Dublin is a city like no other. It’s historical centre is small but there is so much history hidden in those streets if you know where to find it. Outer Dublin is a modern city with architectural marvels, huge bank offices and conference centres. But most of all it is the home of Guinness and the heart of the Irish Whiskey Culture. Despite of all that greatness you will spend most of your time in Dublin in a Pub. Are you the one to look for that one Irish pub in your city to sniff up the atmosphere? Well here there is one around every corner. Find out in this post how we spent our three days in this lively city.

Dublin Day 1: Pot Stills and Blends

• Sights:       Irish Whiskey Museum
• Pubs:         O’Sheas, The Bank, The International
• Lodging:   Abrahams Hostel
• Budget:     € 190

There would be no better place to start ou Dublin adventures than the Irish Whiskey Museum

Leap Card

When we arrived at Dublin airport the first thing we need to figure out was how to get to the city. We decided to buy the Leap Card which gave us 72 hours of public transportation for € 19.50, which is not bad considering the bus to the city and back is already 12 and you easily pay 2 euros for a trip in the city. There was a long line waiting for the bus but since all buses are double decker we all got in. The bus dropped us of basically across the street from our hostel. It was good value for the € 20 a night per person we paid, considering we could walk to the center. Dublin is definitely not cheap when it comes to lodging.

More Whiskey?

Once we dropped off our stuff, we went to have some lunch in our first pub. O’Sheas served us huge portions of delicious fish and chips and Guinness beef stew. Finger-licking good, but we needed some digesting time. After finishing our pints of cider, we decided there would be no better place to start ou Dublin adventures than the Irish Whiskey Museum. It is a relatively new attraction in town. They do not focus on one brand but rather give a history of the entire industry.

The tour was given by a very Irish looking lad (yes he was a ginger), and he sounded the part as well. He guided us through several nicely themed rooms explaining the evolution from Abbeys to Pigwash to the famous distilleries of today. But of course the best part of the tour was the tasting session. We all got whiskey’s to taste from a price range of 15 to 65 euros per bottle (yes the expensive one was the most tasty one). Since neither Daisy nor our neighbours at the bar succeeded in finishing them all I helped them out.

The Bank

Lounge apparently means irish pub basement, so don’t expect any fancy cocktails or deep house

Our Canadian bar-neighbours joined us for dinner at the bank. This is obviously not a real bank (anymore) but a grand pub. The prices were equally grand so we just got a fried foods platter to share between me and Daisy. Again the food was super nice, we had to wait a while before being seated though because the place was packed. After we downed another pint of cider we all moved to … another pub. This time we settled for a more local (and less fancy) looking one called the international. Trust me we were the only real internationals in there. Since the ground floor was packed we followed the ‘lounge’ sign downstairs. Lounge apparently means irish pub basement, so don’t expect any fancy cocktails or deep house. It was more like a more compact version of the pub above us.

Gailic or Gaelish?

The best surprise was the small improv Jazz band that started playing right next to us

After our friendly neighbourhood bartender had finished guessing where we were from, we started asking the questions. Our new Irish friend was very linguistically gifted and boasted his German, French and Gaelic. Or was it pronounced ‘Gaelish’? He explained it depended on where you asked: the North or South of Ireland or even Scotland has its own versions of the ancient language. Jimmy, Leona and me tried our first Guinness, while Daisy made another cider disappear. The best surprise was the small improv Jazz band that started playing right next to us. We dreamed away with the saxophone solos and sipped from our Guinness.

All good things must come to an end however. After some more beers we decided we’d rather fall asleep in our dorm than in the pub. We walked back to the hostel, definitely less straight than before. But we safely made it back before our toes got entirely frozen.

Dublin Day 2: The Pub Life

• Sights:       The Little Museum of Dublin
• Pubs:         O’Neils, The Long Hall, The Hairy Lemon
• Lodging:   Abrahams Hostel
• Budget:     € 145

Alita, Ale, Alejandra, … ?

Our second day started slow with a breakfast at our hostel. We wanted to join the free tour but just missed the guide picking up the people at the hostel. They told us however the tour would only start half an hour later from City Hall. So we walked to the center only to arrive just in time. We joined Alita’s group, an Argentinian girl, who had lived in Dublin for 9 years already. Alita’s full name is actually Alejandra but most people call he Alita or Ale.

Irish history is a fascinating but mostly sad story

She warned all of us to be aware of the Irish guys, since they are apparently very smooth. Hence why she ended up in Dublin in the first place. We started of at Dublin castle and in its garden she gave us a compressed version of Irish history. It is a fascinating but very sad story most of the times. Especially the Irish struggle for independence and the many failed rebellions against the British crown brought a lot of sorrow to the Irish.

O’Neills Pub and Kitchen

Although the tour was fascinating and we learned a lot from dear Alita our toes started to freeze over again. Our stomachs also started to growl. So we bailed from the tour but not before buying a ticket to the Pub Crawl and Guinness Storehouse. We asked Alita some final advice for lunch and she pointed us to the statue of Molly Malone. She is without a doubt Dublin’s most famous woman of the night (Cockles and Mussels, alive, alive oh!). We even sing it in Belgium when we hold one of our famed drinking/singing debaucheries that we call cantus. Across the street you can find O’Neills Pub and Kitchen. It is clearly a very popular joint for lunch both with local and tourist.

