A little bit of drizzle, but a whole lot of fun.

Wednesday, July 3rd – Dublin

After weeks of planning and anticipation (possibly the best part of travel) and some angst over the Westjet strike, Charlene and I met at Gate 58 at Montreal airport to start our Gaelic Exploring together. I had only come from Ottawa, a 30 minute flight that took almost 1.5 hours, but Charlene had been on the go all day. From Comox to Vancouver, and then on to Montreal. Our flight to Dublin was an hour late leaving due to the delay in the aircraft being available, but otherwise the flight was uneventful. The best kind of flights. I don’t know how many times we each said how glad we were that we changed her flight from Westjet to Air Canada over the past few days.

After a bit of rest, a cuppa tea and a clean up, we headed out to explore. We put on 12,488 steps, in all, and covered a good chunk of the interesting areas of Grafton Street, the Liffey River, and Temple Bar area. There was a sprinkling of rain early on in our walk but eventually the sun came out and it was lovely and warm with mostly blue sky. Not something I’d expected from what I’d heard or the forecast.

Our hotel is just a 10 minute walk from the heart of Dublin, just south of 22 acre St. Stephen’s Green Park. St. Stephen’s Green Park is Dublin’s oldest park which can be traced back to medieval times when it was used for grazing live stock. In 1635 the city assembly passed an ordinance that the space be left green and still today it provides a real oasis in a busy city centre for its human inhabitants as well as its wildlife.

Fusiliers Arch at the north west entrance to the Park was built to commemorate Irishmen who died fighting for the British in the Boer War in South Africa. It later became a focal point for other struggles that the Irish had, this time against the British in the 1916 Easter Uprising. There is so much history in this city, and along our tour, that I’m not even going to try and cover it.

Next we headed north toward the river and along one of the main shopping areas, Grafton Street. Grafton Street was pedestrianized in 1983 and it and the surrounding streets were bustling with locals, tourists and what seemed like a large number of young people/students. There were familiar named shops from home and others that are unique here such as department store Brown Thomas. Colour was everywhere.

We felt the need for a bit of tea, and maybe a scone and found the perfect place to find both in a cozy, library-type environment. Turns out it was also a tiny theatre and we were sitting on what can become the stage.

We wandered down a small side street off Grafton and found the really lovely St. Teresa’s Carmelite Church. It was build in 1792 and was full of multicoloured marble but felt restful, warm and inviting, not cold like marble might make it feel. It took up a full block in the middle of the busy shopping area.

Next it was on to the Temple Bar area, where of course the famous Temple Bar is located but also hundreds of other establishments providing sustenance and fun. However, I was surprised to read that since 2001 consumption of alcohol is down almost 20 percent in Ireland and thousands of pubs have closed in the last 10 years. Even Guinness launched a non-alcoholic beer in 2018.

The sun was full out while we walked along the Liffey River and over one pedestrian bridge and back on another. The Ha’ Penny Bridge which is pictured here was built in 1816 and got its name for the sum that people paid to cross the bridge rather than take the ferry. The Quays on either side are dotted with restaurants and bars and even mid-afternoon were hopping.

We walked further west past the city hall and on to Christ Church Cathedral before turning to head back to the hotel. The front of the church is shrouded and under construction so we didn’t get a good look at it. We did peek into the Dublinia, a museum taking visitors back to medieval times of the Vikings. I don’t know a lot at all about the Viking history in Ireland and we were hoping to take a walking tour to hear about it, but it’s either sold out or they’re not offering it til mid-July. I’ll have to do some reading.

The imposing St. Patrick’s Cathedral and gardens was our next stop. The attached garden is really pretty and there is a wall of commemorative plaques to the Dublin-born and world renown writers along the end of the garden. Among those recognized is Jonathon Swift (author of Gulliver’s Travels) who was dean of the cathedral for some time and is buried in the church as well as Oscar Wilde, and Nobel Prize winners George Bernard Shaw, William Butler Yeats, Samuel Beckett, and Seamus Heaney.

Our walk wandered back to the hotel where we crashed. Trying to stay awake until a reasonable time tonight is going to be difficult. We’re debating dinner at the hotel dining room or an Irish Pub. Might leave the pub until we have more energy tomorrow.