Even though we lived in London for several years, my first trip to Ireland – I think it was because if we ever left England we wanted to go somewhere with sun. Luckily I had good weather for a quick trip to Dublin. I was inspired by some friends who recently visited and low airfare and AirBNB costs – unfortunately airport parking and taxis ended up costing more that flight/room. In/out for the weekend so trip was limited to Dublin and I will have to visit the countryside on a future trip.
First thing I was reminded how many of my neighbors are Irish – explains the social element in our neighborhood and places a lot of pressure on writing this – I can’t have any errors. And thanks to Terry Collins for the trip guide. On a side note – I am convinced that an Irish Pub in market square would thrive.
After a quick recce Friday night at Temple Bar area, got out early Saturday with the standard bus tour to hit the tourist sites before hitting the granddaddy of all tourist traps – The Guinness Storehouse. But very impressive and worth a visit if in Dublin – I wish it would have had more Irish history tied in with the growth of the company in the last 300 years.
For Saturday, I was hoping to find a U2 tribute band, but couldn’t and settled for a visit to the hotel that Bono and The Edge own and …. they didn’t happen to show up. I did find a musical pub crawl – was much different than expected as the pub crawl went to bars and then had private rooms and the musicians came with us and played traditional Irish music at each stop. During a walk in between pubs, I was talking to one of them which led to me being called on stage – no singing, just beating a Bodhran (drum) like a tourist beating a bass drum and answering the standard question “what about Trump?”. He then demonstrated how the Bodhran was played correctly – much more elegance. Topped the evening off with the worst burrito ever.
On Sunday, I did the 1916 Rebellion Walking Tour. Definitely recommend to understand the dynamic – the key thing I learned was it was a failure – but set in to motion the changes to come. With Brexit, Northern Ireland is closer than ever to consider separating from the UK and then presumably united with Ireland to stay in the EU. My Irish guide found it quite ironic that British pride would led to Ireland reunionifaction.”
From Week 145 – Dublin. Posted by JC Travels on 10/17/2016 (14 items)
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