When I think of Ireland, I think of shamrocks, leprechauns, and St. Patrick’s Day. Let me be the first to tell you that Ireland is so much more than that. I was very surprised at just how much there was to do. We were only there five days for our long travel weekend, but I could have easily stayed a few weeks. I fell in love with this country as soon as I stepped off the plane!

While in Ireland, we visited the Cliffs of Moher, took a tour of the Guinness Storehouse, walked in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, tested out the Temple Bar area and the Old Jameson Distillery, and saw the Dublin castle. The weather was amazing because it didn’t rain at all when we went at the beginning of November, but it was very chilly once we got to the Cliffs and when we were walking around at night.

I’ll start with my most favorite thing we did during this trip, and it was the Cliffs of Moher. It was so breathtaking and it is one of those places that the pictures don’t even do it justice. We bought a ticket for the all day tour which was fifty euros ($55 USD) and boarded a bus at 6am the next day! It was a very long drive but the bus driver stopped at a lot of places so we could get off, stretch our legs, take some pictures, and get some coffee if we wanted. The cliffs themselves were absolutely magnificent and the weather there couldn’t have been better! I’ll let the pictures of the cliffs do the rest of the talking, but in my opinion this is a must see if you decide to go to Ireland!

The Guinness Storehouse was also a really fun thing to do. The tickets for the tour were eighteen euros ($20 USD) and it was self guided so you didn’t have to be at a display longer than you want to! The tour took around two hours (for the pace we were going) but the really cool part was at the end of it all, we were taught how to ‘pour the perfect pint of Guinness’. After we poured our perfect pint, we took the elevator to their famous rooftop bar where the bar is surrounded with windows so we had a panoramic view of all of Dublin.

We also went to St. Patrick’s Cathedral which was really cool because people usually associate him St. Patrick’s day, but we aren’t really informed about everything he did for Ireland. He was actually the patron saint of Ireland and was known for converting Ireland to Christianity in the 400’s, but was not actually Irish. The cathedral talked about all the works he did in his life and it was really interesting to read about everything he did because before that, I would just associate him with our American holiday!

Other than those main things, we just walked around the city and saw the Dublin castle and Trinity College. Dublin is an enchanting city and the people there are one of a kind type of people. Making a trip out to Dublin definitely wouldn’t be a waste of your time!

Here is a video of my time in Ireland: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBCDJxzco9E