Dublin and Northern Ireland Tour

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August 15

After a quick breakfast stop on our way to the airport, we were off to Dublin! After settling into our hotel and picking up some groceries, we enjoyed day one of the hop on/hop off bus tour. The tour had some great stories and rather than hop off, we just toured the loop to get a sense of the city and saved the hopping off for the next day. On our bus tour we were on the upper level, which was open… here we learned an important lesson: you don’t need clouds in Ireland for it to rain!

We finished the night off with some take-out, Guinness, and wine while feverishly taking advantage of the washer and dryer we had for one night only.

August 16

Happy Birthday Bryan! As usual, the birthday brat was spoiled to a birthday table and homemade breakfast (no, there weren’t any Guinness pancakes!). We took the morning slowly, then made our way around the bus hop-offs, starting with Kilmainham Gaol.

Next it was time for lunch, and we stopped at the Porterhouse Brewing Company in Temple Bar, where Bryan enjoyed a local porter and traditional Irish Stew. Finally it was time for the Guinness Storehouse tour with the ceremonial Guinness’s in the rooftop all-windows bar, enjoying a 360-view of the city. We made our way back to the Temple Bar area and had dinner in the Temple Bar Pub followed by live music and birthday bevies at The Quays Bar.

August 17

At 6:30 a.m. (!!) we departed on our tour bus headed to Northern Ireland and the North Coast County of Antrim. After scarfing down some lunch at The Nook, we descended down to the natural phenomenon called the Organ. The Giant's Causeway is included on the World Heritage list making it Ireland's first World Heritage site. The rock formations here are truly a wonder, and there are many tales to go along with them!

Next we took the winding coastal path to the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge, and crossed over this (short-but-high) historical walkway. Once we crossed over to the island we enjoyed amazing views looking out over the Mull of Kintyre in Scotland and Rathlin Island.

On our way to Belfast, we in took a picture stop at Dunluce Castle, once home to the McDonnell Clan and apparently the the famous castle in CS Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia. We passed by the village of Bushmills and stopped in Belfast for a short break. We took ours at the renowned Crowne Pub with a glass of wine and a pint of Irish beer. We arrived home to Dublin flat-out exhausted and polished off our remaining groceries before packing up and preparing for London.

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