#6
Post
by marrymeflyfree » Mon Mar 24, 2008 1:38 pm
Hope you have a fantastic trip, and be sure to have a Guinness for me! FWIW, the 'hairier' the pub looks, the better it probably is...and more likely to have some great Irish music at night with whatever musicians show up to play. Much better than the planned stuff at the shiny tourist pubs.
If you'll be in Dublin and enjoy Guinness, I have to recommend the Guinness brewery tour - especially if you need a couple of hours out of the rain. You'll get a free pint, and the bar on the top floor is all glass and has fantastic views of the city. Another rec if you dig history is the Book of Kells at the Trinity College Library. I think its free admission, too.
If you're going to Northern Ireland at all, definitely do a Black Taxi tour in Belfast. The smaller taxis get into places in the city that the big buses cannot go - and the driver is talking only to you. The Crown Pub there is fantastic. I can recommend a great old IRA pub, too, if you're up for such a thing. There's an old fart there called the Mighty Quinn. He looks to be about 90 years old, and is impossible to understand between the drink, the lack of teeth, and the thick brogue. But what a character. Buy him a pint and you've a friend for life - just watch out when he starts singing IRA tunes and shooting imaginary guns.