After Killarney, wee spent the last 2 days of our Ireland trip in the Dublin area. Dublin was a mix of highs and lows for us. Just some general caveats before I jump in:
- I wouldn’t recommend having a car in Dublin, as it’s tough to find 24-hour parking.
- Dublin is noticeably more expensive than the other parts of Ireland we visited.
- We walked across around 7km of Dublin (definitely not all of it, but a decent area), and there was so much more trash and rubish on the streets and sidewalks than any other town we saw in Ireland.
- Dublin felt like a melting pot for residents and visitors. In some ways this was nice–I like variety–but it also didn’t feel uniquely Irish.
Despite all that, we had a few highlights in and around Dublin. The first was at Corkagh Park, a lovely public park with a 9-basket disc golf course that most people didn’t seem aware of. I had a nice surprise in that I almost aced a 350-foot basket (see my disc in the grass below the basket).
We continued our pattern of eating late, this time at Table 45. The waitress warned us that the kitchen was closing soon, but they still served us a full (delicious) tapas meal. Really good patatas bravas.
The biggest destination highlight in Dublin was the Guinness Storehouse. I was worried that it would be a tourist trap, and it certainly attracted a lot of tourists, but the self-guided tour was a superb experience from start to finish. I highly recommend it (and bonus points for featuring Guinness Zero, my favorite NA beer)!
Up to this point, I think only one of us had ordered fish and chips during our entire time in Ireland, and a few of us wanted to try it. We probably could/should have gotten fish and chips right outside the Storehouse, but reviews led me to think that the best chippy in Dublin was The Fish Shop. So we walked and walked up to it and just barely got in (even at lunch, they’re not joking when they say that they recommend reservations). It was good, though I actually still think The Irish Rover in Louisville has the best fish and chips I’ve ever eaten.
After lunch we found a game store in Dublin called Gamers World, where I stopped in to happily see Stonemaier games on their shelves. I thanked them for carrying our games and bought a game for myself.
We were pretty worn out after walking back to the Airbnb, so it was nice to just have a relaxing afternoon and a food truck dinner. We spent our final morning at Malahide Castle & Garden (including a butterfly house) just north of Dublin, which was a serene place to end the trip.
Overall, I loved our trip to Ireland and am grateful for all the wonderful people we met, places we saw, and food we ate. I’ll give it some time, but perhaps I’ll return someday to see the places I missed. What do you think?
The Guinness Storehouse was the weirdest experience there in Dublin (and the only experience in the city I actually remember which might tell you something). I never had Guinness before my visit but everybody said “you gotta visit!” so we did, I remember the experience was very impressive, we went up and every level some other nice information and it was all hyping up towards the top floor where they gave me a free Guinness pint…. and I thought it was awful. Such a contrast between the cool experience on the actual drink. My first and last Guinness (2008).
I guess we all have different taste preferences! 🙂 In the current version, you get to taste it midway through the tour in a much smaller cup before getting to the pint level.
Interesting!
As an Irish person I’m so glad you had a great trip and had so many great experiences – you managed to pack in a lot in a short time.
I live close to Corkagh Park and am beyond delighted that you got to play disc golf there.
Amazingly, I first heard about disc golf from your facebook lives and have been enjoying playing since the course opened in 2024. It would have been legendary if you had made the ace!
That’s awesome! I’m glad you’ve been enjoying disc golf at that park. Do you have an ace there?
No aces for me, yet!