When Irish Skies are Smiling

July 22- 24, 2013

We left England from Liverpool via ferry. The port was much less luxurious than when we took a ferry from France to England.  The best way to describe this sea voyage would be industrial, because we were one of only 10 passenger vehicles on board and the rest were semi trucks, aka lorries.  Taking the 3am ferry saved us money, it cost $195 total which included 2 meals and gave us a place to sleep for the night.

We arrived in Dublin, Ireland at 10:00am and as we walked out onto the deck of the boat we saw huge tankers trucks full of Guinness sitting in the port. The advertisement worked because the first thing we did in Dublin was book our tour of the Guinness factory. 

                  



Ireland gave us a nice welcome. Late in the afternoon the rain came down, but only briefly, just after it stopped the sky smiled at us with a brilliant rainbow. Our hearts filled with excitement and joy because a new leg of our journey has begun.  The shower brought life to the rolling hills, the emerald green fields looked as if they were glistening, as we dreamed that there may be a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Wicklow Mountains

For the night we drove away from Dublin into the foothills of the Wicklow Mountains.  We found a 200 year old traditional Irish pub with live folk music to boot.

Johnnie Fox's Pub looked the same as it did when it was first built we were told.  The floors had never been redone, so it was easy to see the wear from two centuries of Irish dancing.  The walls were covered with old newspapers  outdated farming equipment, and Irish proverbs.






We ate our dinner by candlelight sitting at an old foot powered sewing table. We swapped bites of Guinness stew and seafood pie and before we knew it the live music started.  We listened for awhile then decided to take ourselves to bed.  We noticed a customer overflow parking lot and kindly asked our server if she thought anyone would mind if we parked there overnight   She checked with the manager and we were cleared for the evening.

The next day we toured the Guinness Factory. As we pulled up to the gate to park the attendant told us it was our lucky day because the lot had been full since 9am but a family just left freeing up a spot for us.  The factory and storehouse itself is huge and even though we visited on a Wednesday there were hundreds of people already inside. 

Layout of Guinness Factory

The museum is designed to replicate a 6 story Guinness pint glass, 5 floors of history explaining the ingredients and brewing process and the 6^th floor is a 360 degree view of Dublin with a bar right in the middle of it. 

Out of the 4 and half hours we spent in the factory our favorite parts included:

1.      The explanation of where the ingredients come from and the brewing process complete with an indoor waterfall.

2.      The vintage Guinness advertisement and iconic memorabilia illustrating the transition of Guinness’s trademark from the 1930’s to today.

3.      Pouring the perfect pint and certification process. We went into a large bar class room area with multiple bar stations.  Inside we were personally educated on the 6 steps involved in pouring the perfect pint of Guinness.








Ross and I were chosen as the volunteers who went first in our group responsible for showing everyone else how it was done. Afterward we enjoyed the free pint and received a certificate acknowledging completion of the course.    

view from 6th floor bar

4.      The 360 degree bar was crowded but we enjoyed the view of Dublin from the highest point in the city.

5.      Arthur’s Restaurant where we enjoyed a late meal inspired Guinness recipes.

   6.      Finding 10 euro in the parking lot as we left the factory topped off it all off and proved again that it really was our lucky day.