Now Dublin is a city I haven’t spent nearly enough time in. I have been through numerous times because that’s where the airport is, but I have only truly spent a singular day exploring it beyond our stop for lunch and sour squirms on our way to Kilkenny. Sadly I didn’t get to do many of the things I wanted to do like Guinness Storehouse and the Jameson Distillery, as well as the emigration museum. I did get to do many of the things I did want to do though like the Book of Kells, and seeing Dublin Castle and St. Patricks Cathedral. I also got to see a few more unique things which aren’t necessarily the biggest tourist attractions. I am going to try my best to reminisce about my day in Dublin. Sadly 4 years is long enough time to forget some of the details, but I do remember all the most important details of what made it a true Irish experience.
The day started early. We got a 7:15 am Citylink bus from Galway to Dublin’s city centre. It was 2 1/2 hours and was mostly used for napping. We arrived a little before 10 am and our first stop was coffee and food. We found a spot close to the spire, I believe it was Itsabagel. I just remember eating bagels! I also got a macchiato thinking it was going to be like my favorite coffee drink back home, a caramel macchiato. It was not. It was just straight up espresso. We sat at a table outside, even though it was the middle of November, but we were fine. We talked about if we would want to move to Dublin. I was pretty set on the fact that Galway was where I belonged. My friends saw Dublin as a future endeavor after college.
After breakfast we headed towards out first stop, The National Gallery of Ireland. Art museums are not normally my thing. At least it would not be my first choice in activity when given a limited time in a certain place, but I am glad I went. One of my friends was really into art so this was her stop. It was very interesting. It wasn’t quite like the art museums I had been to at home due to its Irish and historical influence. I was enthralled by the old Ireland art, especially from the 1800s during the famine. Ireland really was a different place at the time.
We had a lot of fun at the museum. We took old paintings and connected them to our lives today. There was one picture of kids in a band in old Ireland. We spent a bit of time figuring out who each of us was in the that picture. I was of course the flute player. We probably spent about 1 1/2 hours here, which was the perfect amount of time to not feel rushed, but also not feel like our entire day was spent at the art museum. On our way out we stopped at the gift shop and each bought a brusselsprout santa. When we got back we would decorate them to make them each unique and hang on our little Christmas tree.
After the museum we walked around the city centre a little bit to see the main sites. First was the Molly Malone statue. Have you ever heard the song? Maybe you know it by the name “In Dublin’s Fair City” or “Cockles and Mussels.” This is where Molly Malone comes from and the statue was put into place in honor of the song.
She is a fictional character known to be a fishmonger. There are many myths and stories surrounding Molly Malone, but I like the one of the song that describes a sad young love. Many tourist will rub Molly Malone’s breasts for good luck when they visit. I highly discourage you from doing this when visiting. I don’t feel it is right to do anything of the such to any statue. It is objectification and honestly just weird and inappropriate. Many Dublin natives are trying to stop this from occurring so please be a part of the change. Thank you!
Now moving on from Molly Malone which is located right outside the tourism office. Our next stop was Gay Spar. You may be wondering how Dublin ended up with a gay convenience store. This is because it is located just a few doors down from Dublin’s LGBTQ+ night club, The George. Now if you have ever been out in Ireland or really out late anywhere you know that stopping for a snack on the way home is a must. This 24/7 Spar became just that for those visiting the club. Eventually it adopted the nickname the people gave it and now you know exactly which Spar it is by its rainbow crosswalk. It is also just a really nice Spar so it was a well worth stop!
We had a bit of time to spare before needing to head to Trinity College for out time slot to see the Book of Kells at 2:30pm. We didn’t have time to go into these places but we walked to Dublin Castle and St. Patricks Cathedral.
Dublin Castle serves as an important government building. Under English rule it served as the residence of the Irish Viceroy who was representative of the monarchy. Under the Free State it’s purpose was debated until it was settled as the place for the inauguration of the president. It is also used to host diplomats and banquets. The State Apartment’s portion of the building also functions as a museum. You can book a tour to see parts of the building and the museum, but sadly we didn’t have time for that. I would like to come back someday and do it though!
Now I can’t remember exactly why we didn’t go inside St. Patrick’s Cathedral. I think we took a peek but ultimately decided not to go in either because of the admission fee or there was some sort of service going on. As a Catholic I don’t usually like to pay to visit a church, I will pay the couple euros to light a candle, but I feel it is wrong to make people pay to visit a church as not everyone can afford to do this and our church preaches about helping those less fortunate. All that said there are churches that don’t have admission fees and a lot of time the biggest cathedrals attract more tourists than those that are there for faith reasons. The best way to get around this as a Catholic is to go to mass. We just didn’t have room for that in our plan for the day so we walked around the outside and sat in the garden.
