Travelogue: Ireland – Dublin, Part 1

July 2022
Where We Stayed: Clayton Hotel Burlington Rd.

We flew from London to Dublin in anticipation of our Ireland tour. We booked a tour through Insight — their one-week long “Focus on Ireland” tour. Neither Mike nor I are sure if we are “tour people” or not, but we wanted to do a tour in Ireland because of the driving — the thought of having to drive on the other side of the road was just too much. We decided to build a buffer day in and have one day in Dublin to explore on our own before the tour started — and that was a great idea.

This extra day in Dublin gave us time to see so much of the city that we otherwise wouldn’t have had the time to see — example, the Guinness Storehouse visit and tour. One of the first things I noticed about Dublin, even as we were being taxied to our hotel, were all the colorful doors. The Doors of Dublin.

The reason for the colorful doors is up for debate. Here are two theories…

“Ireland won its independence from Great Britian just 100 years ago. Before that, Ireland was subject to the British Empire for 800 years. One story of the doors of Dublin suggests that the bright colors are a form of protest. When Queen Victoria died, it was allegedly decreed that all doors must be painted black in mourning. Instead, the Irish painted their doors every color of the rainbow, every color except black.”

“The period of architectural development termed Georgian Dublin that took place in the city from the early 18th to the early 19th centuries was characterised by a uniform style due to building regulations at the time – meaning all the new houses in a particular area looked exactly the same. Painting the doors an unusual colour was the only way for the people who lived in these affluent new developments to make a house distinctive from the outside.”

No matter the reason, I loved the colorful doors. After walking around the city a little bit and doing the Hop On, Hop Off tour, we headed to the Guinness Storehouse. I’m not a big beer fan, but come on, you gotta visit and embrace Guinness! I opted for the simple self-guided tour because I am not exactly into beer (though the Guinness does taste extra good here). Mike opted for the super-d-duper tasting experience (where he also learned how to properly pour a pint — and as with everything in life, there’s an art to it!). When we met back up for dinner Mike was just a liiiiiiiiiittle drunk and it was great.