Slainte from Dublin

One of the best things to do in Dublin is be there for St. Patrick’s Day. Visitors come from all over the world for this fantastic festival. In 2002, we met people from Australia, England, New Zealand and America experiencing the great craic like many of their forefathers would’ve done. Unfortunately, the weather was horrible, but the atmosphere was electric.

There are so many pubs in Dublin you would never get sick of the same one. The best we found were The Temple Bar, The Porterhouse (on the corner of Parliament St - [check out this cool site www.porterhousebrewco.com] and with a good pizza shop across the road) and The Brazen Head (Oldest Pub in Dublin - Lower Bridge St). Oliver St John Gogarty’s (Fleet St, Temple Bar) was awesome on St. Patrick’s Day and the band played traditional music for 10 hours straight.

Another highlight was the Guinness Storehouse – It’s a wonderful tour incorporating the history of Guinness, the brewing process, the advertising campaigns used to sell it and the best part of all – the two free pints of Guinness you get at the top in the Gravity Bar, which has views over all of Dublin. Adults = €13.50.

Quick Tips:

Cheapest Guinness was at Trinity College – €3.10. While there, have a look at the Book of Kells, which is a manuscript written about 800 years ago and looks OK for its age. You can tag along on a guided tour taken by one of the students for about 8 euro.

Fellas – drop your missus off at Grafton St or O’Connell St to go shopping while you discover more of the little backstreets and local pubs. There are some really authentic establishments outside The Temple Bar district. The price drops the further out you go and the locals get friendlier. Try and catch a game of Gaelic Football or Hurling at Croke Park if you’re there in season. The Clarence Hotel (Wellington Quay) is a cool place to have a bite to eat. It’s owned by Bono and The Edge from U2 and my mates have even met The Edge there having a meal. It’s pretty swanky and has very nice décor. It’s right next to the Temple Bar area.

If you are planning on visiting for St. Patrick’s Day then be sure to book early!

Best Way To Get Around:

The city is about 12km from the airport and to get a cab costs about 20euro. However, buses go regularly from the airport, are much cheaper and only take 45 minutes.

If you are going from London and you can’t get a cheap RyanAir flight, the next cheapest option is the train from London Euston to Holyhead (northern Wales). The ticket you purchase will also cover the ferry from Holyhead to Dublin Port. The ferry takes just over 3 hours and you can get a bus to the city centre from the port (20 mins).

Dublin is small enough you can walk it and, in my opinion, it’s the most interesting way of getting around. You can pop into any shop along the way, chat to the locals and then rehydrate yourself at one of the many pubs along the way.

Within Dublin the other transport options are the DART (train system), local buses and open-top tour buses from which you can jump on and jump off for about 12 euro – lasting for a 24-hour period. All transport is pretty easy and regular.

One of the most popular sights within Dublin city these days it the Guinness Storehouse. With its central location in town and being a drop off point on the Dublin City tour bus route, it is easily accessible to everyone.

We went to the storehouse on St Patrick’s Day eve in 2002 and thankfully we got there early. Our ferry had just come in from Hollyhead in Wales docking about 7am. We walked from the bus station to O’Connell street for breaky and through the Temple Bar area and out to St James gate by 9.30 when it opened. By the time we finished the line up for entry was around the corner – very ugly. One tip is to buy your tickets online and go straight to the front of the queue. This is definitely recommended for peak times like summer, weekends and especially St Patrick’s Day weekend when tourists flock in.

Once inside (adults are €13.50) there are a series of levels to explore behind the history of Guinness and the man who started it all in 1759 – Arthur Guinness. Here was a bloke who started the company from a £100 inheritance and grew it into one of the most popular brands throughout the world today. The levels inside the Storehouse take the visitor through the brewing process where you can smell and feel the ingredients. Also as you progress further you will learn about the making of barrels, the distribution process (which probably explains why the taste of Guinness decreases the further away from Ireland you get) and my favourite level – level 9 - the advertising section of the Guinness brand. This area documents all the previous advertising campaigns from the beginning of the Toucan to the TV ads with dancing Irishman who can’t wait for his Guinness to settle.