This 12th century cathedral serves at the national cathedral of the Church of Ireland. It is an important church in Ireland. It is named for the country’s patron saint, St. Patrick and is located near the well where he is said to have baptized the people of Ireland. The church also holds the burial of Jonathan Swift who is known for writing Gulliver’s Travels.
We were then on our way to Trinity College where I could finally pretend that I was in Normal People. I highly recommend the show and book if you are unfamiliar with either. Trinity College is a well worth stop in Ireland and would be an amazing college to attend, but I just want to give a brief history of the college for those hoping to go. It is important to keep in mind when visiting Ireland their history with England. Trinity College is just another legacy of the colonization that occurred on the island. The college was put into place by Queen Elizabeth I. Its intended purpose was to consolidate the Protestant Reformation and anglicize Ireland. This would ultimately strengthen English rule of the island. That being said many Irish Catholics weren’t even able to attend the college. It is because of this that there is a sort of elitism that exists. It is definitely known as a more elite college than others in Dublin and Ireland. It has since changed from its early days to suite Ireland today and its students come from all over, but it reputation still precedes it.
The Book of Kells experience was about 15 euros. Not super cheaper, but not terribly expensive as well. When planning our day in Dublin we didn’t want to pay entry for too many things which is ultimately why we didn’t do Guinness and Jameson, well that and we booked everything so last minute that there wasn’t an opening. I really wanted to do Book of Kells though. As a history lover this was my pick for the day.
The experience was to the Old Library which included the Book of Kells (which we weren’t allowed to take pictures of) and the Long Room and Gaia. Now it includes a new digital exhibition making the tickets an extra 5 euros more than they were when we went. All of the books in the old library have since been removed as well making it not quite the aesthetic experience it was.
If you have never heard of the Book of Kells it is a symbol of Irish Christianity. The exact location and date of the creation of the book is unknown but it is thought to have been created on the little island of Iona in the 800s. The book contains the four gospels of the new testament all written in latin. What makes its special is its illustrations and adornment of celtic designs. The intention of this illustrated book was to provide images to those that wouldn’t necessarily understand the latin text, making the gospel more accessible to the Celtic people. The book made its way to Ireland after the monastery where the monks wrote the book was invaded by the Vikings and therefore they fled to Ireland taking the it with them. It was brought to Trinity College in the 1600s to protect it during the time of Oliver Cromwell (man I hate that guy) and has resided there ever since.
Visiting the Book of Kells is not the life changing experience that visiting other famous art pieces or historical artifacts would maybe be. It is definitely very cool, but it is only ever opened to one page (it shifts occasionally) and you can’t take pictures. You get a brief moment to look at it before moving on to the long room in the old library. I loved the aesthetic of the long room. Like I said before now all the books are gone, but when I was there they still were beautifully lining the shelves. Big letters stand out on the shelves to direct you to the order of the books. I found myself at the E shelves because of my name. The room is also lined with sculpted busts of great philosophers and those with a special connection to the college.
After this we found ourselves in the gift shop. I bought a tote bag which I still use all the time today regardless of its stains and tears. It is literally my favorite bag. I really like this stop in Dublin. It would be a must do in my book, but I think it should definitely be paired with other Dublin attractions as it only takes a short time.
After exiting Trinity College is was time for some lunch. My friends had been really wanting to go to a traditional Chinese restaurant for dim sum, so the big city of Dublin was our chance for this. I never had actually had or even heard of dim sum before. Dim sum is when you get a bunch of appetizer like dishes to share with a group for lunch. I thought I had a pretty wide palette when it comes to foods around the world, but I definitely tried some new foods that day. We went to Ka Shing one of the better known dim sum places in Dublin.
After lunch we walked through the big streets of Dublin, stopping in stores when needed and watching street performers, specifically one perform with fire. Grafton Street was the major pedestrian and shop street in Dublin. It was decorated for Christmas as well. We tried to visit St. Stephens Green, the Central Park of Dublin, but is was closed so we only got to see the gated entrance.
We then tried to figure out what to do with the rest of our time in Dublin so we went to the google. Honoria had some stuff she had to do in Dublin so the three of us tried to find the hidden gems of the city. As luck would have it, we did find one: Sweny’s Pharmacy.
Now let me start out by saying that this isn’t actually a pharmacy. It used to be but we didn’t go in to buy medicine and bandages. This little shop was featured in the Irish author Jame Joyce’s novel Ulysses. Now it is a book store and gift shop in honor. It is the most authentic Irish gift shop I had ever been to though. It wasn’t particularly touristy as it wasn’t an American tourist trap. It was more of a place to honor Irish literature and heritage.
