It was a quick two hours by train from Belfast to Dublin. Our hotel in Dublin was actually a small
apartment on the roof of a building whose first andd second floors were pubs, 3rd
floor a restaurant, and remainder a hostel.
It was a bustling place to say the least! The location was amazing, right in the Temple
Bar area in the midst of the revelers and very close to most of the sites we
wanted to see. We had a quick bite and
then hung out at the pub under our hotel.
It may have been touristy but that didn’t take away from the experience
at all. We drank Guinness at a great
table and were thoroughly entertained by the Irish folk dancers (amazing
footwork!) and a couple different bands.
The Temple Bar area reminded us a bit of Beale Street on a good day:
bands playing in the street, bars and restaurants open to the
wee hours, and loads of people.
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| Our first look at Dublin, Ireland. |
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| Temple Bar area, Dublin |
The next morning was another early one. We had talked about taking a day trip to the
Cliffs of Moher and the Burren which left early (those places are on the west
coast of Ireland, opposite Dublin.) We
hadn’t booked but decided to show up at the meeting place in case there was
space on a tour. We lucked out and got
some of the last seats on the bus. The driver was entertaining and had the most
pleasant Irish accent. The trip started
with a three-hour drive so we caught up on missed hours of sleep and woke up to
take a couple pictures at (another) castle.
Another hour’s drive and we were at the Cliffs of Moher, which rise 700
feet straight up from the sea. Remember the ‘Cliffs of Insanity’ in that (awesome)
movie Princess Bride? Same place. More
recently, parts of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince were filmed there. The Cliffs were dramatic and the views were
worth the drive.
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| Cliffs of Moher, Ireland. |
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| Scary footpath along the Cliffs of Moher. |
From there we drove a bit and crossed into the Burren, which
basically is an expanse of rocky landscape.
Geologically speaking it is limestone, but I’m not sure really what made
it be there. I do know I could’ve spent
ages exploring all the nooks and crannies!
We stopped at a little Abbey and another castle for a photo-op (this
time I gave up the rouse and just stayed on the bus to keep reading my
murder-mystery.) It was a long but
relaxing day, really.
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| The Burren, Ireland. |
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| The Burren, Ireland. |
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| Fissure in the Buren, Ireland. |
We all dozed for the few hours back to Dublin and were ready
for the Literary Pub Crawl that was so very highly recommended on TripAdvisor
and all the guide books. Uh, I didn’t
get it. It was enjoyable and took us to
four very cool pubs in which James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw,
etc. had passed time writing and drinking.
The trouble was, I didn’t get any
of the literary jokes made by the two actors (our guides), or any of the
literary references, nor did I recognize any of the scenes they acted out. I
guess I should’ve paid more attention in literature classes! A fun end to the night was Cara and Brian
winning a literary quiz and a t-shirt!
The next day, Saturday, was Chris and my last day in Ireland
and last day with the Robisons. We spent
the gorgeous sunny morning walking around downtown Dublin enjoying the atmosphere,
shops, and people. We went to St.
Patrick’s cathedral (okay, again, Chris and I sat outside and watched the
entertaining dogs and children playing in the park while Cara and Brian went
inside. J)
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| Saint Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin. |
From there we all headed up to the Guinness Storehouse. They advertise their tour as ‘an experience’
and that really is what it was. There
were sounds, textures, tastes (we got to crunch on some roasted barley), and
interactive exhibits. I’ve been on many
brewery tours but was quite impressed with this one. The flow through the whole building was great
and we had some major luck-of-the-Irish in terms of timing. Firstly, there was a long line but somehow we
just bought tickets from a kiosk and walked right in and never had to stand in
that line (huh?). Then, we ended up on
the 5th floor three minutes before the start of a special food and
beer tasting. The first tasting was
Guinness bread with cream cheese and smoked salmon paired with the Extra Stout. Who knew that
could taste so good? The second was Guinness
chocolate mousse in a dark chocolate shell paired with an original Guinness. YumYumYum.
From there we walked up to the observation deck and enjoyed our free
pint of the good stuff.
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| Guinness Storehouse, Dublin. |
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| Guinness Storehouse, Ireland. |
We had passed a market on our walks earlier that day and so
made our way back there for a late lunch.
Holy heck the veggie quiche that Chris and I both chose (totally
breaking Travel Rule #4: “Always order different things so you can taste more”)
was to die for. We ate the meal in a
spot of sun next to the vendor and he laughed as I quizzed him on the
ingredients and preparation in order to replicate it at home. Chris was so enamored with the quiche that he
bought a blueberry scone from that same man ‘for later’ and devoured it on the
spot. Ha! It had been a fantastic day filled with sun,
good friends, and laughter. We were sad
to say goodbye to Cara and Brian but truly enjoyed our time together!
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