Being back in Ireland felt amazing, even though it rained the entire stay, it felt like I was never gone, specially not for two years, I still can't believe it's been two years since my best friend Emeline and I have scoured the roads of Ireland (and I'm talking about Northern Ireland and the Eire) we've been everywhere!!
So I came back but this time with my sisters and some friends of ours to spend an amazing girls weekend in Dublin, Shortly after Prague my sense of orientation seems to have left me because I couldn't recognize anything...sure the fact that the entire City was under construction makes it harder to recognize but still...
The first time I went to Dublin I stayed at the Ashfield youth hostel which was super nice and really crazy, but this time we stayed at the Belvedere, we all decided that a hotel was better for a weekend between girls!
THE BELVEDERE
- The receptionists were super kind and welcoming, they helped us find a great pub nearby not too expensive and really good!!
- The hotel was nice and close to the city center, we could to everything on foot which is really important when you are staying for only 3 days.
- The hotel itself was clean and quite, like most hotels I don't have much to say about it, it wasn't too expensive, the bedrooms were comfortable and as a group of 8 we booked two rooms of four and it was a real plus to be next to one another!
- The only argument I have against the hotel was the bedrooms of our friends smelt the moisture and it felt oppressive, but really it is the only black mark I can think about!
- More information
DUBLIN
I have told you a little bit about Dublin in my post 10 PLACES YOU MUST VISIT IN IRELAND and in my GUIDE TO IRELAND but never that much because during my first visit to Ireland I didn't stay long in Dublin!
So what about the City:
- first, it rains a lot haha, on our stay we had some Sun during a grand total of 2h for 3 days the rest was rains, wind, and clouds!
- Dublin is young, full of life and multi-cultural, it's a real heaven for tourists, we have so much do to and to see, even when it rains!
- The city as Vikings origin, so if you have a particular interest about Vikings (like I do) you'll be more than happy there!
- It is quite a big City, I got lost, even though I knew the city (for my defense the city was under construction !)
- Of course, I'm never tired of Ireland and Dublin is amazing, even though it's not my favorite part or Ireland, you have to love walking and shopping because there are so many shops to do!
WHERE TO EAT?
- Well near the Belvedere there's a nice pub called the Parnell Heritage Pub (the food is just amazing!) and the staff is really nice!
- For breakfast, I discovered two addresses, first one is recommended in The Routard and is called Beanhive, for this one you need to go there super early especially if you're a group, because it is a very small place, and I think it deserves its place in the Routard or any other travel book, even though we were a group of 8 and that we had to wait for about 1h to eat they did everything they could to make us some space! The second one was The Bakehouse, not as known as the Beanhive and not as good but still really great to have Irish breakfast in the 50's!
- Where NOT to eat? The KINGFISHER Restaurant Even though they told me they just opened I wouldn't recommend them, well yet, they are apparently good for breakfast but not for the rest, we ended up there because of the good recommendation in TripAdvisor, only to discover that they are only good at breakfast, their salad was not good and too small for a price that was too high, we had to change our order four times because they didn't have any left of what we wanted and well it was really too expensive for what they brought us at the table!
WHAT DO TO AND WHAT TO SEE
- The Guinness Storehouse obviously...one good thing to know about, if you're willing to pay by credit card you can avoid the queue, enter where it's written 'online ticket' you'll go directly to the machine and take your tickets to the terminals and tada you avoid a 1h queue at least!
- The Temple Bar, more than just a bar it's also a street full of bars!! to me the best is The QUAYS, practically as popular as Temple Bar, I found a better atmosphere and more locals! but you have to go to the temple bar to decide by yourself!
- The Trinity College and the book of Kells...it is a must do if you like books and history and architecture! I love if and their library is just amazing!!!! I was in heaven!
- Go to the parks, you have like a crazy number of parks you can go to and there are super cute and calm!
- Got to the Markets (I love the markets) there is a St George's Market not the same as the one in Belfast but still quite nice and there's a street full of shops nearby!!
- More Information ( Français) and More information (English)
- And what do I ALWAYS say? GET LOST!!!!
HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO DUBLIN BEFORE? IF SO WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE CITY?
PLEINS DES BISOUS
