Ireland - A day out in Dublin
- lorisolan
- Sep 29, 2017
- 4 min read
I missed Denver's birthday this year as he was working in Malaysia and I was living at home for 3 months. He came home at the end of September and for his present, I organised a day out in Dublin for us.
Our first stop was brunch at San Lorenzo's on South Great George's Street. This is one of the few restaurants in the city that offers a weekday brunch. Many places only do brunch at the weekends as the demand might not be so high. The portion sizes here are almost too big however when you order sides as well like we did, that may be why. We got the Crab Cakes and Crab Bagel, both were full of flavour. The crab on my bagel may have been slightly overcooked as it was a little hard but all in all a pretty good brunch by Irish standards.
San Lorenzo's Italian Restaurant (9, Castle House, 73-83 South Great George's Street)
Next up was Trinity College. I had never been in here before and the grounds are spectacular. We aren't usually in to the group tour thing when we visit places however the tours here are run by the students of the college so we thought it would be interesting to hear it from one of their perspectives. Our tour guide James was really informative while being very funny so made the tour extremely enjoyable.
Trinity College is steeped in history and has been teaching talented minds for over four centuries. A lot of famous Irish people attended Trinity over the years such as Oscar Wilde, former Presidents Mary McAleese and Mary Robinson, Veronica Guerin (the renowned journalist who was sadly murdered in 1996 by drug lords) and Samuel Beckett but to name a few.
Trinity College (College Green, Dublin)
Kehoe's Pub (9 South Anne Street, Dublin 2)
After our walk down Grafton Street, we stopped for a drink in the snug of Kehoe's bar. Kehoe's bar was voted 'Best Pub in Dublin' at the Licensed Vintners Associations awards ceremony in April 2017. The pub itself has been in existence since 1803 and has so much character that really oozes old Ireland. It’s one of the 16 or so remaining Victorian era pubs of Dublin, in that it retains the characteristics of that era of design.
St Patrick's Cathedral (St Patrick's Close, Wood Quay, Dublin 8)
On the way to The Guinness Storehouse, we stopped off at St. Patrick's Cathedral, a beautiful old cathedral that was founded in 1191 and is the tallest and largest in Ireland. There were tours starting every half hour so we joined in on one. The tour guide was a delightful older man who talked with such enthusiasm about the history of the church. It is a spectacular building with such intricate detail, they just don't build anything like that anymore.
The Guinness Storehouse (St Jame's Gate, Ushers, Dublin 8)
I never really had an interest in going to The Guinness Storehouse, however Denver absolutely loves Guinness so I thought it would be a good idea to bring him to the place where the 'Black Stuff' (as the Irish people call it) is made. The tour is a self-guided one. There are seven floors to make your way up. It was so interesting to see how this stout is made and just how many countries it can deliver to.
With your ticket purchase, you get one free pint of Guinness which you can pour yourself on the 4th floor or make your way up the top floor and have the professionals do it for you. We decided to pour our own just for fun. They put us in a group with 6 other people and each of us got a go. We then took our pint up to the top floor which was packed full of people. The 360 degree views of Dublin and the backdrop of it's mountains that you can see out the large, curved windows was spectacular and the perfect setting to enjoy Ireland's most famous drink.
I have totally changed my mind and would fully recommend a Storehouse visit to anyone.
The Port House Pintxo (12 Eustace St, Temple Bar)
We went for dinner at The Port House Pintxo Tapas restaurant. This is one of my favourite places to eat in Dublin especially as I love Tapas. They have an extensive offering and I have never had a bad dish. The portion sizes are pretty substantial for tapas so if there are two of you dining, five smalls is plenty. Their bread is that perfect combination of crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. They have a way of giving their dishes a beautiful smoky taste which keeps me coming back time and time again.
The dishes range from €3.50-15.00 depending on the size.
Some of my favourites are:
Pollo Croquetas - chicken croquettes Patatas Bravas - deep fried potatoes served with fiery tomato, garlic mayo or Canarian garlic, chilli and almond sauce
Manchego - sheeps cheese served with bread
Setas con Huevos de Pato - seasonal wild mushrooms, onion and garlic pan fried and tossed in a whole duck egg
Tetilla Templada - deep fried Tetilla cheese and honey
Albondigas - meatballs in a rich tomato sauce
Live music at Temple Bar
To finish off our day, we took a walk down Temple Bar for the atmosphere and to look for some good, traditional Irish music. We popped into the actual pub called The Temple Bar and listened to this amazing three piece band made up of a singer who always played the violin, an accordion player and a guitarist. They had the whole pub singing along and there was such a good buzz. There is something about trad music that makes my heart race and my feet begging to dance. We left and moved on to two other places for more live music then headed back to the hotel. It was such a memorable day out in Dublin, I really do love my country.
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