Dublin is home to so many unique things for example: Guinness, Jameson Irish Whiskey, Trinity College and the Book of Kells, St. Patricks Cathedral as well as many important people in history such as James Joyce. I started my day around 8:30, I got ready as quickly as possible, grabbed some breakfast, and headed to my first stop of the day - The Old Jameson Distillery! It was close to my hostel and easy to locate. As soon as I walked inside I felt like I was at some type of luxurious gentleman's bar! It was so nice and classy inside. They were very welcoming and polite, I bought my ticket and the cashier told me everything I needed to know and gave me the time of the next tour. I had about 15 minutes to kill so I used the restroom and bought a chocolate bar enhanced with flavors of Jameson at the gift shop. Whenever I go somewhere and they don't have a pencil I usually just end up buying food! lol Probably not the best alternative but it sure is a tasty option most of the time! I saved my chocolate for later because I had just had breakfast! Unlike the Heineken experience, at the Jameson distillery you get an actual guided tour as opposed to a self guided tour. I like these types of tours better, you just can't beat a personalized experience. - Another thing I've learned in the tourism/hospitality industry!
So the tour started out with a short film about the history of John Jameson and how and when he made the Irish Whiskey. It was very informative and I was interested! After the film ended our tour guide said that he was looking for 8 volunteers, 4 girls and 4 boys. I had read in my travel book that they ask at the beginning for people to taste whiskey's from around the world at the end of the tour so I was already prepared to volunteer and my hand was probably the first one in the air! There weren't many people on our tour so I got to be one of the test subjects! :D So glad I got there at 10 A.M.! What better time to taste some whiskey! (Hey, it's five o'clock somewhere!) So I got to hold a round tube throughout the whole tour and after we had picked all the volunteers our guide took us through the old distillery and explained to us the process that they use, the ingredients, and what makes Jameson different from other whiskeys! Our guide was funny and I really enjoyed the entire experience! Jameson is so unique compared to other whiskey's because of the way that the malt is made and because it goes through the distillery process not once (like all American whiskey's), not twice (like all scotch whiskey's) but three times and this is the key ingredient to the recipe. These two main reasons, the 3 time distillery process, and the fire in which the barley is malted is what gives Jameson it's smoothness combined with a sweet honey, vanilla flavor! I actually learned a lot on this tour! After the tour ended the doors opened up into this fancy bar area! The volunteers (including me) were lead to a special tasting table where each of us got to taste three whiskeys, the first and most obvious, Jameson, second the top selling scotch whiskey, I can't remember which one and then the top selling American Whiskey which was Jack Daniel's - yuck! My favorite was the Jameson and my least favorite was the Jack Daniel's. The tasting was fun, our guide told us to smell each one, and then say what we thought it smelled like and when it came time to smell the Jack Daniel's he said ok now smell the Jack, - It probably smells a lot like college but what else can you pick out? hahaha, I thought that was pretty funny. No one else is probably laughing right now so maybe you just had to be there but I was cracking up! After tasting all of the whiskeys we each got a complimentary drink (everyone on the tour did). I took my Jameson with cranberry and it was surprisingly really good! I'd never had that combo before and I also learned about all the combinations around the world. For example, in Asia they drink it with tea and in London they drink it with Ginger-ale and in America we drink it with Coke! So after bringing us our drinks our tour guide also printed up a certificate for each of us with our name on it saying that we were expert Jameson Whiskey drinkers or something along those lines!! I felt pretty special. After I finished my drink I left the Distillery and headed for the next attraction. Overall the Jameson experience was awesome, I really felt like they appreciated me being there and treated me like I was special! Our tour guide was awesome and Jameson is actually pretty good whiskey. I definitely liked this better than the Heineken experience but that could also be due in part to the fact that I'm not a huge beer fan and I actually do enjoy whiskey! SoCo is my preferred shot in case anyone is buying me a bottle of anything for Christmas! lol My first preference though is ultimately Rum!
