Arriving in Dublin, our first stop on a six week tour of Europe, there was no time for jet lag, we hit the ground running! With only three days in which to see the Republic of Ireland’s biggest city, we had our work cut out for us… armed with a list of sights and fortified with Murphy’s Ice Cream we set off to discover Dublin!
Day One!
Trinity College
The Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript, which was created around the year 800 and tells the story of the Four Gospels is kept in the Trinity College Old Library which was my favorite part of the entire visit. If you’re a book lover you’ll not want to miss this amazing library filled floor to ceiling with books, books and more books, some of which are quite ancient! Of course you can’t actually touch any of them, but just being surrounded by all those old beautiful books and the smell of them is something pretty special! I can’t help it I love the smell of old books!
Not only will you find thousands of books in the Old Library, but it’s also home to the Brian Boru harp a national symbol of the Republic of Ireland.
Merrion Square
Temple Bar
After a quick nap and refresh in the hotel we set off for an evening of traditional Irish food and music in the Temple Bar neighborhood! We had the best Irish Stew at Quays Bar and Restaurant, and I had my first Guinness! I definitely recommend eating here. Both the food and the service were excellent!
The boys were more interested in a visit to the sweet shop than cramming into a crowded pub, but with plenty of great live music on the street there was something for everyone. We capped off the evening with a walk along the River Liffey and across the Ha’Penny Bridge. Not a bad first day!
Day Two!
Jet lag working in our favor, the boys and I were able to get out and about on the earlier side and we set about checking a few more things off of our list! Lucky for us I have a friend living in Dublin and though I hadn’t seen him in 23 years, he was more than happy to meet us for a little tour around town! Dublin is a very walkable city, and in fact we only used a taxi once the entire time we were in town choosing instead to walk everwhere.
Christ Church Cathedral
St. Patricks Cathedral
The Guinness Storehouse
Day Three – Daytrippers!
Around Town!
The Westbury Hotel
Breakfast in the hotel was located in the Wilde Room overlooking Grafton Street. Of course I had to have the Full Irish Breakfast on day one because… When in Ireland! Simon and I enjoyed the Afternoon Tea service in the hotel lobby, especially the cakes!
Eats!
Beyond traditional Irish fare we also discovered these fun places during our visit:
Bunsen Burger – We LOVED the burgers and the pun! The service was friendly and prompt and it was walking distance to our hotel! Super casual!
Murphy’s Ice Cream – So GOOD! We discovered this on our first evening in town! We tried Blissful Butterscotch with Salted Vanilla, honeycomb caramel with extra cream vanilla and raspberry sorbet. Lucky us there are other locations throughout Ireland.
Kokoro Ramen Bar – Another great find just around the corner from our hotel was this amazing ramen bar!
Catch 22 – Another restaurant with a fun pun in its name! Can you guess what we ate there?! Not only did I enjoy the food at Catch 22, but I loved the signage!
Although we weren’t able to cross everything off our Dublin wish list we covered quite a bit of ground and had a great time doing so! A wonderful start to our whirlwind tour of Ireland…