Ireland has been a bucket list travel destination for as long as I can remember. We actually planned and booked the trip back in 2020 but we were not able to go because of Covid. This year we were able to make it happen. It is the first time I have ever traveled abroad.
The flight was an overnight trip. We left Saturday night and arrived Sunday morning. Thank goodness we arrived at the airport on time, because my dummy head kept messing up the conversion from the 24hr time. For some reason I kept thinking that take off was at 10:20 pm and it was 8:20 pm. I felt so embarrassed by this.
Below is a picture of the Full Moon and Orlando lit up as we took off. After take off they offered drinks and I got a Sprite. The Sprite that was giving was different than what we have here in the States. It was not as sweet and you could tell it used a different sweetener in it. Then we were served dinner. It was a beef stew with carrots and potatoes, a pasta salad with cucumber, feta cheese, and olives, a slice of bread with Kerrygold butter, and a chocolate mousse for dessert. It really wasn’t too bad.
After that they turned down the lights and let everybody rest. I watched a couple of movies, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts and then I put on Nightmare before Christmas. I was able to doze off a bit but it was not a good sleep.
As it got closer to landing we woke up and I opened the window to see the sun rising. They served us a toasted egg, sausage, and cheese sandwich, which I found to be really good. As we were landing I took some photos and happened to get a rainbow in one of the photos. It was so pretty seeing all the green fields.
After we landed we went through customs, got our bags, then went to rent the car. Driving in Dublin was very interesting. We decided we were just going to keep going until we just couldn’t go anymore.
Our first stop of course was the Guinness Storehouse. There was so much to see in this place. It showed the history, how it is made, and the history of marketing for Guinness.
We paid extra to take a class on how to pour the perfect pint. We both did amazing and got certificates to take home for completing the class.
There was also free beer tickets for the Gravity bar at the very top of the building. It was so cool to be able to look out over the city of Dublin. I decided to try the Guinness Zero because I got a bit of a buzz already from the first one. While we were up there another rainbow appeared. It was the brightest rainbow I think I have ever seen, the pictures do not do it justice.
We then decided to go to the Jameson Distillery since it was’t that far from the Guinness Storehouse. We were hungry but couldn’t figure out a place to go to eat. This tour was full of a lot of information on the history of whisky making in Ireland and then the process of how it is made. We got a free mixed drink, which we both chose a Jameson and Ginger Ale, and we got to taste a few different kinds of Jameson. You can see the ruins of the old facility in little windows on the floor. The sign Sine Metu means “without fear” and I just love that as a motto.
We then went to find our hotel. What a drive that ended up being! There was a lot of local events going on with it being close to Halloween so some of the roads that we had to take were blocked off. We ended up traveling all around the city to finally get to the hotel. By the time we checked in and figured out where to park we were both starving. We looked for a pub but there wasn’t one that served food near the hotel. We found this Fish and Chips fast food restaurant and decided to get food to go. This fish and chips were huge, it was so much food. I got a fish sandwich and chips with salt and vinegar. I’m not sure if it was that we were so hungry but the food was really good. We ended up passing out around 8:30 pm.
We got up the next morning and headed down for breakfast in the hotel. I did try the traditional Irish breakfast with a little of everything. I did eat the black pudding. I actually didn’t mind the taste, although the texture is drier then I expected. We decided we were going to just walk the streets today and explore.
I did see pictures of this alley with umbrellas overhanging. I was surprised when we fell upon it as we were exploring. I had to get some pictures!
This is St. Andrew’s Church and the statue of Molly Malone. I really love the architecture, especially on the old churches. I definitely wanted to take a photo of the Molly Malone statue. It makes me thing of my Nana and how she used to sing the song to us growing up.
I wanted to go into the old library at Trinity College. When we got there you had to buy tickets online and the only time slots were a couple of hours out. We decided to go eat lunch instead. I have seen pictures of the library and it would have been an amazing experience. We ended up at a pub called Kennedy’s, I got a Bulmers Cider and a BLT. I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about a BLT with their bacon but it was surprisingly good. The fiancé got a Guinness and a lamb burger.
The city of Dublin holds a Bram Stoker Festival for Halloween. There are events all over the city. We decided to check out Stokerland at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. This was a small little festival with food trucks, vendors, and there was a juggling performer. It also looked like they had craft stations setup, but we got there toward the end of the festival.
This church was so beautiful.
We then checked out the Dublin Castle. The architecture and statues were so unique. I especially loved the lion statue in the middle of the courtyard and the lion head on the doorknob.
We were getting a little tired of walking around and stopped for a hot chocolate and churros. I had read about this parade before we left home for Ireland. This is something I really wanted to check out. It was raining and it took awhile for the parade to start. The story of the parade is of La Loba, a wild wolf-woman, who wanders the world collecting bones and preserving that which is in danger of being lost to the world. There is more to the story about an ancient witch and her wolf. The artistry behind this parade was phenomenal. This parade, although small, was better than anything I have seen in here in the States.
On the long cold and wet walk back to the hotel, we came across the legendary Temple Bar. This place was packed and as we turned the corner there was The Whiskey Reserve, which is the newest part associated with Temple Bar. This area was pretty quiet so we stopped in and had an irish coffee to warm up a bit. After our coffee’s we walked back to the hotel. I took a picture of this building with vines growing up it. I love the way this looks.
I figured we would be so tired from all the walking but I think the coffee kept us up for a bit. Dublin was such a fun city and I would love to go back. There was so much to see and not enough time to get to everything.
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