Day Four: In Dublin's fair city...
After breakfast at Pauline's apartment (see previous post for more about our accommodations in Dublin) we walked down the street to hop on the Hop on Hop off bus and begin our adventure in Dublin's fair city. Our first stop was to find an SIM card for Jen's phone so that we could make calls if needed. Jen has an unlocked Iphone, which means you are able to buy SIM cards that work in each country. It took a couple of tries to find the right place that sold what we were looking for and we had to pay with cash, so then that took a little longer to find an ATM. Thankfully there was a Starbucks close to the ATM, which was needed, as jet leg still lingered. The SIM card we purchased gave us unlimited data and bunch of call minutes. And the card worked in Ireland, the UK and Italy. Unlimited data was awesome, not only were we able to post pics and stay in touch with everyone through Facebook, but we were able to Skype with my parents, for no extra cost. Do some research before you go to Europe on the best option for communication. Unfortunately American Iphones are not unlocked and are unable to switch SIM cards (although there are ways around this), thankfully my sister's phone is from Australia.
Shopping in Dublin:After we were all set with the phone we did a little shopping on Grafton St., Henry St., and Moore St. Grafton and Henry streets are Dublin's main shopping areas. Here some link for more information about shopping in Dublin.
Moore St.
This was a fun street to walk down. Monday through Saturday the street is lined with stalls selling fruit, vegetables, flowers and more. The permanent shops along the street range from local Irish butchers to many asian/african shops. The day we were there they were shooting a TV show in the street that was drawing a crowd, but I think that the popularity of this street makes it a busy street no matter what. Beware of the cobble stones, they are very uneven and can be slippery. http://goireland.about.com/od/shopping/gr/moore_street.htm
Henry St.
Close to Moore St is another shopping street called Henry St. Traditionally it was considered the more affordible shopping area to its counter part Grafton St., however, now both have chains and franchise that make it similar to most shopping in the UK and America. Still worth the stroll down. The street also has two large shopping centers The Ilac centre and the Jervis Street Shopping centre. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Street,_Dublin
Grafton St.
Grafton St and the surrounding area is considered the higher end shopping area. It has designer stores and smaller expensive boutiques, however, there are also chain stores like the Disney Store and Foot Locker . It also has restaurants and cafes, it even has a Starbucks. At the end of Grafton St. is St. Stephen's Green Shopping Center. It is interesting architecturally, so even if you're not shopping it might be worth seeing. Most of the time my sister and I were only window shopping and people watching, and Grafton St. is a great place to do that. Also at the corner of Grafton and Suffolk St. is the famous Molly Malone statue.http://graftonstreet.ie/
After finding the SIM card, Starbucks and a little window shopping we were ready for lunch. Right around the corner from Grafton St. is Suffolk St. and Avoca Cafe. This was a great recommendation from our host Pauline (another plug for using Airbnb, often times our host would have great advice on where to eat and what to see). The cafe is on the second floor above the Avoca shop (Avoca is a hand weaving company in Ireland, we visit their mill, in the town of Avoca, later in the trip). Thankfully they had an elevator, or lift (what they call it in Europe). We ordered the Butternut Squash soup and the special which was a half of a roast chicken and a caesar salad. Often times me and Jen would split an entree and maybe get a soup or appetizer too, it was plenty to fill us up and it saved us money. The food was amazing, the chicken was so tender and flavorful, it melted like butter in your mouth. I'm not sure what it was but the food in Ireland is so comforting, it reminds me a little bit of how friendly the people are, their friendliness gets baked into what they're cooking I guess.
After lunch we did some more site seeing. Before I tell you about some of the places we stop at here is a lesson we learned. Everything takes longer than you think. Unfortunately we saved some of our bigger ticket items with the Dublin Pass, till the end of the day and missed out by 5min on getting in. Starting in September Dublin closes their attractions early. Most run their last tour or close anywhere between 5-6pm. Also taking the hop on hop off bus for your transportation around the city is great, but it does take longer than you may think to get from one point to another. And if you are going from point 14 to point 12 you have to circle around the whole loop to get there. Those out there with good legs would have no problem walking around most of Dublin, but anyone who has limited mobility like me, just needs to be good at planning and keeping an eye on the time in your day to make sure you have enough time to get to your most desired attractions. Here are some of the places we visited:
Trinity College
Ireland's oldest university, Trinity College was founded in 1592. You can take a student led tour and also visit the library to see the Book of Kells, but we did not have enough time, and our Dublin Pass did not cover the tour so we decided to move on to the next stop. The architecture itself it worth seeing even if you just walk around and take pictures for a few min like us. If you love history this might be a spot to spend some more time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_College,_Dublin
St. Patricks Cathedral
This Cathedral was built in 1220, in honor of St. Patrick. It is built next to the well where St. Patrick baptized converts on his visit to Dublin. It is architecturally magnificent as most of the big churches and cathedrals are in Europe, and inside is stunning too! It does cost money to get into the church, however it's free with the Dublin Pass! http://www.stpatrickscathedral.ie/index.aspx
The Guinness Storehouse
Located at the St. James Gate Brewery, The Guinness Storehouse is a seven floor exhibition on everything Guinness, from the ingredients on the ground floor to the history of Guinness advertising to the Gravity Bar on the top floor, which serves the final product. The admission also includes a free pint of beer. And admission is free with the Dublin Pass. Unfortunately, we were getting to the end of the day and we were trying to make it to one more stop before everything closed so my sister and I rode the elevator to the 7th floor, got our free pint of Guinness, took some pictures of the amazing 360 views of Dublin, and then headed back to the bus. We only drank a few sips of the beer, mainly because of time, but also Guinness is not my favorite. But I'm glad we got to taste it and see the views from the Gravity Bar. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinness_Storehouse)
We ended our day trying to make it to the Jameson Whiskey Distillery but, as mentioned before, because it was September the tours ended at 5 and we missed it by only a few min. Thankfully, there was another opportunity in Middleton, Ireland to visit the Jameson Whiskey Experience, so we didn't miss out completely. Finished up the day getting some Dublin souvenirs and heading back to our apartment. We stopped at the little grocery store on our walk back from the bus stop and got some dinner. When we got home we spent some time talking to Pauline about our day and getting to know her better. She was really interested in what Jen does in Australia and even considered helping out on the ship that goes to Papua New Guinea (Check out Jen's Bio for more information on what Jen does). It was fun to make a connection. If we ever go back to Dublin I would love to stay with her again.
