So, imagine you arrived in Dublin. You won’t have problems with accommodation: luxury hotels, cosy guesthouses with an individual approach, hostels… One of the city’s most prestigious hotels is Conrad International Dublin. Other five-star hotels are: The Shelbourne where William Thackeray liked to spend his time, Berkeley Court and Clarence. Don’t forget to book rooms in advance since there are lots of cultural events held here which make the city very popular with travelers.
Dublin is a unique place, especially if you are fond of classic literature. The city is the motherland for three Nobel Prize laureates: George Bernard Shaw, Samuel Beckett and William Butler Yeats. The list of writers whose life was connected with Dublin also includes Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, Jonathan Swift and Bram Stocker. But local people are good not only at reading, but also at drinking. To check this, make an excursion around the capital pubs, which were often visited by famous writers. The excursion is called Literary Pub Crawl and tourists are guided by actors, who tell stories, anecdotes and read passages from famous novels.
The excursion starts from Duke pub and then goes to Davy Byrne's and The Byrnes, which got fame thanks the world-known Joyce’s novel, Ulysses. Of course, this merry excursion will be entailed by tasting of the true Irish symbol – ‘Guinness’ stout, which is often followed by a glass of whiskey. Other brands of beer popular with the Irish are: Smithwicks, Harp and Kilkenny.
In order to keep the participants of the excursion in due spirits, each stop is finished with a quiz, and the winner gets a bottle of cream Irish liquor. The tour comes to an end at The Old Stend pub. By this time drunk participants are ready to meet the literature phantoms of the past.
For the Irish, a pub is not just a place where one can spend their time with friends and drink beer. A pub is an essential attribute of the Irish way of life, something they can’t do without. Whenever you are in Ireland, independently on what city you are in, you will always find a pub. Dublin is not that big, but they say there are about 700 of them here, and all of them are different. The Brazen Head, the city’s oldest pub, was founded in 1198. Baggot Inn is famous for the best Irish rock music – for instance, U2 and Thin Lizzy organised their concerts here. Long Hall has the longest bar in the city. Some pubs even have their breweries. The most known of such is Porter House. Also don’t forget to drop into the Guinness museum, dedicated to the largest brewery in the world.
Each respectful pub offers folk music performed live, which is often accompanied by national dance – Irish stepdance. The Irish are very fond of music!
