May 29
We booked our own flights so we could have two extra days in Dublin before the tour began. I arrived in the morning from Atlanta at 8:45 and was through customs and on the bus to my hotel within an hour. I had booked the DublinExpress bus for 11euros. It dropped me off at Harcourt stop, a short walk to the Camden Court Hotel. This was a very nice hotel and in a good location. There are several bus stops nearby and we used them every day. Public transport was excellent in Dublin.
I couldn’t check in right away so I decided to wander on foot, heading to St. Stephens Green (a park) for lunch. The afternoon was spent on the hop-on, hop-off bus tour. It was a good way to get an overview of the city, although I think it was too expensive – 32 euros. The only stop I got off at was at the National Museum of Ireland (Collins Barracks). It was something to do but nothing remarkable.
After Lea arrived and we both checked in, we headed out for the evening. We had signed up for a 6pm walking tour of Dublin but the guide canceled on us, which we didn’t realize until we were at the meeting point and he wasn’t there. No matter. We were close to the Temple Bar entertainment district and we wandered, enjoying the people watching and looking for a place to hang out.
We started at Ha’Penny Bridge Bar where we had our first Guiness pints. My favorite beer on this trip. Chatted with some locals, one who was playing at another pub that night. The other guy was a front of the house manager at a nearby restaurant, Gallaghers Boxty House. We were able to get great seats at a window table and the food was very good. After dinner, we went to O’Sheas – the music was average but the musicians appreciated us showing up and gave us a couple of shout-outs.
Impressions of Dublin – loved the Georgian architecture, the red buildings, pubs everywhere, great music in many of the pubs, Guiness beer, streets felt clean and didn’t see many homeless. Beef and ale pies and stews, lots of independent bookstores. We used the DART tram quite a bit and the buses a few times. Street art in every city we visited was good.
May 30
We had a busy day of tours scheduled for Saturday. First was the tour at Trinity University with a college student. It was interesting enough. We didn’t do the Book of Kells though I heard the building is beautiful inside. Then we went to the Little Dublin Museum using free tickets from my hop off bus tour. The museum is set within a beautiful 18th century townhouse overlooking leafy St Stephen’s Green in the heart of the city, the museum delves into the lives of Dublin citizen through the years. The exhibits tell the stories and history of the city.
Our last tour was 14 Henrietta House which was a bit outside the tourist center. It wasn’t exactly what I expected. It was the history of a home built for wealthy Anglos living in Dublin in late 1700s. Eventually the house was cut up into many apartments – tenement building. It began to decay in the 19th century and was in bad shape by the mid 20th century when families were finally able to move out to better housing in the suburbs. As many as 100 people lived on the five floors of flats with only two toilets and running water in the basement. The front doors were left open all the time. This was very interesting and worth the effort. You have to book ahead to make sure to get a spot, though they were flexible about changing days and time.
After a refreshing nap, we headed out for an evening of Dublin fun. We walked to the Temple Bar entertainment district, starting at Darkey Kelly’s pub which is known for live music. The pub was very crowded but we managed to snag some bar seats with great view of the band. I ordered their steak and ale stew which was really good. The TV’s were on for the early matches for FIFA World Cup. Paris (France) vs Arsenal (England) was playing and people in the pub got pretty excited when France won.
May 31
We had booked an ebike ride around Howth for Sunday. Howth is a 30 minute train ride from the XXX bus station in Dublin. We took a bus to the train station, then had to run to make the 10am train, along with about 30 young people. Glad to know we can still run! The ride started at the Howth Yacht Club in some light rain but we ended up with decent weather. We biked about 20km overall along paved roads as well as dirt/gravel roads. There were some beautiful vistas and good explanation from the tour leader about Ireland’s history. Howth is still a fishing village and several seafood restaurants line the wharf. We had fish and chips and expensive tiny oysters. Howth is a nice destination to stay a few days – there are hiking trails, biking paths and many upscale homes. You could stay there and take the train to Dublin if city life wasn’t your jam.
In the evening we just barely made it back to the hotel to get cleaned up and meet the Gate1 tour group at the hotel. We have a lovely tour leader, Edwina and 26 people in the group. A welcome dinner was provided at the hotel – the food was actually pretty good.
Jun 1
The first day of the Gate1 tour included a bus tour of Dublin. We stopped at St. Patrick’s Cathedral with a tour by Edwina.
After lunch Lea and I headed to our scheduled tour at the Kilmainham Gaol, a former jail and prison. We learned a lot about Irish struggle for Independence from Britain and the various rebellions and their leaders. Many of the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising were jailed and then executed at this prison. The Irish and the Scottish still wonder at how America was able to sever themselves from Britain and its kings while Ireland didn’t get their freedom until 1922 and Scotland is still part of the UK.
Kilmainham Gaol opened in 1796 as the new County jail for Dublin. It operated as a jail/prison well into the 19th century. In the 20th century it was renovated and converted into a museum, in time for fiftieth anniversary of the Easter Rising, in 1966. Tickets for this tour have to be purchased in advance and they are hard to get. You must go online at midnight Dublin time exactly 28 days before the date you want to book. Likely the tickets will sell out quickly. Buy Tickets Here.
Lea and I decided to skip the optional Gate1 tour to Taylor’s for an Irish dinner and music performance. Instead we signed up for a pub music tour. It was very reasonable – maybe $20 each. I had expected that our guides would be taking us to a couple of pubs that had trad sessions scheduled. However, our two guides were the entertainment. There were at least 40 or 50 people on the tour. The first set was upstairs at the Ha’Penny Pub and later we walked about 10 minutes to Flanagans where they performed a second set in the basement of the pub. It was a lot of fun with energetic music playing, singing and lots of story telling. At the end the musicians invited anyone from the audience who wanted to sing or play – we had one man sing an Elvis song, a young teen play the piano and another man sang Hallelujah and played the guitar. You can find this tour on Tripadvisor – Traditional Irish Musical Pub Crawl.
The Ha’Penny Pub is named for the cast iron pedestrian bridge that crosses the River Liffey. Before the construction of a bridge over River Liffey, people who wanted to cross the river had to ride passenger ferries. City officials convinced the ferry owner to build this bridge, which he agreed to as long as he could charge a halfpenny toll for the next 100 years. There were turnstiles at either end of the bridge to ensure people will pay the ha’penny before crossing. This went on until 1919.
As we came out of this pub, a rainbow appeared over the river. Not that it was needed as the city was awash in rainbow flags – I guess in support of June as Pride month.
We had dinner at Flanagan’s after the music ended but it was mediocre at best. I ordered a beef stew and it was filled with potatoes on top of mashed potatoes. I would not recommend as there are too many good pubs in Dublin for food.
