Jaunting to Dublin, Ireland

I don’t know why, but Dublin evokes quintessential Irish city life in my mind.

Whatever that means, since I’ve never been to Ireland before and “city life” isn’t what most people associate with Ireland anyway. (Red-haired, hot-tempered, whiskey and Guinness drinkers with stories about Leprechauns who meet in the pub at night after spending the day tending their farms nestled among picturesque rolling green countryside probably hits on all of the stereotypes most people associate with Ireland.)

In all honesty, I have no idea what we’ll do here. We won’t be lacking for things to choose from. Here’s some options:

• Jaunt in the footsteps of literary giants (such as Joyce and Yeats) and rock star legends (U2 hailed from here).
• Chase rainbows and pots of gold at the National Leprechaun Museum.
• Drink a pint of Guinness (made fresh here).
• Tour the Glasnevin Cemetery Museum. (Viator has a Glasnevin Cemetery Tour, which would be operating when we’re there.)
• Get busted (or do the busting, not sure which way it would work) at Kilmainhaim Gaol.
• Relax a spell at St. Stephen’s Green.
• Decide which of two castles to visit, Dublin or Malahide.
• Journey outside of Dublin to the monastery ruins in Glendalough.
• Trek to Powerscourt, a gracious Irish estate in the Wicklow Mountains, where there’s also the highest waterfall in Ireland.
• Maximize our sightseeing potential with one of the HOHO (Hop-on Hop-off) buses.

I also found some gnarly tours on Viator. Sadly, the ones that most interest me all operate at night, long after our ship will have set sailed. But if I ever find myself in Dublin for longer than a day, I’d like to do one (or preferably all) of the following:

Dublin Literary Pub Crawl

Dublin Gravedigger Ghost Tour

Dracula Walking Tour in Dublin

Bram Stoker’s Castle Dracula Experience in Dublin

Dublin for Game of Thrones Fans

Belfast is a day trip destination from Dublin (and vice versa I suppose). We’ll be making a stop in Belfast on our cruise as well.

However, if we weren’t, a Must Do on my list would be getting to Belfast, seeing the Giant’s Causeway, and taking a Game of Thrones tour.

Viator has a couple of Game of Thrones tours I think sound neat:

2-Day ‘Game of Thrones’ Tour from Dublin Including Belfast Sightseeing and Giant’s Causeway

Here’s the description of it:

Discover the historical city of Belfast and visit iconic locations used in the ‘Game of Thrones’ TV series on this unforgettable 2-day trip from Dublin. Enjoy a scenic train ride along the eastern coast of Ireland before exploring Belfast independently with a hop-on hop-off bus ticket and admission to Titanic Belfast visitor center. Then, travel to key locations that were used in the award-winning HBO fantasy drama ‘Game of Thrones’ with a local guide. See sites like the Dark Hedges road and the Cushenden Caves before enjoying free time at UNESCO-listed Giant’s Causeway.

‘Game of Thrones’ Location Tour from Dublin Including Giant’s Causeway

This one’s a scaled down version of the 2-day one, except there’s no visitor to the Titanic Belfast center. But it does take you to where a lot of key scenes were filmed, which, if you’re a fan of the show, would be fun. (At least I think so. Can you tell I’m a fan of the show?)