Postcard from Dublin
The week before I left for Dublin, my family, and friends from home were visiting. I hesitated to leave them and go to Ireland, but I am so glad I did. This was a long and exhausting weekend, but I will never forget it. When abroad, it is important to make the most out of each travel destination by participating in local traditions.
DAY 1
Given that we were staying in Dublin until Tuesday, my friends Morgan, Margaret, and I decided to fly out late on Friday night. We took a taxi from the airport to our hotel and had the most amazing driver. He filled us in on all of the best places to go in Dublin, and I suggested he take up a career as a tour guide. We arrived at the Aloft Hotel at 11 pm, ordered a pizza from the room, and went straight to bed.
DAY 2
Our friends Katie and Liv flew into Dublin on Saturday morning and arrived at the hotel around 9:30. After catching up, we got ready and grabbed a quick coffee at Soren & Son. In addition to a delicious drink, I ordered a unique-looking sausage roll which ended up being so tasty... From there, we headed in the direction of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The church was absolutely stunning, but we didn't want to pay for a ticket to the church, so we just peeked our heads inside. Outside the cathedral, there was a little St. Patrick’s and sustainability-themed market featuring many different vendors. While abroad, my goal is to find a special gift for each of my family members. At this market, I bought a delicate emerald ring for my sister, who has a May birthday… After the market, we met up with Morgan’s parents to shop more before getting lunch. After lunch, we stopped at Carol’s which is the place for getting all things St. Patrick's themed at a very reasonable cost. Here, we found a couple of fun knickknacks and St. Patrick's themed necklaces.
Next stop… Bad Ass Cafe! After walking around the Temple bar area, we settled on Bad Ass Cafe. We were able to take over the upstairs side room, where we split fish and chips and a couple of ciders. This bar was the epitome of fun, and we ran into a bunch of people we knew, including friends from home, girls from my classes abroad, and friends from Alabama visiting for the weekend. We ended up staying there for almost three hours until we were ready for dinner. We ironically settled on what was probably the only tapas bar in Dublin. After dinner, we went home for an early night to prepare for the rest of the weekend.
DAY 3
Sunday started with an early wake-up and a necessary coffee stop at Brew Lab Speciality Coffee. We then hopped on a $5 train to the city of Howth to visit the cliffs. Upon arrival at the train station we walked around a cute little market in town with lots of jewelry and traditional Irish food vendors. After that, we started the hike to the top of the cliffs. It was about a 20-minute walk up a paved road and a 15-minute hike to the top. When we arrived, I was absolutely speechless. We took a million pictures and I Facetimed my parents to show them the cliff’s beauty. After that, we made a quick stop at the hotel to charge our phones before I met up with Morgan and her parents for the Vikings Splash tour. The tour guides encouraged us to wear traditional Viking helmets, and we couldn’t stop laughing at how silly we looked. I was surprised when we were only in the water for a total of 5 minutes, but this still was a really fun way to see the city. Morgs and I had a glass of wine and a bite to eat at the Shelbourne Hotel, where her parents were staying, and then went back to Bad Ass Cafe for some live music and drinks. This time, we hung out on the main floor where the band was located so we could dance. We stopped into The Quays Dublin - Temple Bar, where we enjoyed a violinist playing traditional Irish music. This bar was filled with a bunch of super drunk European tourists, fun dancing, and many moments that we will look back on and laugh at. We then made a pit stop at the infamous Temple Bar Pub. We were excited to get in, but when the whole bar was body-to-body, we called it and left immediately. We then met up with Morgan and her boyfriend’s parents for dinner. This dinner turned into hours of conversation at the table, after which we went home to get some sleep.
DAY 4 — St. Patrick’s Day!
We woke up excited for a full day of St. Patrick's festivities. After a quick coffee at Soren & Son, we walked to meet up with Morgan’s mom to see the St. Pat’s parade. Her mom had been waiting for a spot at the parade for two hours, and the streets were filled with miles and miles of people lining up to view. Other than a couple of large floats, the parade reminded me of parades that we had in our city back home with local kids’ bands. After about an hour, we were chilly and left to view the rest of the parade from a warm bar. We then went to a club called Dicey's Garden with Morgan’s mom and her coworkers to celebrate. This was, hands down, the coolest venue I have ever been to, inside and out, with multiple levels, rooms, hidden bars, and the most delicious corned beef and cabbage.
After a couple of hours at Dicey's, I complimented a girl on her hat, which led to an interesting conversation. Turns out she was from St. Charles, a small town in Minnesota where my mom grew up, and she knew one of my cousins. I seriously couldn't believe this connection, as most of my friends who grew up in Minnesota had never heard of St. Charles.
We finished the night with an incredible dinner at the Shelbourne and went home to bed, as we had to get up to catch an early flight.
This weekend was jam-packed with pubs, bars, socializing, food, celebration, and dancing. Though I am not Irish myself, we participated in many local Irish traditions that made me feel like an honorary Irish person for the weekend. The magnitude of the celebrations throughout Dublin in March is amazing to me, and I feel so lucky that I got the opportunity to physically be in Dublin for the holiday. I hope one day I can return for St. Patrick's Day with my family.
Stay tuned for a postcard from Mallorca!
With love, Julia
