The Temple Bar District of Dublin has a mass of overpriced touristy pubs (at least according to any locals we met). But there are also some good pubs, a couple of small but interesting galleries and Al’s #1 favourite restaurant in ALL of Ireland.

A daytime agenda would be to wander through the galleries with a stop at the Pieman for lunch. Going east on the map below* you come to a square with the Gallery of Photography on one side and the National Photographic Archive on the other. Both of them have interesting shows.They were filming in the square the day we were there with drones and a big crew.  The Temple Bar Gallery, a small but cool gallery to visit in-between pubs!This was the display of clothing wearable by multiple people at one time, in this case hats…
The Ha’penny Bridge by day.The Pieman Café at 14 Crown Alley, Al’s choice for the #1 restaurant in the entirety of Ireland.I had the chicken and leek pie with gravy, a side of mushy peas and a craft beer for €10.50 (2015 prices). Al’s Beef & Guinness pie with a side of mashed potatoes and gravy is something he raves about to this day. Hey guys, we don’t have anything like it here in Vancouver – want to start a franchise? Some murals spotted just wandering through the streets…Google map of the Temple Bar District in Dublin. (Click to enlarge.)The Temple Bar all lit up at night, one of those pubs we were warned about by the locals as charging twice as much for a beer and not being very authentic. I have to admit it looked pretty tempting to the tourist me, except for the line-up to get in!The Porterhouse Temple Bar, at the far west of the map, is an exception to the tourist pub rule. A brewpub with its own great beers, a massive selection of other people’s excellent beers (I count roughly 180 beers on their beer list), good food, and sometimes music.Stairs with an ad for traditional Irish music running up them at the John Gogarty Bar. This bar is at the far east of the map. I suspect that being on the fringes of this tourist-popular district makes both these bars a better choice than the rest. If I had only time for one I’d pick Porterhouse Temple Bar – it was good on all counts.The Ha’penny Bridge in Dublin at night.More on our 2015 trip to Ireland.