My dear friend Tatjana sent me some tips in advance that were not only very useful, but also written in a humorous way.
That's why I don't want to withhold this from you (of course I asked beforehand whether that was okay with her ;-)
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Basically there is something to see everywhere in Dublin and you can also find enough destinations "inside" for rainy weather. For an overview of what's where, we had the "Dublin Citiguide" from Lonely Planet. They suggest, among other things, thematically structured routes, i.e. if you want to visit the birthplaces of all the scriptures... In addition to the large city map, they also have many detailed maps of smaller districts, which really makes navigating easier.
For a rough outline of Irish history, I can recommend "Irland für Dummies". This gives you a quick overview and allows you to classify things a little better during a tour when a term like "Strongbow" is mentioned. (You then know whether he was a hero or a villain and can make appropriate facial expressions). There were definitely one or two conflicts on the island, so it's easy to get confused.
As for the prices... Well, if you're used to Frankfurt, it won't be as shocking anymore. We had a hotel with an "Irish breakfast", which is highly recommended. It is similar to the "English breakfast" in terms of selection and quantity. After that, you won't be able to move very well for about an hour, but that's usually enough until dinner. The sandwiches in the supermarkets are actually quite tasty - significantly better than the ones here in Germany in terms of selection, toppings and size.
We found the Dubliners to be very friendly, but when they speak their dialect they are really difficult to understand (no, I don't mean Gaelic, they have something incomprehensible in between).
Since our hotel was in the suburb of Malahide, we traveled a lot by public transport (Irish Rail). The ticket machines are actually quite easy to understand and otherwise there are friendly people at the ticket counters - if you understand them.
It's best to stop by the large "Dublin Tourism Center" (St. Andrews Church, 2 Suffolk Street) because there you will find all the information, the current opening times for all the sights and they speak tourist-friendly English. You can also book excursions to the surrounding area here.
The smaller tourist offices were of varying quality, some of them only sold tickets for city tours or just had a map of the city.
I can't really recommend anything. Our hotel had the infamous Irish breakfast and in the evening a restaurant with breathtaking steaks and burgers made from Angus beef. So ... why seek far afield...
If you like to visit old buildings inside/outside or if it happens to rain, you can stop by here:
(also look at the crypt!)
(known from the Easter Rising in 1916, today a normal but antique post office)
and otherwise you pass a lot of things where I've forgotten the name ...
If you just want a snapshot of who's who from the last 200 years, I can recommend the tour of Glasnevin Cemetery. Cemetery tour?? Yes, it sounds a bit strange at first. But in just over 2 hours you actually get introduced to every important personality in Dublin/Ireland, whether a poet, lawyer, Fenian The Fenian Brotherhood was a secret organization of ethnic Irish founded for the Irish struggle for independence. The Fenians named themselves after the Fianna, the army of the legendary medieval hero Fionn mac Cumhaill. or IRA (the early representatives).
Around the corner there is a sensational pub "Gravediggers" or also called "Kavanaghs". It nestles directly against the cemetery wall from the outside and apparently still has the original interior from 1833. It owes its name to the clever Mr. Kavanagh, who (so the legend goes) picked a hole in his house wall and that of the cemetery, to hand the Guinness directly over to the gravediggers, after all, shoveling makes you thirsty.
And as strolling through the cemetery for a good two hours does, a beer is just what you need.
If the way there isn't in the guide: From the main entrance to the cemetery (i.e. when you walk out of the main gate) you have to turn left and simply walk along the cemetery wall or leave the cemetery on your left. There is also a shortcut through the cemetery to the exit directly at the pub, but I can't describe it because we only discovered it afterwards. So if necessary, ask or hail a taxi in front of the main entrance, let them drive you there and then look innocent and give a good tip because it's actually a stone's throw away ;-).
is supposed to be a pure tourist rip-off.
The guide from the excursion urgently warned us and we heeded it.
You may have to wait quite a long time until places are available on a guided tour and it is also quite expensive.
Then you watch a commercial for half an hour...
My husband had already done that and we left it out together.
In the end it's somehow "just" Jameson ;-)
Quite nice to look at during the day, after dusk it is the area for bachelorette parties and drinking sprees - unfortunately with all that entails. Even my husband's "men's tour" didn't find it that exciting overall.
Nice little town by the sea, the castle is very pretty and can also be visited. But if you don't live there, it's not a must-have given what Dublin has to offer.
If you want to do a bit of hiking in nature, Howth is just great. You can take the train directly to the harbor and from there you can hike around the small peninsula on circular hiking trails of various lengths. The paths are well developed and signposted. You can see a cute harbor, seals, beautiful nature, seals from above, Dublin Bay and, if the visibility is very, very good, supposedly Scotland.
(And if you watch the old "Father Brown - he can't help it" with Heinz Rühmann (famous german actor from the time when TV was still black and white) again, it will all seem very familiar)
I don't know how you feel about Neolithic passage graves... If you're interested there is a really remarkable site in "Bru-na-Boinne" or "Newgrange". Since it is difficult to reach by public transport, a trip is a good idea. Then you don't have to wait in line at the checkout and you don't have to worry about anything else.
The excursion sometimes includes a detour to the "Hills of Tara", where the Irish kings used to reside and/or castles, abbeys, etc.
But if something like that isn't your thing: leave it out without fear, do it sometime later or just look at it on Wikipedia.
Of course, the excursions also depend very much on how good the respective travel guide is. Back then we had someone who put his heart and soul into it and told us a lot of information/stories along the way, which was really a stroke of luck. This makes it difficult to recommend a specific provider.
Well, that's all I can think of now except: Have a lot of fun there!! I'm looking forward to the blog ;-)
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