Vintage Voyage- Dublin (Part 3)

 Down the Rabbit Hole...

Dublin nightlife.  Where do I even start!  As I mentioned in Part 1, you really only need about 3-4 days to see Dublin, but when it comes to nightlife, my 2 weeks there were not enough!  I absolutely love the nightlife in Dublin.  Everyone has their own taste when it comes to evening activities, but for me, I'm 23 and I love rowdy bars where you can make friends with everyone as well as calm bars where you can have a nice convo with friends.  In Dublin I mostly went for the rowdy bars.  My first few nights, I stayed away from the Temple Bar area because I had read many places that it's all tourists and it's too crazy, and everyone is a drunk mess, etc and so I tried to find other bars in different areas.  I wasn't really a fan of any that I went to, I wasn't meeting anyone (one of the reasons I like nightlife so much when I travel is because I make so many friends this way) and they just weren't really my style.  So, I decided to try out Temple Bar and see what it was that so many people didn't like.  I honestly have no idea why people don't like it and I wish I hadn't wasted those first few nights going other places.  I love Temple Bar.  It's got the atmosphere I was looking for, which I guess is what some people don't like.  I love places that stay open till the wee hours of the morning with rowdy young people my age all crammed into an old bar ready to drink and just see where the night takes them.  That's a great night out to me. If someone is looking for a quiet dinner or something, that's fine, that's just not my style at all.  My first night out in Temple Bar I met a group of girls that I ended up spending the rest of my trip with, and am still in touch with.  We all had a great time with each other, and hit up just about every bar there was to see in Dublin, Temple Bar, Stag's Head, Quay's, O'Gogarty's, the Palace, all of them.  I love the bars of Temple Bar, but the actual Temple Bar is my favorite.  It's just my type of vibe.  Nearly every single night we met more people and had some kind of interesting evenings because of it, from the time that we met Italian tourists who had a lawn gnome with them for no reason at all to the time when a local guy mimed out what men's room etiquette was (I have pics of both of these!).  Temple Bar isn't even just the bars, the vibe and energy of the place spills out into the streets, making the whole area a type of patio where you never know what's going to happen next.  I really love those nights, and I cant wait to get back to Dublin someday so that I can experience it all again!

 

Me drinking with my friends (I'm the blonde)

 

 

The infamous gnome!

 

Mens Room Lesson

 

One of my fav pics I had no idea my friend took, into the Dublin night (I'm on the left)

 

 Aside from bars, I also did 2 night tours while in Dublin, one ghost tour, and one pub crawl.  The ghost tour was the Dublin Ghost Bus (http://www.dublinsightseeing.ie/ghostbus/index.aspx), which is the only ghost tour available there to my knowledge.  It was fun, we went to many different haunted sites around Dublin including cemeteries, hospitals, and a church where the devil himself apparently showed up one day.   The pub crawl I did was the Dublin Literary Pub Crawl, (http://www.dublinpubcrawl.com) which I had a great time on!  Obviously being a Literature buff, this was right up my alley, but they also offer a musical one.  The tour guides were great, often reciting passages from various Dublin authors' works at different bar stops and teaching the group tons of facts and history.  I loved it!

Here's a list of all the bars I've been to in Dublin, with some thoughts

- Palace Bar - 21 Fleet St, Dublin 2.  This is an old "gin palace" bar, very Victorian in its decor and style but kind of depends on the people there at the time.  One time I went and had a calm evening and another when I went with the girls we met up with some boys up from London and had a great night enjoying live music in the attic, with my friend even playing a few songs on the guitar herself.  Little moments like that really make a place remain special in your mind

- O'Neill's - I had breakfast here one morning and the I think I came back with the Pub Crawl.  They have a great rooftop garden area which you wouldn't guess from the inside or outside, it's a nice place, but the crowd here was a little older

- Gogarty's - 58 Fleet Street, Dublin 2.  Gogarty's has great live music if you're looking for that.  The night that I went it was kind of dead, so I moved on pretty quickly, but it's still a good time.  Mostly 30-something couples 

- Buskers -  13 Fleet St, Dublin 2.  This wasn't my favorite place it was more club-like but it was open late and we weren't done drinking yet that night, so we went here.  Odd selection of beers, they had one with a tiger on the label.  Mostly younger crowd and rock music

- The Temple Bar - 47-48 Temple Bar, Dublin 2.  My starting line every night.  Love this place.  Great energy, met so many people.  The crowd is all ages but as the night gets later it's mostly 20's and 30's.  I'd have no problem spending the whole night at Temple Bar, I just love it!

- Quays Bar - 12 Temple Bar, Dublin 2.  Live music, most people in early 20's/30's.  Good jump off point for heading out to other bars afterwards.  Random note- I had lunch here one day too, since there really aren't many restaurants in Dublin I noticed.  There's a lot of quick cafe type places, but not many restaurants.  I mostly ate at bars

- The Stag's Head- 1 Dame Court, Dublin 2.  I honestly don't remember much about the bar itself bc this was a last stop one night, but we had drinks outside which was a lot of fun.  The 3rd photo above was taken outside this bar.

- The Long Hall - 51 S Great George's St, Dublin. When we went, it was really calm and quiet in here, which was nice for a change.  This is another old Gin Palace type of bar which is always fun because they make you feel like you're in an antique or something.  We were literally the only three people in here when we went so I can't comment on the crowd!

- The Duke Pub - Nice pub with a slightly older crowd.  The Pub Crawl leaves from here, so I didn't get to spend much time in it