Hello all, I am pleased to come to you all with another travel blog post about my recent girls day trip to Dublin, Ireland.
Still swamped with the travel bug, I wanted to travel as a way to celebrate me starting my PhD and thankfully my mates Theresa, Dayo and Affy were down for the cause. We managed to book a day trip one evening in July with the help of Skyscanner and luckily because it was only a day trip we didn’t have to worry about any extra baggage fees.
*Fast forward to September*
Saturday 7th September
Our flight was early in the morning (8:50 am) and unfortunately for me, I didn’t sleep much the night before as I came back home late from my work leaving do. I was basically knocked out for the duration of both flights which were effectively very quick (1 hour 25 minutes). Once we landed in Dublin, we made out way to buy a day visitors Leap Card (€10) which enabled us to travel on all modes of transport. We were starving at this point so we made our way to Dublin City centre which was roughly a 40-minute bus ride to get a quick bite to eat before heading off to our first attraction. To our surprise, there was a civil servant parade taking place throughout to streets of Central Dublin which had a very cool marching band playing jazzy renditions of hits such as Happy by Pharrell Williams.
Guinness Storehouse
The first stop on our Dublin travels was the infamous Guinness Storehouse at St James’ Gate. I can honestly say that I remain firm in my stance that Guinness is not a nice beverage at all! Nonetheless, if you didn’t go to the Guinness Storehouse then can you really say you went to Dublin? The Storehouse showcased the history surrounding the worldwide Guinness stout drink and the location of the attraction was where Guinness used to be manufactured. You received an insight into the ingredients that are used make Guinness which are water, barley, hop and brewers yeast. In particular, a portion of the barley is roasted in order to achieve its notable dark brown colour. In addition to this, you also see a run down in the history of the Guinness business in general such as transportation of goods and packaging in order for Guinness to be renowned in the beer industry. Sadly, we didn’t get to explore all 7 floors but still managed to obtain some free beer samples! Additionally, my friends also tried Guinness for the first time and were unanimously taken aback by the taste (I tried to warn them).
Dublin Castle
After waiting for buses to become less packed, the next stop on this trip was Dublin Castle. We did stop along the way to the castle to grab some souvenirs at a local shop and I must say I personally liked the fact that they were blasting some good old Guns and Roses. When we eventually arrived at Dublin Castle, there seemed to be a demonstration with the ambulance event going on which took us by surprise a bit. As we made our way to the entrance, one member of the party suggested for us to go another attraction instead was free. Since we were on a tight schedule, we made out way to the next attraction where we could easily get the bus towards the airport. From what I saw from the outside, the castle is nicely constructed and didn’t have a strong security presence or strict entry regimen compared to that of Prague Castle.
National Gallery of Ireland
The final stop for the day was the National Gallery of Ireland. The art gallery showcased a vast variety of both Irish and European art spanning between the 14th century to the 20th century portrayed using a plethora of media such as watercolours and prints. I was particularly drawn to the artwork that was Roman Catholic-inspired and also that artwork which showcased a black protagonist. Whilst I wandered off, I stumbled across a specific exhibit by an Irish landscape artist named Nathaniel Hone. The majority of his work at this exhibition were from his varying travels to places such as France and Egypt with a noticeable change in the style of his artwork in each respective setting. Upon adequate viewing and a brief rest, we made our way back to the airport to catch our flight at 7:20 pm thus drawing our Dublin travels to a close.
Overall, I loved my experience despite the slight setback due to road blockades from the parade. I honestly can’t wait to come back to explore the places I didn’t get to explore this time in Dublin. Also, I will most definitely be doing more day trips as a way to visit other countries as they are quite affordable. I recommended planning your itinerary thoroughly before you even board the plane especially for day trips as you will have a more limited time frame. Travel wise, I would say that Dublin is similar to London in terms of the variety of transport means to get from one attraction to the other. Dublin also likens to London in terms of the variety of bridges that are suspended over the River Liffey. Lastly, I will always give shoutouts to Monzo and Google Maps whilst travelling and are absolute essentials for your travels!
Until my next adventure
Chi xo
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