If you are wondering where to go on vacation, you should consider the Emerald Isle!
Tassa and I just got back from an amazing trip to the Emerald Island, and it was one of the best vacations we have ever taken. This trip was different than our other excursions since moving to England because this one was planned months before we left the U.S. I must give full credit to our daughter, Emma for planning this amazing getaway. She found the hotels, Airbnb’s, and planned out the travel schedule. We stayed in Dublin, Galway, and Killarney over the course of 10 days. Along with Emma, Tassa, and myself, Emma’s husband Patrick and his mom, Cathy and her partner Darrin, all met up in Dublin in mid-July for some genuine Irish craic!
Getting There
This trip was the one thing we had planned before we moved across the Atlantic to London. Tassa had booked roundtrip flights from London to Dublin but the week before we left, she got a notification that our flight with Aer Lingus would be canceled. Oh boy, here we go. It was an odd situation because the flight wasn’t canceled yet but was going to be canceled due to labor strikes within the airline. She called to change our flight and I scrambled to look for other options.
I found a sweet deal called Rail and Sail, which is basically a train from London to Holyhead, Wales and includes a trip across the Irish Sea to Dublin via an Irish Ferry. Total price for the two of us was 115 pounds. I went ahead and booked the Rail and Sail tickets and Tassa worked on the annoying process of canceling our flight that they rescheduled and getting our points back and a refund, while at the same time keeping our return flight back to London. Phew, nothing is easy.
Well with one exception, taking a train and a ferry to Dublin from London was easy. What a great experience and way to travel. Trains are trains. They are not anything special but, in my opinion, they are way better than airplanes. The only problem with them is that they take longer to get to where you are going, but if you aren’t in a hurry then they work out better.
The trip from London to Dublin was not that long in the grand scheme of things. We left at 9:02 in the morning from the London Euston station and arrived at Holyhead four hours later. The ferry ride across the sea was three more hours but worth it. The ferry boat was almost like a cruise ship. There was a nice bar, restaurants, and lots of comfortable seats with tables. They had TV’s everywhere playing the Wimbledon tennis matches. We had our first legitimate pints of Guinness and were able to just relax and enjoy the trip across the Irish Sea to Dublin.
We sat near a family returning to Ireland with four little kids. I think the mom and dad, especially the dad, felt like the kids were too rambunctious and perhaps annoyed us the whole time, but they didn’t at all. The dad told one of the girls to offer us some of her M&M’s. The little girl asked each of us if we would like a sweet. That’s what they call candy in Ireland, sweets. Makes sense to me. He also said he should buy us a pint. We assured him that we did not mind and that in fact we had recently moved to London and were about to see our daughter in Ireland, and that this was the longest we had ever been away from our kids. It’s hard to put into words, and to be totally honest their thick Irish accents made clear communication difficult, but the message was reciprocated by us all, and that was that kids grow up too fast and even when they are being crazy you must stop and appreciate every moment you have with them. Tassa and I would give anything to go back and have rambunctious little kids again. It just goes by too fast. I think they appreciated the sentiment and for me personally it touched upon the most important aspect of this trip – we were going to get to see and hang out with our daughter Emma!
Dublin
I read somewhere that 31million people in the United States claim Irish heritage and the figure is over 80 million worldwide. However, the population of Ireland is only 5 million. It is interesting that this place holds so much affinity for so many. I certainly felt it and could relate. As Tassa and I walked into the Temple Bar section of the city, the sights and sounds all around us triggered something innate inside me, some deep connection or feeling was noticeably there.
In the Temple Bar area, a lot of things are named Temple Bar. There is a Temple Bar, bar. There is a Temple Bar Inn. There is a Temple Bar Hotel. We had reservations at the hotel but went to the inn first by mistake. We were kindly redirected to our hotel, and it was a very nice place and in an amazing location. If you are thinking about travelling to Dublin, I highly recommend the Temple Bar Hotel, but don’t worry about the reviews saying it is too loud because it is connected to Buskers bar, which has nightly live music. All the bars have music and in Ireland being in a hotel connected to a cool bar is a bonus not a negative. We never heard anything from our room either, so calm down negative reviewers. Plus, they will give you free ice cream at the reception desk any time, day or night, as much as you want. Tassa and I ended each night jamming out to this guy with serious Keller Williams vibes at Buskers and I tried to eat enough free ice cream to even out the cost of the room. Double bonus if you ask me!
