anybody! Last, but not least, on our way home we visited one last castle in Germany. A medieval castle called Burg Eltz. Deep in the forest, the castle was quite a scene to look at. Enchained forest and castle has a whole new meaning for me.
As you can see, I had my fair share of beautiful scenes, magnificent architecture and great experiences. I got to know a bus full of awesome people and made a lot of new acquaintances. Nevertheless I had a great time, and I would gladly embark on another of these adventures.
Oh, and last but not least.. I made a video from all the footage that I gathered throughout the two weeks. And I wanted to exercise some new cutting techniques. So, here is the final result. Hoping that you will enjoy! ;) |
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