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

Vintage Voyage- Dublin (Part 2)

 

 Part 2 of my Dublin post will focus on my day trips into the countryside.  I love day trips, I did 2 when I was in Ireland because I wanted to see some country sights and also because they are a nice break from the typical tourist schedule.  The first day trip I did was to the Blessington Lakes, Wicklow Gap, and Glendalough.  Glendalough was the most interesting since aside from the huge lake it had a cemetery area that had been long buried and was finally unearthed by Oscar Wilde's father sometime in the 1800s.  

Blessington Lakes

 

Wicklow Gap

 

 

Glendalough

 

 

 

 

 

The second day trip I did went to Newgrange and Monasterboice.  Newgrange is an ancient druid burial mound that has a tunnel that aligns with the rays of the sun on the winter solstice and illuminates the entire inner chamber of the dome.  I loved visiting Newgrange, it had been on my list for a long time since I love old Celtic and Druid things, they're just so weird!  I also loved the feel of the inside of the mound.  It was cool, and quiet, like a very calming type of silence, I could have slept in there!  Monasterboice is now a cemetery, but at one time was the site of an old monastery and contains some of the oldest Celtic crosses in Ireland

Newgrange

 

 

 

 Monasterboice

 

Vintage Voyage- Dublin (Part 1)

Hi everyone!  I decided that since I haven't always written about my trips, but have been traveling for many years, I would occasionally do these "Vintage Voyage" posts, where I can share my experiences from some of my past adventures.  These will be formatted the same as current trip posts will, and since I haven't done any of those yet, this will give you an idea of how things will be set up.  I plan to divide future trips into day by day posts, but since this is an older one, many things are just grouped together.  Today will be Dublin! 

I have a long history with Dublin.  I had wanted to go for years but every time I was about to plan a trip, something else came up.  I had been trying to go since 2008, when I thought I would extend my Scottish vacation since the flight was easy.  That didn't end up happening, and each following year I kept saying that would be the Ireland year, but always ended up going somewhere else.  Finally, in 2011, I decided I had put it off enough, and that would be the Dublin year!  I went from the 12-26 July (this is my preferred time to travel if I can organize it that way) and when I finally landed in Dublin, I was thrilled.  All the years of being distracted from it had finally come to an end.

I love history and mythology, so I was eager to start getting lost in Ireland's museums and superstitions.  I was also anxious to check out the legendary nightlife!  I stayed in the O'Callaghan Mont Clare Hotel in Merrion Square, just behind Trinity College, and down the street from the Irish Parliament.  I liked the location of my hotel, it was central enough that I could be on Grafton Street in a 10 minute walk, but in a pretty quiet area.  On my first day, I went out exploring, as I always do, to get the lay of the land and see where everything is.  I did some shopping on Grafton Street, the had some lunch in St Stephen's Green, where I always loved to kill time if I was waiting for a museum to open or a tour to start etc.  I remember that afterwards I decided I would go and wander around Temple Bar.  I was trying to find something specific, but I can't remember what it was now, I think it may have been a movie theatre since I was planning to see the last Harry Potter film sometime while I was in Ireland.  Anyway, the Temple Bar district is the crazy party area at night, but during the day is pretty much dead and devoid of tourists with the exception of the main pedestrian area.  I stuck to the main part for most of my wandering but then I decided to take some smaller streets, all pedestrian alleys, and I got really really lost.  The streets don't necessarily go in a direction that actually leads to anything like a main avenue, they're more like an inner maze, so one turn lead to another as I kept guessing which one might lead me back out to a main street.  It was an eerie feeling, being alone in the small passageways of Temple Bar during the day when no one was out in the area.  It gave the place a magical kind of vibe, almost like a mystery that I would have to find my own way out of.  Eventually, after a good 15-20 minutes, I followed a winding street that dropped me off in the middle of Grafton street!  I couldn't believe it, since it did not feel like I was walking anywhere near the direction of Grafton, but I must have just been confused since the alleys went in so many different directions.  After being forced to get my bearings this way, I felt really comfortable with the city, since central Dublin is not large at all.

Leinster House, Irish Parliament

 

Merrion Square

 

 

Oscar Wilde statue, Merrion Square

 

 

Molly Malone statue

Trinity College

 

  I started off my trip with museums, since I love them and Dublin has quite a few.  I had always wanted to see the famous bog people, preserved for thousands of years, in the National Museum of Archaeology and History.  The museum was really close to my hotel, so this was naturally one of my first stops.  I love looking at old artifacts and art pieces, and the museum has quite a large selection of Celtic items, including a gold collection that they are very proud of.  I also stopped in the National Gallery of Ireland, about 2 minutes from my hotel, and spent only a short time in there since much of it was closed for renovations.  I also did the wax museum, which was ok, but definitely not a must see.  I went to the Book of Kells exhibit but again I wasn't thrilled with this either, I enjoyed wandering around the Trinity College grounds and library much more. I bought a 2 day pass for the Hop On Hop Off bus, which had 2 different routes that would take you to all the major sights in the city.  You could get on and off at any of the different stops as many times as you wanted to for 2 days.  I really liked this, since it came in handy for sightseeing and the times that I didn't feel like walking back to my hotel (there was a stop right across the street).  Using this bus I was able to go out to Kilmainham Gaol and the Guinness Brewery, which are slightly outside the central city.  The Guinness brewery is always considered a must see in Dublin, but to be honest, I was never a beer drinker, so I didn't really care.  However, Dublin reformed my spirit sacrilege and converted me into a Guinness lover.  I still do not like beer, but I now like Guinness.  The brewery tour itself was really not that interesting to me since it was mostly various levels of modern LCD screens streaming videos of hops being brewed and how things are bottled, etc.  As a history lover I was expecting to see the original factory preserved or something, so I was let down.  They did have a copy of Arthur Guinness' original lease on the building which is what I found the most interesting.  The tour includes a voucher for a free pint of Guinness in the rooftop bar that overlooks all of Dublin, and that was nice to see, even if the rest of it wasn't what I had expected.  The Guinness brewery is one of the last stops on the bus route, and after it comes Kilmainham Gaol, so I did that right after Guinness.  I LOVED Kilmainham Gaol, which is a jail built in the 1700's that also held the members of the Easter Rebellion, and is crazy haunted.  I love haunted places and ghost tours, as I have mentioned, and Kilmainham is full of those type of things.  The tour was a nice length, and very informative.  I got to see the whole prison, the different wings, you could go in some cells, in the courtyard, and all guided by a person, not a headset, which I always prefer.  I definitely suggest getting out to Kilmainham Gaol if you are ever in Dublin!

View from atop Guinness

Kilmainham Gaol

Practical note- When I go away in the summer, I always go for at least 2 weeks, which allows me the chance to really get to know a city and to fully explore most aspects of it.  With Dublin, I had also planned on a few day trips, which I love to do, it's always nice to see other cities and to get out of your main base for a while.  However, I had wanted to see some of the west coat, especially the Ring of Kerry, but I came to find out that you really need a car for going all over Ireland, a train just doesn't really do it since some places are really out there.  The western part of the country is also too far to do on a bus day trip, which I wasn't aware of, so that was a bit of a let down.  I'm mentioning all this because while I love Dublin, I do think that 2 weeks is a VERY long time to spend in a city of its size, not including the nightlife scene.  I would recommend about 3-4 days in Dublin.  3 days would give you all the time you needed to see the main sights and enjoy some dinners and other things.