Going to Dublin, IRE- gimme something to look at

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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My wife and I are taking our long awaited Honeymoon, sliding it in just under the official wire of our 1-year anniversary, and we’re starting it with a week in Ireland. We’ll be staying in Dublin, on O’connell Street, and will likely do one or two chartered day-trips by rail. Other than that, we are wide open to spur-of-the moment sight-seeing and whatnot. We’ll be there this month, so festivals would be a bonus, I suppose

I know we want to see castles, tour Jameson’s or Bushmills… that’s about it.

So, sell me on things to do in Ireland (aka: please help me round out our trip!)

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Here’s something to look at, a live cam of Dublin! But it actually looks to me at the moment like the camera might be askew.

http://www.camvista.com/ireland/dublin/liffey.php3

When I spent a week in Dublin, I really enjoyed a day trip by rail out to Glendalough. Company was Railtours Ireland. They had lots to choose from.

We also went to Newgrange - very cool!

I’ll try to find more details of what we did while in Dublin & return later…

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Where to start? Trinity and the Book of Kells (and all the other wonderful manuscripts). You may have to hang onto the display case in order to keep your place among the heaving sea of humanity coming through on the ten-pence tour (Book of Kells - check!), but it’s worth it. The cathedrals. The Guinness brewery. Any pub. O’Connell Street. Grafton Street. Dublin Castle. Any pub. The Halfpenny Bridge. Stephen’s Green. Hodges and Figgis bookstore. Dublinia. The Joyce walking tour. Any pub. The National Museum. St. Anne’s church. Phoenix Park. Kilmainham (sp.?)Gaol. Dublin is a very walkable city and you are well located. The bus system is good as well.

I can recommend the Bus Eirinn tours - leaving every day from the bus station which, IIRC, is not far from O’Connell street. They are reasonably priced and the driver/tour guides are well-informed. My husband and I took two tours - one to Glendalough and the other to Newgrange (with stops along the way at Monasterboice and a couple of other places).

Did I say any pub?

Have fun!

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Don’t miss the Guinness Brewery tour; it’s really well-done. And at the end of the tour, a free pint in a bar overlooking the city!

I had just gotten off the plane when someone asked me where I was going and told me to head to the Temple Bar, because it’s “brilliant.” And she was right. Even if you don’t go in (but why wouldn’t you?), it’s cool to just walk around and hear live music coming out of every pub, and people just sitting around getting drunk and friendly. There’s also a hotel bar whose name I forget (but anyone there will tell you if you ask) that has a free live show of Irish dancing. It’s touristy, but neat.

Another touristy thing that was more fun that it should’ve been – the Literary Pub Crawl. A small group of two actors and a guitarist/singer takes you for a couple of pints at each of several different bars, with a reading or performance by a famous Irish writer at each place. It was surprisingly fun, the people on the tour were friendly, and the hosts were entertaining. (I started to get such a huge crush on the woman who headed most of our section of the tour; I think hearing the accent is more powerful than anything else. Or maybe it’s because she was performing stuff by Oscar Wilde).

Daytime stuff: Christchurch Cathedral and St Patrick’s Cathedral are both interesting. I started out first thing by taking one of the open-air bus tours of the city; Dublin’s certainly not the biggest or most beautiful city in the world, but riding around in the sunshine, listening to a funny, self-deprectaing bus driver pointing out sights and generally shooting the shit (all in that accent!) is enough to put anybody in a good mood.

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After four and a half years living in Dublin, I finally did the Guinness tour in August.

I hated it. And so did the three people I was with. Ridiculously overpriced, a really naff post-modern sort of presentation, and all the Sky Bar really does is emphasise the fact that Dublin really isn’t the nicest looking city in the world.

Different strokes, I guess.

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I disliked the Guinness tour, too. I felt that I’d paid to walk around a five-floor advertisment.

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Céad mile fáilte!*

Which hotel? O’Connell street is wide and majestic, stretching for about a quarter mile north of the Liffey at O’Connell Bridge, the dead centre of the city, with some significant historical buildings (as well as the Dublin Spire), but it can be a bit seedy after dark.

