Dublin - Day 1 — Patti Part Two

My last trip of my 2018 gap year has begun! First stop - Dublin. This is my first trip to Ireland, although It has been on my list for awhile. Just going to see Dublin this time around, but hoping to come back and see more of the countryside when the weather is warmer. And so far I am in love with it!

I arrived today and am functioning on basically no sleep, so this post will be brief and possibly incoherent. As usual I did my research in advance (thanks again Rick Steves). So upon arrival I immediately found the location to buy a multiple day transportation pass, and it’s already paid for itself in just one day. It gets you transportation to and from the airport, use of the Hop On Hop Off bus for the length of your pass, and unlimited use of the city busses and trams. It’s called the DoDublin Travel Card. It worked out perfectly for me today because when I got on the wrong bus it was no big deal to get off and find the right one. It pretty much is a given that I’ll do that at least once or twice each day. Doesn’t cost me any extra to take the scenic route😁

A delicious scone and tea......because I’m in Ireland!

I dropped my luggage at the hotel and headed out to find the Hop On Hop Off bus. Got to enjoy part of the tour befor I got off to see my planned destination for the afternoon - Kilmainham Goal. Highly recommended to see, it's a historic jail used by the British as a political prison. It was built in 1796 as Dublin’s county jail, and many who fought for Irish Independence were held or executed there.

It is recommended to book your ticket in advance for the guided tour, but since I wasn’t sure when I would be going I just took my chances. It’s not a super big tourist time here now and since I was just one person I was able to get a ticket in the last tour. The guide was really good - lots of information but some humor too. We were allowed to take pictures and he said if we took pictures of ourselves they would be cell-fies. I thought that was pretty good!

96 individual cells in this block - also my attempt at a Wes Anderson-like photo. If you don’t know who he is you’re missing out!

That took up a good part of my afternoon but I learned a lot about Irish history by going there. Lots more for me to see in Dublin over the next few days. And Dublin is definitely all decked out for the holidays!

I have a packed agenda for tomorrow so planning on getting an early start. Now time for some 💤.