The Brazen Head
Tassa and I came to Dublin on Friday and Emma, Patrick, and his mom and Darrin wouldn’t get there till Saturday later in the morning. Tassa and I had a few things on our agenda that we wanted to do first, incase others didn’t want to and because when you are preparing for trips like this there is a lot of research along with social media posts about cool stuff you should see and do. One thing that was at the top of our list was the Brazen Head Pub.
The Brazen Head claims to be the oldest pub in Ireland, established in 1198. What? If you Google oldest Pub in Ireland there are some others that come up also, so I am not sure if it is something that can be absolutely confirmed but being at the Brazen Head felt like you were at an old ass pub for sure. It was cool to say the least. They also had amazing food. We shared an Irish beef Guinness stew and had some beers. I will get into the Guinness and Irish beer a little later but here I had a Smithwick.
For me personally, one aspect of being in England and traveling to places like Dublin is the history and oldness of everything. To put it into perspective, people were drinking at the Brazen Head when the Cahokia Mounds settlement was at its height. Think about that for a second. Cahokia Mounds is a site that was the place of a large Native American city around East St. Louis, Illinois along the Mississippi River. The point being that in America anything “old” is pre-European invasion and almost on the prehistoric level, whereas over here “old” is a bar you can still go to and have a drink. Blows my mind.
Hellfire
The second thing we had on our to do list was a restaurant called Hellfire. This was something that caught Tassa’s eye on social media and they boasted a vegan medallion steak on their menu. Tassa reserved a table for us on Saturday at noon. The place did not disappoint! Tassa had the vegan steak and I had smoked salmon tortillas. I would not go so far as to say that Tassa and I are gourmets or anything, but I can safely say we are food enthusiasts. We have adjusted our eating habits from a strict plant-based diet to a more open exploration of culturally relevant foods, like the Guinness beef stew we had the night before at The Brazen Head, but we appreciate the plant-based effort to make food that is creative and delicious. Hellfire was both, creative and delicious! That vegan medallion steak was insanely meat-like and incredibly delicious. I opted for the salmon for variety but in the end, I should have gotten the steak as well because it was just amazing.
The Hellfire experience superseded our expectations in every way. If you are in Dublin, I highly recommend given them a taste. Their menu was diverse, presentation and execution were spot on, and the service was top notch. I wish there was one here in London.
James Joyce Sites
I read a lot. It is an obsession of mine. In 2019, I had finally mustered up the gumption to try to tackle Ulysses by James Joyce. It was a pivotal moment in my reading career because afterwards I had the courage to read anything. If you can read, stay with, and get through Ulysses you can certainly read anything. I read A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Ulysses consecutively and it felt like running an ultra-marathon. There were times when I felt like I was just reading words but then Joyce would give you a jolt of human insight that felt like he was getting into your personal stream of consciousness. The payoff was immense. As I finished the final chapter, the Penelope Episode, and closed the book, I distinctly remember sitting there for a moment, taking it all in and feeling like I had just climbed a mountain. I also read Dubliners in college, which is a bit more accessible, and I wish I had read it again before I came to Ireland. Maybe someday I’ll have the nerve to try Finnegan’s Wake.
Ok, ok, so what nerd? Get on with it. I get it and I apologize but damn it, being in Dublin brought all that literary intensity back to me full force. I didn’t indulge in the Dublin literary walking tours, where someone takes you around to all the sites of Joyce, Wilde, Yeats, and perhaps Synge. Instead, I looked up Joyce sites around Dublin and went to a few really cool places that made the literature come to life right before my eyes.
First, Tassa and I went to the Davy Byrnes pub. This pub was featured in Ulysses as the character Leopold Bloom goes in and has a gorgonzola cheese sandwich and a glass of port. By the way, June 16th is Bloomsday in Dublin and sort of a holiday because of this character and because the book takes place on June 16, 1904. The bar wasn’t open yet, but the door was open, and the guy working was kind enough to let us walk around and take some pictures. They had an original first edition copy of Ulysses and other Joyce artifacts. The bar/restaurant was nice, and I wish I could have had a pint or a cheese sandwich, but it was cool enough just to check the place out.
