Ireland- Dublin

July 12-13, 2016 – Dublin

Our last two days in town but we got to celebrate our anniversary there!

Day 9
We awoke in Galway and after an early breakfast we hit the road to travel across the country back to Ireland. Jon was so excited about leaving our rental car behind! Of course we hit a little bump in the road when the location for drop off they gave us was in fact the wrong place. But we did make it to the right place just in the nick of time! Then we grabbed a cab to our hotel. I have to say as much fun as the B&Bs were it was nice to be in a hotel for a few nights. We were right off the water and had a nice view from our balcony. 

After checking in and dropping of our bags we headed out for a walk by the water. Our first stop in the city was over to Trinity College. We were interested in the famed Book of Kells. We had to wait in a short line but then were finally able to enter. Photos weren’t allowed inside but it was really neat to read about the history and then see some of the pages. The artwork is very intricate in detail and the lighting is very low in the room for viewing to help preserve the color quality. I believe they turn the pages from time to time to allow other pages to rest. All in all very cool. We also got to view their library- which was massive, stretched to the ceiling and I was allowed to take photos inside! They don’t do it justice because of its sheer size but maybe they help show how cool it was?! 

After Book of Kells, we walked through the Temple Bar district, passed the Dublin castle (not as impressive as others we’d seen so we didn’t venture inside) and then ended up at the Guinness Storehouse. It’s quite the experience. They take you through all the stages of brewing, into a tasting room, through their advertising and marketing and finally you get to the sky top bar for a free Guinness and 360 degree views of Dublin. It was pretty awesome. 

It was time for dinner and after a little yelping I found Gallagher’s Boxty House (also in the Temple Bar area). I had so much potato and gnocchi goodness and completed the meal with an Irish hot chocolate. It was delightful! We spent the rest of the evening popping in and out of pubs listening to the traditional music. So much fun! And a great way to spend our second anniversary!

Day 10
Our last day in Ireland. It began with a trip over to Kilmainham Gaol- which was impressive and also depressing. Then we took a long walk through town taking in the sights as we headed over to Jameson. We had tried to stop in the day prior but the lines were too long so we caught it on the last day. We got a nice tour and learned about the history, did a taste test between Jameson and other whiskies and then finally got a complementary drink afterwards. It was fun! We did more wandering around town, looking at churches and visiting craft beer pubs. We settled on dinner at Skinflint- another recommendation from Cara and Eric. Their pizza was quite tasty! And then we meandered back toward our hotel stopping in the pub around the corner for one last Guinness. I may never drink it again (unless we go back) but boy was it fantastic while we were there. 

Thank you Ireland for a fantastic 10 days!