It was another early start for us to our next destination, Dublin!!!! We had been to Cork a few weeks prior and were a little disappointed at how un-Irish it was, so we were hoping to get more Irish flavor in Dublin, and we in fact did.
Our journey began at 2:45 am as it does so many times, in order to get the early flights and cheap deals, no biggie, we were ready to go. When we got to Dublin we dropped off our luggage at The Ashling House and then immediately headed into town. We took a bus to the city to visit the information centre to pick up brochures on what we wanted to do. Our first top was breakfast....we were starved, we opted to sleep instead of eat the sandwich on the plane. We asked the security guard at the information centre and he pointed us to a cafe around the corner, Keoghs Cafe. We grabbed a bagel and eggs before heading on our way.
Molly Malone statue, known as the Tart with the Cart:
We first walked down Grafton Street, a very popular shopping street for locals and tourists, then down Dawson Street and stopping in at the Celtic Whiskey Shop and Hodges Figgis Bookstore (Ireland's equivalent of Borders). We continued our walk of Dublin by walking through the Temple Bar area and their Saturday food market. It was okay but not nearly as impressive as Borough Market.
A cute statue at Temple Bar:
We continued on our path with a walk around Dublin Castle. The castle is not like any other castle we have been to, it is just in the center of town and only the state rooms and undercroft are only open between 2 and 4:30 pm, so we only got to enjoy the exterior and the gardens.
The Bedford Tower of Dublin Castle:
Greg at the gardens of the Dublin Castle:
Tami at a guard stand of the chapel at Dublin Castle:
We walked around the corner to the Christ Church Cathedral. This Cathedral was amazing, the large nave was one of the most impressive that I have seen and they have a crypt that runs the entire length of the church, this was definitely the best part of the church. In the crypt there was a mummified cat and rat that were in an organ since the 1850's before being pulled over 125 years later. Another amazing thing in the cathedral was the heart of St. Lawrence O'Toole (Patron Saint of Dublin). His heart is enclosed in a gold heart shaped metal case that is inside of a cage. Also inside the cathedral is the tomb/monument of Strongbow, leader of the Anglo-Normals who captured Dublin in 1170.
Exterior of Christ Church Cathedral:
The heard of St. Lawrence O'Toole:
The crypt of Christ Church Cathedral:
The mummified cat & rat:
We then decided it was time for beer, so we headed to the Guinness Storehouse. This is a very large brewery with a self-guided tour over 6 or 7 floors. We walked around alot, but we had been to a lot of brewery tours so most of it was the same, but we really enjoyed the marketing part, seeing all of the old ads, bottles, and such.
Tami at the waterfall in the tour, showing they use very fresh water:
Greg....need I say more:
Tami taking a beer away from a seal:
When you do the tour you get a free pint of Guinness that you can enjoy at either the Sky Bar, one of the restaurants or at the "Pour your own Pint" stand. We went to the Sky Bar first and there were spectacular views but it was so crowded and we weren't able to get a seat so we decided we would rather pour our own pints.
Tami pouring her pint:
Greg topping off his pint of Guinness:
We did this and took our beers over to the Brewery Bar for lunch, yummy! This was the best food we had the entire trip we were in Dublin, I do have to say. While my lunch was simple it was exactly what I was in the mood for. I had a Irish brie & tomato wrap with the most amazing tomato soup I have had in a restaurant. Greg on the other hand went a little more Irish and had Guinness Beef stew, I even have to say that it was great, the beef was so tender and had the best flavor.
After lunch we took a bus back towards Grafton Street and went to Sheridan's Cheesemongers, we had read about them and really wanted to go. We ended up buying some Coolea cheese, then heading over to Marks & Spencers grocery store to get some crackers and wine to go with our cheese for later. After the store we actually decided we needed to go take a nap, we were absolutely wiped from the early morning and miles of walking we had already done.
After we were rested we took a bus back to the Temple Bar area for some food. We did not find anything to eat around Temple Bar, as most places were already packed and booked for the evening, but we did get to see the Millennium Bridge. We ended up going to Bewley's Tea House, which is another place that we had read about in some books. We had planned on going there for afternoon tea, since that is what they are known for, but didn't think we would have time to so we decided just to have dinner there. We ended up getting a pizza and a very delicious Strawberry Cheesecake.
yummy cheesecake
Now it was time for a drink, we went to Porterhouse for this. Greg had a Porterhouse that was very bitter while I enjoyed a Fruli. It was very noisy and very crowded so we didn't stay too long before heading back to the Ashling House for the evening.
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