My week in Dublin #1 | Archive Travel

Posted on November 12 2024 by Katja in Travel Adventures / 0 Comments

My trip to Ireland was truly a trip to remember. Read more about my first days in the city of Dublin in this blog!

First posted in Dutch on May 21 2017 and updated on November 12 2024.

It was exactly two months after my first ever flight that I boarded my second. And this time completely alone. It was quite a strange experience to go to the airport on my own. Well, alone… I quickly started talking to someone on the train. A Dutch woman who has been living in Spain for quite some time now. Our flights left around the same time. And together we walked to the terminal. Only it turned out that she had to go through customs somewhere completely different than I did, so we each went our own way. But not before she had made a few jokes about my destination. Because well, Ireland is known for its rain and Spain of course for its sun. Ha. Ha. Spoiler alert: I only saw a clear blue sky in Ireland!

After a flight where I had a view of England and Ireland, I landed in Dublin. What a fantastic feeling that was! I bought a Leapcart (Irish public transport card) and took the bus to the city centre. I walked to my Airbnb where I would be staying for a week. From the first moment I had a connection with my host Paula and we chatted a lot about Ireland and our travel experiences to different places.

The next day I walked to Phoenix Park, which was basically Paula’s front garden. She lives just behind the zoo that is in the park. It was really nice to walk past it every day on the way to the city. The photos above were taken in the park. It was so beautiful to see all those flowers in bloom and the grass bright green. Because the sun was shining all week during my stay, I saw several picnickers, athletes and people enjoying themselves in the park. This park is a must visit during the sunny months. Also a fun fact: this is the largest park in Europe, it is even bigger than Central Park in New York to give you an idea.

I walked and walked through the city. My plan? I wanted to use my first full day in Dublin to go to Trinity College. The place is known for its large library. But where did I end up? The Docks! Dublin’s harbour. I ate my lunch by the water and tried to figure out how I had not ended up at Trinity College. The reason? They (back in 2017) are doing a lot of roadworks in Dublin, because they are building tracks for a new type of tram. Because of the roadworks I had apparently walked right in front of Trinity and had not seen it. Oops!

In the end I was able to find it very quickly thanks to a businesswoman who was also having lunch at the Docks. And I was very lucky, because I was just in time to join the last tour of the day. I had chosen the student tour. This is a student-run tour that is only slightly more expensive than if you would only buy a ticket for the library. I can recommend this tour, because it is much more fun to hear from a student what life on campus is like. That’s how we found out that the red building, you see in the picture when you look through the gate, houses both students and teachers. But that’s not all, it’s one of the oldest buildings on campus, which makes the building itself quite old-fashioned. So, if I had walked around campus in the morning, I would have seen several teachers and students walking outside in their bathrobes, because the bathrooms are only accessible from the outside of the building. That and more fun stories we got to hear from our guide.

Although the tour itself was pretty cool, after that it was time for the library! I held my breath when I took the picture above.

How amazing! I almost felt like singing a Beauty and the Beast song. Almost.

Yes, the headpiece of one of my favourite philosophers.

After Trinity I went to Grafton Street and had something to eat there, bought a souvenir for myself and then walked back to my Airbnb. It was a long but beautiful day in Dublin.

Next day: museum day! I decided to do the tourist attractions before the weekend, so I wouldn’t have to deal with long lines. And there weren’t any when I went to my first museum of the day on Thursday. National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology was my first museum of the day and I can already tell you that this was my favourite museum of the entire trip. I learned so much about the history of the country here.