St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland?! Talk about lucky! Ireland was beautiful and I wish I had more time to spend there enjoying the countryside. It would be really cool to rent a car and drive around the coast … maybe someday I’ll get the chance to go back 🙂 But, rather than talking about the things I didn’t get to do here, let’s talk about what I did get to do!!
I flew into Dublin on Friday, March 15th, and spent time walking around Malahide, the small town that our Airbnb was in. Colin flew from the states and was scheduled to land in Dublin at 7 am Saturday and we had a day trip to see the Cliffs of Moher booked. Our tour departed from Dublin at 10 am, so we figured even if his flight was delayed a little, we could still get there on time (as long as his flight landed by 9 am). Of course……. his flight was delayed due to bad weather and he landed at 9:30! We had to cancel our day trip to the Cliffs of Moher which was kind of a bummer, but it gave us the opportunity to see more of Dublin that we otherwise would not have seen.
We spent our morning walking around Dublin and watching everyone gear up for St. Patrick’s Day, which was Sunday. We walked down streets with lots of shops and restaurants and visited St. Patrick’s Cathedral (first photo). Nearby was Liberties College (second photo), another historic, beautiful building.
After strolling around the city, we walked along the river in search of an Irish pub to get lunch at. We found one called the Arlington Hotel Temple Bar that was really busy… a sign of good food! I tried their daily special, chicken kiev served with mashed potatoes and greens. It was delicious and the best meal I ate in Ireland!
After lunch, we headed to Malahide so Colin could drop off his luggage. We decided to spent the rest of our afternoon and evening exploring Malahide rather than going back into the city. This was my favorite part of our weekend in Ireland! In my opinion, there wasn’t really anything special about Dublin — just another big city — so I’m glad we stayed outside of the city and got the opportunity to explore a smaller, less touristy area and Ireland’s natural beauty. Malahide is a pleasant little town located right on the Irish Sea between Ireland and the United Kingdom. We walked along the beach and it slightly rained, but we were rewarded with a beautiful double rainbow. In a few of my photos below, you can faintly see one of the rainbows. It was peaceful and good to spend time walking around and catching up with Colin! Interestingly enough, we also saw lots of oxen. The entire area was breathtaking, as I’d imagine the rest of the countryside around Ireland is.
After exploring Malahide, we went back to our Airbnb and watched the Wisconsin vs Michigan State game in the Big Ten Tournament (loyal fans right here…). Since Colin had just arrived in Dublin that morning, he was pretty jet lagged so it was an early night to bed and we also had to get some sleep before the St. Patrick’s Day festivities the next morning!
We started our Sunday morning off with brunch at a local restaurant in Malahide. We both tried pretty traditional Irish breakfasts and I liked Colin’s meal more than mine. After breakfast, it was time to head into the city for the parade!
The crowd around Dublin was crazy and when we first arrived, we walked around for a good twenty minutes just trying to find a spot where we could see the parade from. Eventually, we found a pretty decent street and hung out there to watch the parade! My hometown, New London, changes the town name to New Dublin every year for the week of St. Patrick’s Day and has a huge celebration including a parade, beer tents, and lots of celebratory events all week long. Since I’ve grown up in a town that really gets into St. Patrick’s Day, I was excited to see how Dublin would compare. Obviously, there were waaay more people in Dublin for the holiday but I was surprised that the parade was over in less than two hours. It’s longer in small town New Dublin most years! It was still cool to see and there were some impressive floats and performers in the parade. After the parade, we spent the rest of our afternoon and evening at pubs in Dublin immersing ourselves in the celebrations. Of course, we had to go see the famous red Temple Bar. We spent a lot of time at The Dame Tavern and I had never tried Guinness before but felt obligated to while in Dublin! It was alright, not my favorite beer but not the worst I’ve had either. We didn’t stay out super late, since we had to be at the airport by 5 am for our flight to Berlin the next morning but we still got our fix of the Irish celebrations!
A few of my favorite photos from St. Patrick’s Day are below, clicking on them will enlarge them!
Words From Abroad 