OVER the new few weeks young local nurses Aby and Maddie, will take us on a tour to 10 European destinations revealing the good and bad of their special holiday. Chapter one gives Ireland a big tick, make sure you download the QCode to watch the video highlights of their trip each week.
AFTER 30 hours travelling and four planes, we landed at Dublin Airport to start a tour of Europe which had been more than three months in the planning.
When you are visiting 10 destinations in six countries over 30 days the schedules are tight and for Ireland, we budgeted just three days.
Knowing that the Temple Bar district in Dublin was the mecca of nightlife we booked our accommodation right in the heart of the thriving pub district.
It was a great decision and just hours after throwing our bags into the room at Handel’s Hotel we went off in our party shirts on a pub crawl.
Two tips here, Handel’s Hotel is just above average so look elsewhere and booking a pub tour before you even arrive is a masterstroke.
The pub tour took us to the best in Temple Bar and we were welcomed with open arms as we strode into the pubs along with our fellow tourists.
The Aussie accent and a smile is a winner in Dublin and we felt immediately at home, we were welcomed as family.
The Irish have a great affection for Australians, possible because we like to sing and down a beer as much as they do.
We taste-tested a few pubs in the opening days and no matter if it was 10am or 10pm the artist on stage had you captivated, they were that good.
On our final full day, we toured the city on the top deck of a Big Bus.
The bus tours are a great introduction to any city and we did one at almost every port of call.
It gives you a great introduction to the town and the attractions and it’s easy to jump on and off.
We tossed up between a tour of Jameson’s Whisky Factory or the Guinness Brewery.
The brewery won our vote and even though we will not be drinking Guinness again at least now we can tell you what goes into one of Ireland’s best-known drinks.
Would we go back to Ireland? Absolutely, in fact we are both now looking at a return trip in the coming years.
