Well, with all the hot weather we’ve been getting lately it’s only fair that we finally got some rain! Unfortunately for us this meant an absolute downpour pretty much ALL day. So much so that I had to buy a raincoat! We didn’t let it stand in our way of getting everything done though.

We started our day bright and early heading to the airport at 5am! Caught the 6.30am flight from Leeds to Dublin and hopped on the €3 city bus in to Dublin. We were meant to be heading for a free city walking tour at 9.30 but since we were running late and I was already feeling cold and soaked we pushed it back and went raincoat shopping! I didn’t want to spend too much so picked up this little pink number from Penny’s. It did its job!

After a quick bacon and cheese toastie at McDonalds we headed for the free city walking tour known as ‘Yellow Umbrella Tours‘. These guys offer quite a few different tours at various times during the day and I highly recommend them. We did the South Side tour at 11am and gathered at The Spire ready to meet our group.

It was cold and very rainy but I was quite excited to explore the city again for the second time. Our guide – Conor was really good. I loved that he was so typically Irish – the accent was superb and he spoke so quickly but somehow I could still keep up! We learnt some pretty funny stories about the city and saw all the sights on offer. The spire, Trinity college, Dublin castle, Temple Bar and St Patrick’s Cathedral. By the time the tour finished the rain had stopped… temporarily.

After the tour we weren’t too sure what we wanted to do as the weather wasn’t great and we didn’t know where the best pubs were. We’d been told that all the locals drink at North side and we ventured over there to try find some good pubs with live music. We failed miserably so after walking for quite a few hours we ended up back at Temple Bar – The touristy part of Dublin.

I enjoyed being in Dublin again and loved noticing the little things dotted around the city. Like this little guy above! We even headed to a restaurant called Sophie’s where we didn’t stay for food as it was quite a little more classy than we were dressed for but I did get to sit on a swing!!

After a few hours venturing in and out of the shops we finally decided to have dinner in a bar in the Temple Bar area. We ate at a place called ‘Bad Ass’. It was perfect as there was live music and they served food and the best pint of cider I’ve ever tasted! By this point we didn’t even want to head back for our flight home. I think a few more hours exploring the pub scene would have been nice. I do love a bit of live music, especially in Ireland!

That will probably be it for Ireland for me for another few years now so until next time!

And in case any of you are are thinking about visiting Dublin and want to do it on a budget, here is all that I spent (not including the raincoat)

Dublin day trip total cost
£26 Flight return from Leeds to Dublin
€6.60 Return bus fare from Dublin Airport to Dublin City
€6.50 Pint of cider
€6 Meal

Just a taster of Europe and now I can’t wait to go backpacking again next month!