Dublin
Dublin
Our first 4 nights we stayed in Dublin at the Trinity City Hotel. The hotel is decorated beautifully and the room was very nice. It is located within walking distance of many sites in Dublin, including Temple Bar. We walked around our first day and walked by the Dublin Castle, Temple Bar, and Grafton Street. We visited the infamous Temple Bar where everyone would sing along; it was a lively crowd. We had dinner at Tomahawk Steakhouse, an amazing steak restaurant with great service. Highly recommend. After dinner we visited The Brazen Head, which is Ireland’s oldest pub. There were 4 men singing and playing instruments to Irish songs and the crowd was really into it. It was a lot of fun.
Our first morning started out early as we had 9:45 a.m. reservations at the Kilmainham Gaol Museum. Be sure to purchase your tickets ahead of time (they are released 28 days out). This tour was really informative. I enjoyed learning about all of the different prisoners that were held here and the crazy stories as to the reasons for their incarceration and the age range of the prisoners (even as young as 5 years old). After the guided tour you can visit the museum at your leisure.
Once we finished there we grabbed a taxi to the Guinness Storehouse for our 12:30 reservation (again be sure to book your tickets in advance). This is a self-guided 60–90-minute tour. Near the end of the tour there is a place where you can do a beer tasting, and they teach you how to drink the beer. From there you can go to the Gravity Bar on the top level for views of the city and a complimentary glass of Guinness included with your ticket.
We departed the Guinness Storehouse and grabbed a taxi to the Connolly Train Station and took the 30-minute Dart to Howth (cost was $5.00 each for a roundtrip ticket). We had originally planned to walk along the Cliffs of Howth but due to my daughter’s injured foot we were not able to do this, so instead we took the Howth Cliff Cruises for $20.00/person. It was a 30-minute ride on a small ferry where we saw views of Dublin Bay, the Bailey Lighthouse, and Ireland’s Eye.
After our short boat ride we had a late lunch at The Pier House, which is located a short walk from the boat ride. The food was fabulous, and the service was great. Their drink menu had a variety of drink options I had not seen before. I had the mint chocolate chiptini that reminded me of mint chip ice cream. I loved it. We really enjoyed the goat cheese and Cep Powdered Mousse appetizer. My John Dory fish with the smoked potato foam (so unusual, yet so good) with the white asparagus and Dublin Bay prawn tortellini was exceptional. My daughter enjoyed her roasted monkfish in a tomato and clam broth. We finished off our meal with the vanilla & almond Cremeux in a chocolate shell with macerated strawberries. This was such an enjoyable meal and a great way to end our day.
Our next morning we set up an all-day tour with Wild Rover Tours. This was a 10-hour tour that started in Dublin and took us by bus to Kilkenny City, Glendalough, Wicklow and ended at the village of Annamoe. This was one of the most well-run and organized tours. They had different locations to be picked up and the amazing thing is we left within minutes of our scheduled times at each location. The bus was very comfortable and included charging stations for our devices. The tour guides (Liam and Warren) were wonderful. Liam had a great personality and energy that continued throughout the day. Our first stop was Kilkenny City. We were able to walk around on our own in the beginning and then we had the option of meeting up with Liam for a 1-hour guided tour. He is actually from Kilkenny so he had a lot of information to share. From Kilkenny we drove through the Wicklow Mountains, which was absolutely stunning. We then visited Glendalough (Glen of two lakes) where Liam led an optional guided tour and then led us on a 1-hour hike around the lower lake. It was a very easy walk and really enjoyable. We even saw deer. After Glendalough we visited the village of Annamoe where we saw a demonstration on how they use dogs to herd the sheep. Truly amazing. We ended this wonderful day by actually getting to hold the baby lambs….so cute.
We arrived back in Dublin around 6:15 in time for our dinner reservation at Il Vicoletto. This is a small restaurant with incredible food and great service. Everyone there was so friendly, including the other customers. We had a great time there and thoroughly enjoyed our dinner.
The following morning we took the train from Connelly station in Dublin to Belfast (35 euro each). It was a little over 2 hours. We scheduled a tour with Belfast Taxi Tour. We made arrangements to meet at a hotel a block away from the train station. Mark was our guide and he was very knowledgeable as he grew up there and had stories of his own to tell. He drove us around Belfast and we would stop at the different mural locations as he told us the stories behind them. After our 90-minute tour we walked around the city center and stopped at the little market by the train station before heading back to Dublin.