DUBLIN - DAY 1
Immediately upon arrival at the Dublin airport, the first thing you should do, aside from making sure to get all of your belongings and bags retrieved, is to consider how to get where you’re staying. Which brings up two amazing points before we delve into our itinerary for the day. First, as to how you should get around Dublin or even Ireland for that matter, we highly recommend you take advantage of public transportation. We were able to grab a taxi immediately outside of the baggage claim for a very fair price----the Dublin airport is only a 15 minute commute to city center. Secondly, notice I said city center…. You’re going to want to stay in the heart of the city. We highly recommend the Temple Bar area. Although Temple Bar is plagued by hordes of tourists frolicking throughout the streets and congregating in the surroundings restaurants and pubs, it is one of the best parts of town to have as a home base. Whether you opt for a hotel or an Airbnb (which we stayed in an Airbnb for this trip), you really can’t go wrong by staying at either in this centralized location. The Airbnb we stayed at was directly across the Ha’Penny Bridge and couldn’t have been a better deal; both financially and location wise. For your reference, here’s the link (https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/526767?source_impression_id=p3_1576111652_wpIqSUULkDMn9zur)
Once we checked into our lovely apartment, we set off to start our Dublin trip. As we do with most cities we visit, we strongly recommend that you allow for the first day in any new place to be revolved around walking the immediate area you’re staying in and getting acclimated to your new and exciting surroundings. We did not have much of a structured itinerary for this day (we landed at noon, so by the time we got our bags, got through customs, and settled into our apartment we really only had an afternoon), so for planning purposes of Day 1, we suggest that you go and explore Temple Bar! We stopped in at Gallagher's Boxty house for their Boxty fries and a drink (beer for Jeff and a cosmopolitan for Catherine). After, we headed over to The Temple Bar and enjoyed the live music and a pint of Guinness! After The Temple Bar we stumbled upon The Port House Pintxo, a cute and cozy, candle lit, tapas and wine bar. Jeff had a glass of Torres Mas Boras (if you love a glass of red-- definitely order it) and Catherine had a glass of Sangria (just the right amount of cinnamon added). At this point, our jet lag starting to set in, we headed back to our apartment to call it a night.
However, Jeff woke up around 10:45 pm and was STARVING. So, we threw our clothes on, and headed back out to the temple bar area to get him something to eat! We chose to eat at Elephant Castle; where we shared a Vintage Cheddar and Streaky Bacon burger and a Caesar salad--- they were both amazing. Our waiter suggested that we check out the Workmans Club, so that's exactly where we went after dinner. It wasn't really a "club" at all. It was more of a lounge type of place with a very young crowd, like 18-25 year olds, in a grungy atmosphere, and loud electronic music. After our one drink there, we headed home for the night (for real this time, haha)!