Kickstarting my holiday spirit with Ireland’s Christmas magic | Canada Voices

Standing on the cobbled streets in Dublin’s Temple District, staring up at thousands of sparkling lights and peeking into frosted pub windows framed by twinkling garlands, I felt again, for the first time in many years, Christmas magic.

It was like running into an old friend, transporting me back to times when the holiday season was full of smiles and warmth. In recent years, I have been so caught up with the stress and unrealistic expectations of Christmas, I had forgotten what that feels like.

A trip to Ireland was just what I needed to bring back that childlike joy.

It’s a shame that, until my trip in late November, I had never taken a vacation during the Christmas season. There are many perks to travelling during this time of year: fewer crowds, lower prices and an unbeatable atmosphere. It also gave me the chance to get out of my regular routine, and, in retrospect, get out of my head.

While the off-season alone is good reason to travel there, Ireland’s rich history and rugged coastline dotted with charming towns decorated for the holidays made it unforgettable.

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The only drawback of my trip was that I travelled a touch too early to catch Dublin’s new Christmas market and the opening of Belfast’s new pantomime. Still, there was no shortage of things to see or do.

A highlight during my stay in Dublin was wandering the downtown streets near the River Liffey with tour guide Pat Liddy, who brought to life the story of a city that transformed from a Viking settlement into a European metropolis. All the while, we passed building after building adorned with colourful strings of lights and glowing ornaments.

With a metaphorical wink, he said it was the Irish who invented Christmas. As we stood in what would have been the medieval heart of the city centuries ago, he told me about Newgrange, a passage tomb just north of Dublin that is older than both Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids, famous for having a passageway illuminated by a “roof-box” that allows direct sunlight in only during the winter solstice.

The story goes that huge celebrations were hosted after the sun passed through, a tradition that carried forward into Celtic days and so on. “So, the Irish invented Christmas,” Liddy laughed. “Let’s stick with that. We were ahead of all the others by thousands of years.”

I was happy to take his word for it.

We ended our tour by enjoying a drink in a cozy bar located in an original 18th-century wine vault aptly called The Cellar Bar. Snug spots like this one are perfect for warming up each day after exploring.

Another treasure was the Church Café Bar. Once Saint Mary’s Church of Ireland, which opened its doors in the early 18th century, the building is now a restaurant and bar. The original organ and stained-glass windows provide awe-inspiring decor to the renovated space.

The Church is where I enjoyed all things Irish: Irish coffee, Irish dancing, Irish music and an Irish classic, fish and chips.

Now, this should be obvious, but no trip to Ireland is complete without enjoying a Guinness.

During the Christmas season, the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin transforms into a seven-level, beer-laden winter wonderland, decked top to bottom with glimmering lights. All standard tours (starting at roughly $42) include a complimentary drink. You can pay extra to learn how to pull a perfect pint or get your face printed on the foamy head of a Guinness.

An informal Irish tradition I tried but have yet to master is “splitting the G” – drinking, on your first sip, enough of the brown stuff that it settles in the middle of the “G” in the Guinness logo. Trust me, it’s easier said than done.

My Christmas adventure continued two hours north by train, in Belfast.

My first stop was the Christmas market, held at City Hall, which was lit up in blue with bright snowflake displays. More than 100 vendors packed onto the grounds, selling all sorts of handcrafted goods, trinkets and sweet and savoury treats, like warm spiced cider or sizzling Bratwurst sausages.

It was modest in size compared to popular markets in Central Europe but checked the box for festive flair and did not feel overly crowded. Entry was also free.

Strolling through the city’s streets after dark led to unexpected wonders – alleyways filled with people drinking and laughing underneath string lights, vibrant and thought-provoking murals and the sound of live music pulsing behind bar doors.

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But it wasn’t until I was sitting in the back of an old-school black cab listening to Billy Scott explain Belfast’s captivating and complex history that I came to appreciate the city as more than just a holiday hot spot.

Scott, a tour guide who describes himself as being “born, bred and battered” in northern Belfast, and who effortlessly switched between storytelling, limerick and song, rattled off facts of a city shaped by conflict, including The Troubles, a decades-long period of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland that largely ended with the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. Learning of the hardships and resilience of this community only deepened the appreciation for my surroundings.

Rounding out my Irish winter adventure, we left the buzz of the city for seaside charm along the northern coast. Scott stopped often to let me admire castles, ruins, grand landscapes and quaint towns that reminded me of the Hallmark Christmas movies I grew up watching.

Naturally, the tour ended in a bar warmed by a crackling fire in The Bushmills Inn on the north coast of County Antrim. A Christmas tree covered in silver and white beads, lights, bows and balls shone through one of the Inn’s large windows as the sun began its dip below the horizon.

On the journey back, Scott told me that he hopes visitors to Ireland leave the country with a smile. I left with much more than that – a reminder that Christmas can still be magical. You might just have to travel across the Atlantic to find the spark again.

If you go

There are fewer flight options over the winter from Canada but Air Canada offers year-round service between Toronto and Dublin, with daily flights beginning next March.

Christmas markets appear in multiples cities and towns across Ireland, typically starting in late November, and run during the advent season, ending before Christmas or early January. Some of the most popular include the Galway Christmas Market, Twinkletown in Dublin, Belfast Christmas Market, Winterval in Waterford (Ireland’s oldest city), Yulefest in Kilkenny and Corkmas in Cork.

The writer was a guest of Tourism Ireland. It did not review or approve the story before publication.