Our time in Dublin was split into three parts: our initial stay before touring the Wild Atlantic Way, our time after that trip and our final day between Belfast and our flight home.
Much of our time here was spent in the second stage of our visit. We stayed at Ariel House, a B & B style hotel in Ballsbridge, in a lovely neighbourhood near the AVIVA stadium and right on the DART transit line. It was a great spot, with a fantastic breakfast.
We took the DART into the city centre and walked an additional 25 minutes or so to the Guinness Storehouse, the most visited tourist attraction in Ireland.
I was prepared to be underwhelmed, but the tour was absolutely fantastic. It’s self-guided as you explore seven floors of this warehouse turned museum. It’s part science museum, part history museum, and part great time with friends at the pub. We were there for almost three hours, and had to book it to get from the storehouse to the start of our afternoon walking tour which culminated in a visit to the Book of Kells.
You start out with a couple of floors that take you through the history of the Guinness family and the science and art of the brewing process. It’s very interactive, and timed impeccably so you never feel crowded or rushed.
I really liked the floor which explored the place of Guinness in pop culture and the history of its advertisements around the world. The look at the impact of Guinness on Dublin in particular and Ireland was fascinating and a little inspiring to be honest, even allowing for the corporate messaging.
We had selected the “Guinness Academy” experience, which involved learning how to properly pour a pint. I had expected a clear victory over Robin here, but she aced the pour! Another couple who participated in the rigorous Academy training didn’t drink beer, so they donated their efforts (not as good as ours) to us as well, which may have accounted for the extra time spent in the warehouse!
You finish the tour on the top floor at the “Gravity Bar” where you get an additional pint (gulp) to enjoy with panoramic views of the city of Dublin below. I ordered a 0.0 and Robin got a lager. We didn’t finish either of them. The bar was absolutely packed as it’s the last stop on the tour, and we were already two drinks in with a 30 minute walk ahead of us to get to the start of a three hour walking tour culminating in The Books of Kells Experience at Trinity College. Terrible planning. But the show must go on!
The walking tour was just ok. It began in the drizzle and finished in a torrential downpour. We hit a number of highlights (Christchurch, St. Patrick’s, Dublin Castle…) that we’d already seen, and the timing of our visit with EU security arrangements for the European Presidency meetings meant that some sites were viewed from a considerable distance.
About one third of the tour had no rain gear, so they arrived at Trinity College for the Book of Kells experience absolutely sodden. We felt particularly badly for the four university aged students from Texas who were soaked to the bone in their new Irish sweaters. I’m shocked that the high humidity alarms in the room housing The Book of Kells weren’t activated when they went in.
The Book of Kells is an absolutely breathtaking and precious illuminated manuscript composed and illustrated by monks on the island of Iona in the 9th century. The monks fled with the book from Viking raids to Kells on the mainland of Ireland, only for the book to survive being stolen and then buried, presumably lost forever, before being recovered by a child picking potatoes. A good day in the field for that kid. The exhibit tries to capture the magnificence and importance of the book, but the crowds and smell of wet wool emanating from the Texans “dampened” the experience a bit.
The rooms housing the book are on the bottom floor of the magnificent long room of the Trinity College library. Most of the books have been temporarily removed from the library for digitizing and cleaning, but it’s still an amazing space to visit.
I will say both the library and the Book of Kells exhibit were absolutely packed. We actually enjoyed the informative multi-media portion in the Red Pavilion a little more. Less crowded and very informative.
On the morning before we left for Belfast I scooted down to the famous Windmill Lane Studios, famously the spot where U2 recorded their first album “Boy” and nine subsequent records.
The roster of artists who have recorded records here is astounding, ranging from Bruce Springsteen to The Rolling Stones, The Chieftons (28 records!) to The Cranberries, Van Morrison to Mavis Staples and Hozier. It was a great tour, touching on the history of the studio and its legacy artists as well as recording techniques. Highly recommended for music nerds.
We arrived back in Dublin from our visit to Belfast and Northern Ireland with an afternoon and evening to fill in before our early morning flight. Robin suggested checking out Leo Burdick, a fish and chip institution in Dublin since 1913, and one which is a must stop for visiting celebrities from Springsteen to B.B. King, Edith Piaf to the Williams sisters. The Christ Church location is the original shop, just does takeaway, and is absolutely fantastic. It seemed appropriate to round out our trip with fish and chips on the last day in Dublin as we started with fish and chips on the Salthill Prom in Galway on our very first day of the trip. I will say that the Leo Burdick experience was better- that may have been because we ate them at the foot of Christ Church Cathedral, which predates the chippery by 900 years or so.
It didn’t seem right to head back to the hotel without having one final pint of Guinness so we found our way to Darkly Kelly’s on the delightfully named Fishamble Street.
It’s just far enough from Temple Bar to serve a good pint at a decent price, and is well known for drop in traditional music sessions. The pub was packed with over a dozen musicians energetically engaged in The Pogues’ “A Rainy Night in Soho”, which I took to be a good sign.
The second miracle was we actually secured a small table with a view of the musicians. I returned from the bar with a pint of Guinness for me and a pint of Smithwick’s for Robin, and in my excitement took a sip of my pint. An anguished cry and punch in my arm from a nearby waitress alerted me to the fact that I had not let the Guinness settle properly. She was a little frightening, so we ordered a bowl of soup, to justify the table and placate the disappointed waitress. It turned out to be the single saltiest bowl of soup ever. It might have been puréed bacon, I’m not sure. I knew better than to complain.
As so often happens, the young couple at the table immediately next to us soon struck up a conversation. I assumed they were Irish, but upon hearing that we were Canadian, Ewan threatened to punch the American president if he saw him while in Dublin and bought two rounds of “Baby Guinness” shots (kahlua and baileys) for us and the table of four other Canadians to his right.
Of course Ewan turned out to be Scottish: a Glaswegian to be more accurate. Upon hearing that our daughter had attended the University of Edinburgh he dismissed the city as being worse than the dirt on his shoe, but admittedly better than 75% of the rest of the world. When he learned we both had Scottish ancestry we had to stop him from ordering more rounds. He asked our names and misheard Robin say her first name was Angus, which brought a temporary look of horror to his partner’s face. He was a delight, as was his lovely, confused and slightly mortified girlfriend. It made for another story, and a great end to our visit to Ireland.
We had booked our trip assuming it would be our first and only visit to Ireland. It turned out to be so much more than we expected. The beauty of the countryside, the music and culture, and the warmth of the people all charmed us. A traditional Irish goodbye is Slán go fóill,or “Goodbye for now.” That certainly sums up our feelings about our visit here. We will definitely be back.
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