This was a dedicated travel day for us. We took the train bright and early from Chelsea to Heathrow Airport for our short flight to Ireland. We ended up having to check our bags since the plane was so small and there was a slight delay upon arrival when going to pick up our bags. We also experienced another delay trying to go into the city due to an accident. The public transportation system was less clear than in London, so we ended up missing the first bus. We also got a little turned around trying to find our AirBnB and ended up walking in the opposite direction. It wasn’t exactly the start we were going for when we got to Ireland. When we finally found our apartment, we were so relieved. The place was spacious and homey with a cute little balcony overlooking the parking lot and a garden area with fountains. It was exactly what we needed. We got in pretty late and wanted a quiet evening in, so we just picked up some groceries for the next few busy days and turned in for the night.

We started our adventure with a short day tour to the Wicklow Mountains.

The tour began in Glendalough exploring the Monastic City and the picturesque Glendalough upper and lower lakes. Situated amongst the mountains, these lakes were something to behold. It was interesting to explore the ruins of the past and make our way to a small waterfall near the lakes. After all the hustle and bustle of the city, we were excited to get out and explore nature.

We made our way up the mountains, taking in the views. We were lucky to experience the mountains covered in purple heather, which happens from June to September. It was so pretty!

From there we ended our day in Kilkenny, where we enjoyed the first of many bowls of delicious seafood chowder (Melanie’s favorite) and toured a local church. We also visited Kilkenny Castle. This was a quaint little town with tons of charm.

Once we got back it was Saturday night and we were without a dinner reservation at any of the recommended restaurants within Dublin. We decided to try our luck with the steakhouse up the street from our apartment - Bull and Castle. We ended up winning! We actually were seated at the last two open seats at the bar and boy were we happy about that! We ordered some delicious craft cocktails and a MASSIVE steak for two with a ton of sides including, of course, two different potatoes. We savored our time there with some fancy dessert cocktails celebrating our crazy adventure.

Time for a much needed down day. We snacked on leftovers and baked goods throughout the morning and early afternoon. We enjoyed some reading and planning the remainder of our trip. We did have one commitment for the day, which was what Martin had been waiting for this whole trip - The Guinness Storehouse.

This is a brewery tour unlike any we’ve ever experienced (which is a lot being from Wisconsin). They have seven floors, each offering a different experience in the brewing process. They start by explaining their ingredients and how the beer is made, as well as what this beer did for the local economy. We also learned about how the beer is/was exported and the marketing strategies throughout the years. They had a unique tasting experience, where you take in all of the smells and notes of the beer before trying it.

One of the most unique parts of the tour is the Guinness tasting room. While we have had our fair share of Guinness before, this was a unique experience. As we were tasting the Guiness, we were surrounded by the aromatics of the beer itself. The smells were malty, chocolatey, and oh so delicious. We also learned the true color of Guinness.

Similar to our experience at the Shard in London, we went to the 7th floor of the store house to their gravity bar to enjoy a pint and some views of the city. We could see our house from there! We were also able to see as far out as the ocean and the mountains. We turned in early as we had a busy few days ahead.

Early morning! We started out at 6am to walk out to catch our tour bus and embark on our long ride to the Cliffs of Moher. Three hours later, we finally arrive.

As we were getting off the bus, we were told that we had two hours to explore and we remember thinking, “Why do we need all of this time?” We’ll just walk up, take in the view, and be on our way. In reality, we could have spent our whole day here. The cliffs were breathtaking, everything we wanted them to be and much, much more. We were lucky to be able to come on a clear day, we could see far out into the ocean and across the cliffs. We wandered around the trails that follow on both sides of the visitors center and just took it all in. It was Melanie’s favorite site of the trip as it was an absolutely incredible sight.

It was also an ominous place, though. The first thing you see as you set off on the trails is a memorial for all who died at the cliffs. The trails are treacherous and gusty. We struggled to walk the trails at times and the water was blown so high up the side of the cliffs that we thought it was raining! We were definitely nervous and cautious when walking them but the views from the trails were awe inspiring. Totally worth the risk.

We ran through the visitor center to grab a quick lunch, making it back to the bus just in time to begin our journey up the Wild Atlantic Way.

We made a quick pit stop at Burren National park to take in the unique landscape. Located on the water, this national park is made up of a glacio-karst landscape which is different than anything we have ever experienced. It was a great quick visit.

We went on our way to Galway. Our tour guide featured some local music and gave us some recommendations for places to visit and eat while we were there. We only had two short hours to visit. That wasn’t much time to explore such an interesting fishing town. While there we enjoyed a quick early dinner as we had a long ride ahead of us. Then we got out and walked the streets, popping in and out of the little shops and enjoying the buskers and people watching. We savored some brown bread and gin ice cream, which was definitely different!

Exhausted and satisfied, we made our way back to the bus to embark on our journey back into Dublin. We didn’t get until after 8:00 PM. We turned in early as we had ANOTHER early day ahead.

We had another day tour planned for today. Martin was especially excited for this one - The Game of Thrones tour. What he chose not to tell Melanie was that this tour had costumes included… Not exactly what she had signed up for. Both of us were pleasantly surprised by the fun vibe the tour offered and the gorgeous scenery that we saw at the filming locations and along the coast of Northern Ireland while on the bus. The view was so clear that we were able to see Scotland!

