Ireland, Part Seven

November 28, 2012

We woke up in Killarney and prepared to make the drive back across the country to Dublin. This drive is about 300km, or 191 miles (thank you, Google Maps). The weather was sunny and in the 40's again. Speaking of which, I'd say we lucked out with weather on this trip. It was chilly, but it didn't rain much, and we got quite a bit of sun.

On the way back to Dublin, we stopped in Limerick for lunch. We also wanted to pick up a couple more woolen scarves for gifts. While at Arthurs Quay, we decided to go ahead and have lunch. In the little food court area, there was a Chinese place. Maybe it's not what you go to Ireland to eat, but it sounded good, so we went with it.

After paying to use the bathrooms, which is apparently a thing in Europe, we headed back out onto the road. In search of gas, we found a town called Moneygall where there were American flags flying from every building and an "Obama Cafe." Not sure what that was about, but we did eventually find gas in a town called Roscrea before arriving back in Dublin.

It took a couple passes down O'Connell Street to find our hotel, but we got checked in and rested up for a bit before heading out.

Our hotel was in a convenient location right off O'Connell and Parnell. While we were in town, we wanted to check out Ireland's first brew pub. So we walked down to Temple Bar and had dinner at the Porterhouse. I was sure to bring my camera and snap a few photos on our walk.

Baile Atha Cliath is "town of the hurdled ford," which is the Irish name for Dublin.

O'Connell Street at night. This is where the spire of Dublin (the world's tallest sculpture) can be found, and it is one of the main drags in Dublin. I read somewhere that it's one of the widest streets in Europe.

So we got to the Porterhouse, where they claim to have the best stout in the world. And while I've certainly had better, it was a nice creamy porter. They also had a beer called "Hop Head" on cask. It wasn't at all hoppy to our American tastebuds, but we still enjoyed the beers. There's nothing like drinking Guinness in Ireland, but we also missed the American craft beer scene. I think we ended up trying all of their ales and stouts, including an oyster stout. The hubs also had a couple of Irish whiskeys this night, including 12 year Redbreast and Green Spot.

After dinner, we walked a block or two over to Temple Bar. Temple Bar is a touristy neighborhood of pubs. In Temple Bar, there is an actual bar called The Temple Bar.

The Temple Bar

This is a large bar with a number of separate areas. They had live music going on, which included a harp player and violinist. They even sang some songs in Irish. So we enjoyed more beverages with the music.

I sure could go for one of these right now.

Inside The Temple Bar. It was all decorated for Christmas.

After finishing a couple rounds of drinks here, we crossed back to the north side of the river. We definitely walked all over Dublin during this trip.

You can't tell, but the lights were moving like snow falling. It was pretty.

The hubs passed right out after imbibing a bit much for his birthday (one day late) and I did a bit of research for our last full day in Dublin.

The next post will include our trip to the Guinness Storehouse, The Old Jameson Distillery, and general Dublin sightseeing.