Dublin Day Two Walking Tour

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Started the day on time, but it was still hard to get up. Breakfast is included in our room rate. Normally that means a simple continental and maybe some scrambled eggs and sausage. Here it meant a waffle bar, omelet bar, a hot bar with everything to make your own Full Irish (same thing as a full English) and many other items. Just kept it simple and had some eggs, sausage and toast. Jerry added yogurt.

I have been a little preoccupied because Tarragon is not responding well to the cat sitter, hasn’t let her pet him yet, which is a bit unusual. He is not very comfortable around other people but typically after the second day he does at least one some petting. I am trying not to stress about it, but it is pretty hard, he is the only child after all.

Anyway, first stop was Trinity College and the Old Library and Book of Kells. We took the Luas to the college, it was pretty simple and not crowded as it was early Sunday morning, and I am pretty sure the rest of Dublin was sleeping offs last night’s pub crawl. Located in the heart of the Trinity College campus, the Old Library contains Ireland’s largest collection of books and Manuscripts, the oldest being the Book of Kells. The book dates to the 9^th century and only four original pages are on display at any one time. I really didn’t know what the Book of Kells was before we began our research for this trip, but basically is painted version of the gospels.

The first floor is dedicated to the Book of Kells and some other religious manuscripts, however, the more visual is on the second floor. This is where the Long Room is located. A long room with stacks (two stories) of books on either side. In addition, there are busts of philosophers and important figures associated with the college. For you Harry Potter fans, it has the vibe

Our schedule was so tight for ticketed items during the first part of the day, we had to set an alarm for the time we needed to leave the Old Library and head for Dublin Castle. It was a leisure 20-minute walk and we took a different route so we could see another section of old Dublin. We walked by the statute of Molly Malone, who is not a real person, but is a figure in the official song of Dublin.

We arrived a bit early for our self-guided tour, so Jerry took some pictures of the outside of Dublin Castle and I took the opportunity to rest my ankles and back. (There is more on this later). There is very little left of the original Medieval Castle, basically a tower and the chapel. The rest has been rebuilt over the years. During British Rule it was the home of the Viceroy of Ireland now it serves as a museum and state dinners and events are still held there. One hall has pictures of all of the Presidents of Ireland. Ireland has not been Republic that long only since 1922, when they finally won their independence from the Crown. Ireland has had two women presidents and we can’t manage to get one.

Next up on the tour was a walk back to Stephen’s Green. Our path took us down the main shopping street of Dublin, Grafton St. By this time, it was noon, so the crowds were building, pubs filling and street performers, performing. We stopped and got a few items for friends and our Ireland refrigerator magnet. Stephen’s Green is a 27-acre green space that up until 1664 was the sight of public executions and the burning of witches. In 1880 it was redesigned to the park it is today. We did not go in but walked along the edge on our way to Merrion Square.

Along the way we passed the most luxurious hotel in Dublin, “The Shelbourne” now owned by the Marriott. We also passed by a very small Huguenot Cemetery (maintained by the French). Huguenots were French Protestants, most of which were forced to leave France during the reign of Louis XIV. I believe the majority of them went Quebec, but a fair amount also settled in Charleston S.C., as the oldest Huguenot Church in the U.S. is located there.

The last stop on this part of the tour was Merrion Square and the Statute of Oscar Wilde, a famous playwright but also persecuted for being gay, as he was imprisoned for three years for having an affair with Alfred Douglas an English Poet.

On the way back to the Lusa stop we got a few pictures of St Ann’s Church. The outside is described by Fodor’s as a plain, neo-Romanesque church. It did look pretty much like any large church anywhere. The treat is inside with rich Georgian interiors. We did not have time to go in, and really couldn’t any way as it was Sunday.

It was time for lunch and to visit the other side of the river. We hopped on the Lusa and headed for Madigan’s Pub. It was definitely your standard pub, nothing fancy, but they had cold Rose. I had bangers and Mash, Jerry had Grilled Cheese and Ham. It was standard pub food. The bangers were could but the Mash and crave need to be much hotter. When your drinking whiskey and beer you probably don’t care much about what you’re eating.

