Dublin, one of my favorite cities! Ya know when you visit a city and you think – ok, I could live here. Dublin is one of those places for me! I love the architecture, statues, cathedrals, pub lined cobblestone streets, gorgeous parks, beautiful ponds & really amazing food (Irish and beyond!)
We arrived in Dublin after a 2 1/2 hour train ride from Belfast. It was a very pleasant journey – pretty scenery, nice clean train and super easy to get on in Belfast and off in Dublin. We hopped in a taxi and headed towards our Air BnB in St. Stephen’s Green. I did enjoy our Dublin Apartment – it was a one bedroom apartment really good price at $170 per night in the most amazing location! We could walk to so many amazing restaurants and we were very close to a hop on hop off bus stop. The only downside is they did not have a pack n play which I was under the impression that they did! So, we made a floor bed for Davis! It ended up working out fine but was definitely a curve ball at the time. Here is a link to the Air BnB if you are interested: St. Stephens Green D2 Apartment. We arrived in the evening so we headed to an Irish Pub for a quick dinner and then back to our apartment to sleep!
Our first full day in Ireland we walked towards the Dublin Visitor Center to buy our Hop on Hop Off Bus tickets! I love a good hop on hop off bus tour! The biggest thing to remember is if you’re using it just for transportation there are much faster ways to get around the city. However – if you strategically plan your stops it’s a great value at €22 per adult and kids are free!
Our first hop off the bus was at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. This gorgeous medieval cathedral was founded in 1191. This church is the tallest in all of Ireland. We opted to just walk around the grounds because Davis was not in the church goin-mood and there is a small admission price. But the grounds are stunning – beautiful green manicured lawn, a pretty fountain and the best part of all….a children’s playground! It is so much fun visiting playgrounds in different countries with Davis. Great way to let the kids burn off some energy and I always love to watch Davis interact with local kiddos.
After about an hour we hopped back on the bus and headed towards the Guinness Storehouse! Here is our blog post covering our time there: Guinness Storehouse Blog. Spoiler alert-definitely visit the Storehouse on your trip to Dublin!
After a few hours exploring there we hopped back on the bus and headed back towards the apartment. Lucky for us Davis fell asleep on the bus so Gabe and I got to ride the bus all the way around Dublin listening to the tour and really getting a lay of the land! We got off at the St. Stephens Green stop and strolled through the park. Davis absolutely loved watching the ducks!
For dinner that evening we wanted something close and comforting as we were all a bit sick. So, we decided to go off the Irish script and check out a Ramen place! We picked The Ramen Bar based on its amazing reviews and proximity to our apartment. Let me just say, O.M.G. absolute best ramen I have ever had in my entire life (and I’ve been to Japan and we eat ramen more often than I’d like to admit at home…) Truly it was incredible. They sat us in the basement which was a little secluded but when traveling with a toddler is exactly where we like to be. I ordered the Tonkotsu Butter Miso (pictured below) which had porch chasu, fried onion, black garlic oil and delicious choi-sum. Gabe went with a spicy ramen option and we ordered a big bowl of rice for Davis but soon discovered he was a big Ramen fan. It’s a little pricey at €16 for a bowl of Ramen but as I said it was the best I’ve ever had and would gladly pay it again!
We ended he night with a walk around Grafton Street. We passed the Molly Malone statue on Suffolk Street (still not entirely sure why she is famous but it’s clear people like to touch her tata’s as evidenced by the color difference!) While strolling we came across Murphys Ice Cream. We went in because it said their ice cream was made in Dingle (and the immature child in us got a chuckle that such a place existed!) this little stop by really worked in our favor because it’s some of the best ice cream in all of Ireland!
All in all it was an absolutely wonderful day spent exploring Dublin!
Britt Heller 