City Post: Dublin

Ireland at last! We were ecstatic to learn that Ireland wasn't in the Schengen Area AND that our Eurail passes were valid there. That meant we could stay in any city as long as we wanted (up to 180 days, anyways), and could use the Eurail passes all the way up until they expired (which they did on our train out of Dublin).

We landed late in Ireland, and still had a 45 minute bus ride plus 15 minutes of walking to get to the hostel, so we decided to sleep in a bit the first day before starting our audio tour to get acquainted with the city. If only we'd had checked how long the tour was! It was something like three hours, so we didn't quite finish it before finding our way into pubs, but that's getting ahead of things.

We kicked off the day at Saint Stephen's Green. This is a large park right in the center of Dublin's bustling streets. It played a defining role in the 1916 Easter Rising, and you can still see the bullet holes in some of the stone archways. We would learn that the spectre of the UK-Ireland conflict can be found all over the Emerald Isle. From there we toured Grafton Street (a high-end pedestrian shopping area), visited Trinity College (the oldest university in Dublin), saw Molly Malone and the Dublin Castle, and...got caught in the rain. Such is life in Ireland, so we did the most Irish thing we could think of and grabbed a Guinness at a pub! When it stopped raining, we continued the tour for a short while before finding ourselves in another pub. Then we started it up again before...you almost guessed it, we ended up at the Whiskey Reserve. That's a whiskey shop where "the wall is the menu" (the wall full of whiskey bottles that is). The barman there was excellent, knowledgeable, and fun to talk with about whiskey and Ireland in general (he gave us the hilarious line of "we have walls in Ireland older than your country"). Then we packed it up and headed back to the hostel.

It was POURING rain the next day, so we stayed in to upload photos, edit videos, and relax. Then we headed out to disndat pub, at the Whiskey Reserve's recommendation. They had five Euro pints and live music that night. And what a night it was. We ended up falling in with a group of Irish guys that meet there every Wednesday and had a blast of a night. Jack got pulled up to sing "Brown Eyed Girl," Noel taught us how to drink a Guinness like a true Irishman, Jason had his 62d birthday, Wayne debated US politics with Jack, and Vinnie took over Jo's dating apps. By 23h that night, we had been cutoff (talk about an achievement in Dublin!) and went in search of the next pub with Vinnie and Noel. Jack turned in around 01h in the morning. Jo made her way back sometime around 05h30. Talk about a great night! We had so much fun with these guys, we still keep up with them on Instagram, and Jack will now only drink Guinness in three sups just like Noel taught him. This was by far a highlight of The Great Gallivanting.

The next day, we intended to go to the Guinness Storehouse, but we couldn't get in that day, so instead Jo got some more sleep while Jack went to a couple of museums. The National Museum of Archaeology was ok, great if you're really into old artifacts, but the National Gallery was phenomenal. They had all sorts of local, modern, and famous paintings in there with the stories behind them. And it was totally free! Jack's not much of an art guy, but he definitely recommends going to the National Gallery if you're in town. For dinner, we hit up Frank Ryan's near the hostel, again at the Whiskey Reserve's recommendation. They described it as "a dingy pub with pizza that has no business being that good." It was indeed a dingy pub and the pizza indeed had no business being that good. 10/10. Just don't be surprised if the pub dog runs by you while you're there!

Our last day, we hit up the Guinness Storehouse at Saint James Gate (named for the nearby church). Guinness signed a 9,000 year lease for the property in 1759 for 45 GBP a month. Talk about a steal on the housing market! You can actually see the original lease at the entrance to the Storehouse. The Storehouse tells the story of Guinness, from the brewing process to the company's history to its advertising initiatives. It is quite immersive, and totally worth the money to get in. The entrance ticket also comes with a complimentary Guinness at the upstairs Gravity Bar, so you can drink your Guinness (in three sups, of course) while taking in the city views.

That night, we were off to Galway! This was the last day we could use our Eurail passes, and we took the last train out that night. Cutting it close? Maybe a bit. Totally worth it? Absolutely.

Where We Stayed: Generator Hostel

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