Dublin Pub Crawl

Since we weren't able to participate in an "official guided musical" pub tour of Dublin, Mel and I decided to make do on our own. After all, we're from the south. If anyone can get their drink on, it's us southerners, right? To get some culture in for the day (because there's no need to feel guilty about being surrounded by so much history without taking in a little education), we headed to Trinity College to view the Book of Kells. Unfortunately, photography wasn't allowed, so I can't share the visuals with you, but suffice it to say that those monks had skillz.

With the proper amount of culture and "wow" behind our belts, we were free to crawl about as one might say. Stops along the way included The International Bar, O'Neill's on Suffolk, The Old Stand (most charming bartender.... think Irish grandpa who takes pride in his craft), The Library (a quiet upstairs lounge with wing back chairs, a fireplace and books), and for dinner, The Stag's Head.


Dinner was delicious! We shared mussels in a wine cream sauce, Mel had potato pancackes with smoked salmon and I sampled my first Irish Stew! If only I could get such complexity out of potatoes, carrots & lamb. Dee-lish! Kept on "crawling" and wandered back toward The Temple Bar.


We likened this to the "Irish Hard Rock" that is, until we saw the Hard Rock just a few blocks down. At any rate, it's a charming area, albeit touristy, and the overpriced Irish Coffee was the perfect pick-me-up!


From there, we hit The Auld Dubliner, which was our first encounter with live Irish Music. Well, if you count a guitarist crooning Me and Bobby McGee as Irish. Nevermind, it was music and we were having fun. Next stop: The Porterhouse Brewery. Delicious local brews. And a veritable rat maze of seating areas. Next up, Turk's Head... very cool mosaic tile work. By this point, we really needed to be heading back in the direction of our hotel. (Did I mention we extended our stay at the Croke Park Hotel because we just couldn't fathom the logistics of finding new lodging, repacking, getting there, unpacking, etc?) So one "last stop" at Sine. (note: that last "e" is supposed to have an accent over it, but this novice blogger hasn't figured out that sort of sophisticated maneuver yet). So THIS is where you go to meet friendly people.... the north side of the Liffey!

So, the bartender, Moe, was most amiable. AND, we met a couple of local musicians who were due back in the Temple Bar (aka Tourist Central) for a gig. Naturally, since this promised to be our closest encounter to traditional Irish music, we tagged along. John Gogarty's pub proved to be our last stop for the evening, but Mel was able to show them how to Irish dance - southern style.


And.... in case you haven't figured out by now that this day could very well have been longer than the last, we overslept. And what happens next? We bag the rental car and take the train to Galway. Slainte!