Leaving England and entering Dublin...the Irish adventure begins!
The first time that I heard of Ireland was when my mum visited Ireland in 1993. That was the same time that I heard my first Enya record, and was absolutely impressed with her. I'd also heard abou the Blarney Stone. Since then, I always found them a very interesting breed. I'd met many Irish through the years (inc. my dad's boss in Zambia and my 2nd grade teacher Ms.Reade) but had never had an opportunity to visit Ireland.
Cut across to September 2004, I was on a plane headed to Alaska and met these two ladies who'd just returned from Ireland, and couldn't stop raving about it. They spoke about the Ireland green, and said that I'm young, I MUSt go there. So, funny then that I'd originally began planning my August trip as an entire month in Ireland.
Anyways, cut to today - we got up early in the morning, around 4am in London and had to head to Heathrow as my parents' flight back to India was at 7am, and mine at 8am. The Aer Lingus flight was peaceful. I sat next to a bunch of noisy Irishmen who were trying to hit on everyone from the flight attendent to a plastic cup, desparate! But I managed to sleep my way through the one hour flight. The landing was decent, nowhere as dramatic as a Gatwick landing.
I don't know what to make of Dublin so far.... it's kind of different. It doesn't look as active or buzzy as Edinburgh or London. It looked cold and desolate, or perhaps it was a Saturday morning and everyone was still in bed. ;-) The bus stopped off as Temple Bar, but I had such a hard time finding my way into Temple Bar, let alone my hostel Barnacles. Getting lost that early in the morning, and with that stupid duffelbag (with a broken wheel) wasn't the nicest thing for me having had only 3 hrs of sleep the previous night, but this was a nice insight into what Irish people are like. I found myself at the Temple Bar, lost and looking for directions and asked a boy at a store on how to get to my hostel.
I finally, finally landed at Barnacles, it is very non descript in appearence which you wouldn't think reading its good reviews. Read my review below this entry. It's right next to the legendary pub in Ireland called The Temple Bar. I was welcomed by a rude host who wouldn't give me any information on Dublin, she had a stoic "look at the brochure" answer for everything.
I dropped my stuff, and went to supposedly the city's hippest street - Grafton Street.
Again, another diasppointment to me. Perhaps I was just tired, I don't know but the street isn't really all that. I window shopped at River Island, and went to St.Stephen Greens Shopping Centre. Nothing fancy here, I've either lost interest in shopping or I'm just bored. Anyway, the nice part about this complex was that it had a Wagamama! I'd always wanted to go to Wagamama based on so much I'd read at TALF, but was unable to in London. So I was glad I could finally go. The place is different, I love how they scribble stuff on your table (your order) and transmit the the order electronically. The food was also good, I just had some noodles.
Got done with lunch, went for another stroll down the street parallel to Grafton, went back to the hostel and actually slept. It was the first time I slept in the noon in so long, guess I really was tired!
Got up in about an hour, and went to O'Connell Street which is on the other side of the Liffey, and as someone described to me, the "poorer cousin of Grafton Street". This was a nice place. Nothing posh, but the same airy feeling I always get whilst at Covent Garden, London. I had an ice cream, went to a mall (Topman) and generally had a good time. The weather was sunny but pleasant.
Got out of the mall and actually got lost (I know, I know, embarassing) and needed to ask someone the way to the Liffey. I met this gentleman of Greek descent, asked him where the Liffey is, and the next thing I know, he and his family (who were also headed that way) actually walked me to the Temple Bar. I love this city! Everyone is so friendly! They were telling me about their life and I was telling them about mine. I stopped by at a souvenir store to buy lots of stuff - magnets, the shamrock, figurines, the works.
Got back to the hostel by around 8pm. Dinner was had in Temple Bar, at a local Indian resnt (run by Pakistanis, LOL) which was really, really good. I went to bed that night really early, by 10pm. For a hostel so centrally located, one would've thought it would've been a nightmare trying to get sleep on Saturday nights with sleepless drunks below, but surprisingly not. The hostel was pin drop silent, I was very impressed.
My only concern was.... what do I do t'row? I was not impressed so far with Dublin. I had to reach for my DK book to find things to do for Sunday. Precious little even there...
Everything was excellent - the location was easy to find, very clean facilities, en suite bathrooms, comfortable bunker beds (each bunker bed had it's own mini light), safes, electronic card keys for added security both at the entrance as well as your room.
Most importantly, and contrary to what others may think - despite this hostel being next to *THE* legendary Temple Bar in Dublin and the heart of all activity on weekends, you don't hear any noise inside the hostel rooms. It's perfect in that, you get to stay in Dublin's trendiest area and yet you can sleep like a log if you wish! (And note - the 3 nights I spent were 2 Friday's and 1 Saturday. Could there be any busier or noisier nights?!)
The kitchen is well maintained, breakfast is like any other backpacker hostel - bread and coffee. The area and neighbourhood is very safe. Despite people thinking that Temple Bar can get a bit tipsy during nights and all, most drunks I met were pretty much to themselves, no one would bother me or anything.
It has easy connections to major bus stops as well as the Hop On/Hop Off buses, and is a hop, skip and jump away from both River Liffy (O'Connell Street) and Grafton Street.
If I could be nitpicky and complain about anything, I can find only 2 things -
1. Most receptionists I spoke to were rude. Not rude, but not as willing to help as I've seen in other hostels. It's like, any question I asked them, they'd immediately spit out a "I don't know" in a flash. It's almost like they just didn't want to help. I can understand if I asked them a tough question, but asking them questions on location of the nearest Post Office isn't such a tough 'un, is it?!
2. Too many stairs! Like St.Christopher's Inn, Edinburgh and YHAs in London, the Barnacles team ought to consider having lifts in their hostels. Climbing to the 3rd floor was like hiking up Mt.Everest for me!
But overall thumbs up. I'd love to return here. alongside London's YHA St.pancras, this has to be one of the better hostels I've stayed in, in Europe.
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