Dublin

When we began our landing at Dublin airport, I was amazed by the view outside the windows. The green grass and the blue ocean made a perfect first impression of Ireland. This time we didn't have any problems at the airport, quite the opposite because it didn't take us long to get our luggage and get on our bus into Dublin city centre. We took a local bus (16A) which didn't cost us much at all (I realize that it sounds like I preferred the local bus just because it was the cheapest alternative but I actually like local buses more than airport buses, it feels like you're less of a tourist that way).

Once we figured out where to get off & found the hostel (which wasn't that difficult since the bus stop was right in front of it), we discovered that we were much too early. We had then been awake for almost 30 hours and we were tired!But instead of sleeping in our beds we had to wait until after lunch before we could get our room, which meant that we had to do come up with something to do while waiting for it. We had spent a long time in London looking for a cafe (a cafe that wasn't Starbucks that is) and we didn't expect to find the sort of cafe we were looking for in Dublin either. But we found Cafe Aroma, a nice place with comfy seatings and huge cups of cappuccino. We even got a biscuit with it, which totally made our day ;-)

After our stop at the cafe we decided to do some sightseeing and went to Trinity college. I have a thing for old school buildings... There's something about the atmosphere that actually gets me in the mood for studying. I just wish I could keep that feeling until I actually have to study, and not when I'm on holiday. We continued on towards Dawson street, where the wonderful three stories high bookshop Hodges & Figgis is located. It's the perfect place for anyone who loves books. Do I have to say that my luggage was filled with books on the way home?
Photo: Trinity College

We walked back to the hostel where we had to wait a bit longer since the room wasn't ready yet. When we finally got our room we went straight to bed and took a nap in the middle of the afternoon. We woke up a couple of hours later and got ready to go out.

We started off the evening with fish & chips at a pub called Madigans. After a very drunk irishman tried to convince us to sit down with him at the bar (I only figured that out because of his body language, he had a strong irish accent and was so drunk that you couldn't hear what he said) we moved on. We then found The Quays in Temple Bar & we were hooked. They played live music, the pub was full of people & the staff was funny and very serviceminded. I hate it when you have to wait ages just to order a cider, but that wasn't the case here. When the pub closed the bartenders told us to go to Q Bar, because they had cheap drinks and a dancefloor... And so we did. We were either to tired to appreciate it or the bar simply wasn't the kind we like, because we liked the pub much better!

After Q Bar we went back to the hostel for a few hours of sleep. We felt old, boring but we were so thankful for being able to go to sleep again :-)

Next morning we ate breakfast at the hotel before going out sightseeing. We went to Dublin Castle, Christchurch cathedral, St Patrick's Cathedral, the National museum & St Stephen's Green. St Stephen's Green was definitely my favourite! It's a huge beautiful park where lots of people go to take a walk, eat lunch or just sit down on a bench... It's so peaceful and I really recommend a visit to the park if you're ever in Dublin.

Photo: The first three is of Dublin Castle and then Christchurch Cathedral, St Patricks Cathedral and the last three is of St Stephen's Green.


After that we did some shopping before buying some food to take with us to our room. After a quick dinner we then went back to the Quays and then later on continued to another place where we danced for a short while before they closed too. We had a wonderful evening talking to lots of nice irish people as well as a couple of frenchmen and some americans. This is what I love most about travelling, meeting new interesting people.

We were leaving next day but before going to the airport we decided to go shopping again. I had catched a cold and didn't feel well at all but somehow managed a day of shopping anyway. I hate feeling unwell when you're not at home where you can feel as miserable as you like and just cuddle up under a blanket, sleep in front of the TV and drink tea. But I tried to enjoy this last day & it turned out to be quite a nice day despite my cold.
Later on that afternoon we had to take our things and take the bus to the airport to fly back to Sweden. It's sad to leave a place you've come to like but at the same time, there's no place like home.