Ireland late June

[Cruiser Elite]

O'Flaherty's have live music playing from open til 9pm - 9:30 new musos and dance show - FABULOUS ENTERTAINMENT.


And:

And:

 

[The Rok]

Cruiser, there is a Mongolian restaurant in the city, from memory it's on Anglesea Street, just behind Temple Bar. So near the Central Bank.

Really good.

 

[The Rok]

Also, take a spin up to Johnny Foxes, in the Dublin mountains for a Sunday session. Plenty of music & dancing. There will be shuttles running all day too.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

This morning visited Kilmainham Gaol - Heritage Ireland: Kilmainham Gaol - visits via guided tour only - you cannot pre-book - so arrive earlyish - we walked there from Morrison Hotel - 30 mins - arrived 10:15 am - walked straight in and bought tix for a 10:45 tour. By the time we were leaving at midday these were the lines awaiting entry:



And as you can see it was raining as well:



Ah Dublin - perfect one day - even wetter the next:

 

[Cruiser Elite]

But whatever you do make sure you do this tour - fabulous history commentary by very passionate tour guides - great experience. Here are jst a couple of pics inside - first the chapel where tour begins:



And now a couple of latest section of gaol to be built - this is where the leaders of the 1916 uprising were housed:



And:

 

[Cruiser Elite]

And a couple of pix of the rock breaking yard where the boys doing hard labour toiled each day - at far end of each was where they had some famous hangings also - but I won't spoil the tour commentary you will hear:



And:

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Going through the gaol museum prior to tour they had a section on transportation of inmates - this pic does not show much but you might get some insight:



I remarked to Cruiserette about what an amazing concept transportation was - you know you can commit a petty crime like stealing food to keep your family alive and for that the authorities put you on a boat and ship you off to a foreign land - and now 200 years later we as Australians sorta kinda rejoice in that heritage.

Cruiserette looked at me and asked so what has changed? Huh? Well now we have poor destitute families from other countries who commit the heinous crime of by some means getting their families on rickety boats and risk their lives to get to Australia to attempt to give their families some semblance of a reasonable life. So what do we do? YEP - we ship 'em off to a foreign land. Wonder if Australians will rejoice in this concept in 200 years?

 

[Cruiser Elite]

I forgot to mention one thing about touring Guinness Factory - and that is try to time visit to take in lunch or dinner.

We had lunch in the Brewers Dining Hall - GUINNESS STOREHOUSE®| The Brewer's Dining Hall | Guinness Restaurant - we shared a plate of Beef and Guinness Stew - it comes with the BEST bread I have ever tasted - bakes onsite and allegedly same recipe as they have been baking for hundreds of years. The stew itself was SPECTACULAR - best by far that I tasted and I have had a few.

And when you fall in love with the Beef and Guinness stew you can even download the recipe from the Guinness web site here - GUINNESS STOREHOUSE®| Guinness and Beef Stew Recipe

 

[tomw]

This afternoon went and had a drink in Irelands oldest pub - The Brazen Head - The Brazen Head - Dublin Pub, Ireland - Irelands Oldest Pub Est. 1198 - which is officially Ireland's oldest pub, dating back to 1198 - WOW

Dad is very impressed with your pub crawl.

When we went to the UK in 2003 he managed to find one of the oldest ones there. Set in the side of the rock under Nottingham Castle, it claims to have been established in 1189!

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Last night dined at Il Vicoletto in Temple Bar - there web site seems to be down - but I will link it here anyway - http://www.ilvicoletto.ie/ - this was a wonderful choice - no sorry let me rephrase that - this was a SUPERB choice - BEST restaurant we have experienced in Dublin to date. TripAdvisor:



My pic of exterior:



Google it - plenty reviews online - not to be missed. I called to make reservation - the owner answered phone - distinct Italian voice - just knew right away this was going to be good - we could access table at 19:15 but had to be out at 21:00 - ALL staff Italian - small intimate 35 seat restaurant - extremely popular - just truly authentic Italian.

Jeez you should have seen the drunken mess that Temple Bar was last night at 10pm - hundreds and hundreds of drunks all up and down the entirety of entertainment area - males and females - not a pretty sight but kids will be kids huh?

 

[Cruiser Elite]

We are flying out of DUB on TK J tomorrow - anybody with lounge knowledge? Will it be Executive Lounge in T1? - Lounges

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Today we hopped a train and rode a 31 minute trip to a small coastal town called Skerries - Skerries | Official Site for Skerries | SkerriesHomepage



We went basically just for a ride and to eat lunch at a seaside location recommended but our mostest favourite waitress that we met in Dublin - Skerries is her home town - she said we just gotta go eat at Blue Bar - http://bluebar.ie/ - so we did - it was just a fabulous afternoon.



Check out their Tonic and Gin - advertised that way cause Blue Bar make their own tonic water and the Gin comes from a local distillery just down the coast - note the ball of ice! Must admit = didn't taste any where near as good as the presentation suggested!

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Last night in DUB and I was determined to have steak - so there is only one choice in the meat dept. - Home | www.fxbuckley.ie - Temple Bar booked out so we headed to Pembroke St outlet - TripAdvisor:



Interesting that the Pembroke St outlet is rated #68 whereas Temple Bar outlet rated #14 - same ownership - same menu - same same same everything - EXCEPT - Temple Bar is frequented 100% by tourists whereas Pembroke St and other F X B outlets mixture of locals and touros.

We were looked after at Pembroke St by Katrina an expat Aussie originally from Sydney who followed her heart and bf to Dublin 6 years ago and never left - YES they are still together also. Katrina told us indeed Pembroke St usually easier to get into and indeed better experience there due to catering more for locals as well. We shared Chateaubriand - just a superb huge meal - too big for the 2 of us - if you want to try best of Irish steak this is the place to head to.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

DFS in DUB more than keen to get up your skirt also - I thought they made this stuff in Ireland? USD40/2 in SIN - go figure!

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Irrefutable evidence that dispels the myth that 'the little people' of Ireland just do not exist?

 

[kpc]

We head to Dublin in 8 days...can't wait!

 

[Cruiser Elite]

We head to Dublin in 8 days...can't wait!

So jealous - eagerly awaiting your reports on DUB - got a long list my friend?

 

[Alanslegal]

We head to Dublin in 8 days...can't wait!

Don't u ever work?!?

 

[kpc]

Don't u ever work?!?

something about a pot.....well the first week is work, the second week is R + R as we drive around Ireland!
https://www.google.com/maps/dir/The...a52c496!2m2!1d-6.251583!2d53.345082!3e0?hl=en

 

[OzEire]

We head to Dublin in 8 days...can't wait!

Add me to the list of those green with jealousy (appropriate don't you think, green).