ireland elopement photographer | amsterdam destination wedding photographer | bergen norway elopement wedding photographer
My trip to Dublin, Ireland, Amsterdam, The Netherlands and Bergen, Norway happened on a bit of a whim, similar to most of my ventures. About 2 months out (which is actually a solid amount of planning for me), there was an incredible deal on flights. Through booking one way tickets out of a tiny international airport in New York, we were able to score tickets out of the USA to Dublin, Amsterdam, Norway and back to the US for a whopping $350. And I just can't say no to a good deal.
The trip originated with the thought of just going to Norway, but if you know anything about Norway, it's not the cheapest country, and it also wasn't the best time of year, so we decided to make a pit stop there (SO GLAD WE DID) and spend our other days in some different places.
I hadn't been back to Ireland since 2012 and Holland since 2014 so I was super excited to spend a few days in 2 of my favorite places.
We made the 4 hour drive up to Newburgh airport, got on our overnight flight to Dublin, and I woke up to Irelands green rolling hills below me. We spent 3 full days in Ireland, and we spent them thriving the Irish way.
Day 1 we ate some breakfast (LOVEEEE me some Irish breakfast), strolled around in the pouring down rain waiting for it to be 1pm so we could check into our hostel and take a much needed nap. With an hour left to wait, we headed to the iconic Temple Bar for one drink, which turned into an entire day (literally went back to the hostel at 9:30pm) of Smithwicks Amber Ale, German friends, Irish music, and a whole lot of laughter.
The next day we decided to take it a bit slower, seeing as our first day was quite the welcome into the country. We spent the afternoon taking in the city and exploring the nooks and crannies, until we were recommended to go to O'Donagues for live Irish music. A few hours in, some incredible beef stew, and more Smithwicks, we met more friends - although this time Irish! The rest of the evening they showed us some great spots in Dublin, and again, we didn't get home until pretty late. Not our best plan as we had to be up at 6am for a full day tour of Belfast!
Belfast was a rough day. Two days of Irish festivities and very little sleep behind us, we were feeling less than alive. But we managed to see some incredible sights in Northern Ireland, such as Giants Causeway, the rope bridge, the city of Belfast that we explored through an Iconic black taxi tour, and a few castles along the way.
Next came Amsterdam! A city known for it's indecentcies, but holds oh so much more. We stayed at the CUTEST Airbnb, right outside the city and rented some bikes so I could show Ally the true Dutch way. We had a much more relaxed time in Amsterdam, with lots of cafes, stroopwafels, biking, walking, market cruising, ally strolling, and a sunset canal tour!
Our last day in Holland, we took the bus about 30 minutes out of Amsterdam to a little seaside town called Voldendam. A traditional fishing village with a sweet waterfront, cute shops, and more tasty dutch food.
We hopped on one last plane, taking us through Copenhagen and up to Bergen, Norway. We only had two days in Norway so we spent the first walking all around Bergen, escaping the rain that came about every 20 minutes or so. We met the sweetest little old Bergen man who told us all about the city and what to see. Honestly you could just walk around the tiny little streets the entire day and find yourself completely content. We explored their famous fish market and had some fresh sushi, and ended our day riding up the Floyen cable car to get some views from above the city. Instead of city views we got very dense fog views - sooooooo yeah.
Our last full day in Norway we did a one day Norway in a Nutshell tour, which took us on a series of trains, buses and boats to see the countryside and the nations famous fjords. This was an incredible day that took us through some incredible environments. We rode a train straight out of the polar express, through the snowy mountains to a town called Flam, and cruised through the fjords taking in the seriously incredible mountains.
Our last morning we decided to give the Floyen one last try and experience Bergen from above. Lucky us we had no fog and got a great view of the city, and got to play with goats named Flecken and Obama, so it obviously was the perfect ending to our day!
And that's a wrap! Thank you for stopping by! Let me know in the comments below the #1 place on your Europe bucket list to visit!
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