Dublin Part 1: The First Night

Hello after a long blog break! I had a wonderful time in Dublin. I definitely did not save any money by going there--I did not know a city could be more expensive than Galway, but Dublin certainly is. Dublin has an entirely different feel from Galway as well. It's more of a city, for sure, and more crowded. I'd say it's a little less accessible, too, but that could be because our hostel was kind of far off from the main center of the night life.

The bus ride was four hours long and while we passed some interesting scenery, it was tiring. I tried to sleep on and off, but I also took some pictures.

We passed lots of sheep and cattle. The stone walls that keep the livestock in are very pretty and they look like every picture of Ireland I've ever seen. The pictures don't lie--the Irish countryside is every bit as pretty and wonderful as it looks.

After we got off at the wrong bus stop in Dublin, we had a long hike to The Brewery Hostel. It is very close to the Guinness Factory, but not really to anything else. After passing several "Booze2Go" stores, we were so glad to finally see this fine establishment.

The Brewery Hostel was home to people from all around the world this weekend. We stayed in a ten person coed bedroom. There were six of us girls from NUIG, 3 boys from Switzerland and 1 boy from France. The Swiss boys were very funny but we overheard them saying they did not like Americans. The French boy was just beginning his studies in Dublin, where he'll be for two years. He was very sweet and lent us his excellent map of Dublin to plan our day.

This is one part of our room. You can only see three sets of bunk beds in the picture, but there were five sets in all. Note, if you can, the hole in the wall above the top bunk in the furthermost pair of beds. We're not sure where that came from, (maybe from our "Swiss Cheeses") but it added to the "roughing it" theme the hostel seemed to be going for.

After hanging out with the other hostel guests in the backyard, we went out to the Porterhouse Bar, which was very crowded. It was a nice bar, but a little touristy with bad lighting and mediocre music (in my expert bar-judging opinion).

This is Molly and me having a pint of Bulmer's at Porterhouse. I'm not quite sure why I look so excited in the photo because really the bar was not so great. Must have been the Bulmer's.

These are two of the coolest people we met at the hostel. They are brother and sister and they live in Northern California. They are backpacking through Europe for two months. I thought they were awesome, so I took a picture with them. Dave, Amber, and me at Porterhouse.


We ended the night at the actual Temple Bar (we were in "Temple Bar Area" all night, this is the real deal). It was also crowded, but it had a more local, neighborhood feel. We sat in the outside part under the sky and though it was very smoky, it had a nice atmosphere.Temple Bar sign in the night. It's very bright; I'd say Dublin (or at least Temple Bar area) is flashier than Galway. Still fun, though.

There's more to come on Dublin, but not tonight. Soon, though!