The other place we went to was Mulligan’s. Mulligan’s was the opposite of Davy Byrnes. This was an old pub that was still old and unrenovated and seemed like it probably looked the same as it did in the short story “Counterparts” from Joyce’s Dubliners. In the story there is a scene that takes place in a parlor room in that exact bar. I looked in the parlor room and took a picture standing outside of it but couldn’t really go in because a group of Irish football fans were in there drinking it up, prepping for a big game that evening. It was good enough for me to just see the place, I could see that scene happening in that little room almost exactly as it looked in my mind when I read it. Mulligan’s also had a Beamish Stout on draft. The holy trinity of stouts in Ireland are Guinness, Murphy’s, and Beamish. I hadn’t seen a Beamish anywhere except at Mulligan’s, so we got a table, and I drank my pint and took everything in.
As we spent the next couple of days in Dublin, I took note of all the Joyce and other Irish authors’ artifacts and references that could be seen in pubs and on the streets. Dublin is a big city but has a small communal feel about it. The rich literary history can be found in the Temple Bar section, as well as nearby sites like Trinity College. Just walking around gave me a feeling of walking in the footsteps of literary giants.
Guinness and Irish Whiskey
Drinking isn’t the only thing to do in Ireland, but it is surely the official national past time. We all went on two awesome tours while in Dublin, the Guinness Brewery and Roe & Co. Distillery.
Guinness isn’t just a beer in Ireland, it’s an obsession. I bet little babies are given a pint of it in their bottles. I’m surprised it doesn’t come out of the freaking water taps. I wouldn’t be surprised if it rained Guinness from the sky. I’m not kidding. It’s the most beloved, sacred drink I have ever seen in any place I’ve ever been. And it is SO damn good! The Guinness in America, or anywhere else for that matter is not the same thing. I’ve always heard that, and it is absolutely true. I never really liked Guinness that much back home. It is watery and thin and just sort of basic. Not in Ireland. In Ireland, Guinness is creamy, silky, foamy perfection. You can drink 10 of them and still have your wits about you. It’s an absolute good. I don’t think I’ll ever drink another pint of it unless I come back to Ireland. I had one pint here in London after we returned to see if it was as good, and it wasn’t. It was close, it wasn’t like back home, which is a travesty, but it wasn’t the same. I am not sure if the mystique of Ireland has something to do with it, leprechauns or faeries or something, I honestly don’t know why, but in Ireland, Guinness is the best damn beer I may have ever had in my life.
We went on the Guinness Brewery tour at St. James Gate Brewery. It was totally worth the money and time. You walked around and saw the history, the beer making process, and the ingredients. There was also an interesting exhibit on the history of Guinness advertising. The Guinness harp is one of the most recognizable product icons in the world. They even had a thing back in the day about Guinness being good for you. I believe it. At the end of the tour, you get one pint on the house, yes you can buy more, and the bar is at the top of the brewery in a 360-degree glass walled room overlooking the city of Dublin. It was amazing.
The coolest thing though was the beer foam picture. That’s right, they print your picture on a pint of Guinness! We had to do this. It cost eight Euros and was worth every penny. Emma and Patrick got a pint with their picture and Tassa and I got one with ours. They use a butter mixture and a laser printer, and it etches your picture on the top of the beer foam. The most amazing thing is that the foam and the picture lasts until the beer is finished. When you are drinking a Guinness in Ireland the last thing you do is slurp the big glob of foam at the bottom of the glass. Yum!
After the Guinness tour we went down the street to the Roe & Co. distillery for some Irish whiskey. It was Patrick’s birthday and this is what we had planned for him. We really didn’t know what to expect, but it ended up being one of the best things we did in Dublin. We went on a tour of the distillery and learned about the whiskey making process and the history or Roe & Co. It was an old original Dublin distillery that is now being rebranded and brought back into production.
The best part of the tour was the mixology class. We went into a room and each of us had a box that contained a shot and half of whiskey and then an array of mixers. The mixers were all different and represented the full spectrum of the cocktail pallet. There was sweet, sour, salty, and even a savory. After learning about each mixer, we created our own cocktail invention. It was really fun and delicious.
We had a great time in Dublin. It is an awesome place with cool bars, good food, great freaking beer, lively night life, music from every nook and cranny, and just good times all around.
On to Galway
Emma and Patrick rented a car and drove to Galway with Cathy and Darrin. Tassa and I took a train. We decided to rent a car when we got to Galway so that we could road trip with them when we went to Killarney in a couple days.
