After months of planning, waiting
and excitement the big day has finally arrived. Thursday, 19th
November, and I’m getting up pretty early as there are so many things I still
need to do, plan, organize and most importantly put into my suitcase. I’ve
already put there the majority of my clothes last night but as I’m really
worried there might be something missing, I still need to go through everything
at least three times.
At ten o’clock I have just one hour
before leaving home to catch a bus to Pilsen and I’ve already unpacked and
packed again my whole suitcase twice and still have the feeling like I’m
forgetting something. I check the most important things that I just can’t go
without and that’ll do.
Money ✔
Documents ✔
Confirmation of reservation of the
plane tickets and the hotel ✔
Travel insurance documents ✔
Maps ✔
Umbrella ✔
Phone ✔
Camera ✔
Toothbrush ✔
And off I go to catch the bus. The
weather’s not ideal, no signs of sun, black clouds on the horizon, wind that
probably scares me the most because of the flight, and rain every now and then.
Apart from that everything goes smoothly. When I’m arriving at the bus station
in Pilsen, my best friend Šárka is already waiting on me. We put our suitcases
into the bus, find our seats and say goodbye to Pilsen. During the one hour
journey to Prague we realize we have very similar things in our suitcases and
we probably didn’t forget anything important.
There’s a rainbow over Prague which
definitely seems like a good sign.
Half past twelve we’re arriving at
the Prague airport. I’m a little nervous about the check-in as this is the
first time I don’t have the plane tickets arranged by the travel agency but I
reserved them online by myself. But everything goes well. We find our check-in
terminal in just a few minutes, wait in a short queue, hand in the passport or
ID, say goodbye to our suitcases and receive boarding passes so we are free to go inside the airport.
After a little snack we’re exploring
the shops and a bit later we’re admiring our plane – in Irish style, green with
a big shamrock.
When we’re boarding the plane, we hear English more than Czech language,
ever from the crew, of course, as we’re flying with the national flag carrier
airline of Ireland Aer Lingus. The
fact that this airline is ranked as one of the safest airlines in the world is
really soothing. We hope that Irish luck is on our side. The crew is really
nice, the stewardess never misses the opportunity to give us a kind smile and
we’re sitting down, feeling nervous but very excited at the same time.
A few minutes to half past three the
plane’s already going to runway and we’re leaving the ground a few minutes
ahead of a schedule which makes us happy as we want to be in Dublin as soon as
possible. We decide to ignore the announcement of the captain about the
possibility of headwind and turbulence, we won’t let it make us nervous and we
just enjoy the sun in the window as we rise above the clouds.
I’m very proud of Šárka for overcoming
the fear and nervousness from her first flight ever and being as amazing as she
was during the whole time in the air.
A few minutes to five, Irish time, we can already see the banks of
Ireland and as we slowly going down to land, we get our first sight of Dublin.
I feel like crying. It’s dark already and there’s so many lights down there. We
can see the docks and the river Liffey flowing
through the whole city. In the distance there’s Dublin Castle in the spotlights and all those beautiful places we
want to visit. And in that moment I realize that my dream’s come true. That
everything’s worked out and we’re really here.
We’re landing on time, quarter past
five, and after two and a half hour of sitting in the seat it’s really nice to
be up and walking again. We get out from the plane and our adventure begins.
We wait for our luggage and then we go to arrival gate where we visit a
little Spar shop to buy The Leap Visitor Card. It’s basically a
ticket for public transport. We get the one for 72 hours which costs €19.50.
There’s also one for 24 hours and €10.00, and one for 7 days and €40.00 (more
info including the list of things you can use the card for is here). So now we
don’t have to worry about transportation anymore and we can move freely around
the city.
Just by the airport exit we find the stop of the bus Airlink 747 that can get us in the city
centre. We ride for some time, mainly due to the traffic in the city which is,
as we realize quite quickly, really crazy around this time of the day. But
there’s no reason to complain, we’re sitting in the warm bus, going through
narrow streets, getting the first sight of the heart of Dublin, creating our
first impressions and sucking in the Irish atmosphere.
We get out from the bus at Heuston Station and get on another bus
right away. This time it’s bus number 145
which takes us right to our hotel. We’re staying in a little cosy hotel Leeson Inn Downtown, located just
two-minute walk from St. Stephen’s Green so
basically right in the city centre. The hotel’s in the older building and the
interior has kind of a vintage vibe to it and I just love it! Our room is quite
small but it’s more than enough for us. The kettle is here as advertised so we
have everything we need.
We have a cup of coffee to warm up and something to eat, then we go out
for a little bit of fun which is something that evening Dublin has plenty of.
Just around the corner there’s the bar Odeon
where you can eat, drink and have fun. It’s buzzing inside today but we
pass it and walk off along Camden Street which
is full of bars, restaurants, fast foods and little or big shops. The street is
filled with people, everyone has a great time, enjoying the evening. So are we!
