We loved Dublin! We were there for two full days and we really just enjoyed wandering around and hanging out in the city area. It had a great vibe and we had lovely weather too which helped! After the enormity of Japan, Singapore and London, Dublin felt very chilled and unhurried.
We actually stayed about 40 minutes south of Dublin in an area called Dun Laoghaire, (pronounced Dun Leery ) which is a lovely seaside suburb. We were still relying on public transport at this point but we found a bus stop right next to the accommodation that went straight into the city. We had booked an aiport transfer again from the airport to the hotel, whihc were on opposite sides of Dublin. Airport transfers are so worth it!
We stayed at a hotel called Rochestown Lodge Hotel, which was great. We booked it based on the price and included amenities, not necessary for the location, considering it was quite far from the city centre. We had a family room which was very spacious and had a seperate room for the kid’s beds. The hotel had an indoor pool which the girls loved, Braino took them swimming every afternoon! The hotel also had a great restaurant which we had dinner at every night as it was just convenient. The hotel was located in a kind of suburban area so there wasn’t any restaurants within walking distance and we didn’t have kitchen facilities.
Out and about in Dublin
One unique thing we did in Dublin was the National Leprechaun Museum. Well it was just myself and Farley who went, Farley has been very interested in mythological creatures for the last year or so, so it seem like a fitting experience for her.
However, upon closer inspection, the name National Lepruchaun Museum serves more to attract attention of tourists. The musuem itself is more of a story telling experience, where small groups are treated to various different tales from Irish folklore, including Leprechauns. Oral storytelling is an important part of Irish history, so the museum is dedicated to preserving that, rather than any particular artefacts or evidence of Leprechauns, which I imagine some people would be disappointed by if they hadn’t really research the museum before going. It was a great experience which I think Farley enjoyed, she was certainly brave, as we were lead through a lot of spooky, atmospheric spaces in museum to hear all the different folklore tales. (edit: since writing the first draft of is post, I asked the girls whats one thing we’ve done in Ireland that they enjoyed enough to do it again and Farley’s answer was the Leprechaun Musuem, so she definitely enjoyed it… maybe we will go again, who knows )
Afterwards, we of course went to the Temple Bar area which is the touristy pub area of Dublin. We had a Guinness in the iconic red Temple Bar Pub on the corner, which was actually Braino’s very first Guinness. With kids, we obviously didn’t stay too long in the pub but it had a fun lively atmosphere.
The other place we loved in Dublin was St Stephen’s Green, which is a lovely park in central Dublin It had a great playground for kids and a pond with swans and ducks. We even saw a baby swan. (photo below)
We also had a look in the Natural History Museum and the Archeology Musuem. Both were free and not far from St Stephen’s Green. The Natural History Musuem was very small and mainly just filled with taxidermy animals, apparently it’s colloquially known as ‘The Dead Zoo’. But the girls actually kind of liked seeing all the animals. I was quite interested in the Archeology Musuem but it didn’t really hold the kids attention for long and we arrived pretty close to closing time.
We also wandered over to St Patrick’s Cathedral but we found that it was closed during that time (it was a Sunday, so the opening times were sporadic compared to other days ) but there was a great playground and garden right next door so we didn’t mind, it wasn’t a far walk to get there.
On one of the days we spent the afternoon wandering through Dun Laoghaire. We caught the train there from Dublin and enjoyed another playground in the People’s Park and an ice cream from Teddy’s, which is apparently quite iconic to Dun Laoghaire. Fun Fact: in Ireland they call a soft serve ice cream with a flake a ’99’.
The girls had the best time climbing and playing along the rocks on the shoreline, which was a really peaceful way to spend the afternoon.
After our two days in Dublin we picked up our hire car, well actually Braino headed off across town to pick up the car and purchase kids car seats while I took the girls back to the playground in Dun Laoghaire. After a whole month of relying on public transport, it was such a welcome change to have a car. We especially needed it in the countryside of Ireland, where public transport is close to non existent.
A few other musuems and points if interest in Dublib that I had researched were:
Dublinina - a interactive museum that is geared towards kids and focuses on Viking and Mediaval Irish history. It’s right next to Christchurch Cathedral and you can get a ticket that covers both.
14 Henrietta Street, Dublin - This is a museum in an a tradition townhouse that captures over 300 years of what life was like in Dublin - from tenement dwelling to Georgian Townhouse
The Guiness Store House - This is tour of the brewery and museum of sorts aboust the history of Guiness. It looks really interesting but we couldn’t justify the cost with kids our age.