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Friday 3 April 2015

The Dublin Travel Diary


Morning guys!

So it's kinda tradition round here that when I go on a trip I put together a little montage to share with you all and Dublin was a seriously cool place to visit so it was only natural for me to give you all a glimpse into my trip and what I got up to.

Before we get into the exciting stuff I thought I just had to add this little bit of info in! So, the night before my sister and I were due to fly, we were both finishing off our packing and stuff, when my sister hits me with the fact she lost her Passport. At first I thought it was a joke so I just laughed it off but after searching the house from top to bottom we were convinced someone had stole her Passport or something. Anyway to cut a long story short - we did find the Passport but guess where it was - in the green bin outside! How it ended up in there we have no idea, however as I'm sure you can imagine we were both pretty pleased it was found especially since our flight was only 7 hours away and well the clock wasn't going to stop ticking!

Anyway, so fast forward a few hours, my sister and I got up at 3:30am to catch a 6:30am flight. Upon arrival at the Airport we'd both worked up a bit of an appetite. I don't know what it is about Airports, they're a bit of a strange place. It seems that in an Airport it is acceptable to eat and drink alcohol no matter what time of day it is! Our flight was only an hour long, which I found surreal since I seems to take an hour to get to the closed city to me in the UK. The flight went so quick and it seemed that as soon as we had just got up in the air we were on our way back down.

Getting from the Airport to central Dublin is SO easy, like the majority of Airports it has a bus that runs every 15 minutes or so called Airlink p.s its only 6 euros each. We got dropped off at O'Connell Street then made our way to the hotel which was located in Smithfield by the Luas - Dublin's version of the tram. They're super cheap to catch and really convenient when you just can't be bothered to walk. Well, I say this but on each day of our trip we actually walked over 10 miles during the day so in the evenings we just caught the Luas in as our little legs could carry us no further! We stayed at the Maldron Smithfield by the way in case you were wondering and it was lovely. The room is contemporary, very clean and the beds are so so comfy.



So once we'd checked in and had a snoop around the hotel we had both worked up quite an appetite. Being the organised woman I am, I had already written down a bit of an itinerary. One of the places on my list that I was desperate to visit was 'Queen Of Tarts'. When perusing my Pinterest feed and looking up places on Trip Advisor, this little tea room dominated the fort and appeared to be a 'go-to' place to visit if you're in Dublin. It was a miserable old day in Dublin and was pouring with rain but that couldn't stop us! We made our way into the city centre and headed straight to Queen Of Tarts - a quaint little Patisserie style cafe in the heart of Dublin. Both my sister & I loved it there, it's the sort of place where you could nestle up on a miserable day and still feel content and cosy? Know what I mean? You could take your Grandma or your boyfriend there and still have a wonderful experience. The interior is old fashioned but iconic and the cakes just look simply amazing. They're homemade and are just as delicious as they look. Tea is served in wonderful floral delicate tea cups and if you're in the mood for cake then you will not be disappointed with Queen of Tarts as the portions are enormous!


Might I add since we'd had an early start we both took a power nap to make sure we were revitilised ready for the evening. Once we'd slept, got organised and made our faces up we made our way into the city centre. This time we caught the tram as our poor little feet were aching. We wandered into Temple Bar and had a quick peruse around. The pubs were all so cute, intricate and typical traditional Irish. The attention to detail was amazing and really fascinating.



For our evening meal we decided to visit the Dublin Hard Rock Cafe. I had never been to one before but my sister has been to quite a few all over Europe and used to always rave about them so I thought it would be cool to see what all the hype is about. First things first, the music is loud, very loud but the atmosphere is great and the staff are super friendly and attentive. For my main meal I had a Sweet Potato Burger which wasn't the best burger I've ever had and perhaps a little over price for what it was, but it was still very tasty none the less. The Cocktails however are incredible and also a very decent price. My sister & I both had a couple of Cocktails each and then a baby Guinness each (after eights shot) as I don't actually like Guinness!




That night we also went for a wander around the Irish bars and went to watch at band at The Temple Bar which was lovely, the atmosphere was brilliant and the music was great.

In the morning we visited Yogism for breakfast - (full review here) which is a Vegan Self Service Cafe that does the Froyo & Pancakes. This place really stood out to me, it has such a brilliant concept and niche, I will definitely revisit.




We did a whole load of shopping in the city centre, I was very impressed with Brown Thomas, it was beauty and fashion heaven, definitely worth a visit. Read my Dublin Make Up Haul HERE. We walked for miles that day it seems and on our way back to the hotel we actually passed a cafe, just down the road from the Penny Bridge - I can't remember it's name unfortunately but I had a Chai Tea & Toblerone Cheesecake was delicious.

All in all it was lovely trip and I will definitely be returning to Dublin, maybe in the summer. It was so nice to spend some quality time with my sister, sip one too many Cocktails and drink gallons of tea! Oh and the shopping was pretty good as well!





1 comment:

  1. All the food looks fab! So jealous!
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