Ireland Series: Part 1 of 6
In Vancouver, B.C there are hundreds of Starbucks. There are even some locations that are literally across the street from each other and all of them are busy from opening to close. In Dublin we found something very similar with the Pubs. From any one point we could see at least 1 or 2 pubs unless we were standing in the middle of the suburbs. (where our hostel was) But even then if we just walked about 5 minutes we would once again see a warm inviting sign to come in for a beer.
Only problem was buying a beer out there was pretty much like buying yourself a Venti 6 pump non fat no foam extra hot tazo chai at Starbucks AND a pastry of some sort. Something you can’t do multiple times a day as it really starts to add up! How the Irish manage to get their drink on with many a beer we have no clue. The average price for a beer was 5.20 euros. Pretty much $8 CDN a pint! Ouch. So… we didn’t really get to experience the pubs all that much. In for a pint and then out. We never even had a Guiness! At that price we had to get what we knew 100% we would like to drink. (and we are not dark beer lovers)
Our days consisted of up in time for our hostels included breakfast, walk to the train station, take the train to the city center, walk around and explore the city and sights, arrive back to the hostel and pretty much pass out.
We did try to go to one Drum & Bass night we found. But when we arrived it was in the upstairs room of the club and I swear this room was about as big as my childhood bedroom on the farm. (BTW… said bedroom was actually my parents walk in closet). Even worse, they were playing some sort of electro. Apon inspection we find out the drum & bass doesn’t start for another hour…. Feeling exhausted already we gave up and just headed back.
As our first European city experience, Dublin just made us foam at the mouths to see more. We experience the alleys and squares filled with pedestrians with no cars allowed, old churches, pubs filled with character, friendly people, castles, cool art, amazing architecture, everything in such close quarters, etc, etc. Our time in the city was very much enjoyed but we were very happy once we got into our little rental car and headed out to the country-side in search of an adventure and wonderment… which we sure did find!
Check out our photos from Dublin below:
Read Part 2 of our Ireland series. Faery tombs in Ireland? You Bet!
your blog is awesome, I’m gonna enjoy checking up on you guys all year
That is expensive. Oh, to have the tease of all those great pubs and not be able to take advantage of them. When you are on a world tour, you have to think about these things eh? If it is a week long trip, we say “who cares, lets spend the money” when it is a year, $8 bucks is a lot for a beer. Wait til you get to Asia and it is 80 cents a beer.
I am really looking forward to going to Irelan one day soon. Thanks for giving us a virtual tour!
Thanks Mike, I appreciate the comments! We’re trying to write this for ourselves first an foremost, but also with everyone else in mind who may be reading this. I’m sure we’re going to get better and better as time goes on.
Dave & Deb – it is super expensive when we’re used to paying $5 cdn for a beer. It’s really tough to say no and we ended up having only single beers at places that we stopped. On one hand we don’t want to limit ourselves and not drink – or experience the pub culture – but your right on the other hand, it’s super expensive.
If only we could win the lottery!