Dublin City Sightseeing Tour

Destination: Dublin City, Ireland.
Date: 29 October 2009 (Thursday)

As promised in my previous post, now is the time for me to share about Dublin City sightseeing tour!

Early in the morning I made some breakfast and brought some in our backpack for lunch. Just some simple sandwiches which the ingredients were bought from the Tesco Express nearby.  While I was preparing the breakfast, hubby bought the Dublin City sightseeing tour ticket online at City Sightseeing. We got 10% discount to buy the tickets online!

Around 9.00a.m. we were already got onto the hop on hop off bus.The first bus or the start point was at 14 Upper O'Connell Street, outside Dublin Tourism Office. As it was just in front of our hotel building, we could just walked there slowly.

Statue of James Larkin, the labour leader at the O'Connell Street, Dublin.

O'Connell Bridge at Liffey River, Dublin City.

Grafton Street.

On the right of the Grafton Street, there is the Molly Malone statue. Molly Malone is a tale of a beautiful fishmonger, who was a part-time hussy also.

 

Molly Malone statue.

As you can see in the above picture, the windows are getting smaller on the top. According to our bus tour guide, it is because they wanted to make the building looks higher and the second reason is to reduce the window tax.

Cycle track signboard in Ireland.

Most of the signboard in Ireland were translated into two languages, English and Gaeilge.

Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin.

Above picture is the Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin. Here is where the Anglo-Norman adventurer who conquered Dublin and married Aoife, daughter of the King of Leinster, was buried.

In Dublin, you can always rent a bicycle, but I am not very sure about the price rate.

Later on we hopped off the bus and walked to Saint Stephen's Green, one of the oldest public parks in Ireland. We wished to capture some autumn pictures in Dublin. Below are some of the pictures taken.

Hubby and I at Saint Stephen's Green Park, Dublin, Ireland.

Resting at the park while enjoying the golden view of the park in autumn.

Above picture is the state drawing room, which was the principal reception room inside the Dublin Castle. Dublin Castle only provides guided tour and students get cheaper price by showing the student ID card! It is so interesting to know the history of Dublin Castle. I won't tell, you should visit yourself! He... he... :)

Powder Tower at Dublin Castle.

Guinness Storehouse.

We visited the Guinness Storehouse at St. James's Gate, Dublin as it is Ireland’s number one international visitors attraction. The entrance fee was quite expensive for us even though we got some discount from the Dublin City sightseeing tickets. For more information about Guinness Storehouse, visit this website.

The Guinness brewery was founded in 1759 by Arthur Guinness. In 1759 Arthur signed a 9000 year lease for a site at St. James's Gate with access to the city watercourse. Can you count when will the lease end? :)

Inside the storehouse there is a tasting lab, where visitors can sample the finished product but as we are Muslims we couldn't taste it. We visited this place just to gain some knowledge. Besides learning the process of producing Guinness, visitors can also watch visuals about the making of barrels, the tradisional made of wooden staves enclosed by metal hoops.

On top ot the storehouse, there is the Gravity Bar, that have the unique 360° view of Dublin City and beyond. Here all visitors can enjoy a complimentary pint of Guiness. Again it was not for us as we are Muslims, so we just had two glasses of Coke! :)

Some of Irish souvenirs at Carrolls.

We found that Carrolls Irish Gift Shop is the best place to buy Irish souvenirs. Most of the souvenirs are cheaper than other places! In fact there are few Carrolls Irish Gift Shops in Dublin. For more information, visit their website.

Ireland is very famous with the step dance or people just call it Irish dancing. There are few places where you can watch the Irish dancing but you have to pay for the show. As for me and my hubby, our budget was quite tight, so we went to Arlington Hotel and watched free Irish dancing show. We only paid for the drinks and able to watch live Irish dancing show for about 30 minutes. If you want to enjoy a night of unforgettable Irish hospitality and food while watching the traditional entertainment, you may book the three course menu dinner at €29.95 per person.

Arlington Hotel.

As we came early to Arlinghon Hotel, we enjoyed listening to the above live band, while waiting for the Irish dancing show to start, located at lower ground of this hotel.

 

Irish dancing show at Arlington Hotel.

I really enjoyed watching the Irish dancing and listening to their traditional music. It made me felt like being in a fairy world :)

Once the show was over, hubby and I walked to the Temple Bar area. It was a quite happening night there as there were many street shows. Some more that night was Halloween, so many people were dressing in different costumes.

Part of the Temple Bar area.

Below are some of the street shows at the Temple Bar area.

 

Spire or Spike at O'connell Street, Dublin.

Before went back to our room at the Lynam's Hotel, we took some pictures at the Spire which is 120m tall, making it the tallest structure in Dublin City centre. Locally known as Spike, located at O'Connell Street, Dublin, which is also in front of our hotel. To know more about our hotel, please read the previous post! :)

We saw a machine which people can buy stamps, 24 hours a day! What a very convenience way to buy stamps. Hopefully Malaysia will have one like this :)

The whole day was a great tour but we felt that it was not enough time to visit the whole Dublin City in a day. Some more in autumn it gets dark early which is around 5.30p.m.

In my next post, I will share about our experiences during the Wicklow Tour! :)