Travelling with MM: Dublin Ireland

26 August 2019

Dublin Ireland

Day 92/Ireland 25

Travelled: Dublin public transport Luas €7.30 for all day ticket Red and Green lines.

Visited: Guinness Experience €21pp (bought discount tickets on line), various sites of Dublin

Stay: Dublin Red Cow Park and Ride €4/24hr

Having booked the 9:30am tour at the Guinness Storehouse, we ventured over to the tram stop just after 8am. Although it’s only a 20min ride from Red Cow to James stations, there is no tram timetable, just that they can be up to 20min apart. Then we had maybe a 10min walk to the Guinness Storehouse. As it turned out a tram arrived straight away and we were in Dublin city before we knew it and the place was deserted! It didn’t help it was Sunday. We passed our tour destination and continued walking along the main road, hopping to find a coffee and a bite to eat for breakfast. Tesco came to the rescue. After our machine made coffee and fresh croissants we managed to find a few churches to look at to pass the time until we had to get back to where the famous Guinness beer originated from and made in Ireland.

St.Audeons Church has a lovely garden surrounded it.

The Guinness experience reminded us, in parts, of waiting in line for rides at ‘Movie World’. The displays and explanations of how a pint of Guinness is made was presented in various audio/visual styles.

The 9000 year old lease! Amazing

In we go.

We learnt about the ingredients used to make a Guinness.

Then we learnt the process.

The yeast is that important it is kept under lock and key. It is also the main ingredient transported all over the world to maintain that special taste.

Then their was the 300 casks a day that had to be made ( they use steel vats now).

Then there was the important job of transporting the product all over the world.

We felt we spent more time than the average person, taking us 1.5hours just to reach the taste testing section.

After learning that a Guinness should not be sipped as it leaves a bitter taste from the nitrogen found in the head of the beer, we continued on to the quirky advertising section.

There was another floor that leveraged more money from you to get personalised glasses or imprints on your head of beer! For us it was up to the Galaxy Bar for our complimentary pint. Mark had the Guinness and I tried their lager which was very good.

We rested our feet for a little while looking out on the roof tops of the city, before buying some souvenirs from the shop. (We decided that although we got all the information about beer making, we would have preferred a tour of the actual factory, to see and smell the process, similar to what we had experienced with the whiskey tour). With our wallet a bit lighter we exited the building into sunshine and crowds. The city was awake. We went to have a look at St.Patricks Cathedral.

Further on was Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin’s oldest building, has a covered bridge to the Synod Hall which gives it a unique appeal.

We then walked passed the City Hall.

Mark gave Molly Malone a rub for good luck.

We had lunch at ONeills whilst having a chat to Seamus (Local lived in Australia) and Shaun ( from Hay)

We walked through Trinity College founded by Queen Elizabeth in 1592.

We ventured through the busy Temple Bar area, popping in to a few pubs just to have a look.

Notice the difference?

We crossed the Liffey River at Ha’Penny bridge, getting its name from the toll charged to cross it until 1919.

We went up to 178 King Street North to have a look at where Mark’s ancestors had a joinery shop back in the early 1800’s. Needless to say the building has long gone!