Ireland
Our first planned stop on our European adventure (Iceland was technically a stopover because of the flights that we choose so it was a bonus destination), was Ireland.
We've had Ireland on our bucket list for years. Between the food, drinks, music, and countryside we were excited!
We landed in Ireland (nice, short flight from Iceland) and headed to our hotel near Trinity College.
We stayed at the world's cutest little inn on top of a pub! How cool is that? Rhetorical question. It was O'Neill's Victorian Townhouse.
The pub was closed on Sundays and Mondays and we happened to arrive on a Saturday and leave Tuesday so we were lucky enough to experience the pub the day we got there and then from the time we left it was quiet.
The food at the pub was amazing! We NEVER eat at the same place twice on vacation, but this was so good and we had lunch and dinner there. The kids got a kick out of Fish and Chips and thought it was so funny it wasn't actually fish or chips.
Once we arrived we (Ryan) carried all of our stuff up the stairs and into our little room. Note to self: most places do not have elevators, so make sure know this and what you're getting into when you book. This location also did not have AC (also normal), but did have fans for us to use.
Wasting no time at all once we scarfed down our lunch we hit the town exploring. This is our favorite way to get to know a city - just walk around and explore. See what we come across. And this walk did not disappoint. We stopped and got a delicious ice cream right across from Temple Bar and then we explored Christ Church Cathedral and ended in St. Patrick's Cathedral Park! We plopped down in the grass, the kids ran and chased pigeons, and we enjoyed soaking in some rare Irish sunshine.
Our first full day started with a stroll around St. Stephan's Green Park where we saw baby swans! The kids loved walking around and exploring here! It was peaceful and beautiful and there was the slightest drizzle out.
Then we walked over to the Guinness Factory! We were very excited about this - just the iconic factor of having a Guinness in Dublin. I cannot drink beer (allergy), but Ryan can and enjoys a good pint. The tour was one of the best we've had. It was a self guided tour and very immersive. The kids were engaged the whole time. They had food, nonalcoholic drinks and even a cider for me! One of the highlights of this tour was I ran into one of my college roommates from NC there who I haven't seen in 10 years!
When we were done with the tour we climbed in a carriage for a ride to go get some ice cream!
Ice cream at Murphy's (a place my sister and her family fell in love with and ended up naming their puppy after)! For dinner we went to The Old Mill for dinner. It was really good! I recommend the beef stew. We somehow got lucky enough that we didn't have to wait long - but it's a very small upstairs restaurant, so I'd make reservations.
Our last day we did a walking tour around Dublin. We used Viator to book our tickets through the company LetzGo City Tours. Our tour guide - Neil, was amazing! We started at Trinity College (where one of my nieces is going to attend this fall), learned about the Dublin Book of Kells, Dublin Castle and got to see the Molly Malone Statue.
Ryan and I were GEEKING out when we went into the library where the Hogwarts restricted section of the library was filmed! Major HP nerds over here!
In the library you can also see the harp that based the Ireland national symbol. Did you know Ireland is the only country to have a musical instrument as their national symbol? Did you also know that the Irish harp is not a real harp? It's a backwards harp! The real harp shape has been trademarked by Guinness. And when Guinness didn't want to give it up due to having to rebrand all of their marketing materials, the government said, "fine, we will just reverse it", so Guinness uses the traditional harp and Ireland uses a mirrored version. We finished the tour with grabbing a pint with Neil and hearing more amazing stories!
Would we recommend Ireland?
YES! With some adjustments.
What we learned for our next trip to IReland:
- If we go back with the kids I would rent a car and travel into the countryside - the city was dirty and it being a drinking capitol, not as kid friendly as other cities
- If we went back without the kids I would still rent a car and go into the countryside
- Stay at least 5-7 days
- Howth Cliff Walk and visit some of the lighthouses on the coast
