After a sleep that was short, a shower that was uninspiring and the usual morning requirements we made our way to the ferry. Everything went on time and without a hitch. There didn’t seem to be many people on board, but perhaps there are a lot of people occupying the cabins. Those that aren’t, are stretched out on the various seats and couches (ourselves included) catching up on a few winks before berthing again at our destination. We had been warned that the sea around here can be pretty rough, and there are some who refuse to cross this sea by any means other than to fly over it, however this morning we must have struck it lucky as it was incredibly flat all the way across.
DUBLIN : County Dublin : Republic of Ireland : Population 1.3 million 25% of the countries population
Situated at the mouth of the River Liffey, it was founded as a Viking settlement. Site of the Easter Uprising in 1916. Guinness has been brewed here since 1759. Birthplace of Bram Stoker (Dracula) and Brian O’Driscoll (Irish Rugby Captain)
We drove through customs without any whiff of a check-in procedure, and on through the city to our destination. A guesthouse within walking distance of the central city that promised ‘genuine Irish hospitality’. What we were greeted with was a guesthouse run by east Europeans of some description, whose hospitality was a little less inspiring than of the Irish flavour that we were expecting. The room is up several flights of stairs on the third floor, although it does seem adequate enough.
We checked in as quickly as we could be fore doing a quick sprint into the city centre as we wanted to catch the scheduled afternoon walking tour of the city. This walking tour comes from the same stable as the ones that we did many months ago in Prague, Berlin, Lisbon, Paris, and London. Once again we were not disappointed. We covered a lot of ground and a lot of history. We started at City Hall, on to Dublin Castle and tower, we observed the statues of Fortitude and Justice. We heard of Red O’Donnell who not only escaped from the Tower in ‘Shawshank Redemption’ style, but how he went on to lead the Irish people in rebellion. We heard of the uprising, the missed opportunities and the famines. We walked through Trinity College, Temple Bar, St Stephens Green, past Leinster House, Christchurch Cathedral, up the 40 steps where Jonathon Swift lived, past the new City Council building that was built on top of the preserved remains of a Viking settlement. We were reminded that Dublin received its name from the Viking name of Black Pool. We learned that the famous brightly coloured Dublin Doors are due to the Georgian style of much of the architecture meaning the only form of external decoration is their front doors. We also heard the personal account from our walking tour guide, whose father had the opportunity of buying either the famous ‘Temple Bar’ (before it was famous), or another bar. He chose the other bar. To put this into context, the Temple Bar is in a district known as Temple Bar, a high density tourist area that flogs off everything at over inflated prices to American tourists who have come to Dublin to finds their roots. The Temple Bar pretty much has the right to print its own money. Definitely an ‘If only’ moment. We also discussed the Northern Island issues and learned that it has always been a part of the constitution of Northern Ireland that if fifty percent plus one should wish to unite with the rest of Ireland, then it shall. Currently it sits at about 45/55 although it hasn’t yet been put to a referendum. We did discover during our tour and our conversations that there is a lot more to the North/South, Catholic/Protestant issue then we had ever imagined and we to some degree sympathise with the Irish people. They have had a long hard road through the years.
After the tour ended it was getting towards the end of the day, so we meandered over towards the north side of the city, along the canal and back towards out home for the night. We stopped first for a Guinness, to check to see if it really does taste better here (it does), then a small Italian Restaurant for dinner.
We got home to be greeted by our Polish hosts, and on reflecting over the day we wondered where all the Irish people were. As we were hopping around the tourist spots it seemed that the predominant nationality in this city is the Americans. We have the impression that Dublin is the London of Ireland.
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