We had a one day layover in Dublin on our way to Italy. To make the most of our time, we did a hop on hop off bus tour. The weather was gross, but that didn’t stop us from sitting on the top deck of the bus. We stopped at the oldest pub in Ireland, the Brazen Head, for lunch. I had fish and chips and Guinness. I’m not normally a huge fan of Guinness, but it sure tastes great in Ireland!

Oldest pub in Ireland!

Next,  we headed to the Guinness factory to take a tour. Tip: buy your tickets online because the line to buy tickets was down the street.

Guinness Factory

Since I had gotten the tickets online, we walked right up to the entrance and didn’t have to wait at all. The Guinness factory is more like a museum than anything else. Sevens stories tall, and full of facts about beer (including how to properly taste Guinness), the factory is quite impressive. We reached the sky bar on the top floor and got our complimentary glass. The bartender drew a clover into my foam as he was pouring it. The sky bar has a 360 degree view of Dublin. It was beautiful, even during such a dreary day!

Fresh pours at the sky bar

We finished the rest of our bus tour while fighting jet lag. Then, we stopped at another pub in Temple Bar for some beef stew and picked up some souvenirs. Finally we made it back to the hotel and passed out before another day of traveling.

Bridge near Temple Bar

Overall, I wasn’t terribly impressed by Dublin itself. It seemed like just another city to me. If we had more time, I’d have loved to spent some time in the Irish countryside, but Italy was calling!