I had the day to myself in Dublin and spent the morning until 10 planning my day (which went mostly nothing like the plan). There was a shuttle bus to the Dublin Bus Hop-on-Hop-off bus that picked me up at the hotel at 10.20 (theoretically, more like 10.35, but that was OK) and took me along the seaside to pick up at another hotel before heading into town to drop me off for the Dublin bus. The driver was very nice and told me where to sit to get the best views etc (I was the only one on the double-decker bus!) so I took a few photos, though most of them aren’t terribly good, since the bus was in motion.
Then I hopped on the Dublin Bus at St Stephen’s Green and took the ride to the Guiness Storehouse, since I had a voucher for that too. The exhibit was interesting enough, especially the ads where were funny. We got a free taste (1/3 of a glass) about half way through, and then the Gravity bar at the top had fantastic views across Dublin, but was also quite crowded. Possibly because this is where you get the free pint of Guiness. I only drank about a third of mine, because I wanted to be able to continue my sight-seeing, and drinking a Guiness takes time :-).
Then it was time for a few photos around the Guiness factory and then hop back on the bus for town centre where I intended to check out the Moore St markets. When I got to the bus stop though, I discovered that I could do a free guided tour of Dublin’s Highlights from here. I joined that instead and we wandered down O’Connel Street, along Bachelor’s Walk, through Temple Bar and then towards Trinity College where the 1 hour tour ended 2 1/2 hours later. It was really good and the guide was quite entertaining.
The GPO on O’Connel Street:
Temple Bar:
Trinity College:
The guide told us that his brother and all of his three children attended the college and loved it. I think it has nothing on Oxford, but then that institution is much older.
After this, I meandered along back down O’Connel Street and found a few stalls were still there at the Moore Street markets, selling 1kg of pears or bananas for 1 Euro. Tempting, but I’d be throwing most of them away.
After passing through the markets, I decided to head in the direction of the Rotunda (which I didn’t find) and see what I can see out on the north-side of the city centre. I passed some pretty Georgian houses, mostly used as offices:
The lovely Abbey Church:
The Dublin Writer’s Museum, Dublin Gallery, the un-named Black Church with weeds growing out of the spire, and the Dominican Friary:
Then back down towards the shopping streets and Jervis Street in search of dinner, which I finally found at Lott’s at Liffey Street Lower. It was an interesting Dublin Coddle. Whether it’s just something for tourists, I don’t know, but it was nice, if salty:
I had some time before I needed to get the bus back to the hotel, and since it was a beautiful night, I thought I’d go check out St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral, so I could get that side of town mostly ticked off:
And since I was already there, Tyrone House (now the Dept of Education) was just across the road, but since it was mostly in shadow, I didn’t get any decent photos. Then I headed back down the shopping street from the other side, down towards O’Connel Street and encountered this dude (James Joyce) before hopping on the bus back to the hotel for a decent night’s work prepping photos and writing this blog:
Only it took me all my spare time the next day as well…it’s going to be hard to stay on top of it, I can tell!