Galway is a city on the western side of Ireland. As we walked from the train station to the Airbnb, we walked through the old section of the city. Galway has a distinct Latin city center with shops, pubs, and restaurants in old stone walkways and buildings. Galway is also famous for their oysters. After we met Emma at the Airbnb, we went directly to McSwiggan’s and had some seafood. The Airbnb Emma booked was awesome. It was a five-minute walk from the bars and Latin District and really close to the bay. There was some sort of old wall or the remnants of an old mill maybe and running water flowing by. Each room had a balcony and there was a large outdoor patio on the roof.
Kylemore Abbey
I am so glad Tassa and I rented a car! We got a little Opel five-speed manual. It took a minute to get used to driving a stick with my left hand and driving on the left side of the road, which at first felt like trying to juggle, but eventually wasn’t a big deal.
We drove out of Galway and into the Connemara Mountains to the Kylemore Abbey. The Kylemore Abbey was first a castle built by an Englishman, Mitchell Henry in 1868. There was an interesting family drama that went along with the history, the story really captured Tassa and Emma’s imagination. Speaking of imagination, there was this huge triangular stone that was said to be thrown there by giants and if you threw a coin over your shoulder and over the rock without hitting it while making a wish, then it would come true.
Also noteworthy were the roads. The roads in Ireland are insane. They are small, barely big enough for the small car like we were driving and most of the side shoulder is a wall of bushes or tall plants. Like right on the side of the road. There is zero margin of error on an Irish road. Goats were laying around right on the white lines and when cars were coming the other way there was barely enough room for the both of you. Total madness!
Aran Islands
On our second and final day in Galway, we took a ferry out to the Aran Island of Inishmore. This was a definite Irish highlight for me personally. The ferry ride was cold, and while it didn’t really rain, it was damp and drizzly out. When we arrived on the island, we decided to take a bus tour around rather than rent bikes. This way we could all stay together and get the informative guided tour rather than just roaming around on our own.
The Aran Islands were very desolate but beautiful. It is amazing that people have lived there for so long with such limited resources. Our tour guide also hit upon the fact that the Aran Island way of life is in decline. Modernity is just too strong of a force to keep people there. Tourism is now the means for prosperity and unfortunately that comes with its own negative impacts.
The climax of the tour was seeing the Dun Aonghasa. This is an ancient stone fortress built right on the cliff side facing the Atlantic Ocean. The site is over 3,000 years old. It’s a mile walk from the visitor center to the top of a large hill, on which the site stands. I thought it was one of the coolest historical sites I’ve ever seen and a beautiful view of the ocean and of the Island.
On our return trip from Inishmore to Galway, the ferry boat took us along the Cliffs of Moher. I think most people experience the cliffs by land and walk along the top. Seeing them by sea was an altogether different experience because you could really take in the grand scope of the cliffs. The only downside was that on a crowded boat your view was somewhat limited. However, we felt that seeing them from this vantage point was good enough and we opted not to drive to them on our way to Killarney.
We also had a fun night of partying in Galway. We met up with Cathy and Darrin, who really liked this bar called Monroe’s. There was great live music and we got down for a few tunes. One interesting thing that happened that night was that this guy bought me a 30 euro shot of whiskey. I had ordered a shot and a beer at the bar and a gentleman behind me asked me what I ordered. I told him I got the Power’s 10 year. He scoffed at that and said I needed to try a real whiskey. He called the bartender over and ordered a shot and said something I didn’t really understand. The bartender grabbed a bottle in a box off the top shelf. It was Middleton Very Rare. I didn’t really know what was happening, so I looked at the guy and I asked him if he was buying that shot for me, and he replied “aye.” I then asked why. He said he didn’t want me to leave Ireland thinking that “shite” I had ordered was good Irish whiskey. I was blown away. I took my good shot, my bad shot, and my Guinness back to Tassa and the others and said, “You’re not going to believe this!” The Middleton Very Rare was great and I appreciated this guy’s hospitality and generosity. Ireland is very proud of its alcohol.
Killarney
Killarney was the most relaxing of all the stops on our Ireland tour and perhaps my favorite place. Once we got there that is. When we left Galway, I was following Patrick and Emma. It was rainy and they got a bit ahead of me, but I never thought I had lost them from my sight. Well, I did, and I ended following a small black SUV (just like theirs) the wrong way for over an hour. My bad. We turned around and caught back up with them for lunch in Limerick.
