Flashback Thursday: Dublin Bus Tour

Why take a bus tour when you can just walk on your own? Read on and find out!!

Taking a hop on hop off bus tour can be one of the easiest ways to get to know any city. Dublin in no exception. We purchased a two-day pass at our hotel and the first thing we did was to take the entire trip, we then got off at Dublin Castle.

We found after two days that we learned something new on every trip we took. Some buses have live tour guides other have recorded but somehow different things were highlighted at least to our minds.

The tours begin on O’Connell Street but you can get on at any one of the stops and you get a discount for a two-day ticket. We actually bought ours at our hotel for one Euro less than the ticket price. We got on the first day at Merrion Square which was the closest stop to our hotel.

The tour travels both sides of the Liffey and now parks right in front of Kilmainham Goal. We took the red bus tour, there were green and yellow  ones as well. The route has been changed since we last took it and it is much improved if I have to say so myself.

You will learn all sorts of fun facts about Dublin. One thing I did notice is that we never saw Molly Malone, the tart with a cart or the trollop with the scallop, which is sad. We did, however, learn about the whore (pronounced hewer) in the sewer, the bride in the tide and the floozy in the Jacuzzi. Also the rod to God, the light in the night and stiffy by the Liffey.

We did have some issues with the bus. On the second afternoon, the bus dropped everyone at the Dublin Art Gallery and told us to wait for the next bus. No other explanation was offered. The next bus passed the stop without stopping, why? We have no idea. We waited about 30 minutes to get on and be dumped off again on O’Connell Street. Annoying to be sure. Especially since we had no idea why.

Overall, however, it was a lot of fun and we certainly enjoyed it. The first day we braved the top to really enjoy the views by the second day we were using it strictly as transportation.I highly recommend City Sightseeing.