Before I left Canada someone had asked me if I was planning to spend Saint Patrick’s Day in Dublin. This was kind of like a once in a life time thing for me. Living in Edinburgh makes the trip over much easier and more cost efficient. So I decided my final year would be the year I celebrate some of the biggest cultural events in Europe.
Beginning of October we booked our flights to Dublin. The earlier the better when it comes to booking tickets and accommodation for holidays and events. Last year when I looked into going, about a month and a half before hand, tickets were over 200£. To say I’d been looking forward to this for a while is an understatement.
About a week before we were set to leave, Ireland announced it would be shutting all schools and colleges and restricting large scale events as a preventative measure against COVID-19. Unfortunately, this meant the Saint Patrick’s Day parade and many of the accompanying events were cancelled. A bit of a disappointment for us but we understood. At least there would be plenty of Guinness and good times to be had.
Day 1 – No Guinness, No Jameson
Our RyanAir flight over was still about half full. I was a little surprised but I guess a lot of people had the same idea as me. We figured we’d still try to make the most of our holiday, Jack hadn’t been to Dublin and I really needed a break. We arrived in Dublin in the late afternoon and headed towards our Airbnb in Swords. At checkin our host told us we’d be the only ones there through the week as everyone else had cancelled. We settled in and decided what we should do for the evening.
With it being close to 5:00 we decided our best bet was to head out for some drinks and plan out our weekend. I suggested the Jameson distillery on Bow Street because they have an amazing bar. We Googled it to get the address and it was closed. So, head over to their website and sure enough on the front page is a statement saying they’re closed until April due to the Coronavirus. That’s when it struck me, I hadn’t even thought about checking to see if any museums or attractions were still going to be open. I quickly checked to see if the Guinness Storehouse would be open and no luck there either.
We found a super cool bar in Swords called The Attic Bar though. It’s a neat, cosy space decorated with pop-culture memorabilia and serving great local craft beers. Sour fans will love The White Hag Brewing Companies berry, hibiscus and ginger sour. Sitting here enjoying a couple pints we each drafted up a list of our top three things we wanted to do while in Dublin. Then we immediately threw out my list because all of it was closed.
Day 2 – Irish Coffee for Breakfast
Our first full day in Dublin; so, we decided to head into town. I wanted to start the day off with an Irish coffee. For the best Irish coffee Vice Coffee is where it’s at. Located inside WIGWAM just off O’Connell Street their Irish coffee selection offers the good ol’ classic version and two signature versions. We tried both the signature ones. Fancy Frankie with Teeling small batch whiskey and spiced orange cream. Then Luxurious Linda with Teeling Stout Cask whiskey, Spirit of Dublin Poitín, Creme de Cacao, and cream. It’s hard to pick a favourite, they were so good. Unfortunately, Jack found out he doesn’t like Irish coffee. Unfortunate for him, means more for me.
As a Christmas gift I had received two vouchers for a mobile scavenger hunt company called Let’s Roam. They have options for scavenger hunts around the world, including a ghost themed hunt in Dublin. We’d already decided we’d do the scavenger hunt in Dublin but it was super helpful to have this as an option with everything closed. We had a lot of fun with the scavenger hunt. It’s all walkable and takes you to places you normally wouldn’t go. At each destination you answer questions which are found on the building, on plaques etc and unlock stories and secrets about that location. You are timed during your hunt but have the option to pause the hunt. I love this feature because it means you can stop and explore the places it takes you. The Dublin hunt takes you to a lot of amazing churches, one of which even features mummies in the crypt. Of course though, due to Coronavirus measures all these places were closed. We did have a lot of fun on the hunt but I think if we’d been able to explore these new places it would have made it that much better. It would have nicely broken up the go-go-go of the hunt and given our legs a little break. I’d definitely recommend trying out Let’s Roam if you’re looking for something different to do while visiting a new city. Not only do you get to see different parts of the city but you get to learn and have loads of fun while you’re at it.