So next on my list of things to do was the Guinness brewery. No trip to Dublin, or Ireland for that matter, would be complete without a trip to the Guinness brewery, the #1 tourist attraction here in Dublin! It was very windy outside today so the walk over wasn't very enjoyable but after I had made it inside and gotten my ticket I had regained my composure and was ready to sample some Guinness! The tour starts with a view of the original 9000 year lease that Mr. Guinness himself signed 250 years ago! Pretty impressive. The Guinness storehouse was also a self guided tour and remined me a lot of the Heineken experience. It's pretty much the same concept, I mean, it's not like you can stray from the beer making process a lot! So I saw the main ingredients, it went through the process of how it was made and the history behind the Guinness family as well as the history of the advertising and marketing. It was interesting but it was really crowded so people kept running into me and it was hard to take pictures without getting a bunch of bodies in them! They had a cute little cafe with really good looking sweets and stuff. I wanted to get a muffin but I was saving room for the restaurant which I had been told had excellent Guinness Irish stew! It was on the 5th floor right under the Gravity Bar, which is the top floor with a 360 view of Dublin. The museum itself is shaped like a pint of Guinness, pretty awesome architectural design if you ask me! So I finally made it to the restaurant, got seated, and order the stew! My waitress was really nice except for the fact that she was a little slow when it came to getting my check. I got a whole basket of bread to myself and it was some of the best bread I have ever had, it even topped the pretzel bread at Le Cellier at Disney, and that's saying a lot! There were three different kinds, I have no idea what they were, they were just really good! My Guinness Irish stew was even better. It's honestly some of the best soup I have ever had, better than the seafood soup I had in Finland, which was pretty excellent! I would pay 50 dollars to have a bowl of that shipped back home with me! It was that good! It had tender roast beef with carrots and mashed potatoes right in the center of the bowl. Soo good! I wanted to lick the bowl clean! Probably the best, whole, meal that I've had since I've been in Europe. My patatas braves aren't really a meal, they are more like an appetizer! So after I finished at the restaurant I headed up the Gravity Bar for my complimentary pint of Guinness which was equally as tasty! The bartenders even made a four leaf clover in it for me! Very cool, I love when I see people do that with Guinness, you aren't a good bartender if you can't do that! So as I was getting my pint I looked out the window and realized that there was a rainbow outside!! How much luckier could I get!?!? How awesome is it to see a rainbow in Ireland while drinking a fresh Guinness? Perfecto! Lovely touch! I took as many pictures as I could. It was packed so it was hard to maneuver through all the people. I couldn't finish my whole pint because I was so stuffed from lunch already and beer isn't really my thing. I will say this though, before this trip I wouldn't even go near a beer and now I've found that I almost enjoy some beers! If I had to drink a beer I could probably manage to get down a Heineken or a Guinness. Guinness is very heavy though. Regardless, I'm definitely more open to the idea of drinking a beer now and the taste is growing on me, slowly but surely! So after the bar I headed down to the gift shop, bought another chocolate bar because they didn't have any pencils and then walked over to St. Patrick's Cathedral. Again, it was terribly windy and it was slightly raining. My umbrella went to hell last night on the way back from dinner with Melissa. We both shared a hysterical laugh and took some photos of my broken umbrella! So I didn't have an umbrella and even if I did the wind probably would have destroyed it anyways! So I just had to walk in the rain. I was relived when I finally found the church, it was tucked back on a side street. It was pretty big and similar to the Christ Church so I wasn't too impressed and in Ireland you have to pay to enter the church's which I think is weird. I haven't had to pay to go inside any other church in Europe so I was a little shocked that it was almost 5 Euro just to go inside to look at it, it's a church!
After the church I walked over towards George street(I think that's what it's called) It was another main street for shopping. In Dublin they already have up their christmas lights and music playing so I got some pictures of the decorations! It's very Christmasy here already and I love it! I went in a few shops but I was in a hurry to get to the Book of Kells, which I have been wanting to see since day one and was one of the main reasons that I wanted to come to Dublin aside from Jameson & Guinness, my newfound friends! I finally made it up to Trinity College, they have such a beautiful and historical campus. I walked around a little bit and then I went into the library to see the Book of Kells. If you don't know what the Book of Kells is, it's the first four gospels of the new testament in Latin written by some monks of Ireland in the 6th century. The first part of the museum is dedicated to the history and decoding of the book as well as other important medieval manuscripts from the same time period and then it opens up into this room where the actual Book of Kells is located! After seeing the pictures in the museum I had an idea about what it would look like but pictures don't compare to the real thing. The detail is just amazing, very intricate. It's an unbelievable masterpiece and I was taken back by it's beauty. It's amazing to see something THAT old that's so important to our religious history. So after the book of Kells I walked in the opposite direction from which I entered the college and took some pictures of some bridges and the Custom's house. By this time it was starting to get dark and I don't like walking around in the dark by myself sometimes so I started to head back and stopped on O'Connell street where some special Christmas lighting activity was going on. They were singing Christmas songs and the road was blocked off but I wasn't exactly sure what was going on. I stayed for a little while but it got boring fast. After this I stopped for a hot tea, which btw I like hot tea now, and a Cherry Almond Pastry and then headed back to my hostel! I'm in my room now and even though it's only 9 o'clock I think I'm going to go to bed! I'm so exhausted! Today has been a full day and I was already tired when I woke up this morning. I'm going to figure out how to get to the airport in the morning for my 6:40 flight and then hopefully I'll be having dreams about leprechauns, rainbows, and Guinness!
Overall my trip to Dublin has been great. I've had such an amazing time, I've seen the breathtaking Irish countryside, experienced the culture, tasted some great whiskey, beer, and Irish stew, made a new friend, and braved the wind. Usually at this point in my weekends I'm ready to get back home to Barcelona, and while I miss my city, I also wish that I could have just one more day here in Dublin! Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed Rome, Milan, Finland, and Amsterdam and I'm so lucky to have seen these amazing places but, I think that Dublin has by far been my best weekend trip so far and this is one city that wasn't even on the top of my list to see! Funny how that works out...I've really enjoyed my time here and I'm sad to leave. I hope the Irish have brought me some good luck! :D
See you in Barcelona!
Goodnight for now but tomorrow it's back to my Spanish/Catalan, Buenos dias/ Bondia!
Another thing- P.S. Can anyone tell me why I've made 4 posts in the past 3 days and I am yet to see a comment on one of them? lol I'm disappointed! Is anyone still reading out there? Hello?? I guess I must be posting too much and now you can't keep up!! Don't forget to read all of them!
2 comments:
We're reading. We are just busy with normal people life back here. Plus, you have longer posts than Rob even! It's hard for me to focus that long.
Enjoy your teas and whiskeys. And stay out of trouble! As always, sounds like you're having a good experience.
I told Emily that you were in Ireland and she said to tell you she wants to see your pics when you come back. She's Irish, you know. I saw your pictures from Amsterdam and Rome - beautiful!
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