Instead of historic artifacts, you'll find high-decibel music and a tall, pint-glass-shaped glass atrium - 14 million pints big - soaring past four floors of exhibitions and cafés to the skylight. Housed in the company's old fermentation plant, this place is a pilgrimage for many - but it's expensive and not a typical "brewery tour" with conveyor belts of beer bottles. I'm less enthralled with one of Dublin's most popular (and congested) sights - the Guinness Storehouse, sort of a Disneyland for beer lovers in outer Dublin. With all the anxiety surrounding immigration in the US today, it's thought provoking to learn how many Americans were just as wigged out about Irish immigrants 160 years ago. I had never fully appreciated the Irish diaspora until taking in this high-tech exhibit, which explains the forces that propelled so many Irish around the globe - including to the United States. This trip was also my first chance to visit EPIC: The Irish Emigration Museum. With colorful pigments, braided letters and borders, and animals crouching between sentences, it's a jungle of intricate designs and a reminder that Ireland was a bright spot during Europe's Dark Ages. This 1,200-year-old version of the four gospels is filled with illuminated manuscripts. To see the fabled Book of Kells, arguably the most important and beautiful piece of European medieval art, head to Trinity College. A visit here gives valuable context to the sights you see as you tour the rest of the city and the country. Its archaeology branch is itself a national treasure, displaying 4,000-year-old gold jewelry, 2,000-year-old bog mummies, 1,000-year-old Viking swords, and the collection's superstar - the exquisitely wrought Tara Brooch. The National Museum shows off Ireland's history, with treasures from the Stone Age to modern times. On a sunny afternoon it's an inviting lunchtime escape. Stephen's Green, which used to host public whippings and hangings - that was a while ago - but has been transformed into a lush city park. Once filled with noisy traffic, today this is a pedestrianized people zone lined with cafés, pubs, and shopping temptations. Grafton Street is the place to feel the new energy of Dublin. On this visit I discovered intriguing new sights and experiences, had a great time at some iconic spots, and each night enjoyed fun and affordable entertainment.
With Ireland's invigorated economy comes a heightened focus on tourism. And the air's cleaner too - even the pubs are smoke-free.
I notice the Irish don't say the f-word so much. Ireland's charming rough edge is being smoothed out by its new affluence. During his childhood with six siblings, he says, "it was 'first up, best dressed.'" He joked that "People were so poor back then, for shoes your mum would paint your feet black and tie on a ribbon." But Paul then explains how it hasn't always been this way. Dublin seems to be one huge construction site. He says it's "grand" - pointing out the crane-filled skyline.
#Irish music pub tour dublin driver
My driver Paul calls to confirm the pick-up spot, and says in a heavy Irish accent, "I'll meet you at the turd lane." I ask, "The what?" He says, more clearly, "The TURD lane." Before I ask him to repeat himself a turd time, I get it.Īs we drive, I ask him about the economy. On my most recent trip there, I opt to take Uber from the airport. This is the land of great craic (conversation), where people have that charming and uniquely Irish "gift of gab." They love to talk, and you're glad they do.
Part of the reason Ireland is one of my favorite destinations is that when visiting the Emerald Isle, I enjoy the sensation that I'm understanding a foreign language. Dubliners are energetic and helpful, and visitors enjoy a big-town cultural scene wrapped up in a small-town smile. As the capital of the country that gets my vote for the friendliest in the European Union, Dublin is a joy to visit, with top-notch sights and an infectious, welcoming vibe.
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