Random guy on the street wishes us great weekend because that’s just what Irish
people are like – nice, friendly, helpful, kind. And I love this place more and
more!
Bars are non-smoking so we opt for
more adventurous way of entertainment. We get Irish beer Guinness in a little Tesco and
with the can in one hand we go on with exploring the city. We arrive at St. Stephen’s Green which is closed for
the night but we can admire all the light up buildings around the whole park.
We love the taste of Guinness and we
enjoy the walk. We meet nice people on every step of the way. We stop in front
of Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre on
the corner of Grafton Street to
admire the beautiful Christmas tree.
We finish the beers and get back to our hotel to have our beauty sleep
and get as much energy for the next “hard” day as possible.
We get up early, have a breakfast at the hotel and shortly after eight
we’re already out on the street that’s already full of people and cars. We
realize that the traffic’s not crazy just in the evening, we try and fail to
understand the system of traffic lights for the pedestrians and we seek the
haven in St. Stephen’s Green. Surprisingly
it’s very peaceful there. The sun is shining, it’s quite warm and we really
enjoy the slow walk across the park. We stop by the little pond to watch all
kinds of birds and admire the green all around us. We take a little brake in a little
bower to take some pictures and enjoy last peaceful moment before stepping out
on the streets again.
We head to Irish Whiskey Museum to
find out that the first tour’s starting at eleven so we have plenty of time to
just cross the road and explore Trinity
College. Without any trouble we manage to find the building of the old
library with the Book of Kells exhibition.
We pay €9.00 to a very nice man by the counter who is almost ecstatic by the
fact we’re from Czech Republic and give us a card with the picture of the
university as a gift. The exhibition is really interesting as it shows how
monks in 9th century wrote and illustrated books. But the best thing
about this library is The Long Room which
is proximately 65 metres long with almost 200.000 books. If we weren’t in hurry
to see other things in the city, we would spent hours here.
Before we leave, we buy few bits and pieces as a memory and then we get
back to Irish Whiskey Museum. Classic
tour costs €15.00 but we pay three euros extra for VIP tour which means instead
of three whiskeys to taste we’ll get four and a little glass at top of that.
Our tour guide is really nice and really knows what she’s talking about. The
tour itself is really interesting and when you feel like nothing can surprise
you anymore, pictures on the wall start talking. At the end of the tour, we
arrive in the bar and barman is already waiting to offer us something to drink.
There’s very friendly atmosphere and we have a great laugh. Before leaving we
have a little lovely talk with our tour guide and the barman. They both say
they were in Czech Republic this year and they like our beer. In return we say
we love Irish whiskey and we say our goodbyes. As we’re stepping out, we’re in
the great mood.
We’re heading back to Trinity
College to buy a cup of coffee in the university café and have a little
break on the bench in the university park to enjoy the sun. We have a little
talk with two German tourists and take pictures of each other.
Then we head for Marrion Square and
Oscar Wilde’s House which is just
five-minute walk from Trinity College. We
don’t stay for long, just take few pictures, and then we go for a walk through Marrion Park to enjoy a few peaceful
moments again.
We’re leaving the park and go for a longer walk with the final
destination – Dublin Castle. We pass
by St. Stephen’s Green again, walk
along Grafton Street full of little
shops. The sun disappears and it starts raining a bit. We don’t mind. Streets
are full of people, we pass by rainbow flags.
We admire the castle and its surroundings, including the gardens. The
rain is quite unfortunate!
We decide not to go for the tour
(€4.50) as we feel like there’s not so much to see inside the castle and
instead we head for ten-minute walk straight to St. Patrick’s Cathedral that looks magnificent even from the
distance.
We go inside the cathedral, without a doubt. The entrance fee is
normally €6.00 for an adult but today we pay only €4.20 as they’re building the
stage and placing the seats so the access is a little restricted.
We buy a few souvenirs and leave this magical place.
On our way to the hotel we stop in Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre to buy
something to eat. We enjoy a peaceful evening at our hotel room for a change.
Having a cup of coffee, eating Irish delicious food and watching TV. Talking
about our day and all the amazing moments we had. We already can’t wait to see
what the next day will bring.
We get up early again and after breakfast we head for Camden Street and on the bus stop Grantham Street we get on the bus number
14 and we’re on our way to another
adventure. We ride for probably 15 minutes to bus stop Outside Connolly Station where we step on the bus 31A that’s supposed to take us to our
final destination. We ride for a long time, proximately half an hour, but we’re
sitting on the first floor of the bus so we have a great view of all those beautiful
streets of Dublin. We can see the docks and the train station. Later on we’re
going through some fancy neighbourhood where we can admire huge villas with
beautiful front gardens with green lawns and sometimes even with a little fountain.
