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Dublin Day 1
Sunday morning, Jelly and I woke up early and took the 8:30am bus from Belfast to Dublin. We had decided we wanted to take a trip to Dublin a couple weeks prior so that we could really explore the city. Although we were there for St. Patrick's Day, we didn't get the chance to enjoy the culture of the city or see many landmarks because of how crowded it was, as I'm sure you can imagine. So Jelly and I took an early bus Sunday morning, and we booked a hotel Sunday night, and a late bus Monday evening so that we could have two full days in the city.
We arrived in Dublin around 11am, and we walked to grab some brunch at a nearby restaurant called the Lemon Jelly Cafe (we couldn't not go there when we read the name). The place was cute, the food and workers were good, and it was actually cheaper than we thought it would be which was a nice surprise.
Our first tourist stop was Dublin Castle. We paid 8 euro for a tour of the grounds. Our knowledgable tour guide brought us around to different highlights, including down underneath the castle where a portion of the original castle still stands, whereas a majority of the rest was destroyed in a fire many years ago. She explained to us that Dublin originally was named after a pool where sewage was disposed of (black pool: dubh-linn = Dublin). Charming, isn't it?
We also got to see a beautiful chapel (Chapel Royal) and the State Rooms in the castle. The detail in these buildings was exquisite.
Jelly and I also explored the gardens behind the castle which were very beautiful and peaceful.
Afterwards, we walked back to O'Connell street to check into our hotel. It was so refreshing to be in a hotel after staying in hostels for most of my trips. The hotel was so nice and our room was much bigger than I expected. Having a comfortable bed was also a treat after being so used to the not so comfortable beds in our accommodation at school.
One thing I noticed about Dublin was that they sure love their donuts. There are donut shops all over the city so it only felt fitting that we grabbed a donut before heading to our next destination.
We next walked to St. Patrick's Cathedral. Unfortunately, it costs money to go inside so we opted not to do that, but we walked around the cathedral and sat in the park in front of it for a while watching cute little dogs chasing after balls.
Temple Bar was the next stop on our list. We new it would be expensive, but we had to have at least one drink there just to say we did it. It was pretty crowded, as to be expected, but the bartender was very nice and chatty (even though he charged us 15 euro for two pints of cider). We managed to snag two seats and sat for a while listening to the live Irish band. Although it was expensive and a bit crowded, we had a really nice time there and I'm glad we went and got to experience the well-known bar.
Finally, we had dinner at Takara which was a ramen and deli sushi bar. I had been craving good sushi for a while now, so I was very satisfied with that meal to say the least. It was also a really cute place and fairly inexpensive.
We had a really great first day in Dublin, and finished the day off with a cocktail from the hotel bar before heading to bed when the exhaustion caught up to us.