After you have walked through the storehouse, there is a lovely surprise waiting for you at the top. It’s called the Gravity Bar and has the best panoramic view over Dublin. Your entry ticket entitles you to a free Guinness (by way of a take home paperweight token with a drop of Guinness inside). If you want to be clever, you can also "acquire" Guinness pints from fellow tourists who take one sip – to say they have tried it – and leave the rest. We. . . ahhh. . . heard of. . . ahh. . . other people doing this. At the bottom, there is also a cool gift shop with lots of branded merchandise to purchase.

Getting there is easy. You can walk there in about 15 minutes from the main street (O’Connell). Turn right when you pass over the Liffey and either walk along the river or through the Temple Bar area. Head past Christchurch and into High/Thomas street. This will lead into James Street and you can’t miss it. From the central bus station, you can also get Bus #123, which gets you there in about 10 minutes.

www.guinness-storehouse.com

Well, this place would have to be the epitome of Irish pubs. It’s a squillion years old, has great craic and character, serves great food, and has traditional music playing seven nights a week.

Located on Bridge St. on the south side of the city, The Brazen Head is the oldest pub in all of Ireland. A pub of some kind has stood on this site since 1198--long before liquor-licensing laws were enacted (1635). It was located on the junction of four ancient transport routes, so would have always been a popular watering hole. The present building is an old 1688 coaching inn complete with a cobble stone courtyard that is now a great little beer garden in summer. We managed quite a few lazy Guinness whilst enjoying the long summer hours and warm temps.

This place has long had a traditional local crowd that frequent. However, more and more professional workers from the nearby legal buildings have changed that recently. The decor inside adds to the comforting feel of a great traditional pub. Everything is still wooden with memorabilia and old posters adorning the walls. There are low-hanging beams on the ceiling, small cozy rooms, fireplaces, and huge wooden barrels out in the courtyard used as drinks tables.

Music is played here every night in the two bars--one for traditional Irish music (live) and the other for more contemporary/modern style. There is also a Sunday afternoon session that attracts a few tourists. Many famous musicians have played here over the years, including Van Morrison and the Hothouse Flowers. The price of a Guinness is €3.80 ($4.98), and they have a wide selection of other Irish beers and whiskeys. Recommendation: Try Murphy’s beer; for a whiskey, go for a Bushmills, Jamesons, or Paddy’s.

The Brazen Head also offers great food options. You can order from a bar menu for snacks--plate of chips for €3 ($3.93)--sandwiches, soups, mains, and stews--traditional Irish stew and beef and Guinness stew are both €9.50 ($12.45). Alternatively, you can dine in the more formal courtyard restaurant, which is simple but very nice.

Getting to the Brazen Head is easy. It’s located only five minutes from the Guinness Storehouse, The Jameson Distillery, and Christchurch Cathedral. From the cathedral, just go along High St. and turn left into Bridge St. If you’re coming from O’Connell St., turn right and head down along the Liffey River, south past the quays. Go past the Dublin Corporation offices and past the Four Courts building across the river and turn left at the bridge on Merchants Quay. It’s just on the right.

If you have too many drinks or don’t want to trek home, you can always stay at the hostel there.

Great pub, Great craic, A must while in Dublin♪

Tel: 01 679 5186
Fax: 01 670 4042

Visit the website Brazen Head
Email: info@brazenhead.com

Let me set the scene. It was St Paddies Day 2002, raining and felt like about minus 30 outside watching the parade that dragged on for two hours. Our hands and faces were numb. One of our mates had deserted and went looking for a pub to defrost. We got the call that Oliver St John Gogarty’s was the destination and he had staked out a corner beside where the band was setting up.

Turned out to be a godsend. We all raced to Oliver’s as soon as the parade was finished and set up camp in the corner on the second floor. The pub was located right in the middle of the Temple Bar district and filled up awfully fast after the parade. The pub itself was named after one of Dublin’s famous poets and general socialite. A bloke called Philip Lawlor obtained the first license for the premises in 1835 and would’ve had many a famous face sit and stare into a Guinness.

