July 25, 2008: Publin and Clublin in Dublin
Four days ago we arrived safely in Dublin after a night in the Marseilles airport and quickly found a great, inexpensive hostel called Isaacs. This hostel has many amenities not typically found in hostels, including four security doors requiring a swipe card before you can enter your room, a free sauna from 18:00 till 21:00, a game room including a pool table, black lights in the bathroom that make the tp glow (so awesome!), and a free breakfast (bread, jam, and coffee).
Our first full day we toured the city on our own, hitting the writers’ museum, the Guinness Storehouse and a couple of monuments.
That night, as recommended by the receptionist at our hostel, we probably ate the most delicious meal of the whole trip, at a hole-in-the-wall Indian restaurant right by the Spire (I’m blanking on the name right now, I’ll find it). We ate there again the next night because every dish was was sooo spicy, and flavorful, and the naan (pita bread) was so good.
Also, that night we met up with two of Andres’ friends who are brothers and live in Dublin. Dre knew both of them from a summer camp in Minnesota they all attended, and hasn’t seen either one for several years. Nevertheless, we all hit it off, and Ben and Steve hung with us throughout our stay. Very cool dudes and great hosts.
Dre and Ben sharing a brew at a nightclub on our last night in Dublin.
They took us to all the best parts of town including the Temple Bar and Trinity College areas to experience “Publin,” as well as the best cheap restaurants, notably the excellent Kebab Chain Abrakebabra (right). They also recommended a gigantic movie theater called the Savoy to experience Batman: The Dark Knight, which was easily one of my favorite movies of the year. Plus, they kept buying us Cadbury chocolate (which is so much better than Hershey’s and I’m officially hooked) and drinks such as Bulmers, which is a tasty hard cider. We finally got them back by buying them some drinks the last night. They could not have been more hospitable and made our stay in Dublin amazing.
The next day, which may have been my favorite day of the whole trip, Ben and Steve graciously volunteered to take the day off work and drive us to various locations to hike, rock-climb, and observe throughout the Wicklow Mountains, an extraordinary rural, mountainous region that served as the filming site for blockbuster hits like Braveheart and Excalibur. It also served for blockbuster flops like PS I Love You.
The three of us with Andres' friends, who were excellent hosts, at the edge of a cliff next to a narrow waterfall overlooking the Wicklow Mountains.
Being natives, they knew of all the best spots and were able to use their crazy driving skills to get around in half as long as it should have taken. Ben even took a detour to show us a still-broken wooden fence where he had previously crashed his car that made us a bit uneasy. Plus, the roads were really windy and narrow, and we were driving through the mountains, all of which were a bit unsettling. Coming from a fast driver, Ben is a maniac behind the wheel, but Steve kept assuring us that he has great reflexes. Anyway, we made it back in one piece, so no complaints.
Our first main stop was at one of the oldest monasteries in Ireland. It was built in the 6th Century, and is called Glendalough, pronounced “Glen dal ::cough::”
After Glendalough, we drove up into the mountains a little ways, parked the car, and climbed along rocks covering a small stream to make our way down the mountain. This stream met a cliff about half way down the mountain and became a huge waterfall, which overlooked a deep valley surrounded by great green mountains. We jumped all the way along the rocks leading up to the waterfall so that we could stand on the edge of it and overlook the whole range. It was an incredible view.
The last place we visited was Guinness Lake, where Michael Jackson apparently stayed for several months when he was trying to lay low and avoid some controversy.
Andres busting out the glasses to enjoy the unbelievable view at Guinness Lake.
While we were at the top of a cliff overlooking the lake down below, there happened to be a film crew making a movie by the lakeside. We heard someone call out, “action!” and subsequently yelled as loud as we could in hopes of making it into whatever movie they were filming. Actually, we probably just ruined that take. All in all, it was an epic day.
Our last night in Clublin we met up with our new friends and did the late night dancing thing. It was an awesome night and we partied until dawn. Fun way to finish up with a great city.
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