Dublin, Ireland

Oliver St. John Gogarty Pub

Dublin, Ireland home of the friendliest people in the world. My trip to Ireland began Friday evening after a somewhat bumpy and rough landing into Dublin airport via plane from Pisa. After taking a bus to the city center, we found our hostel and proceeded to check in. The couple that owned the hostel greeted us and I immediately fell in love with their accents! After freshening up we headed out in search of local Irish pub food and music. We started off our night at a locally owned pub called M.J. O’Neill’s where we feasted on fish and chips and a few pints of beer. After enjoying the atmosphere of O’Neill’s we wandered over to the Temple Bar area of the city. Unlike areas surrounding it, Temple Bar has preserved its medieval street pattern, with many narrow cobbled streets. It is promoted as “Dublin’s cultural quarter” and has a lively nightlife. We chose to spend the majority of our night at a well-known restaurant/pub – The Oliver St. John Gogarty. This particular pub had traditional Irish music flowing from the windows, which inevitably sparked our interest. For the rest of the night I found myself dancing with the local Irish crowd who came out to enjoy the musical entertainment of the musicians playing tunes such as Galway Girl.

Trinity Campus

Guiness Factory

            The next morning we woke up early in order to start our day of touring the city’s attractions. First stop, Trinity College campus. The Trinity campus quad is filled with green grass and blooming flowers, which made for a beautiful sight. The vibrant colors of nature were a refreshing sigh to see amidst the city buildings. After leaving the campus we walked throughout the streets towards the Guiness Storehouse Factory to take part in the tour. The Guiness Storehouse is Ireland’s number one visitor attraction, which provides insight into the rich heritage of Guiness, telling the story from its origins at St. James’s Gate in Dublin to its growth as a global brand, known all around the world. Our tour took us through the ingredients and the craft of brewing, the history behind the advertising and sponsorship of Guiness, to the art of crafting the perfect pint. At the end of the tour we climbed up numerous levels of stairs to the Gravity Bar to receive our complimentary pint of Guiness and enjoyed a 360-degree panoramic view of the city.

            Later we headed over the stadium right outside of the city center to see a Hurling match! Hurling is a sport of ancient Gaelic origin, which is played with sticks called hurleys and a ball called a sliotar. The game itself shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, number of players, and some of the terminology. The overall object of the game is for players to use the hurley to hit the sliotar between the opponents’ goalposts or into the net guarded buy the goalkeeper. It was an intense and interesting game to watch, and I enjoyed cheering alongside the local Irish fans.

Hurling Match

            On our last half-day in Ireland we took a twenty minute train ride over to the town of Howth. Conveniently we were able to enjoy the Howth Fishermans and Farmers Market. The Howth market is situated opposite the West Pier and it is a large outdoor market. It was fantastic to wander through the 30 stalls of vendors providing a large range of foods and organic produce. Besides the various array of food vendors, we walked down the long pier and took in the breathtaking views of the coast of Ireland. I came to Ireland in search of the perfect pint, Irish folk music, and the fantastic views from the coastline – and I experienced everything!

Trinity Campus

Trinity Campus

Trinity Campus

Trinity Campus

Guiness Factory

Goodbye Ireland!