Trains can be a bit pricey, and they’re pretty slow, so a day-trip to somewhere like Galway or Cork may be prohibitive, as you’d be travelling for 6-10 hours in one day. However, the east coast is well served by rail, and you can get to Wicklow or Wexford to the south of Dublin, and Drogheda or Belfast to the north. Belfast is a pretty nice city, and worth a visit. There are also coach tours - I believe you can get a coach to the Hill of Tara, Newgrange (both neolithic monuments north of Dublin), and the Boyne Valley, all in the same area and dripping with history.

The open-top bus tour of Dublin is pretty good, and allows you to jump on and jump off at various interesting things. Kilmainham Jail is on the route, and is one of the most interesting historical attractions I’ve been to here. I third the sentiments about the Guinness Storehouse tour. Very pretentious and expensive, though the advertising section was cool, as was the thing about the artisans who made the barrels, and the bar at the top does give some fantastic views and a free pint, but I’m not sure if it’s worth it.

Can’t think of anything. Hallowe’en is coming up, but that seems just to be kids blowing themselves up with fireworks. That said, every night in Temple Bar, which is five minutes from your hotel, feels like some kind of festival (to do with drink!).

Dublin Castle is vaguely interesting, but it’s not a real (ancient) castle. Can’t think of any other genuine castles near Dublin that you can visit, though. Powerscourt House in Co. Wicklow is do-able, but it’s a stately home rather than a castle.

Bushmills is on the northern tip of Northern Ireland, so a visit might not be realistic. However, Jameson’s is in easy walking distance of your hotel (or a short ride on the Luas, the groovy new tram that only opened last week).

By the way, it’s just become rather cold here - above freezing, but windy - and it rains at least once every day, so bring coats and umbrellas.

Since you’re on your honeymoon, I won’t suggest that you meet up with us DubDoper reprobates. However, if you want to, I’m sure we could hook up for a couple of pints. :wink:

*(OK I’m pretending; I’m English but I live here.)

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Forgot to mention - in Drogheda (a small town with a couple of nice bars & restaurants) the main attraction for me at least is the mummified head and some fingers of St. Oliver Plunkett, that you can go and look at in one of the churches. It’s gross but fascinating, though perhaps not particularly romantic…

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As has been mentioned, Trinity College and The Book of Kells. That is a must. But, if you like books (as I do) that is only one part of it. The College has a superb library with the greatest old books stacked what seems miles high- they have on display (in glass cases) Bibles from the 14 th century.

If this is your first visit to Ireland, Dublin is great. A week there for me would be too long. From my view, Dublin has a lot of problems- drugs, sleaze and too touristy. Not to mention the tinkers, travellers, gypsies- call them what you will. If you can, get out into the country (in Ireland nothing is far). There are so many lovely little villages.

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That I can agree with.

But not that. In nine years of living here, I have never had a problem with a Traveller.

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Another castle-ish thing is the tower at Glendalough which is very near Dublin. Just a tower, not a castle, but suitably romantic and medieval in a beautiful rural setting.

It seems to me the highest concentration of castles is in the west of Ireland, but as Jjimm says trains there can take a while and are very infrequent. I’d make it an overnight trip at least if you were to go to the west coast. The tourist information can supply endless information on castles, some complete with medieval banquets which are more than a bit naff but can be surprisingly entertaining as long as you are not a stickler for historical accuracy.

Enjoy your trip!

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I know I say this to everyone, but you really must take the tour of St Michin’s Church vaults. It rules. The bodies in the crypt have mummified, and a couple of the coffins have disintegrated, so you can actually see a couple of the bodies, including one of a Crusader. Its very neat, and you can actually go into the vault. You’re supposed to touch the Crusader’s finger for luck, but I was too much of a wuss to even go into the enclave bit where the bodies were.

Oh, and if the curator tries to tell you that the mathematician Hamilton is buried there, don’t believe him, he’s lying! :slight_smile:

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My sister and I did the one-day Ring of Kerry trip with Railtours Ireland. It’s fine if you’re only interested in seeing the landscape, rather than actually spending time in the area.

Um, no. Call them “Travellers”. And I’ve never had a problem with them either.

I can’t recommend this highly enough. And it’s cheap, too.

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This part I agree with. I liked Dublin a lot, but I think it would’ve been a waste if that had been all I’d seen, and I only spent three and a half days there. I spent the rest driving around the southeast, to Kilkenny, Waterford, Lismore, Cahir, and Cashel. My favorite was Lismore Castle, just for the view of itself – the village has nothing.

