Ireland : Dublin+Ring of Kerry

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Preface : There are certainly several places you can visit and enjoy while you are in Dublin, but what if, you have just a day or two. Well, it isn’t much time, but it’s possible to see various places. What you can do is, plan your walk effectively.

In my opinion for
Dublin

Public transportation : ✪ ✪ ✪
Getting around on foot : ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪
Daytime safety : ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪
Nighttime safety : ✪ ✪ ✪

Ring of Kerry

Public transportation : ✪
Getting around on foot : N/A [you need a car to drive around]
Daytime safety : ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪
Nighttime safety : N/A

✪ = poor, ✪ ✪ = fair, ✪ ✪ ✪ = good, ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ = very good

THE FIRST AND SECOND DAY
The best starting point, in my opinion, is O’Connell Monument, because you can see the Spire, the beautiful O’Connell street as well as O’Connell bridge at once.

O’Connell Monument and The Spire

O’Connell bridge

From this point, you can walk towards Westmoreland Street to the famous Old Library and Book of Kells, located inside Trinity College. This is a must to visit, once in your life. The huge space of the Long Room chamber, at nearly 65 m., filled with 200,00 books will make your jaw drop.

The Long Room at The Old Library and Book of Kells

Tips :

The entrance fee is 13 Euro per person.
There are many people who want to visit The Long Room. It means, you have to wait in a queue outside the building. My suggestion is, bringing an umbrella with you, just in case (raining).
The waiting time can be varied from 15 – 30 minutes.

From Trinity College, you can walk towards Dame Street and here you have 2 alternative routes:

Turn right to Fownes Street Upper and walk towards the famous Temple Bar. It’s also a must to see, because every bar is decorated with beautiful flowers. It’s really colorful.

The other alternative is turning left at South Great Georges Street and again left at Exchequer Street. and stop at Fallon & Byrne for various delicious snacks and coffee. Here is where the local Irish go and it isn’t kind of tourist trap.

After that you can walk towards Grafton Street, where all tourist go shopping, and further down south to Fusilier’s Arch. Here you can do a little walk inside the beautiful St. Stephen’s Green Park.

View from Grafton Street to St Teresa’s Church Discalced Carmelites

From this point, you are very close to The National Museum at Kildare Street and also the other museum, Nation Gallery of Ireland, and The Oscar Wilde House. You could also choose one of them otherwise just walk back to the O’Connell bridge.

From the O’Connell bridge, you can simply walk towards east and along City Quay where you can enjoy a beautiful skyline by the river, and don’t forget to visit the Samuel Beckett Bridge, designed by Santiago Calatrava.

The Custom House

View to the beautiful Samuel Beckett Bridge, designed by Santiago Calatrava

Dublin is a nice city where it conforms to an idea of peaceful and picturesque. It’s a really worth visiting. There is one catch though, its weather is somewhat unpredictable, so you just need to be prepared. That’s all.

THE THIRD DAY
A day trip to Ring of Kerry

First of all, I would like to thank to my two lovely friends, Robert and Ted who kindly took me on this beautiful road trip.

Sneem is a village situated on the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry

Ring of Kerry is a beautiful and picturesque looping route in County Kerry on the southwest coast of Ireland. I must say that it was one of the most breathtaking roads I’ve ever driven on in my life. It starts from Killarney, Kenmare, Iveragh Peninsula, Sneem, Waterville, Cahersiveen and Glenbeigh. You can get there from Cork or Kerry Airport.