Ireland ~ Dublin (Day 3) 24Jul23

It's our first day with Outdoor Adventure Travel (OAT) and we did a bus tour through keen parts of Dublin and then headed out on our own at lunch. We again started with a good breakfast at Hotel 7 then met with guide John to profile our 2 weeks with OAT. Once on the very nice and comfy bus with our guide and John our driver, we headed toward central Dublin. Our guide is affable and, being a Dublinite especially, is knowledgeable on the city and Ireland. Dublin is really a Viking city initially, and it has a long history but we saw mostly Georgian buildings on a nice day. We started near the "nicest addresses in Dublin" where many top companies and embassies have HQs and St Stephens cathedral sits. That's the most photographed door in Dublin.

We then traveled through the largest municipal park in Europe ~ Phoenix Park; very cool. We saw the Wellington Monument, the Irish president's residence, and 100s of acres of forests with birds holding the bulk of species found in Ireland there. There were lots of people and families out walking and hiking on a rare sunshiny day. Even the American Embassy is on these awesome grounds; it's the only one here.

Dublin was once a walled city and we passed an original gate in the wall from 1100 and "dandy" Oscar Wilde on a rock checking out his wife and a boy.

We were soon enough done with the intro bus tour in Dublin and took off on personal time to the Guinness "Tour," called the Guinness Experience. We were dropped off directly at the facility on the first stop back to the hotel; it was a cool move by OAT! There we bought tickets online in the long line and jumped to the head with our senior tickets on Kala's iPhone. While waiting a team of lady drummers entertained us. That's me with a hops vine. I did learn that the original strain of yeast, unique to Guinness is still being used to brew at Jake's Gate ~ the facility is huge and the main spot for G, and it will be for a long time as they negotiated a 9,000 year lease with Ireland back at founding of the brewery.

After touring in an upward spiral we arrived ultimately at the Gravity Bar for a pint of Guinness. This spot was 8th floor I believe and high in general for Dublin; great 360° views and the best Guinness we've had. Ireland's economy is hopping and their population is growing well from birth rates among younger citizens as well as emigration. Further evidence was seen in the 25+ cranes visible from the Gravity Bar!

After Guinness we headed to "the best fly shop in Dublin" ~ meh. And then on to the Irish History Museum. There were literally unbelievable pieces in the exhibit ~ at one point we were presented with a 300,000 BC ax head and I doubted this. Yet there were many great artifacts from pre-history in Ireland dating from 8,000 BC and they were amazing, including the earliest writing in Ireland, ornate gold jewelry with unique "Irish-only" early motifs, and horns & bells. It is a keen archeology exhibit of Ireland and worth it. We also saw the "bog bods" which are 6 well-preserved bodies from death in the bogs of Ireland; I think they were from 150BC.

We dined well with OAT that night at The Belvedere.