After years of saying we finally did it and went to DUBLIN!
It was everything we'd hoped for and twice beautiful.
We went for the weekend, we flew late on the Friday night and came back on the Sunday evening. We flew from Birmingham with Aer Lingus and they were honestly one of the nicest airlines we've ever flown with. Obviously the plane wasn't super fancy but as you are on there for barely an hour it doesn't make much difference!
I could write about this amazing city for hours and you'd all nod off after a few sentences, so here are my top three highlights from the weekend;
It was everything we'd hoped for and twice beautiful.
We went for the weekend, we flew late on the Friday night and came back on the Sunday evening. We flew from Birmingham with Aer Lingus and they were honestly one of the nicest airlines we've ever flown with. Obviously the plane wasn't super fancy but as you are on there for barely an hour it doesn't make much difference!
I could write about this amazing city for hours and you'd all nod off after a few sentences, so here are my top three highlights from the weekend;
1) The Guinness Factory
This place was amazing! It's HUGE (seriously, wear comfy shoes) but it has so much to do.
Spread over 5 floors it's not just a simple tour, taste and chuck you out, we spent about 3 hours here and not once were we bored. We would have stayed longer, but as we only had a couple of days in the city we wanted to make the most of it.
The highlight for me was the advertising section, you got to walk through all the old Guinness adverts in a whole new way. It was really interactive and eye catching. I personally love old adverts, they show a lot about the time in which they were being used. I don't want to give too much away (trust me, I could garble in excitement for a long, LONG time on this section) but there are photo opportunities in abundance, you are serenaded by a clam (as you do) and see a large selection of amazingly talented animals.
And we did the perfect pint pour! Turns out i'm pretty good at pouring them (I even have a certificate!) but drinking....not so much. I handed my pint with a few trial sips out of it to a very pleased gentlemen who know had two pints instead of one!
This is my lovely fella, concentrating on pouring his pint:
Spread over 5 floors it's not just a simple tour, taste and chuck you out, we spent about 3 hours here and not once were we bored. We would have stayed longer, but as we only had a couple of days in the city we wanted to make the most of it.
The highlight for me was the advertising section, you got to walk through all the old Guinness adverts in a whole new way. It was really interactive and eye catching. I personally love old adverts, they show a lot about the time in which they were being used. I don't want to give too much away (trust me, I could garble in excitement for a long, LONG time on this section) but there are photo opportunities in abundance, you are serenaded by a clam (as you do) and see a large selection of amazingly talented animals.
And we did the perfect pint pour! Turns out i'm pretty good at pouring them (I even have a certificate!) but drinking....not so much. I handed my pint with a few trial sips out of it to a very pleased gentlemen who know had two pints instead of one!
This is my lovely fella, concentrating on pouring his pint:
It's also worth going just for the view!! Go right to the top, grab a drink and walk round slowly. It's amazing.
To be honest, I was busy staring around at Dublin, working out what things are and being a total tourist I forgot to take some pictures! I have one but honestly, it doesn't do the view justice. At all.
To be honest, I was busy staring around at Dublin, working out what things are and being a total tourist I forgot to take some pictures! I have one but honestly, it doesn't do the view justice. At all.
2) The Ha'penny Bridge
I mean look, how flippin' cute! I called it the "Half Penny Bridge" and and a local rolled their eyes at me and gently coached until I said it right. Apparently I was making it a it too posh. Lesson learnt! There's tonnes of pretty bridges to cross the river with but this one is just so simple and elegant, it's my personal favorite. Though, i'm not sure many people actually pick a favorite bridge? Just me? Sounds about right.
3) Dublin Zoo
3) Dublin Zoo
This place is HUGE and so lovely. The animals we're all super cute and looked really well looked after. Sometimes I can be quite skeptical with these places, I doubt whether it really is animal welfare of whether it's just a huge money spinner. Dublin Zoo seemed to have got it bang on. No animals were cramped or sad looking, everything was super lovely and proof of the real world conservation work was everywhere. We had a few hours here before the flight but, again, could have easily have spent most of the day here.
Like with most of these things, the food was a bit pricier but you cant take your own in if you'd like. The gift shop was also adorable! I was very well restrained and just bought a super cute red panda fridge magnet. This was the only place i'd ever seen a red panda and I was super excited! The only issue was the little cutie was curled up the whole time I was there so I didn't get to see his/her little face! But they looked quite content sat in their tree, I didn't want to disturb them too much.
Like with most of these things, the food was a bit pricier but you cant take your own in if you'd like. The gift shop was also adorable! I was very well restrained and just bought a super cute red panda fridge magnet. This was the only place i'd ever seen a red panda and I was super excited! The only issue was the little cutie was curled up the whole time I was there so I didn't get to see his/her little face! But they looked quite content sat in their tree, I didn't want to disturb them too much.
We did the whole trip on a pretty tight budget so I couldn't really enjoy the full shopping experience, from what I saw though the independent shops left the high street stores in the dust, they had some great clothes and really unique style.
There really was a great range of food though, I recommend Eddie Rockets. Cute diner style, plenty of choice and not to harsh on the wallet. The bars are also amazing, we spent a whole night in Temple Bar listening to live music and getting caught up in all the buskers. This can easily get pricey though, keep an eye on what you're paying! The bars often put the price of the drinks up in increments depending on the time they are serving, a drink can cost one price in one round and have been bumped up a bit in the other! If you're going for the experience like we were and only wanted one or two then it's not so bad (though it was just under 12 euros for two ciders....) but I wouldn't recommend going with the intention of getting truly hammered, you may get a nasty shock when you check your bank account in the morning!
All in all the whole trip was amazing, we're already planning another one! Thankyou Dublin for being so amazing and so much fun.
There really was a great range of food though, I recommend Eddie Rockets. Cute diner style, plenty of choice and not to harsh on the wallet. The bars are also amazing, we spent a whole night in Temple Bar listening to live music and getting caught up in all the buskers. This can easily get pricey though, keep an eye on what you're paying! The bars often put the price of the drinks up in increments depending on the time they are serving, a drink can cost one price in one round and have been bumped up a bit in the other! If you're going for the experience like we were and only wanted one or two then it's not so bad (though it was just under 12 euros for two ciders....) but I wouldn't recommend going with the intention of getting truly hammered, you may get a nasty shock when you check your bank account in the morning!
All in all the whole trip was amazing, we're already planning another one! Thankyou Dublin for being so amazing and so much fun.