Dublin - the city of music

Temple Bar

Yes, it's incredibly touristy and way too overpriced, but Temple Bar is worth a visit - at least on your first Dublin holiday. Temple Bar is a whole neighborhood full of Irish bars serving the typical pints to Irish tunes.

Guinness Storehouse

The Guinness Storehouse is a museum where you can discover everything about the 250-year-old history of Guinness beer.

The history of Arthur Guinness as well as the manufacturing process, distribution channels and all types of advertising are displayed on seven floors. On the top floor of the house is the Gravity Bar; here you can get the pint of Guinness included in the entrance fee and enjoy it with a 360-degree panoramic view over Dublin.

I don’t drink beer myself, but the museum visit was very interesting for me too.

Book of Kells and Trinity College

A book so beautifully and elaborately decorated that it must be the work of angels. This is how a traveler described the Book of Kells many centuries ago. The Book of Kells is one of the most important medieval books in the world and the best-preserved testimony to Irish book illumination. Even today, it impresses researchers and laymen alike.

The book is owned by Trinity College and you can visit the Long Room Library, one of the most glorious libraries in Europe, housing over 200’000 oldest books.

Kilmainham Goal

The prison was my personal highlight of my Dublin trip. There was a wow moment as soon as you entered. Emotional, huge, and deserted. The largest empty prison in Europe holds many stories behind its thick and cold walls.

Before its closure in 1924, many of Ireland's politicians had seen the inside of the cells, including people from the 1916 Easter Rising. I recommend taking a guided tour as it gives a dramatic insight into the history of this prison with its overcrowded cells, the squalor, and brutal conditions in which the prisoners lived.

I was impressed by the story of Joseph Plunkett and his wife Grace. After the surrender, Plunkett was held in Kilmainham Gaol and sentenced to death by firing squad by a court martial. Seven hours before his execution, he married Grace Gifford in the prison chapel, and she did not remarry after his death.

His brothers George Oliver Plunkett and Jack Plunkett joined him in the Easter Rising and later became important members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA).

Some of the people who were executed outside in the courtyard were in such poor health conditions that they could not even stand when they were shot. They were tied to a chair and were shot by sitting in a chair.

Molly Malone

Molly Malone, also known as Cockles and Mussels, is a well-known Irish folk song and an unofficial anthem of the city of Dublin. The ballad tells the story of a beautiful Dublin fishmonger who dies at a young age of an unspecified fever. The monument is one of the city’s landmarks.

O' Donoghue's

At O'Donoghue's the music is live. Seven nights a week, musicians from all over Ireland come together to share their love of Irish traditional music in one of Ireland's most famous bars.

O'Donoghue's has a rich heritage and stands on a very historical site in Dublin City. Yet it's more modern musical history is really the stuff of legends. Ask any Irish man to name the artists or bands that have shaped Irish traditional and contemporary music and the name of the Dubliners always comes up. It is this spirit that is kept alive by today's musicians who play amongst an array of drawings and photos of Irish musicians that adorn the walls of O'Donoghue's.

Vintage Tea Tours and Mulreanys Carriages

Afternoon tea is a much-loved tradition in Ireland. Karen Nixon has transformed this tradition into a Dublin afternoon tea experience aboard a vintage bus. So if you ever need a break from the city trip, take this bus.

I can also recommend a carriage ride. We took one from the Guinness Storehouse to Kilmainham Goal. It was a nice change from walking.