I would recommend that stew to anyone, it is truly stew heaven

The concept is a self-service one: you grab a tray and wait in line to choose from various delicious dishes, pick your potion of choice and pay at the end. I got some turkey (it was thanksgiving the day before) and Daisy tried the Guinness stew. I would recommend that stew to anyone, it is truly stew heaven. The place was huge but it was still difficult to find a place to sit. Once we had gobbled up our food we packed ourselves in our many layers and waded out like penguins.

The very Little Museum

One small street with about 20 houses in Dublin counted more than 800 people living there

After our lunch we walked across town to St Stephen’s Green. The park in the center of the city. Next to the park you can find the Little Museum of Dublin. It is located in a house that was the property of a rich British family. The place is packed with artefacts from all different times. Susan, our guide, gave a very interesting tour, packed with humor but also very serious stuff. The most remarkable fact was that in the 1800’s one small street with about 20 houses in Dublin counted more than 800 people living there. While in the huge house we were in, at the same time, 6 people live, including the 2 servants. After the tour we enjoyed the room upstairs entirely dedicated to U2, Ireland’s most famous export product (except maybe whiskey).

Google, you bastard!

If you’re into what I call ‘alcoholic apple lemonade’, do try out the Orchard Thieves

We did some shopping in the streets around St Stephen’s Green and got some fantastic Fish and Chips in a place called SMS. We thought of going to Dublinia still, an attraction focused on Dublin’s Viking origins. The place was already closed however at 17:30 (and last tour started at 16:30), although google indicated 18:30. Disappointed we did what every Irish would do on all sad and happy occasions: we went to the pub. After one drink in the Hairy Lemon we ended up in the Long Hall. The place deserved it’s name: a narrow but very long pub with a very long bar. We drank away the hours with cider and beer. I recommend the Bulmers for anyone that doesn’t like their cider to sweet. If you’re into what I call ‘alcoholic apple lemonade’, do try out the Orchard Thieves. Very sweet stuff!

Dublin Day 3: Kilmainham + Pub Life Part II

• Sights:       MIMA, Kilmainham Goal, Guinness Storehouse
• Pubs:         The Patriot, Bad Bobs, SIN É, O’Neills, Copper Face Jacks
• Lodging:   Abrahams Hostel
• Budget:     € 265

MIMA

The third day we got up an hour earlier determined to visit as much as we could on our last day. We took the tram (red line) from our hostel towards Kilmainham Goal, and old prison turned museum. You could only visit with a tour and the next available one would be in an hour. Apparently you can book online up front, which is what many people did, and I would recommend doing as well. Only 10 min walking from the prison is an old hospital building that now houses the MIMA (Museum of Irish Modern Art). Not my cup of tea but Daisy was into it. They had one fascinating exposition with light boxes, the rest of it just triggered an enormous feeling of incomprehension with me. I guess I’m not made for abstract art.

The Prison

We got back to the prison just in time for our tour to start. The place is full of history and tales of woe. An all time low in these tales is the Great Potato famine, when most people ended up there for stealing food out of total desperation. Ironically they had it better in prison! despite of the poor circumstances, at least they received three ‘meals’ a day, keeping them alive while they would have starved outside the prison walls.

Other stories include the Grace Gifford and Joseph Plunkett tale. Grace married her husband only 4 hours before he was executed for his part in the Easter Rising. The highlight of the visit however is the Victorian wing. The newest and most modern wing of the prison, mostly used during the times of the Irish Civil war to house the women prisoners (including the abovementioned Grace Gifford). It has been used several times in movies for its great setting (for a prison at least).

Guinness Time

After the prison we visited The Patriot around the corner for a nice fresh soup and a turkey melt sandwich. Once our stomach was filled we could safely go ahead to the must-do of all Dublin city trips: The Guinness Storehouse. Located right next to St James Gate Brewery it is as they proudly boast: the home of Guinness beer. Luckily we had bought a ticket up front. An enormous line formed outside for people waiting to buy a ticket. We skipped it entirely and walked straight into … the gift store.

The storehouse itself is basically converted into a giant place of worship for the beer brand. But it is very well done and we gladly spent about two hours roaming around. You get of course a free Guinness or 4 beer tasting palette with each entry ticket. So naturally, thanks to very nice celiac girlfriend, I had both. We also got treated on a free Irish tap dancing performance and some nice live music.

Pub Crawling

Already feeling the beer in my head, we took the bus back to the centre. We got to our next pub called Bad Bob’s: a huge place in the Temple Bar area. After some effort we found a place to sit (all pubs seem to be packed all the time). We got some food before we got our bracelet and started our pub crawl. Once you get your bracelet you can join the Pub Crawl as many times as you want. Our trusty guides, Patrick and Podrick, introduced us to the special Pub Crawl offer in each pub. After Bab Bob’s we walked across the Liffey to a lively place called SIN É, clearly very local. The place is named after Sinéad O’Connor, a famous Irish singer-songwriter.

After we went to O’Neills, the very same where we had lunch the day before. But not before we had stopped at the statue of Molly Malone, singing “Alive, Alive Oh” with all 40 Pub Crawlers. Inside there was a band playing traditional Irish music and two girls performed some Irish dancing moves. After O’Neills our guides lead us into a Night Club a little bit out of the centre. We teamed up with a trio of Belgium and started dancing our asses of for the rest of the night. Tired and far from sober, we decieded around 3 AM that we would call it a night. We walked a long way back to our hostel, freezing our asses off!

The next day we got up with some significant effort and simple enjoyed a nice Irish Breakfast at O’Sheas. We roamed around O’Connel street for a while and took the bus back to the airport. It had been an exhausting but fun three days filled with food and beer/cider. We will definitely be back!