I recently went to Ireland for a weekend trip. Now I actually squeezed quite a lot in 3 days. Now I loved my time there. But there was one minor setback… The weather was bloody awful. It was horrible.But despite that, experiencing Irish culture was worth it. The people there are very friendly (albeit they do love their alcohol). The Guinness was delicious. And my day trip down to the west coast presented some incredible views. So what I’d like to do in this blog post, is to share my 3-day itinerary. Who knows, it might come in handy for you.
Day 1
As I arrived at Dublin airport in the morning, we were greeted by a hoard of “luxury” coaches that takes you directly to Dublin city centre. And they’re reasonably priced too (between 7 to 8 Euros depending on the company).Once we’ve arrived and checked in to our hotel, which was next to Stephen Green’s park, we then strolled through that particularly park. It’s a quite a simple park with a quirky personality. It had some unique artwork, as you can see from the picture below:
Then we walked to the Book of Kells. Now I made a mistake of not booking any online tickets for this. And I realised my mistake when I saw the queue. It was huge. And the Book of Kells is an incredibly popular tourist attraction.Situated right in the heart of the Trinity College, the Book of Kells is a religious book that is dated back to 800 AD. The book has definitely stood the test of time — seriously, just read up on the book’s history. But what’s amazing about the Book of Kells is the detail, the art, the calligraphy and the symbology. It’s something. You can’t take any pictures of the book unfortunately. And if you did, it will come out pretty shit. The Book is encased in a glass display. And the lighting will affect the image. It’s not worth it. Just admire the book as it is. But I think the highlight of the Book of Kells was the Long Room. It’s a book worm’s paradise:
The next thing we did was the bus tour. Now, I believe the bus tour is not really worth it. Dublin is a very small city. And since I am walker (not a Walking Dead walker by the way), you can easily travel around the city centre by foot. Plus, to buy a ticket for the bus tour is 15 Euros each – pretty pricey.We then ended up at the Temple Bar area. Now this area reminds me of the Northern Quarter in Manchester (where I am from). There loads of bars where you can quench your thirst. And there are plenty of places to eat to feed your hunger. From the Temple Bar area, River Livey is not too far away (a stone’s throw away). And you can capture some nice pictures of the city from Ha-penny bridge:
Day 2
On day 2, I booked a day trip to the West coast of Ireland. This was a bleak day (weather wise as mentioned earlier). But luckily, some rays of sunshine managed to seep through the grey clouds. This day trip took me from Dublin to Cliff of Moher, the Burren, and Galway City.The highlight for me was definitely the Cliffs of Moher. The view is amazing. But the weather was awful. Luckily, I managed to get 30 seconds of sunshine so I could take this snap on my iPhone:
Afterwards, we went to The Burren, a place where JRR Tolkien got the inspiration to write the Lord Of The Rings. The name Burren is certainly fitting, it means the Big Rock. The Burren is basically a vast landscape of cracked glacial-era limestone. It’s bleak. It’s almost depressing. But in a good way. Like a Radiohead Album:
Then we went to Galway City. This pleasant little city definitely caught some attention thanks a little red headed English man called Ed Sheeran. Certainly vibrant, and I would say it is better than Dublin:
Day 3
On the last day (back in Dublin), we went to the Guinness Storehouse — only because we needed to. You can’t go to Ireland without visiting the Guinness Storehouse (you should book in advance to which I did):
I enjoyed it. And best thing is, you get a complimentary pint of Guinness. My only suggestion to you is to use your complimentary pint voucher in the Gravity Bar. I personally won’t use it to pour my own pint — I don’t want to pay to do that. I rather pay someone else to do that for me – my opinion.
A Little About The Culture
The Irish are proud of their heritage and their history. The folks there are very humorous and yet so adorably self-deprecating. But these guys do like their drink so I would avoid any wild confrontation with the drunken locals.Thanks for reading. Have you visited Ireland? What was your itinerary like? Let us know in the comments section below.