Dublin, Ireland

Undoubtedly the question I get asked the most when talking to people about all the places we’ve traveled is “we’re going to Ireland, can you make some recommendations?”  And the answer is always “I’d love to!”  We saw a lot of Ireland both around our home in Dublin as well as many of the farther reaches of the island.  I figure since Valentine’s Day is done and we are transitioning our house to full-on St. Patrick’s Day, now would be a great time to delve into our Irish adventures!

It will take me many posts to cover all there is to see and do in Ireland, but I’ll start with what is great about Dublin City Centre (and I’ll probably get very nostalgic and cry…)  We moved to Ireland when Honeybun was 19 months old and moved back just before her 4^th birthday and when Sugarplum was 23 months.  We were lucky during our time there that our families came to visit often so we had lots of excuses to visit the sights.  While hubby didn’t get to see nearly as much as I did, the girls and I got around a lot, visiting many sights multiple times!

If you want to see the city and all it has to offer, I highly recommend taking one of hop-on, hop-off bus tours.  The tickets can be bought for multiple days and will take you all the places you’ll want to see in the city and is easy to get to from anywhere you might be staying.

Ireland is synonymous with beer so everyone who came to visit wanted to visit the Guinness Storehouse so it was one place we visited multiple times.  Our first visit was before we moved when we did our pre-agreeing-to-move visit.  Honeybun was just barely a year but we all had a good time.  The brewery part of the visit is not the best brewery tour I’ve ever done but the GRAVITY Bar atop the building where visitors get to enjoy a complimentary pint is not to be missed!  There is also a nice little restaurant that has Irish classics and really fantastic Guinness brown bread that I’ve been trying to recreate ever since (that I can’t get just right despite having the recipe direct from the source!) and a really big gift shop with tons of Guinness brand gear from t-shirts to food items to  home décor.  We visited again with my parents and with my sister during or time there.

Another place we visited multiple times was the Jameson Distillery.  I went a total of 4 times, Honeybun twice and Sugarplum three times (twice in the belly and once out!)  If you only have time to visit one booze-related place in Dublin, I recommend Jameson.  The visit includes a guided tour which is fantastic and a complimentary tasting at the end (be ready to raise your hand at the end of the opening movie portion if you want to participate in an expanded tasting of whiskey versus bourbon versus scotch!)  Jameson also had a nice little restaurant and a guest shop where you can get a myriad of Jameson whiskey from tiny sampler bottles to full-size cask aged bottles that will run you hundreds as well as plenty of branded gear.

Not liquor related, another place we visited multiple times and really enjoyed was Kilmainham Gaol.  The Gaol which has been featured in many films (including the original The Italian Job) was once the jail used to hold many of the most famous Irish Nationalist who were held here after the Easter Rising of 1916.  Tour tickets are sold on a first come, first served basis and you are assigned a tour time when you purchase your tickets.   The tour is fascinating and there is a great museum which you can peruse at your leisure before or after the tour.  Buggies are not allowed in the museum or on the tour but my girls really enjoyed the tour and museum all the times we went (aside from once when Sugarplum didn’t want to sit during the opening movie portion of the tour and I was left having to try to awkwardly nurse her just to keep her quiet while in tight quarters with strangers and one of hubby’s fraternity brothers!)

Dublin Castle, in the heart of the City Centre, also has a nice tour relating to the struggle for Irish Independence and includes a visit to the Undercroft which is the remains of the Viking defense bank from when Dublin was founded.  Nearby the castle is the Chester Beatty Library which is a free museum with exhibits on the history of books with many ancient texts and an exhibit housing many sacred religious texts, artifacts and artwork as well as rotating special exhibits.

Not far from the Castle area (and just past Grafton Street, the most popular shopping area in the city) is Trinity College which houses the Book of Kells, a beautiful manuscript written by Irish monks around 800 AD.  A visit to the Book of Kells includes an exhibit on ancient book making and a visit to the old library which I found extremely fascinating.

Also in that area is the National Museum of Ireland’s Archaeology museum which houses a fascinating collection of Irish artifacts from the ancient Celts to the Vikings and beyond.  The museum is free but the site is not handicapped accessible so going with small children and a buggy can be tricky though there is plenty to see and do on the first floor (or you can carry the buggy upstairs).  Nearby there is also the Natural History museum which is known to the locals as the “Dead Zoo” which houses many extremely well-preserved animals out where you can touch them (though there are signs asking you not to an out of respect for the museum and future visitors, we did not allow our children to even though everything was within reach!)  This building is also not handicapped accessible and while you can take your buggy around the ground floor (and carry it upstairs if you wish), I recommend parking it at the front with the rest if there is room as the exhibit is tight and often busy.

The third National Museum of Ireland site we visited (multiple times, actually) is the Decorative Arts and History museum which is near the Jameson Distillery.  This site includes history on the struggle for Irish Independence and the Easter Uprising of 1916 as well as exhibits on furniture, fashion, currency, silver and more!  The girls always loved visiting this museum, it is extremely easy to navigate with a buggy and they often have special children’s programs.

One of the “have to visit” spots for many people is St. Patrick’s Cathedral. We visited once and I’m glad we went but it’s not a place I would go out of the way for sine it’s a fairly short visit and popular therefore crowded.  It’s also not the best for little ones since there is an expectation of being quiet and well behaved.

If you want to visit an Irish church, I much prefer the Christ Church Cathedral, combined with a visit to Dublinia.  Christ Church houses an underground crypt and treasury and was not overly crowded on our multiple visits.  Dublinia, which can be visited on a shared ticket with Christ Church, shares the fascinating history of Dublin by the Vikings and has an interesting section on how archaeologists are still uncovering Dublin’s Viking roots.  The museum has many interactive exhibits and even the girls loved visiting and Honeybun still talks about the Viking museum sometimes (and we of course, had to buy the viking hat!)

If you have a bit more time, head out to Phoenix Park (the largest city park in Europe) which houses the Irish President’s House as well as the US Ambassador’s residence and the Dublin Zoo.  We only visited the zoo once (getting to Phoenix Park without a car was hard from where we lived) but had a great time.  I have many friends who visit the zoo regularly and really like it.