Monday, May 11th, 2026 and Tuesday, May 12th, 2026
We are SO excited to finally be leaving for Ireland. It has been on our bucket list for several years.
This morning eleven of us left home for the airport for our first flight to JFK airport in New York.
Our flight was on time!
Due to flight changes we had over seven hours before our flight to Ireland. Luckily we were able to visit the Delta Sky Lounge. We were able to relax, eat, and drink in comfort!
Our flight to Ireland was delayed thirty minutes but it was a fairly smooth over night flight.
Below are our first glimpses of Ireland!
Our hotel in Dublin was the Academy Plaza hotel. Our rooms were ready when we arrived so we were able to freshen up before we began to explore the city of Dublin.
We were all hungry so we found a pub and had a delicious meal at Madigan’s.
After twenty four hours of traveling we still were full of smiles!
After some nourishment we purchased tickets for Dublin’s Hop On Hop Off Bus to give us an overview of the city. It is a good way to see the sights and know what to go back to explore.
Dublin is known for its Georgian style architecture and we saw many examples. Georgian buildings were constructed mainly between 1714 and 1830, which included four kings all named George. These buildings were symmetrical and balanced with smaller windows on the top floor.
We passed by Dublinia, a historical Viking and Medieval Museum of the city of Dublin. It is part of Dublin’s Christ Church Cathedral, known as Synod Hall.
St. Audoen’s Church is located in the walled medieval city of Dublin. It’s the only remaining medieval parish church in the capital.
Phoenix Park is one of the largest enclosed public parks in Europe. Originally in the 1660s it was a royal hunting park. It covers 1,752 acres.
Located in the park is the Wellington Monument. It is a granite obelisk designed by Sir Robert Smirke to commemorate Arthur Wellesley’s victories. The foundation stone was laid in 1817 and it was completed in 1861. It has 4 sides and each side contains a bronze plaque cast from cannons captured at Waterloo.
The gates missing were original cast-iron and some say the gates were misplaced in storage. Others believe the iron was sold off.
The Father Theobald Mathew Statue commemorates his founding of the Temperance Movement. He was an Irish Catholic priest known as the Apostle of Temperance in the 19th century. He advocated complete abstinence from alcohol.
The Spire of Dublin is located on O’Connell St., the main thoroughfare of the city. It was unveiled in 2002 and stands 390 feet high and made of stainless steel.
Many people find The Spire to be an eyesore and doesn’t fit in with Dublin’s architecture.
The windows commemorate the birthplace of Oscar Wilde. He was a famous author, poet and playwright. There is a plaque below the windows noting this event. He was born on October 16th, 1854 in Dublin, Ireland.
We went by the Guinness Brewery. It was founded in 1759 in Dublin by Arthur Guinness. It is the most popular beer brand in Ireland. We will do a tour tomorrow!
After our Hop On Hop Off experience we walked along O’Connell St. We visited some stores and part of group bought their Ireland made Aran sweater. After shopping we headed back to our hotel. On the way back we saw the Dublin Portal. It was installed in May, 2024. It was a public art installation and was real-time 24/7 video livestream that connected cities across the globe. It is a visual bridge that originally connected Dublin and New York with a live video stream that showed New Yorkers the Spire. And in New York it was broadcast from the Flatiron Building. Now it switches locations every so often.
It has been a very long day of overnight travel with little to no sleep and walking around Dublin. We headed back to our hotel where we had a light meal and called it an early evening! Tomorrow will be another day of exploring the city!