Back to Dublin & Visiting Guinness!

Today is mainly a travel day as I will be taking the train back down to Dublin where I’ll spend my remaining time in Ireland. But before that I still have the morning in Belfast.

Victoria Square

While exploring on the first day I stumbled upon Victoria Square. I remember when doing research for Belfast, there is a cool viewing tower at the top called “The Dome“. Unfortunately it was already closed then. But this morning I made sure to visit. From the top you have a pretty unobstructed view over a good chunk of Belfast. Being lucky with clear weather also helps! There are some placards along the railing that helps identify significant buildings (like the Titanic shipyards). It’s free and worth a short stop to get a nice lay of the land!

Belfast & Belfast Cathedral

The next thing on my list was the Belfast Cathedral. But before getting there, I did get a chance to stroll through some cool Belfast streets. In some cases there really is a pub on every street corner, and I do regret not being able to check out this vibe in the evening because I have to imagine on a nice summer evening, this area would be rocking!

Eventually I do make my way to the Belfast Cathedral. The cathedral itself is still an operating cathedral so there are still services that happen here. It’s nice for a short visit. But in all honesty, I’m not sure its something I would do again or recommend to others. Especially if you’re travelling and have had a chance to visit some of the more elaborate ones in the world. This one doesn’t offer anything overly unique compared to others. Nonetheless the art and architecture is still nice to look at.

Back to Dublin

Soon it was time to head to the train station to Dublin. In my haste to get here earlier a few days ago, I neglected to print my return ticket in Dublin. I originally booked a round trip ticket but didn’t realize that the train companies are different on each end. So to my surprise there were no kiosks to print my Belfast to Dublin Ticket. Because my booking is with Irish Rail, they had no presence in Northern Ireland and the operator there is Translink. Thankfully, when I asked the station manager for help, he introduced me to the conductor on the train and “wink wink” “nudge nudge”, the conductor would not “ask for my ticket” on the trek down.

I’m really thankful for this as I was fully ready to purchase a one way fare back since it’s my mistake. But I get the sense that even the employees don’t fully love the separation of companies between Ireland and Northern Ireland. And it feels like I’m not the first traveller to have found myself in this situation. Nonetheless, thank you to the Translink employees that went above and beyond to facilitate my journey back to Dublin!

By the time, I returned to Dublin, it was late afternoon and rainy. One notable coincidence is that Cactoose had just arrived in Dublin! So we met up for a few drinks and food and caught up before she needed to catch her bus to Galway. I headed back to my hotel and crashed.

Guinness Storehouse

The next morning, I had one big thing on my list to do, visit the Guinness Storehouse. Guinness is one of my favourite beverages so making a visit to their home is near  the top of my list for this Ireland visit.

I arrive at just about opening for them, get scanned in and start the experience. They’ve converted their old storehouse into a seven floor “museum” experience. So with so much “Guinness Goodness” packed into this building, I was eagerly looking forward to this visit!

Making Guinness

The first two floors, spend time going into the production and distribution of the dark beverage. They do a good job highlighting the importance of the individual ingredients and some of the elements that make Guinness unique, like using nitrogen for their bubbles! They then go into how the barrels are made and all the transport options over the years to move Guinness to the various markets around the world. It’s interesting to me how they had their own “fleet” of ships at one point to move their product around.

Guinness Advertising

The third floor is dedicated to the various advertising campaigns over the years. It talks about the origins of the Guinness Harp logo as well as all the weird and wacky things they’ve done to market their product.

I think sometimes alcohol commercials make you scratch your head. Check this one out :

Tasting Room

Next thing on the docket is the tasting room. This would be the first of many Guinness drinks today. However, while tasting Guinness is the draw, they do make it a point to use this tasting room as a way to highlight some of the features of Guinness itself. The entrance to the room is really elaborate and the walkway does lend itself to a bit of dramatic build up. Once the automatic doors open, you find yourself in a very “clean white” room with these odd pillars that have “steam” coming out of them. We are then told by the bar staff that each of the “vapors” highlights a particular element of taste in Guinness. This is fairly accurate as you get a different aroma when you lean in to smell each of the different column vapors. Taking a whiff and taking a sip helps you pick it out when consuming it! Pretty cool experience!

