Travel 14 - Dublin

There’s a general saying, “Milk it for all its worth.”  So, I will.  Having, already, written about a day in Baltinglass … then, that's grand!  It is probable that, although most of you live with a few drops of Irish blood in your veins, you have never been to Ireland and, although I was there for just a few days, I may be able to introduce more colour into your existing picture.

Exiting the Dublin airport’s Terminal 2, I was surprised by the complexity of the public transport system.  There were double-decker buses (both airport express and local city), comfortable coaches (both airport express and long distance), small limo vans, limo cars, and taxis.  You would be well advised to use the frequent and inexpensive (€7) airport express coaches.  It should be noted that only the limos and taxis will have an hotel drop-off, which could be a consideration if you have checked heavy baggage.

Trinity College (Library Square) - Dublin

If touring the country, hotels should be booked ‘with a view’, but in Dublin a quiet room would be the preferred choice.  Additionally, choose a location within a reasonable distance of Trinity College (Dublin University).

Trinity College Main Entrance

This is not going to be a 'grand' review of Dublin.  Phew!  There is the valuable Lonely Planet guidebook for that.

The Irish Great Famine Memorial - Dublin

Free city maps are available in abundance but, from my experience (and other’s) they do not illustrate the city structure.  Therefore, my initial advice, for the first day, would be to use the frequent Hop-on-Hop-off buses.  There are numerous city buses with complicated routes not designed for tourists, not to mention a rapid-rail system, and taxis are expensive.

An example of the ships that took emigrants to North America

I’ve often described myself as ‘living-to-eat’, thus, before my journey, I studied the Internet with that in mind.  Gone were my thoughts of Irish pubs serving Guinness and fish-n-chips.  (Perhaps one regulatory visit to a pub and the Riverdance show would be sufficient).  There are many Micheline-starred restaurants in Dublin and, here, was my greatest disappointment of the whole trip.  Most restaurants in the haute cuisine category were not open for lunch, those that were would not accept reservations for less than two people (which also applied to dinner reservations) and, together with my hotel's reception, I was unable to find one good restaurant that would take a reservation within one week.  I, honestly, felt like jumping into the River Liffey.  But, I can assure you that I never entered the swing doors of any McDonald’s. 

Well, who doesn't know Molly?

In short, wistfully, I concentrated my visit to Trinity College, focussing my dream of being there in a previous life.  There was a queue of hundreds in Library Square hoping to look at the Book of Kells, such that I strolled to College Park to watch a lazy game of cricket.

I could visit again.  Probably … in my next life.