Eurotrip 2011 (Dublin prt 2)

In Dublin we did two pub crawls. Okay, yes, the crowd was 75% tourists BUT both of the pub crawls were really fun, safe ways to have nights out in a city we didn’t know, and they turned out spectacularly! The first pub crawl was a musical pub crawl. For the very low price of 10 euros we joined a large group led by two Irish musicians who ushered us to two pubs after the one we’d all met at. The crawl attracted us because it offered both traditional Irish music and also a history lesson. The very talented, personable, and funny musicians informed the crowd about different instruments, various song origins and stories, and they gave a general overview of how Irish music has changed throughout the last few decades. Aside from the interesting lessons, we were treated to jigs, reels, and ballads and instructed to sing along to a few tunes. They two guys ended our few hours of musical entertainment by giving out the names of two pubs where tourists were scarce and the music would be lively.


The second pub crawl was a literary pub crawl. I know how it sounds…but trust me when I say it was a fantastic time! Again the crawl crowd was mostly tourists and again it was a cheap cost (9 euros). We were definitely interested; that’s the reason we showed up at all. However, neither of us really knew what to expect with a pub crawl that demanded higher thinking. The crawl turned out to be two professional actors and literature obsessed guys who, while allowing the crowd opportunities to mingle and plenty of drinking time, performed scenes/parts of various Irish novels and plays. With each performance they also included a bit of biography on the writer and the work. We visited three pubs and finished the tour with a quiz on information covered throughout the crawl. The literary crawl was quieter than the musical pub crawl and the crowd was more nerdy I suppose, but I feel like the combination of both crawls gave a good picture of the two sides of Dublin that we explored. During the days Martha and I were invested in galleries and museums and at night we soaked up the sounds of Dublin. If I visit Ireland again I’ll definitely go on more pub crawls. As we found out, it’s a great way to enjoy different pubs, thus having a night out, while learning about the city you are in and meeting people from all over the world.