ireland part 2: biking to the bars

introduction + part 1
part 2
part 3

whew! hellllllllo, everyone! it's been a while hasn't it? things have been absolutely in-saneeeee over here. with moving into a house, celebrating birthdays, hosting a few rounds of company at the new digs, hitting up concerts and helping with a golf tournament, it's no mystery why the summer has gone SO fast. can't believe we are halfway through august. ya feel me over here?

it's so hard to believe it's been a few months now since we've been in europe. while we have a few upcoming trips on the calendar, we thought we'd throw it back a little bit. we told you about some of the fun stuff we did in ireland, but haven't shared anything about the food/bar scene - arguably the most well-known parts of dublin! now i will warn you that this post will be a little all over the place since we hit up so many cool places! so bear with me and let's have a go, shall we?

as i mentioned in part 1, there are bike stations everywhere in dublin and it's pretty easy to get around quickly. on our first afternoon/evening in the city, we strolled down grafton street (the premiere high-end shopping district in dublin) and stumbled into bruxelles for our first officially irish pint of guinness. i've always heard it tastes different in ireland than in the US and it couldn't be more true. it's inexplicably more flavorful and just tastes fresher - almost like it was brewed down the street or something ;). in other words, it was heaven.

after the beer-induced hunger pains set in, we opted for the bank on college green, right near trinity college. as the name suggests, the restaurant/bar is in an old bank and is absolutely stunning. you can even see where the vaults may have been near the restrooms in the basement! super cool - not to mention excellent fish n' chips. i purposely didn't include any food pics in this post because they weren't that great, but make no mistake...the old stereotype that english/irish food isn't that great should be thrown out the window. we didn't have a bad meal the entire trip!

just around the corner from the bank is the area of town people probably talk about most - temple bar. talk to anyone who has been to dublin and chances are they will grill you on which bars you made it to in the area. i was always under the impression it was just one single place - and it is - but it refers to a much bigger area of restaurants, shops, bars and the BEST people watching. post up in the window of the temple bar (below) sometime and you'll know exactly what i mean :)

one of our must-see places while on the trip was the brazen head - the oldest pub in ireland the sign boasts! i have seen other versions in various cities, but nothing compares to the original. this place is pretty cool inside and out!

one thing i learned at the brazen head was do NOT order a black & tan (guinness mixed with harp lager). the waiter informed me that A. it was an offensive thing to order and B. that the guinness is generally too pure to mix with anything. word to the wise!

arguably one of the cutest places we visited all trip was the belfast baking company in the titanic quarter of belfast. this place was pretty new, but the food was incredible and the interior was absolutely darling! a great place for lunch before the titanic museum or a quick snack on the way home. we loved it.

last but certainly not least was one of our favorite pubs in the temple bar area, the palace bar. when you think of a traditional irish pub, this. is. it. vaulted ceilings, regulars singing the praises of their comrades and the bartender, beer flowing. oh yeah, this is what's up.

the only thing that matters when pub crawling.

thanks for following along from place to place! next up is the jameson + guinness tours which we boldly tackled in one afternoon. you won't want to miss it!