I will have a more detailed review of what to see and do in Ireland after I take my trip there in June. Even though I will only be in Dublin for four days in June, I plan on taking one or two day trips so I can see a bit more of the Emerald Isle while there. For now, I thought I would go off of the things I will be seeing and why I chose each of those places as things I wanted to see for the time I am in the city and parts of the countryside.
Let’s not forget the eats! I will tap into the type of foods and drink I want to try while I am in the city.
I was in Ireland 15 years ago and got to see a lot of the country during my three weeks there. It probably helped that I had rented a car and drove throughout the entire country and into Northern Ireland too. Or I should say my roommate, at the time, drove the rental since it was a stick shift. I don’t do stick shifts. Always stick to automatics.
Shoot away if you have any questions on what to see and do in Ireland as a whole since I am touching on ‘must see’s for Dublin.
One thing I will say and that has stuck with me all these years if that when the plane was descending into Dublin, all I could see was how green everything was and do I mean green! It was the prettiest shades of green and I am looking forward to seeing if that first image of Ireland holds up when I descend into Dublin in June.
Must See in Dublin:
Guinness Storehouse — How can you not go to Dublin and not go through Guinness Storehouse? One of the main reasons I will love walking through the Storehouse is that it’s a self-guided tour. You can even pour your own pint of Guinness at the end of the tour. As for Old Jameson Distillery, I will not be going to that because it isn’t a self-guided tour. You would be walking through the Distillery as a group. I am sure another reason would be that I am not fond of whiskey. Maybe if I was I would take this tour.
National Gallery of Ireland — One, oh make it two things, that I really love to see when traveling is art and historical buildings. So, of course, the National Gallery is on my must see list! I can’t wait to see all the collections stored there.
Book of Kells — I have wanted to go to Trinity College and see the Book of Kells since I was in Dublin 15 years ago. Now is my chance to see the four gospels of the New Testament which comprise the Book. I read that it is in Latin but it will still be cool to finally see it even if I do not understand the Latin language.
Now if you read my reasoning’s for not taking the Old Jameson Distillery tour vs. Guinness Storehouse then you are probably scratching your head wondering why I would be taking a day tour through Kilkenny and Wicklow.
- I won’t be renting a car this time around
- I didn’t go through Kilkenny and Wicklow the last time I was in Ireland
- some tours, for me, are meant to be part of a group and I feel this is one of them.
One last ‘must see’ or should I say ‘do’ on my list is the pub crawl. I haven’t decided which one my nieces and I will do because I didn’t realize there are so many to choose from besides the usual ‘do your own pub crawl by choosing your own pubs to go to, one to the next.’ Anyway, these are the top three I am checking into and will decide from one of them which one we will do.
Don’t think this is all we will be seeing while in Dublin. These are the main ‘must sees’. I didn’t want to overwhelm my nieces with all these places to see in such a short time. I chose the things I felt we should see in order to have our afternoons free to wander around the city and get lost in all that is Dublin. Getting lost in a city is going to be one of the best ways to see more of the city than wandering from Point A to Point B. I wanted to make the trip fun as well as show them what the city has to offer in the amount of time we will be there without overwhelming them to death.
Oh and how can I forget the ‘eats’?
It will be interesting to see how well I do with my healthy lifestyle vs. traveling for two weeks (four days out of the two weeks being in Dublin).
Back to the ‘eats’.
Of course, fish and chips headline the food I want to have while there. I was watching a video the other day and it’s sprinkled with salt and vinegar over the fish and chips. Not sure how I feel about that since I am one of those people that doesn’t usually put salt on their food. Not a huge fan of vinegar either. I will try it but wonder if you can ask for the food to be lightly salted.
Other foods I want to try are boxty (potato pancake) and shepherd’s pie. Oh and can’t forget the scones. My diet won’t know what to do but that is why I plan to do a lot of walking and you will see me discuss a lot of the trails I found during my travels.
I would love to know what your favorite places to see as well as favorite foods are in Dublin. Or do you have any favorite places, hidden gems or favorite foods that should be tried while in Ireland?
