First time to Dublin - ideas please.

[The Fryers]

We're off on another adventure next weekend 8th July for an overnight stay in Dublin,:occasion1 for hubby's birthday treat & to sample the black stuff. Got a really good deal with Ryanair for flights from Bristol & only costing �165 complete. Booked everything seperately after a long search on the net. Hotel - through flexibletrips.com.
We get a full 2 days there, so any good ideas of what to do, where to go? We are staying at Hotel Baily at a seaside village - Howth, not far from Dublin. Anyone know anything about this place?

[boiledvark]

Sample the black stuff?
I can't recommend highly enough O'Donoghues, on Merrion Street.
More details: http://66.84.44.126/thepubs/odonoghues.html

Night in a pub starting with good pub food, live music later on? Steeped in atmosphere the best night's we've had have been at the superb Brazen Head - claims to be Ireland's oldest pub (1138) -

More details here:
http://www.brazenhead.com/

Open top bus ride around Dublin - good value.