Dublin Recap

At the beginning of June I hopped on a plane and met my husband in Dublin, Ireland while he was on a work trip. This country has been near the top of my list of places to visit so I was super excited for the opportunity to go.  The weather was pretty fair, which allowed us to explore the city by foot without worrying about lugging around rain gear.

Here's a little recap of my trip:
Day 1 - After my flight from Houston to Dublin was delayed, I finally landed in Dublin via Heathrow on Tuesday afternoon. I immediately went to the hotel (the Intercontinental Hotel in the embassy district), unpacked and freshened up. My husband Cory got off work shortly after and we walked down the street for dinner at the Waterloo.

Day 2 - We had breakfast at the hotel and then I relaxed in the morning. Cory got off work around lunchtime and we grabbed tickets for the hop-on-hop-off tour bus (City Sightseeing). I had such a good experience doing this in Milan earlier this year and figured it would be just as entertaining to do it again in Dublin. It is such a great way to take in the city when time there is short. We stopped at the Guinness Storehouse for a tour and pints in the 360 degree viewing room at the top, with stunning views of Dublin! We boarded the bus again for a few more sights before stopping at another pub (Nancy Hands) for small pints and walked back across the city to our hotel.

Day 3: I bought tour pass to the Wicklow Mountains through Viator, figuring it would be a great way to kill some time while Cory was at work. I boarded the bus that morning at one of its pick-up locations a few blocks from my hotel. Our tour guide was a hilarious Irishman, full of stories ranging from pop-culture (i.e. U2, Enya, movie stars) to historical (kings and queens, castles, etc.) I fully enjoyed and appreciated the sense of humor he injected into these tales and he kept the whole bus entertained all day long! We made our way south from Dublin along the coast and headed for Wicklow Mountains, about an hour or so away.

We stopped at the "P.S. I Love You" bridge, a filming location for the movie, and got to wander around some other gorgeous places such as a 6th century monastery, a lake surrounded by mountains, and a quaint village where we enjoyed lunch. Overall, I couldn't recommend this tour enough! While I had originally hoped to take a tour to the Cliffs of Moher on the western side of the island, the tour was completely booked and I opted for Wicklow, not knowing much about it. I was pleasantly surprised by the beauty and history of the area. I was pretty wiped out by the time I got back to the hotel that evening, but it was definitely worth the $30!

Day 4: We woke up early and made our way to the airport to head back to the States for the next part of our summer vacation adventure.  Stay tuned for details about our cross-country road trip to St. Helena, California!