We spent the second night of our Ireland trip in the town of
Doolin, which is known as a musical hot spot in Ireland. Although Doolin is nearby to magnificent natural sights like the Cliffs of Moher, the Burren, and of course the Atlantic Ocean, the town itself is really just an ugly spattering of houses and shops on the side of a hill. This makes it all the more surprising that it is so well known for its music (and as I just found out on Wikipedia, for being
the only earthly gateway to the realm of the dead.)
On the night of our stay, we walked down to O'Connor's Pub, founded in 1832, for an authentic Irish pub experience and some live music. The atmosphere did not disappoint. We were seated at the massive bar in the center of the pub, with all of the usual Irish beers on tap (Smithwick's, Guinness, Murphy's, Bulmer's, etc.). On our left was a group of people having a jam session, with their Irish flute, guitar, violin, mandolin, and other instruments typical of Irish music. Throughout our stay in Ireland, we saw that the coolest thing about live pub music is how intimate it is; the musicians are almost always just seated behind a table, playing their hearts out between sips of their beer, and audience singalong is highly encouraged. The experience at O'Connor's was no exception. The music was intermittently drowned out by roars of joy from our right, where a crowd was huddled around the big screen television watching
Ireland beat Scotland (in rubgy) to come within only one win of their first
Grand Slam since 1948. (All they have left is
Wales, who they're playing today, in fact.)
The next morning before breakfast, we took a walk down to the harbor. On the short walk we saw the usual assortment of brilliantly green grass and farm animals milling about.
At the shore, we could see waves in the distance crashing menacingly against rock outcroppings and shooting spray into the air. The shoreline has limestone formations just like the Burren, and we went skipping from rock to rock to get a closer view of the shore.
If we had more time, Doolin is a good point of departure for visiting the
Aran Islands, but we were nearing the end of our stay. The small island in the picture below, Crab Island (not one of the
Aran Islands), is near to shore and is the home of an abandoned outpost and also - as I see from a Google search - a popular surf spot.
You might recognize the prison, as it has been used as the set for many TV shows, movies and even a U2 music video. During the hour long tour we learned the story of the fight for Irish independence and about daily life in the prison.
The next stop in the tour of Dublin was the Guinness Storehouse - a beer Disneyland for adults. While no actual beer is brewed in the Storehouse, it is 7 levels of everything Guinness. (The rumor is they don't let you into the actual brewery because you would see the Budweiser trucks leaving :). The first level tells about the four ingredients found in every pint: barley, hops, yeast, and water. Did you know every batch of Guinness is brewed with the same strain of yeast? A batch of the yeast is kept in a vault in the director's office for emergencies.
I enjoyed the floor that displayed the various advertising campaigns from over the years. Here is my favorite:
The Gravity Bar is located on the top floor of the Storehouse and provides you with a pint and a 360° view of Dublin. You can take your own tour of the Storehouse here.
We finished off the day with a trip to Brazen Head Inn, the oldest pub in Dublin (c. 1198). We were treated to a Trad session with Rafferty. I really enjoyed watching the woman play the electric violin.
More photos here
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