We stayed at a house turned Airbnb in Killarney and it was a really nice place. The hosts were great and available if we needed anything. It was a bit of a walk from the Airbnb down to the center of town where the shops and restaurants were but that was fine. Killarney is like being out west in the U.S. It had a Jackson Hole, Wyoming vibe. There are mountains and lakes and the town boarders the Killarney National Park. If I ever come back to Ireland, I think I would come to Killarney and explore the national park more and do some hiking and maybe some camping.
Emma, Patrick, Tassa, and I went on an awesome hike to the Torc Waterfall. Man, did it feel good to get out of a cityscape for a while and be in nature. We all agreed that this was a total highlight for us even though it was just a hike and something we have done a thousand times before, but this one just felt good. In the national park we also toured the Muckross House and property. Not as interesting or epic as the Kylemore Castle but still cool to see.
We also went to a cool small brewery, Killarney Brewing Company. Ever since working at the Stubborn German Brewery in Waterloo, Illinois, I have gained a deep respect for small breweries that do it right. Killarney Brewery had great beers, good food, and a laid-back atmosphere.
On our final night in Killarney, walking around we found this odd-looking doorway with a sign that read “Pig’s Lane” above it. It led to a tiled stairway leading down to a fancy bar and restaurant. Inside that place was another odd door, above which a sign read, “Whiskey Parlour Members Only.” In there was one of the coolest bars I’ve ever been in. It was like a legit speak easy. There were rare whiskey bottles in glass cabinets all around and a small bar, which was tended by a cool guy from Poland. We chilled in there and had some amazing drinks and an overall grand time. Cathy and Darrin found top, top shelf tequila and were nicely buzzed when someone farted, and Cathy set off the alarm (she is something else, let me tell you) – whoever did it didn’t admit to it, but Cathy let them know it was not cool. Funny as hell but maybe too classy of a place for the now infamous “Who Farted Incident.” We got out of there before things got too crazy. I really enjoyed Killarney and there was a lot left that we didn’t do while we were there.
Back to Dublin
Well, all good things must come to an end. Saturday we all drove back to Dublin and were flying out early Sunday morning. On the way we stopped at the Blarney Castle to see the famous Blarney Stone. You can’t really go to Ireland and not see the Blarney Stone, can you? The castle was cool, and Patrick and Darrin kissed the stone. I did not, for two reasons. 1. I already have the gift of gab. 2. Everyone kisses the same spot, like hundreds of people a day. Nope, not for me.
You could walk around the castle and go up the narrow stairs and really experience the place. Then after the castle there was an extensive garden with Druid stones, poisonous plants (which we didn’t get to see), witch’s stairs, and a faerie garden. This was an excellent Irish sendoff.
After the castle tour it was lunch time. We went to a little gourmet burger place near the castle. One of the strangest coincidences happened in there. There were only three tables of customers including us. I was talking about our son, Nolan, and how he was going to SWIC (Southwestern Illinois College) at the moment. Whenever I talk about SWIC, I have to include that it used to be called Belleville Area College – BAC, or Beer After Class, or Bring A Crayon. That’s my joke and what people really used to call the school. Well, the chick sitting at the table nearest to us looked over at me and said, “Are you talking about Belleville Area College?” She said she went there and asked where we were from. I told her Waterloo and Red Bud and she said she was from Mascoutah. Then her husband said he was from St. Louis. THEN the older lady at the only other table in the place called over and said she lived in St. Louis for 30 years. We were all a little stunned. Here we were at the Blarney Stone Castle in Ireland, three tables in a little burger place, and ALL of us were from a 20 square mile radius back home. Crazy.
After the Blarney Stone, we went to a strange little shrine called St. Brigid’s Garden Well in the middle of a field in the middle of nowhere. This place had legit Faerie Trees. Faerie trees in Ireland are sacred. They are Hawthorn trees, but the people think they hold magical powers and cutting one down will bring bad luck. I’ve even heard that they diverted a highway around one instead of cutting it down. People tie ribbons around the branches and make wishes or prayers. This was definitely a good way to end our Ireland adventures.
That night was bittersweet for Tassa and I. We really tried to make every moment last before we had to say good-bye to Emma. We went and had pizza and a couple beers and when we got back to the hotel we decided to have one more round. We all got a Guinness and went up to Emma and Patrick’s room. We hung out on the balcony and toasted a great trip! It was great seeing Emma and Patrick, but it also made us miss them, Nolan, and home more than we thought it would. Even with the sadness of having to say good-bye, this was one of the greatest trips I have ever taken. If you were ever thinking about going to Ireland, I would highly recommend it.
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