We pass by few churches, some of them small and classical, some of them huge
and very modern. We’re going through the suburbs and getting to know another
side of Dublin. As we ride on the road along the bay, we can take the first closer
look at The Irish Sea. We’re arriving
in the little town Howth located on
the same-named peninsula. We pass by a little romantic harbour that we want to
visit today as well. For now we stay on the bus, a few more stops. We get out
from the bus at the bus stop Thormanby
Road with the plan to go to see the furthest corner of the peninsula with
the Baily Lighthouse. Right from the
bus stop we can admire The Irish Sea and
the banks of Dublin in the distance.
We spent a couple of minutes trying to find the way to the coast. It’s quite
a hard task as all the road we manage to find are private and lead to the huge
houses standing along the road. We’re cursing a bit but all we can do is just
to envy the people who live here. It’s a wonderful place. The sun is shining,
there’s no wind at all, and the air is fresh and smells like the sea. And who wouldn’t
want to have a terrace with a view to the sea?
After few minutes of gathering our
courage, we get to follow a dark, narrow, dangerously-looking path and hope it
leads where we wanna go. It doesn’t take long to realise that those few
stressful moments were worth it. We find the paradise!
It’s so peaceful here, just the sound of the sea. No people. Just us. We
stop for a while, sit down on a little stone wall and watch the sea and huge
ships on the horizon making their turns to the Dublin docks.
We just don’t wanna leave this place (like ever!). So instead of going
back to the Howth harbour by bus, we
decide to follow a little path along the coast and hope it leads there.
We ended up on four-hour walk along
the gorgeous Irish coast. Cliffs and the sea on one side and beautiful green
nature on the other. We stop quite often to take some pictures or just to look
around and try to comprehend the beauty all around us. This place perfectly
represents this whole country – the sea, heath, green wildings, people who pass
us always give us a kind smile and say hello. Paradise!
We’re arriving in the town Howth but
before we step back into the civilization, we make the last stop on a small
out-off-the-way beach to just listen to the sounds of the sea for a few more
minutes.
Then we head for the harbour. It’s quite windy there so we don’t stay
for long. Instead we visit a little local market place. And then with a sad
heart we head for the bus stop to get back to the city.
We get out from the bus at Outside
Connolly Station and head for a little walk along the river. To get back to
the hectic city after such a peaceful day by the seaside is quite a shock but
the walk along the river is really nice. The sun is setting and there are
Christmas lights everywhere.
We walk to the Ha’penny Bridge which is a pedestrian bridge built in 1816. It’s
overcrowded but very beautiful. From the bridge we walk through the streets
full of shops and people to Marry Street where
we visit Primark. There are some really nice things for quite reasonable prices
but there’s also so many people and queues by the counters are never-ending so
we return to the street emptyhanded. We pass by The Church bar which is basically a bar inside a church and it’s
buzzing inside already.
We cross the river again and enter
the real heart of Dublin – The Temple Bar
district. This part of town is full of bars, entertainment, culture, music
in the streets, tourists… It’s dark already and there’s so many lights
everywhere. Almost on every corner there’s a band playing live music and
everybody has a great time.
We visit Stephen’s Green Shopping
Centre again to buy some food and a few souvenirs in a little shop Carrolls Irish Gifts where you can get
some of the best Irish souvenirs. I opt for a chocolate with Irish beer and
Irish whiskey flavours and Irish tea for my dad. I also get a magnetic bookmark
and keychain so I can have my Irish luck with me at all times.
In front of the shopping centre we
get to listen to live concert of the band Cezar
and we spent long minutes there. They are amazing (definitely check them
out on youtube) and I’m quietly saying goodbye to this extraordinary gorgeous
place.
On Sunday morning we get up to sunny weather again. We pack our luggage,
check out from the hotel and go straight to the airport. We don’t wanna leave.
We fell in love with Dublin and it’s so hard to say goodbye.
We’re quite surprised to be asked to
take off our shoes during the airport control but we pass without any trouble.
We’re taking off around half past
twelve. This time there’s more Czech people on the plane. The sky is clear so
as we’re going up we can see Dublin in all of his extraordinary beauty and we’re
sending a promise that we will be back!
And last but not least – one practical, very important and useful
information: how much money you’ll need for a trip like this aka four days in
Dublin won’t get you broke. I took more money with me as I was planning to buy
some Christmas presents.
Costs:
Plane ticket for one person (from Prague to Dublin): €170
Hotel – 3 nights for one person:
€133
Transportation – The Leap Visitor Card for 72 hours: €19.50
Entrance fees – Book of Kells, Irish Whiskey Museum, St. Patrick’s Cathedral: €31.20
Food – usually from supermarket: €25
Souvenirs – three chocolates, two bookmarks,
a keychain, two postcards: €16.80
Christmas presents – one bottle of
Irish whiskey (€25.50), a mug, Irish tea: €37.50
Total: €433
But all the things we’ve seen, all the places we’ve visited, people we’ve
met and all those beautiful memories we’ve gained are PRICELESS!
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