Once established in our corner (kind of a bay window) we set about getting rounds of Guinness and Murphy’s (about 5 euros each) while the band broke out into traditional Irish music under the "no spitting" sign on the rafters above. This same band played for the whole 10 hours we were there that afternoon with only a couple of breaks to re-lubricate the larynx with some soothing Irish beers. They really played up to the crowd – although I fear most of us there would have been tourists. Amongst our group were Wallaby Rugby jerseys and touristy Irish coloured top hats. Throughout the day different groups of people came and went – some over from London for the weekend (like us) and others on tour groups with the same coloured shirts on to identify each other once the beer goggles became cloudy.

There are two main levels to this pub. The upstairs area is a bit smaller but brings everyone together. Downstairs is a little larger with the bar counter coming from the Green Room at The Theatre Royal. There is no cover charge either which is a bonus. You can get bar food throughout the day from 12pm or you can wonder upstairs to the dedicated restaurant that has dishes such as the Trinity College Chicken being enjoyed since the 1800’s. The Galway Bay Oysters and Dublin Bay seafood cocktail are highly recommended.

The décor is typical of 19th century pubs with different memorabilia and artefacts from all the decades it has been serving. Traditional Irish music is played daily from about 2pm till 2am and this is a famous drawcard for tourists. Oliver St John Gogarty’s also offers accommodation in either Hotel style or hostel type accommodation. Good central location to stay but could get a little noisy I assume.

Great way to spend St Paddies and enjoy the craic!

Seven of us Aussies traveled overnight from London to enjoy the festivities of St Patrick’s Day 2002. This event is considered one of the "Grand Slam" events to backpackers coming from the southern hemisphere – together with Hogmany in Scotland, Oktoberfest in Munich and the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona.

We boarded our train at London Euston bound for Holyhead on the northern tip of Wales. Here we waited for a ferry at 3am to take us on the three hour journey across the Irish Sea to Dublin Port. With a couple of bad hours sleep we excitedly made our way into town. It was the 16th March – the day before St Paddies. Perfect weather without a cloud in the sky. We enjoyed the Guinness Storehouse Museum and then checked out the Temple Bar district that night. The area was a buzz already with many tourists already in town for the same event.

The morning of St Patrick’s Day was disappointingly wet and cold. We walked down to O’Connell Street to set up camp in a bar and claim a good spot for the passing parade. We were a little early and by the time the parade started we were bordering on hyperthermic, ears frozen numb and the Guinness wasn’t even keeping our insides warm. We persisted with the parade however and all of its 2 hour duration. We figured we had come such a long way to see the St Patrick’s Day parade and festivities that we would see it out. Dublin wasn’t even the first city to host St Patrick Day parades. It was Boston in the US in 1737. We met so many yanks there in Dublin that weekend whose ancestors, like ours, were Irish.

This is what I found out about Pat the Saint (summarised). He was born Maewyn Succat in Wales around 415AD, got kidnapped and taken to Ireland, was enslaved as a shepherd, escaped, made it back to Ireland where he spread the word of Christianity and used a shamrock to explain to the druids the trinity of gods personas. He is said to have driven snakes out of Ireland although Ireland never had any, it was just a symbol of paganism. His death (March 17th) continued to be celebrated for centuries afterwards.

Anyway, the parade was good. There were motorcyclists, bagpipers, street performers, huge animated masks, people dressed like stormtroopers, and cars. Lots of colour with the streets lined 8 deep with people cheering and clapping and dressed in anything Irish – hats, face paint, wigs, flags, jerseys etc. Unfortunately the parade dragged out a bit with too much distance between performers. One of our mates found us a great spot to continue at Oliver St John Gogarty’s pub just down in the Temple Bar area and we continued our celebrations down there from about 2pm till midnight. Fantastic pub with traditional Irish Music for 10 hours. We met lots of great people and put away many a good pint of Guinness.

In a nutshell, it was a fantastic day made even more so by the awesome craic at Oliver St John Gogarty’s pub, the local band and the people inside it all celebrating St Patrick.