Well, duh! You live there. I’m an American who doesn’t quite know what “naff” means and who spent decades hearing about his Irish heritage and getting served corned beef and cabbage and listening to the Pogues and drinking what they call “Guinness” out here, but had never actually seen the country. To be actually in Dublin for the first day was really very cool, seeing the architecture and the hills off in the distance. And I liked the post-modern presentation, because I’d expected it to be really cheesy and run-down – I had just spent a few days in London, where everything had that slick, shallow, post-modern feel to it that was really growing on me.

I lived in the Atlanta suburbs for around 26 years, and I thought the World of Coke museum was a huge waste of time, but I’ve heard people from other areas tell me how cool it was.

And people had told me that Guinness in Ireland tastes profoundly different than it does in the US, and I figured, “Yeah, right. Whatever.” But oh my God it’s so much better.

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We’re staying at the BW Royal Dublin Hotel on O’Connel.

I’ll pass this thread off to the wife tonight to check, but I’m fairly certain she would like to get together with anyone over there that was willing to have a pint with us (she’s friendly that way).

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We celebrated my 40th birthday in Dublin, this weekend just gone, and by coincidence also stayed at the Royal Dublin Hotel on O’Connell Street too! It’s location is great for getting to see all the interesting places already mentioned, but I would add that the Viewing Chimney at the Jamesons Distillery in Smithfield (only a 10 minute walk from the hotel) is well worth doing. We were up there on a gloriously sunny morning, and the views were quite breathtaking. Lots of cranes too, but they have their own beauty too I suppose.

Our hotel room looked out onto Parnell St, and with the window open every time one of the open top Tour Buses went past, we could hear ‘blah blah blah Maternity Hospital blah blah blah’. Figured after a while that must be what the building opposite was :wink: . Made us laugh every time we heard it. We considered doing one of the bus tours, but after a day spent wandering around we realised we had pretty much covered most of the areas that the bus would take you to anyway (apart from Phoenix Park/Dublin Zoo, but I’ve never liked zoos myself). I think some of the Tour Bus ‘deals’ includes money off vouchers for some of the attractions, such as the Cathedrals, and you can get on and off the buses wherever and whenever you like.

I agree with jjimm that O’Connell St can appear to be a little seedy late at night, but we didn’t find it threatening. We found that walking up the wide central reserve in the middle of the street kept you away from the crowds by day, and the more unsavoury elements by night. Not only that, but the view of the Dublin Spire is best from there too - I thought it was a real thing of beauty, especially at night when the middle seems to disappear against the dark sky, leaving just the illuminated top section visible.

Guinness really does taste best in Dublin, and slips down especially well. Rather too well, on more than one occasion! I really came to appreciate the No Smoking rule too, although it does lead to little crowds of ‘snoutcasts’ hanging around outside the doors on the streets looking miserable.

Had we had another day to spare, I would have loved to have gone to Newgrange, but at least that gives us an excuse to return! After all, it was cheaper for us to fly from Bournemouth Airport to Dublin, than it would be to go up to London on the train from Poole.

I hope you have as enjoyable a time as we did!

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Meet the Dublin Dopers. They’re like a team of superheros, except their superpower has to do with getting you drunk. You’ll learn a lot, you’ll laugh a lot, and you’ll be very glad you did it.

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Yeah, but the three people I went there with don’t. Then again they aren’t Irish-Americans either :wink:

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Ok…I really want to see St. Michan’s Church, Malahide Castle & perhaps travel to Cork. The thought of doing a pub crawl is enticing as well. I’m having a hard time narrowing down what I really want to do. Since we won’t be renting a car, we’ll be relying primarily on public transportation…and coming from a country where I hop in my car and drive myself everywhere…this seems a little daunting. I want to see lots of fascinating and beautiful stuff, yet I also want to relax and have fun. This is after all, a vacation…and more importantly, our honeymoon.

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Aha, you’re thinksnow’s wife!

The scenic stuff is a bit out of the way, so without a car handy, I’d say it’s better approached by organized coach tour.

I’ll see what I can do about a crawl. Email me and I’ll send you my cellphone number.