Our scavenger hunt ended at The Brazen Head, Ireland’s oldest pub, where we stopped for a well deserved pint. We walked back into the city centre to find some dinner and our route took us by The Temple Bar. This is arguably Ireland’s most well known pub. It boasts Irelands largest whiskey collection and features live music daily. If you have ever seen The Temple Bar you know that it’s always bursting at the seams no matter what day or time. Walking down the street though the area was freakishly quiet. Despite the virus I still expected to see people outside sipping pints. But when we arrived, sure enough, the shutters were down with a notice that they were closed as well. We weren’t terribly fussed, even though it has an amazing atmosphere, The Temple Bar tends to be quite expensive and there are plenty of other great places for a pint. On the bus home that night we were checking the news and the government announced that all bars were to close. So much for that.
Day 3 – Swords
We thought we’d spend our third day exploring the town of Swords and its surrounding area. The previous day we’d picked up our Leap Cards. Leap Cards let you travel on buses, commuter rail, and trams in Dublin. They cost 19.50€ each, they activate the first time you use them and are valid over the next 72hours. Having these cards made getting in and out of the city easy for us. We pretty much only used them getting back and forth from Dublin and Swords as well as around Swords. Dublin itself though I’ve always found to be very walkable.
Our plan for the day was visit Swords Castle, which is pretty much right in the centre of town. Then, we’d head out to Malahide Castle which is in the next village over. We did our research this time and Googled both castles to see if they were open. Malahide Castle was closed for tours but their gardens were still open and Swords Castle had no info. We’d seen people at Swords Castle on our first day in the city so thought we’d give it a try. When we got there however it was closed. The castle itself is still under excavation and a lot of restoration has occurred since the 1990’s. We decided to walk around the curtain wall to see all the work that was underway. At the back of the castle is a large park area with great castle views and a small river. It was a great place to sit and enjoy some sun. We decided that we’d skip on Malahide Castle and just head into Dublin instead.
Once in Dublin we made our way towards the other side of the city to check out Trinity College and the surrounding area. The college campus was of course closed but we could still take a peak at the beautiful buildings through the fence. We hit up Grafton Street for some shopping then went for a wander around St Stephens Green where I chatted about the history of the park and its involvement in the 1916 Easter Rising. We had an early night that night because the next day was St Patrick’s Day so even though we had no idea what we were going to do, I wanted to get an early start.
Day 4 – Saint Patrick’s Day in a Ghost Town
The Saint Patrick’s Day parade last year attracted around 500000 people but this year, I’m not kidding when I say it was a ghost town. The EU announced plans to close the borders of the Schengen area and I think this worried a lot of people. The city seemed far more empty that morning when we arrived in town. We walked up a very quiet O’Connell street and stopped in at a doughnut shop for a snack and coffee. Dublin has no shortage of doughnut shops and each one offers something more elaborate than the rest. I’ve never seen such huge doughnuts in my life.
We worked our way through Dublin observing all the now-closed pubs window displays offering “great craic for St Patrick’s Day.” Craic being an Irish word meaning fun and good times. It was honestly really sad to see, Ireland’s national holiday and you would never have known. The streets were empty. You’d pass the occasional person dressed like a leprechaun but there’s never a shortage of that in Dublin.
We met up with some friends who live in Dublin at one of the local parks. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day so we didn’t want to waste it. We had a good catch up then went for some food. Saint Patrick’s Day back home is usually celebrated with Irish beef stew, colcannon and some homemade soda bread. This year though, it was celebrated over burritos. This little hole-in-the-wall burrito shop was the only place open for food in the area. I had a good laugh about that.
All in all, it wasn’t the Saint Patrick’s Day I had been dreaming of for the last while but it was great to have the opportunity to catch up with my friends. I think I needed a slightly more relaxing vacation anyways. Hopefully one day I’ll be able to make it back to actually witness the parade.
Luckily though I’ve got two other trips to Ireland worth of things to write about. So stay tuned in the coming weeks to read more about Dublin and some of its attractions. To stay up to date you can follow along on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
See you next week!