Throwback Thursday: Christmas Time in Dublin, Ireland
A few years ago, Marc and I went to Dublin for his Christmas break. We…
A few years ago, Marc and I went to Dublin for his Christmas break. We stayed for two nights off of O’Connell Street, which was a little bit of a hike from some of the attractions, but we had stayed at a pretty decent hotel for not a lot of money. Plus, we got to see more of the city. On our first night there, we actually went to see a movie. I had been dying to see the newest Twilight movie – Breaking Dawn Part 1 – and it wasn’t playing in English where we lived in France, so that was top of my list for the break.
After dinner we walked to the river and wandered around town. We walked past Trinity College, and we stopped at Starbucks for a gingerbread latte. We searched for a Christmas ornament to take home as a souvenir – something we do everywhere we go – and we stopped at a pub to warm up for a bit.
The next day, we walked to the Guinness factory and took the tour. The walk there was fairly long, so we got to see a lot of stuff including Dublin castle on our way.
The tour was kind of cool, but totally touristy. You don’t really get to see any of the real factory on the tour, it’s all just exhibits of what the factory is like. Kind of disappointing, but you do get some free beer at the end – and seeing the actual factory buildings was kind of cool. They’re like a little mini city right in the middle of Dublin.
We had dinner at a place called Porterhouse that night. The restaurant was super big and the food was great – and they had live music on the calendar pretty much every night. But, we didn’t stay too long after dinner because we wanted to experience as much of the city as we could.
So we walked around, popped into a few pubs and eventually ended up at Temple Bar, which was totally decked out in Christmas decor. We found a great spot at the bar, and listened to the live music. I think it was open mic night that night, but I can’t be sure. Either way, it had some pretty great atmosphere. Regardless of the tour books warning us against its tourist factor, I really enjoyed it.
In the morning, we shopped. There were lots of stores that aren’t in France (or at least not where we lived), so I wanted to take advantage of that before we left. Plus, there were tons of Christmas stands in the street selling all sorts of gift items and Christmas stuff.
Even though we didn’t get to spend much time there, I loved that we got to experience Christmas time in Dublin. I think it was the perfect time to see the city. Everything was so Christmas-y, and it was just the right amount of cold for a Christmas getaway. It even snowed a little. It was perfect.
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