Dublin

I arrived in Dublin last Saturday evening. After checking into my hostel, I headed into the city to see what I could see. The first thing I spotted was ¨The Spire¨, a huge stainless steel pointy thing sitting in the middle of the main street, O´Connell Street. If you´re a local, you might refer to it as ¨The Spike¨, or ¨The Stiffey by Liffey¨. I headed to the Italian Quarter and had some dinner and gelato, before heading back to the hostel for an early night (I was pretty tired after an early start).

The next morning, I joined another Hop-on-hop-off bus tour of the city. This took us around lots of the popular and historical sights of Dublin. The bus driver was the commentator, and he even sang to us! He burst into a few bars of ¨Molly Malone¨ whilst we drove past the statue of ¨The Tart with the Cart¨. These Dubliners, they have different names for everything!

My first stop on the tour was The Guinness Storehouse. Here, you take a self-guided tour through the old Store house at St James´Gate, before having a complimentary pint at the Gravity Bar on level seven, which offers panoramic views of the city. I can´t remember tasting Guinness before, but apparently it tastes better in Dublin. I can´t disagree with that as I have to say that I enjoyed my pint. After finishing off my pint, it was back to the ground floor and a quick look around the gift shop. I´m not sure if it´s the brainwashing that they do throughout the tour, or the pint that I had just drank, but I had a strong urge to buy LOTS of Guinness paraphernalia. The urge wore off though by the time I got to the checkouts, so I´m thinking it must have been the pint! By the way, I´m now an honorary Master Brewer´s Apprentice, so if anyone wants to visit the Storehouse, mention my name at the door and you´ll get a 10% discount on your entry fee!
Contrary to popular belief, the water used for Guinness has never been sourced from The Liffey, they have always used pure water from The Wicklow Mountains.
I hopped back on the next bus, and got off a few stops later at a pub called Ryan´s Victorian Bar. Here, I had a very nice lunch of Steak and Guinness Pie with mashed potatoes. This is Dublin´s oldest Victorian pub, and highly recommended for a pint and some food, and to check out the decor inside.

My last stop of the day was Kilmainham Gaol. Here, I was taken on a tour inside the jail, where they talked about some of the famous prisoners (the leaders of the Easter Monday Rising were imprisoned and executed here) and the different styles of cells inside the jail. There are Georgian and Victorian styles of cells. The Victorian side gives a feeling of light and space in the jail, whereas the Georgian style is very damp and dark and the passageways are very narrow.

After my tour, I got back on the bus. It was raining by this stage, but I still decided to sit out on top of the bus, and consequently got drenched! I got off at the Quay, and decided that before checking out Temple Bar, that I would have a cappuccino somewhere first. I chose a place called Chocolate Café, where you get a free chocolate with your cappuccino! I didn´t realise this though, so also ordered a slice of Banoffee pie!

I checked out Temple Bar, the "Cultural Centre" of Dublin, before heading back to my hostel.On Monday, I took a historical walking tour which started at Trinity College.
It was lead by an historical graduate of the College and his name was Thomas Graham. He took us to various locations throughout the city including; Trinity College, The Bank of Ireland (which used to be parliament house), Dublin Castle, City Hall and Temple Bar. During the tour, he covered all aspects of Ireland´s history, from the original Celtic Inhabitants, to the Viking invasions, the Anglo-Norman invasions, the Great Famine, The Revolution, the Civil war and up until current times.

We finished the tour at Temple Bar where I had lunch, then headed to the Georgian area of Dublin and to The National Gallery.

After checking out The Gallery, I headed back to Trinity College where I went to The Library and looked at The Book of Kells. By the time I left the library it was pouring with rain again, but I braved it to walk to The Famine Memorial. Here, the silhouettes of seven figures walk in procession along the Liffey, with Customs house behind them.