Day 10 – June 29, 2024 – Dublin, Ireland

Today we had a small group tour of Dublin highlights. Our tour started early so we were up by 6 am to be able to grab a bite before heading out for our 8 am tender. We were met on the dock by our tour guide, Sean, was had lived in Dublin all his life. He was a character, but in our opinion, talked way too much and repeated himself a lot.

He had our driver take us to Dublin city, which was about a 40 min drive all the while giving us highlights of what we were seeing along the way. Once in Dublin, we got a panoramic tour of the city, which lasted about an hour as again he gave us information about different sites. We stopped at St. Patrick’s Cathedral for about 40 minutes, which gave us time to look around, a bathroom break, and some peace and quiet from Sean, lol! The cathedral was beautiful, but I found myself comparing it to the ones I saw in Italy last year, and you just can’t do that as there really is no comparison. The cathedral was packed as there were multiple tours going on, but it was still nice to walk around and look at things.

We were driven back to the pier and knew we had time to grab some lunch while in Dublin, so made the mistake of asking Sean a good place to eat, which lead to a 20-minute discussion of what direction to go, what to eat, but he couldn’t remember the name of the place. We walked around for a while, and it was misting so we just picked a place and dealt with it. We both had a beer and fish and chips. It was decent, but I’ve had better. I would have preferred the seafood chowder Sean was talking about, but we could not find the place based on his directions.

Once done with lunch, we did a little more walking around and then headed to the pier to catch the tender. Let’s just say the ride was a bumpy one as the weather was not the greatest. The tender was packed as we pulled up beside the ship, we knew there was going to be issues. The tender drive was having a rough time trying to keep the tender close to the ship which was making it hard for the passengers to stay steady on their feet as they were getting off. My in-laws were on the tender as well, so I was trying to keep an eye on them to make sure that John and I got off when they did. The waves kept slamming the tender up against the ship dock, so it made for a very scary situation trying to get off. I’m pleased to say, everyone got off safely, but it was extremely difficult for a lot of the passengers. The staff did a wonderful job!

We cleaned up, all met for happy hour and dinner and then sat around for a while chatting about the day. Tomorrow we are in Liverpool, England and while we did have an excursion planned, we decided not to do it and do our own thing. It was an 8-hour long excursion and that’s just too much. I’m sure we will have a great time exploring on our own! Nite all 😊

ABOUT DUBLIN (taken from the daily newsletter)

Dublin is the capital and largest city of Ireland and is a vibrant metropolis steeped in history and culture.
It is located on the east coast at the mouth of the River Liffey.
It has been Ireland’s primary city for most of the island’s history since medieval times.
Founded as a Viking settlement, Dublin as evolved into a bustling urban center with a population of 527,612 in the city proper and over 1.8 million in the greater metropolitan area.
It is Ireland’s economic, administrative, and cultural heart, serving as the nation’s chief port and center of financial and commercial activity.