Like I mentioned before on our second day in Dublin we did a free walking tour. Although it was not as good as the one in Edinburgh we still enjoyed it and learnt a lot. We are really loving these free walking tours, as it gives us the opportunity to see a lot of the city as well as learning about its history. Plus the tour guides are really friendly and give you tips of what to do and what not to do in the city, which has been really helpful! We finishided the walling tour in a park called Stephens Green. It was so beautiful! We wandered around the park for a bit before heading back into the bustle of the city. We have been here for a month now and I still haven't gotten over how green the parks and lands are! It's truly amazing. Once we had explored the park we headed around Dublin just to look around. We found lots of cool and quirky shops - so many candy stores! - and discovered some really cool old alleyways. We also found a tattoo parlour, that I absolutely fell in love with, more to come on that later though.
On our third day in Dublin we thought it would be fun to visit the National Leprechaun Museum! Anyone heading to Dublin and thinking about going to this museum, I would probably say give it a miss. Whilst it was quite interesting to hear about Irish mythology (which I have really taken an interest to, it's so fasinating) the museum itself was not that great. Really not worth what you pay to get in. It's definitely more aimed towards kids than anything else. It was a fun thing to see, but yes I wouldn't recommend it.
After the museum we wandered around the shops there for a while and then headed back towards where we were staying. At 5pm that day, I was scheduled in to get a new tattoo!!! I was so excited! I had found this artist on Instagram and absolutely fell in love with his style and artwork. I had a tattoo in mind that I'd had on my list of tattoos to get, but didn't think I would be getting it for a while. However this artists work was exactly what I was looking for! And then I found out he worked in Dublin, really close to where we were staying! I was so excited. We went to the tattoo parlour (Dublin Ink) and asked if they had any spots available, and the receptionist said yes...on the 16th of June. I was pretty devastated. We told him we were leaving in a few days and wouldn't be here then, so it wouldn't work out for us. He told us to wait there and went to have a chat to the artist. When he came back he said that the artist thought he would be able to fit me in at 5pm the next day!! I was so lucky, and so happy! So come 5pm we were back at the tattoo parlour, and I was getting ready to be tatted. Let me say it was the longest 2 hours of my life. I am so bad with pain, and it was so incredibly sore. But my goodness it was worth it. I absolutely love the tattoo, and am so so happy that I was able to get it done by an artist I love. So very lucky!
To celebrate we went and had a drink at a very traditional Irish pub. Harrison tried a Guiness! It was really gross 😝
Yesterday we were up bright and early to go on a day tour to Howth fishing village, 30 minutes out of Dublin. The tour was with the same group that does the walking tours (Sandemans) and it appealed to us because it was not a bus tour. Most day tours you get on a bus for hours on end and don't really get to see that much out of the bus. However on this tour they take you to the location via public transport and you do the tour by foot! We were really looking forward to it. When we left to start the tour the weather was looking really bad, and only got worse as the day progressed. We did most of the tour in the rain, which wasn't so fun, but we still really enjoyed the day. We started off by an old castle and learnt about it's history, and that people still live in parts of it today!!
We moved from the castle into the forest, which was just beautiful. In the forest our guide told us legends and stories of faeries and leprechauns. He told us the myths surrounding the forest, and the folk stories connected to it. It was so interesting! We trekked through the forest and up Howth Hill. The view from the top was pretty spectacular, even with the rain and fog. You could see all the way back to Dublin! It was really beautiful.
Back down the hill we went, on our way to a pub for lunch. We walked through another section of forest and through a bit of the village, which was really nice. It was a great relief to get to the pub and get out of the cold and rain! We got fish and chips for lunch, and made some friends from Perth and LA! It was great. After lunch was done we reluctantly returned to the rain to continue our tour. It was well worth braving the cold, as our next walk was along the Howth cliffs. The cliffs themselves were really beautiful, and the view from them was just as amazing.
We walked along the cliffs to the harbour, in the hope of seeing some seals playing in the water. After a bit of waiting we did see some seals! Even though it was just their little heads poking out of the water, it was still very exciting. We made our way back to the train station and ended our tour. It had been a really long and tiring day, but it was such an amazing experience, and I'm so glad we got the opportunity to see Howth and learn more about Irish history.
Today we are going to do a tour of the Jameson distillery (was supposed to do it yesterday but went to Howth instead) which I am very excited about. We have a long night of travel ahead of us, as we leave Dublin at 9pm and arrive at our next destination (Bath) at 10am tomorrow. So other than the distillery we are probably not going to do much, just relax before our all nighter. I have really loved Dublin. I wish we could have seen more of the Irish countryside, but I suppose it is something that we will have to come back to do in the future.
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