Guinness Academy

From the tasting room, my next stop is the Guinness Academy. This isn’t included in the general admission ticket, and something I added on as an extra. At the Academy, they would teach you how to properly pour a pint of Guinness.

It’s actually a multi step process starting with having the appropriate glassware. In order to do it right, you actually need to have a tulip glass. One with a Guinness harp logo helps to act as a bit of a target for the spout. (though never touching.) You then need to angle the glass at a 45 degree angle and pour. Once the liquid reaches the top of the harp you stop and let the glass sit for about two minutes (119.5 seconds). When you first pour it the bubbles create an almost “malty” brown colour. But as time goes, the bubbles rise to the top, leaving the traditional dark colour on the bottom and the creamy head on top. You then top off the rest by pushing the handle forward and allowing the head to create a dome at the top of the glass.

I’d like to say I got it on the first try, but the critique I got was the head is a tad thin as I didn’t fill to the top of the harp. I guess I’ll need to practice a bit more to perfect it!

Here you can see the various pints of Guinness in different stages of “head development”

Guinness Gravity Bar & Arthur’s Bar

After the Guinness “school”, I headed to the seventh floor Gravity Bar for the complimentary pint of Guinness that comes with the general admission ticket. The Gravity bar is this awesome 360 degree windowed bar at the top of the storehouse. It offers views of Dublin from any direction. So not only do you get to enjoy this wonderful beverage, you get to enjoy it with a view. The venue is great and the drinks are great, my only gripe with the Gravity bar is just how busy and crowded it gets. Obviously its a desirable location to have a drink but when its full its REALLY full, so finding a seat to enjoy your drink can be challenging.

As it’s lunch time, I decide to head back down a floor and visit one of the few eateries that are in the storehouse. I elect to go to Arthur’s Bar and order bangers and mash along with more Guinness! The food was great, and I really enjoyed it, though near the end I was feeling very full. It may or may not have been due to the multiple pints of Guinness I’ve consumed up to this point.

Sadly it would be time to leave the Guinness Storehouse. But on my way out, I was treated to a “surprise” performance in the lobby. I’m not sure if this is a regular thing, but a group of performers started a “river dance” like show for a few minutes and its hard to be angry at free entertainment!

Trinity College

After leaving Guinness I make the short walk over to Trinity College. While not a “must” for me to do, I did want to visit the college grounds and potentially see the Book of Kells. However, when I got to the Book’s entrance, I see signs that entry is sold out and that online booking is required. It’s funny because it wasn’t a priority for me to see it, but now that I can’t, I wanted to see it even more. So I hop on my phone and make a booking for tomorrow. Meanwhile, I spend a little time exploring the college grounds and enjoying the afternoon sunshine.

Dublin

I spend the rest of the afternoon strolling around Dublin. It’s a big and busy city, but it does have its charm with lovely waterways and cool pedestrian only roads. I think its further accentuated with the clear blue skies and sunshine (which I hear is pretty rare).

Eventually I get a bit tired and head back to my hotel for a little rest. In the evening I head out again to check out the night life and head to the Temple Bar area. It’s an iconic area for night life and is lined with lots of pubs and eateries. I’ve read that it’s fairly “tourist trappy” and while I would have gone into “the” Temple Bar, it was so busy I opted to observe from the outside. It certainly looks a good time, but from most people I’ve talked to, you can get the same experience at most local pubs and pay much less. Nonetheless, the whole area is super lively and Dublin at night does have a certain charm to it!

After checking out a few more spots, I head back to my hotel in anticipation for the next day. I originally only planned to visit the Jameson Distillery, but I now have a Book of Kells visit too. So I retire for the evening knowing there is a full day ahead.