ireland part 1: erin go bragh!
introduction + ireland part 1
part 2
part 3
top o' the morning to ya, friends! (sorry, i had to)
although we had an awesome time celebrating st. patrick's day back in march, andrew and i recently got back from ireland (and england too) and got to experience real irish culture. and let me tell you, it didn't disappoint in the least!
since we have SO many pictures from the trip, i decided to break them up a little bit and separate the posts into activities, food/drink and guinness/jameson for the ireland leg of our journey. first up is what we were up to in dublin/belfast!
for starters we stayed in the fabulous gibson hotel in the pier area that is really being revitalized right now. we were super impressed by this place - the room was nice and spacious, the staff was incredibly nice and the views were awesome too. recommend!
who doesn't love a good bono mural? we must be in ireland!
we were mesmerized by these escalators from oz!
we inevitably did leave the hotel to explore and we quickly discovered our favored mode of transportation in dublin - the bikes! we started most of our days hopping on them (there are stops everywhere!) and taking off into the downtown area. it's amazing the places you see and stumble into along the way. in my opinion, it's the best way to see a city besides walking.
we got super lucky and it only rained one day when we were out and about (funnily enough, right after we took the pictures below). if you're ever in the middle of dublin, do not miss st. stephen's green park. since it rains there all. the. time. it's super green and lush-looking. and full of interesting people! perfect for a nice stroll to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city.
i have a thing for the colored doors of dublin. they are everywhere and make me happy.
st. patrick's cathedral is almost too big to fit in a photo frame! beautiful!
although we could have stayed in dublin the entire trip, we decided to take the train to belfast (northern ireland) for a day to explore the town and to see the titanic museum. the fangirling on my part was too real.
the photo isn't the best since it was taken at train speed, but the irish countryside is just gorg.
having only opened in 2012, this museum is fairly new and located in the up and coming titanic quarter on the harland and wolff shipyard grounds where the titanic (and many other ships) were built. we are both history nerds and i found the history of how they built the ship without modern technology absolutely fascinating. the museum is informative, interactive and really well done. plus, titanic is my favorite movie of all time so it was especially exciting to see where it all began. #myheartwillgoon
likeeeeeeeee. dream come true aside from being on the actual ship itself.
next to the museum, they also have the SS nomadic, the last remaining white star line ship in the world. the ship was recently restored and they allow guests to walk the same deck that transported the passengers to the titanic. it's in beautiful condition on the inside and is a great way to see what it was like in the 1900s. i may or may not have wanted to steal one of the life belts.
we spent the rest of our time in belfast walking around town and exploring what else this charming town has to offer. we ran right into the albert memorial clock and dublin city hall a few blocks down. belfast in general is a really unique town with a lot of old and new things to see!
there you have it! some fun stuff to do in dublin/belfast aside from the pubs (which we'll cover in my next post). see you then!