Dublin has been top of my list of places to go for a while. Having Irish family I’ve always wanted to make the trip over to Ireland but just never had the chance to. We were only in Dublin for three days but we managed to accomplish nearly everything on our list of things to do. It was also our first trip completely in charge, we booked everything ourselves, made all the arrangements, everything. We are now officially adults, which is a scary thing to say - *runs away from responsibility*. 

Our first day in Dublin was mainly spent wondering around and getting our bearings. We didn’t get to our hotel until about four in the afternoon so there wasn’t too much time for activities. We made the short walk from our hotel to St Patricks cathedral and around the Temple Bar area before making our way back to the hotel to nap - we are grandma’s that need lots of sleep - before going out again for dinner and drinks. 

Our second day in Dublin - and our only full day in the beautiful city - was largely spent visiting the Guinness Storehouse. I was very excited about visiting the home of Guinness, being a Guinness fan, however Lucy was not so enthused - at first anyway. 

The Storehouse is uniquely put together and takes you through every part of the Guinness making process from the grain, to distillery, to the tasting sessions - they give you a masterclass on how to properly taste Guinness and everything -, to the history of the company and even how Guinness has been advertised over the years, all finished off with a complimentary pint (or half pint) of Guinness - under 18s are given a soft drink - in their ‘Sky Bar’ which is located on the fifth floor of the storehouse with a 360º panoramic view of Dublin - the view is amazing on a clear and sunny day which fortunately it was on our trip. 

As I said before, Lucy wasn’t too enthused about the trip to the Guinness Storehouse as she doesn’t personally like Guinness, however although her mind didn’t change on the taste of the drink she still enjoyed the attraction as it ‘wasn’t all about just drinking beer’ - her words not mine. We spent far too long in the gift shop and took many selfies in the Sky Bar and just thoroughly enjoyed our time there. I’d 100% recommend a visit, even if you don’t like stout.

For our second night in Dublin we decided to eat in a traditional Irish pub. We wanted to find somewhere the locals go rather than somewhere gimmicky and full of tourists, because if the locals eat there then it must be good. After a quick Google search we came across The Old Storehouse which although located in Temple Bar wasn’t touristy at all. The meal was not only incredibly good - I’d recommend the cottage pie - but also very reasonably priced and our waitress was lovely. There was live music which added to the atmosphere - they even played the song from P.S. I love you much to Lucy’s excitement and Ed Sheeran amongst some Irish classics. 

Wall art in Temple Bar

Before we had to catch our flight on our third way we made the trip to Kilmainham Gaol - or the Dublin prison. We didn’t know much about the prison before we went but it was recommended to us by a few different people, including our Uber driver as he was driving us there. The museum is fairly small but is greatly informative about the various inmates of the prison as well as the conditions etc and our tour guide was great too. I thought it would be quite creepy walking around an old prison seeing as people were executed there as well as imprisoned but it wasn’t so don’t be discouraged about visiting. There is also a nice tea room on the third floor which serves a variety of homemade cakes. 

Then after a quite trip back to the hotel to collect our luggage, getting another Uber to the airport, going to the wrong terminal and having to walk for ten minutes and then waiting in a security queue for forty-five minutes we were on our half an hour flight back home to England - yes, the line for security was longer than the time of our flight, get it together Dublin Airport (I’m joking). 

Ireland is definitely somewhere I’ll be visiting again - next time I’m hoping to venture South where my family comes from. Dublin is a strangely charming city as although it isn’t full of beautiful architecture like Rome or Paris the people and the atmosphere make you never want to leave. 

Do you have any recommendations on where to visit in Ireland?

~ Jade xx