After lunch we walked up O’Connell Street to the Garden of Remembrance (remembering the 1916 failed rebellion against the crown). Dublin City Gallery is inside a town house built for the Earl of Charlemont in 1762. The gallery is actually named after Hugh Land who collected impressionist painting mainly French. Such painters as Degas, Manet, and Monet. No Van Gough, what kind of impressionist collector doesn’t have Van Gough?

After the Gallery we got back on the Lusa, I was headed back to the hotel, to do the blog from the day before and rest my back and feet. Jerry wanted to get some pictures of the Famine monument and Ship. There are a series of statutes long Custom Quay, that represent the plight of the population of Ireland during the great potato famine. The statutes show tired, staving and thing people working from their homes to get to Dublin to get on the ship to America. Many of them didn’t make it to the ship and many more died on the ship.

Dinner was down the street form out hotel. Ryleigh’s is in the Mayson Hotel. The ground floor has an Elephants and Castle. The restaurant is on the top floor and has a very nice view of the river Liffey. The atmosphere is a bit trendy and hip for us, but it turned out to be a good evening, despite the bad start. Our server was so busy he came off as unfriendly at first, turned out to be very friendly. What almost ruined the night was the second worst martini we have ever had. It had so much vermouth I couldn’t taste the gin. It did get much better from that point forward, and we were right next to the open kitchen, so got dinner and a show.

We started with Scallops & Chorizo over a pee puree. It was very good but they should have called it Chorizo with tiny scallops. I appreciate the fact they use bay scallops but there should have been six not three. The chorizo was incrusted and prepared like a croquette. We ordered a mixed leaf lettuce with sundried tomatoes as our salad course but it of course came with our appetizer.

Entrées, it was a steak house so we both had steak. Jerry a filet with bearnaise and a side of caramelized onion mashed potatoes. Which is a great concept, except that the caramelized opinions were more like caramelized onion bits and just sprinkled on the very dry mashed potatoes. It is Ireland put butter in your mashed potatoes. I had a strip steak with Chorizo fries, (outstanding) best fries of the trip so far. My sauce was a Jameson Pepper Sauce, also outstanding.

For dessert we split a Sticky Toffey Pudding with candied pecans and ice cream. Very good. By the time we were done they were closing down the kitchen and our server had some time to talk with us. I initial thought he was French, but again I was very wrong he was originally from Budapest Hungary. He gave us some excellent tips on Hungarian wine.

The dish of the day was pretty difficult, none of the food really was exceptional on its own. We decided that there really wasn’t a dish of the day, but there was definitely a sauce of the day and that was the Jameson Pepper Sauce.

We are currently in Cork, which I will write about tomorrow. I am running a good 24 hours behind in my posting of each day. But while we are sitting here with a lovely Irish breeze blowing through our window in our room overlooking the River Lee, I thought I would take the opportunity to make some general observations.,

First, Dublin is a very nice city and you can find some great places to eat. It takes maybe three full days to see the highlights. I am very glad we came, but it is not terribly Irish, it is like Madrid, they seemed to completely assimilated to Western Culture. I would recommend making it you’re jumping off point for a full tour if Ireland, which we did not have the time to do, because the real focus of this trip for us is Scotland. Dublin is also very much a drinking town, so the back packers among you and those under 30, this is a party town for you, the pub life is alive and well.

Second, masking, unlike Mexico City absolutely no one wears masks, maybe around 1%, and those are mostly tourists, like us.

Finally, we have to revisit how we travel. We are not as young as we use to be and jam packing our day with sights and over five miles of walking (13,029 steps today alone) each day is getting harder for us to do. There is also the matter of sleep. My best advice at this point for anyone, especially us, is that future trips, the first day of arrival can be full, but the second day, should only be a half day so we can get some real sleep up front, instead of waiting until we just collapse later on. We are not even a week in and we are pretty tired, but we will still have a great time and get caught up on sleep at some point.

Next Entry driving and Cork.

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Photos

Music in the Tuileries Gardens
Manet

Francis Bacon Studio
Dublin City Gallery