Grafton St.
Grafton St and the surrounding area is considered the higher end shopping area. It has designer stores and smaller expensive boutiques, however, there are also chain stores like the Disney Store and Foot Locker . It also has restaurants and cafes, it even has a Starbucks. At the end of Grafton St. is St. Stephen's Green Shopping Center. It is interesting architecturally, so even if you're not shopping it might be worth seeing. Most of the time my sister and I were only window shopping and people watching, and Grafton St. is a great place to do that. Also at the corner of Grafton and Suffolk St. is the famous Molly Malone statue.http://graftonstreet.ie/
After finding the SIM card, Starbucks and a little window shopping we were ready for lunch. Right around the corner from Grafton St. is Suffolk St. and Avoca Cafe. This was a great recommendation from our host Pauline (another plug for using Airbnb, often times our host would have great advice on where to eat and what to see). The cafe is on the second floor above the Avoca shop (Avoca is a hand weaving company in Ireland, we visit their mill, in the town of Avoca, later in the trip). Thankfully they had an elevator, or lift (what they call it in Europe). We ordered the Butternut Squash soup and the special which was a half of a roast chicken and a caesar salad. Often times me and Jen would split an entree and maybe get a soup or appetizer too, it was plenty to fill us up and it saved us money. The food was amazing, the chicken was so tender and flavorful, it melted like butter in your mouth. I'm not sure what it was but the food in Ireland is so comforting, it reminds me a little bit of how friendly the people are, their friendliness gets baked into what they're cooking I guess.After lunch we did some more site seeing. Before I tell you about some of the places we stop at here is a lesson we learned. Everything takes longer than you think. Unfortunately we saved some of our bigger ticket items with the Dublin Pass, till the end of the day and missed out by 5min on getting in. Starting in September Dublin closes their attractions early. Most run their last tour or close anywhere between 5-6pm. Also taking the hop on hop off bus for your transportation around the city is great, but it does take longer than you may think to get from one point to another. And if you are going from point 14 to point 12 you have to circle around the whole loop to get there. Those out there with good legs would have no problem walking around most of Dublin, but anyone who has limited mobility like me, just needs to be good at planning and keeping an eye on the time in your day to make sure you have enough time to get to your most desired attractions. Here are some of the places we visited:
Trinity CollegeIreland's oldest university, Trinity College was founded in 1592. You can take a student led tour and also visit the library to see the Book of Kells, but we did not have enough time, and our Dublin Pass did not cover the tour so we decided to move on to the next stop. The architecture itself it worth seeing even if you just walk around and take pictures for a few min like us. If you love history this might be a spot to spend some more time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_College,_Dublin
St. Patricks Cathedral
This Cathedral was built in 1220, in honor of St. Patrick. It is built next to the well where St. Patrick baptized converts on his visit to Dublin. It is architecturally magnificent as most of the big churches and cathedrals are in Europe, and inside is stunning too! It does cost money to get into the church, however it's free with the Dublin Pass! http://www.stpatrickscathedral.ie/index.aspx
Located at the St. James Gate Brewery, The Guinness Storehouse is a seven floor exhibition on everything Guinness, from the ingredients on the ground floor to the history of Guinness advertising to the Gravity Bar on the top floor, which serves the final product. The admission also includes a free pint of beer. And admission is free with the Dublin Pass. Unfortunately, we were getting to the end of the day and we were trying to make it to one more stop before everything closed so my sister and I rode the elevator to the 7th floor, got our free pint of Guinness, took some pictures of the amazing 360 views of Dublin, and then headed back to the bus. We only drank a few sips of the beer, mainly because of time, but also Guinness is not my favorite. But I'm glad we got to taste it and see the views from the Gravity Bar. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinness_Storehouse)
We ended our day trying to make it to the Jameson Whiskey Distillery but, as mentioned before, because it was September the tours ended at 5 and we missed it by only a few min. Thankfully, there was another opportunity in Middleton, Ireland to visit the Jameson Whiskey Experience, so we didn't miss out completely. Finished up the day getting some Dublin souvenirs and heading back to our apartment. We stopped at the little grocery store on our walk back from the bus stop and got some dinner. When we got home we spent some time talking to Pauline about our day and getting to know her better. She was really interested in what Jen does in Australia and even considered helping out on the ship that goes to Papua New Guinea (Check out Jen's Bio for more information on what Jen does). It was fun to make a connection. If we ever go back to Dublin I would love to stay with her again.
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