9000 Years of Beers

We arrived to quite cold Dublin late Thursday afternoon. But first, English! They speak English in Ireland! Woooooooo score one for communication. We took the 747-bus in from the airport towards town. Which was pretty easily to navigate because the attendant at the airport spoke... english!!! And once we got on the bus and asked the driver a question he replied in... english!!! Ok I'll stop. About 30 minutes later we arrived at our Air BnB. We were hungry so we headed over to O’Connell Street for a bite to eat. On our way to get food we walked by the Spire of Dublin. A pin-like structure that pierces towards the sky. We arrived to a pub, and a bite to eat quickly turned into a beer flight of Guinness and Smithwicks for me accompanied by a Dublin Blonde for Abby. Abby tried to order water, but the waiter just was not allowing any of that. To eat I ordered an Irish favorite cottage pie while Abby stayed loyal to her Italian cuisine and ordered pesto pasta. We killed a few hours at the pub and headed to shop afterwards. We forgot our UK’s adapters, so we needed to make sure to purchase some before stores closed. We found a gift shop on O’Connell Street, which is where we grabbed some adapters and I made the incredible hat purchase which will be seen in many of the pictures we took in Ireland. That night we met up with our friend Andrew and hit the Temple Bar district. The actual Temple Bar was a site to see, but quite expensive to order drinks. We stopped by two others within the district - both of which were highly touristy. I assume the majority of the bars in this area are full of non-Irish people. Friday morning we woke up and explored the town. Our first stop was the Dublin Castle (pictured below). We walked around the outside and saw the lay out of the grounds. This Castle is the former residence of King John the first Lord of Ireland. Now Dublin Castle serves as a major Irish government complex. Of late it has been used for State Dinners (Queen Elizabeth in 2011), and also for inaugurations of the Irish Presidents. Next we headed to Christ’s Church Cathedral. Christ’s Church was far larger than I had anticipated and very interesting for a gothic medieval cathedral. The shape of the building is quite unique and amasses over a large chunk of ground. The roots for the Cathedral were built around year 1028 making it almost 1,000 years old.

After this we walked back through town along the River Liffey, Dublin’s main water supply. We stopped for lunch next to the river at a nice tavern. I ordered a bowl of Irish potato and sausage stew while Abby got “the best salad she’s had so far in Europe”. After lunch we headed to The Irish Emigration Museum. This was quite a different opportunity considering being American we learn extensively of immigration in our history. However the story of Irish history includes lots of emigration and fleeing their country. Due to many unfortunate circumstances that the Irish people have endured, masses and masses of millions of people have moved from Ireland over the last few hundred years. Although it can be dark and mildly depressing to go through the details of why, the museum is very interesting and quite a unique educational experience. After the Emigration Museum it was time for a happy and exciting activity. We walked through town to the Guinness Storehouse. The Guinness Storehouse embodies the entire Guinness experience. From the history of the founding to the details of how it is made this seven-floor building, five-floor museum is incredible. It shows the classic Guinness model in addition to the newly developed lagers. The most exceptional thing I saw there was the actually piece of paper of the 9,000 year lease that Arthur Guinness signed in 1759. Don’t worry; the tour is finished with a free pint of Guinness at the top.

After the Guinness experience we walked down Grafton Street through most popular pedestrian-only shopping street of Ireland. After a purchase or two, we headed to dinner at The Hairy Lemon Pub. Despite the name, the place was fantastic. We were lucky to even get a table (There’s reasoning for the name, you will have to go there to find out why). Saturday morning we woke up early for our 7am daylong bus tour across the rest of Ireland. Our first stop on the tour was the Cliffs of Moher. Upon our arrival it was windy, foggy, and some light rain. However since we had two hours scheduled here we had the opportunity to wait for it to clear up. The weather must have changed about a dozen times in that two-hour span. But it was enjoyable enough to experience the beauty of the 120-meter high cliffs rising above the Atlantic Ocean.

As we drove along the Atlantic way, we saw many wild cows, horses, sheep, and other animals. The beauty of Ireland is best experienced this way, rather than just staying in the large cities. Our second stop was at the Burren. The Burren is a region in County Clare Ireland. This area is home to the majority of Irelands variations of nature. We took a stop near the limestone upland just off the coast.

After a few minutes here we headed to our last stop on the tour, the City of Galway. In Galway we ate lunch and had some time to explore the city. An interesting fact I learned of Galway was that 1 of 5 people there were students. This goes to show you the age/interest level of many of the people on the streets. In 2020 Galway is set to be the European Capital of Culture. So if you plan to visit, that would be an ideal time.

After the tour we were exhausted. We called it a night and woke up early Sunday to grab breakfast before our travels back to Barcelona. Ireland was fantastic. It was quite cold, but definitely worth the trip. The weather will prepare us for our next two weeks of travel, which will be similar as well. Dublin is a great city with of course, likely the best pub atmosphere in the world. We are so happy we took the time to travel across Ireland by bus and see the rural areas. This really made the trip worth it as we felt we were able to see a lot of the country in a quick weekend.