A friend of mine was flying out of Dublin Sunday morning, so we took the train to Dublin on Saturday afternoon. We arrived at Heuston Station at the edge of the city and hopped a double decker city bus into the city center. Found a cheap hotel in the Temple Bar area – Fleet Street Hotel. After dropping our stuff in the hotel room, we walked over to Trinity College. Gorgeous campus, all enclosed in stone walls and fencing. Ate dinner at the Mongolian Barbeque – not traditional Irish food, but very good, all you can eat stir fry, a welcome change from the food I’ve been eating (which I haven’t fallen in love with yet). After dinner, we wandered over to Fitzsimons, a rooftop bar in the Temple Bar area and each ordered a black currant Guinness. Just as the tourist brochures warned, the bartenders were not happy with that! The one requirement I had for the evening was live music, which is not difficult to find in Dublin. In addition to most (maybe all?) of the pubs offering live music, there were groups of musicians lining the street playing traditional Irish music. We found three other pubs with great music, Guinness, and Bulmers (my new favorite cider). Ended the evening listening to a group of musicians playing guitar, violin, and accordian playing both traditional Irish music, as well as some classic American rock.
Sunday morning started with a latte (something I have been desperatly missing since I left Minnesota) on the boardwalk along the River Liffey. Started my walk to St. Patrick’s Cathedral, but got distracted the church bells at Christ Church Cathedral. Beautiful! Made it to St. Patrick’s Cathedral – massive, Gothic looking, church. After taking many pictures, headed to the Dublin Castle. After the castle, I made my way up Grafton Street, passing by street artists, and fresh flower markets. Ended up at St. Stephen’s Green – a “Central Park” like area. The green lawns and flowers were beautiful! Almost looked like it was out of a painting. Afterwards, made my way back towards River Liffey and ate a fabulous lunch at the Gourmet Burger Kitchen.
Rumor has it I need to hit up the Book of Kells, Kilmainham Gaol, and the Guinness Storehouse next time I am in Dublin.
Yes, definitely must do the Guinness Storehouse and the Old Jameson Distillery. You should just do a strictly booze w/e in Dublin!