Northern Ireland was also the fourth country (technically still the United Kingdom - but who is counting right?) that we visited on our trip, which is CRAZY for a short two week visit. We visited multiple filming sites that were right on the water featuring beautiful beaches and small villages. One of the more notable sites that we visited was the ruins of Dunluce Castle. Located right on the coast these ruins featured views of the water along the coast. It was so interesting to wander these ruins and walk through these rooms and still be able to see fireplaces and room layouts and imagine how these people used to live. We also made a stop a Giant’s Causeway, which was an impressive sight. Ireland is filled with magic and faeries, and this site is no different. The tales are ones that should be heard from a born Irish.

We made it back up to the top in time to enjoy an Irish Coffee (If you are American, these are different from ours. It is made with an Americano, whiskey, and cream floating on top) and spiked hot chocolate (with a TON of marshmallows) at the bar across the street. The drinks were the perfect to fight the cold, rainy weather we were experiencing that day.

Our last and perhaps the most iconic stop for GoT fans is the Dark Hedges. To be frank - they were disappointing. The site itself was fascinating. The way these trees grow to naturally form this bridge over the road is pretty incredible. However, the site was crowded. Iit was hard to enjoy the sites with all these tourists crowded around, attempting to capture the perfect picture. It took away from some of the magic of the site - but it was still worth a quick visit.

We made our way back to the bus for the long bus ride back to Dublin. At least we got a lot of reading and naps in on these long bus rides!

Finally finished with all of our day trips, we were excited to be able to get out and truly explore Dublin.

We started by walking down Grafton Street, which is famous for its shopping and its live street music from local buskers. There was definitely no shortage of live music in Ireland. We heard it almost everywhere we went.

Grafton Street then emptied out into St. Stephen’s Green, which is a nice respite away from the hustle and bustle of the city. We walked through the entire green and sat and enjoyed the people watching.

We grabbed a quick bite to eat at one of the more notable pubs O’Donoghue’s. It offered cafeteria style dining at lunchtime.

From there, we made our way around the corner to the Irish Whiskey museum. This was a different kind of museum. It offers a tour of the history of whisky, including how it was made, why it was made, and how it became what it is today. We then were able to taste four of the most popular Irish whiskeys which aren’t easily obtained outside of Ireland. Martin’s favorite was the Knappogue Castle 16 year and Melanie still doesn’t like whiskey. This was a tour we ended up doing on a whim, however it was one of our favorite things that we ended up doing in Dublin. Our tour guide was humorous and made the tour interesting. They had a bar in the museum that made some phenomenal drinks. After enjoying our whiskey samples, we meandered across the street to tour Trinity College.

Martin once aspired to go here for college when we were in high school, so it was exciting to finally be able to visit the campus and see exactly what he missed! The tours are quick and provided by students of the university and it ends at the library and the Book of Kells.

One of Martin’s life goals was to see the Book of Kells. The entrance contains some smaller distractions to keep the crowds at bay. These books are also well crafted. There is also history behind the different kinds of books made during historical times. It is hard to imagine, despite many photos, just how intricate and detailed the Book of Kells is until seen in person. The size and precision of the images seemed to fine for the tools offered at the time.

Afterwards, we made our way over to the National Museum of Ireland. The most interesting exhibit at the museum is the Bog Bodies. Next to mummies, these are some of the best preserved remains of humans from earlier times in history. Other than that, there are a lot of Celtic and Irish artifacts about the medium sized museum.

Wow, what a busy day and it’s not over yet! We finished off the day and headed over to Temple Bar district for an early dinner at the Old Storehouse bar. Thank goodness we came when we did! It was almost completely empty when we walked in and crowded when we left, there was barely any room to walk out! They also had live music playing which we enjoyed before making our way over to another pub in Temple Bar for the Musical Pub crawl which featured two Irish natives taking us to three different pubs and playing some traditional Irish music and knocking back a few pints. We made a few friends along the way and hung out until bar close (which is only around 11:00 P.M. in Ireland).

SO bittersweet. It’s our last day in this magical country. We hit up a lot of the attractions we wanted to see yesterday, so today we were able to meander about the city with no real destination in mind.

We had an amazing breakfast at the Queen of Tarts, which is famous for their delicious pastries and baked goods.

We wandered through Grafton Street on a mission to find a unique piece of art as our own souvenir which we do in all places that we visit. We ended up back in Temple Bar district at a quaint little store with plenty of art prints for us to choose from to bring home with us.

While we were there we decided to stop at Leo Burdocks for some authentic fish and chips. Normally, Melanie is not a big fan of a fish fry which is CRAZY since fish fry Fridays is practically religious back home in Wisco. This was no fish fry. Fish and chips in Ireland (and London) were so delicious and the fish was HUGE.

From there, we made our way over to Temple Bar to snap a quick pic outside of the like named pub and grab a quick drink. We were there pretty early and it was already packed and blasting live music.

As we made our way back to our apartment, we strolled along the River Liffey and enjoyed the movement and life of the city around us. We decided on the Brazen Head for dinner, which was right up the street from our apartment. We spent the night enjoying authentic Irish cuisine and enjoying some pints reminiscing on our amazing trip and deciding that we would be back very, very soon.

Our flight home :(