Some friends posed the question, "Who wants to join us in Dublin for St. Paddy's?"
That's how it started.
From there we tacked on a few extra days to see some sights we missed on our trip to Ireland in 2018.
What We Did
Dublin
St. Paddy's Day Pub Crawl: One of our friends put together an amazing custom pub crawl with fun challenges at each stop! The parade got in the way of some of our plans, but we improvised just fine; the floats we could see were really unique! St. Paddy's in Dublin was really energetic and fun, and we hear some of the smaller towns/cities have great festivities as well.
St. Michan's Mummies: Numerous mummies with various backstories told by a quirky crypt keeper. We checked this and the National Museum of Ireland out during our free day in Dublin, which ended up being perfect given the rainy weather.
National Museum of Ireland: This is free! And, there is so much to see. From bog bodies to brooches to Neolithic artifacts, this place has it all.
County Meath
Newgrange Tours by Mary Gibbons: A casual day trip to see a few Neolithic sites 45 minutes north of Dublin.
Hill of Tara: An ancient ceremonial and burial site turned dog park. A muddy but interesting visit with expansive field views.
Newgrange and Knowth Neolithic Passage Tombs: 5,000+ year old tombs built by some of the earliest settlers in Ireland (thought to have originated from Turkey). Both tombs are well groomed and somewhat reconstructed. The carvings in the surrounding stones are best seen in the direct sunlight! You can walk to the top of Knowth and see the inside of Newgrange (but no pictures or video allowed in the latter).
Belfast
Northern Ireland Tour: A long day trip with Wild Rover from Dublin to see some of the sights of North of Ireland (as they prefer to call it). Our guide is from Belfast and told us all about growing up during The Troubles. Some of her stories are incredible, heartbreaking, and truly surprising. We really appreciated all she had to share with us.
Titanic Belfast: They had just re-opened the museum a few weeks before our visit after upgrading a section of the museum made to be more immersive. We were only allotted 1.5 hours to visit, which was absolutely not enough. There are so many items, recordings, and stories from the time of building the Titanic to her sinking. Highly recommend this one!
Giant's Causeway: Amazing examples of columnar basalt! We honestly thought the features were going to be larger based on pictures, but this was still really cool to visit!
Dunluce Castle: Inhabited first by the McQuillan clan and later seized by the MacDonnells, this sea cliff castle was in use during the 16th and 17th centuries. The end of its use culminated in a devastating event when the kitchen fell into the sea, and only a single boy survived. This location was featured in Game of Thrones as well.
Food
Dublin
Queen of Tarts: We stopped here for our first breakfast in Dublin. The food was incredible!
Lemon Jelly Cafe: Breakfast spot with delicious food.
Ladurée: Tasty macarons and coffee stop.
Captain Americas: It was the only place with seating during the rugby game. So, we stopped here for some dinner. Otherwise, do not recommend.
Kehoes Pub: This little bar was where we watched the rugby game. Fun atmosphere
O'Donoghue's Bar: We had some time to spare before our Blind Pig reservation, so we stopped here for a pint. We recommend it!
The Camden: This place has a really cool interior, but it was booked months in advance for the rugby game. So, we just stayed for a Guinness and carried on our way.
The Old Mill: Amazing Irish food and great atmosphere/service.
The Blind Pig Speakeasy: This is such a cool place! And, some of the best cocktails we've ever had.
The Bull and Castle: This was our final dinner in Dublin, and we loved it! There weren't many vegetarian options, but otherwise it was great.