Sadly I did not take any pictures because I was really living in the moment, but when we entered the shop it was small and narrow. The sides were lined with books and then at the end were the store workers. It felt cluttered but in the best way. It wasn’t overwhelming or messy, rather it was cute and cozy. Old medicine bottle fill the cabinets on the walls as they would years ago.
The shop is run by volunteers which make it that much more of an experience because they have a passion for this shop and literature. Often times they will dress in white coats to give the feeling of a pharmacy. When we were the shop owner taught us about old Ireland. He even pulled out a guitar and sang in Irish. I had never loved Ireland as much as I did in that moment which is saying a lot because I really love Ireland.
I decided to buy James Joyce’s Dubliners, because I had read a snippet of it in my Irish culture class and thought it would make a great souvenir from Dublin. The store has books beyond Joyce as well but they all have Irish roots. You can buy lemon soap in shop too like the one featured in Ulysses. I loved this store so much. It would definitely be my number one Dublin recommendation to get out of the tourist traps and experience Irish culture beyond pubs and castles.
After Sweny’s we walked back towards Grafton street to check out some more shops, but sadly they were all starting to come to a close. I had bought some travel trivia cards that day, so we took a seat on a bench and played for a little bit. We also came across a Luke Kelly statue. As you may know I am a huge Irish music lover and he was a part of the band, The Dubliners. I had to get my picture with it of course.
Eventually after more walking around the city the sun started to set so we headed over to Temple Bar for the rest of the evening. Contrary to popular belief Temple Bar is a street. It’s ok if you didn’t know that because I didn’t until I was in Dublin.
There is a Temple Bar Pub which is what we typically think of when talking about Temple Bar, but there is more to Temple Bar then just this. We of course stopped at Temple Bar Pub for a picture of it ornate with its Christmas decorations, but we figured we had no chance of getting in at 7:30 pm for dinner and drinks, so we kept walking down the street until we were called inside a restaurant by a host looking to direct tourists to their restaurant.
We ended up at the Old Mill Restaurant. It was a bit pricey but no more than any other decent restaurant in Ireland. Not only did we manage to find a place for dinner on Temple Bar, but it was one with traditional Irish food, so I was content. We were seated in the upstairs in a bit of a crowded corner, but we weren’t going to complain. I ordered Bangers and Mash, while not my favorite Irish food, I needed to try it once in Ireland so Dublin was that chance. I also got my typical Jameson Ginger. We were a bit rushed in order to make room for others waiting for a table, but it still was worth it. We even got a little postcard from the restaurant. I ended up with only a picture of it.
We still had time to spare so we went to McDonalds for dessert (there isn’t quite anything like a McFlurry in Europe). Sadly because of Covid restrictions there was not any seating inside so after waiting in line for a bit and grabbing our McFlurries, we sat on the curb outside McDonalds to eat it. This is when my friends dared me to flirt with a Garda officer.
Let me give you a bit backstory. We had been having conversations about men in uniform and that especially included the Garda uniform. The Garda is the police in Ireland, but unlike police in the United States they don’t have weapons because their purpose is to guard peace. Anyway I made a comment as a few of them were standing in the intersection outside McDonalds. There was a fight that had just gone down in the middle of the street. We watched as two girls fought each other. The Garda were there to manage the crowd afterwards and suddenly I was faced with an introverts worst fear: talking to attractive Irishmen in uniform. As you could probably guess I didn’t do it. I chickened out and until this day regret it.
When the time came we walked to the bus stop. There was already a drunk guy not too much older than us waiting there. He chatted with us. I backed up at one point when I thought he was about to throw up on me and my friends laughed. It was a fun chat, but he was really drunk and I was taking no chances before our 2 1/2 hour bus ride back to Galway, so I enjoyed the conversation from a few feet away. Luckily no one lost their shoes to vomit and we got to experience more of the fun that is Irish people.
The bus ride back was quiet. We slept and I watched a movie. It was a Christmas movie even though it was only a couple weeks into November, but Christmas starts early in Ireland. I really enjoyed our day in Dublin. I think I made the right decision for myself to study abroad in Galway and not Dublin, but I still love Dublin. It represents a different kind of Ireland and one just as valid. A trip to Ireland, especially a study abroad semester, would not be complete without experiencing the Irish capital. My only suggestion is not to get pulled into tourist traps and seek out the opportunities to really engage with and experience Irish culture. I feel by going to the art museum, Book of Kells, and Sweny’s I was able to get more of that instead of going to the more touristy spots like Temple Bar Pub and the Guinness storehouse. Although I would really love to go to Guinness someday. Maybe I will just have to go back to Ireland!
This was my day in Dublin! I am definitely am a lover of western Ireland as that is where I spent most of my time traveling around when I studied abroad. For more travel stories from the West of Ireland check out my Ireland tag!
The Journal of Wanderlust 