Tag: Dublin

Our Final Day in Ireland

On By Barbara GreenstoneIn IrelandLeave a comment

Today was our last day with our tour group as our bus took us from Sligo back to Dublin. The day was cloudy, then rainy, then sunny, then cloudy again and the cycle repeated. The trick to dealing with Irish weather is to always have your raincoat and your hat, and dress in layers.

Our first stop today was Carrick-on-Shannon where some members of our group took an optional boat ride on the River Shannon. We opted not to because we have been on many boat rides over the years and we wanted to use the time to see the town. Carrick-on-Shannon is a lovely little town in County Leitrim and in 2025 it was named Ireland’s tidiest town. I don’t know who awarded them that title, but we saw the plaque in a window and we can attest to the town’s cleanliness. It was a fun town for walking on a Saturday morning because it was very quiet and peaceful and… tidy! We saw some interesting shops, a tennis club, and a little park. We walked along the River Shannon a bit until the wind threatened to blow our hats off. We then went for coffee in a cute little cafe before getting back on the bus.

The River Shannon

The drive back to Dublin was long, but once again the bus ride was an opportunity for me to do the New York Times crossword puzzle. We made a pit stop in a rest area where we were able to stretch our legs and get some air. If you are wondering about the price of gas in Ireland, check out the photo below. Be ready to make the necessary conversions from Euros and liters to gallons and dollars.

Gas Prices at the Rest Stop

Back in Dublin, we were given some free time in the city before dinner. Paul and I had two days in Dublin before the bus tour so we had already seen a lot of the sights, but we missed the General Post Office where there is a museum. The exhibits depict major events in Irish history, including the 1916 Easter Rising. The museum was crowded, and we didn’t have nearly enough time there, but what we saw was compelling and thought-provoking. If we ever visit Dublin again I would like to return to the GPO.

Inside the General Post Office

Heading back to our bus, we walked over the Ha’penny Bridge to get a good look at the River Liffey.

The Ha’penny Bridge
View of the River Liffey from the Ha’penny Bridge

Our “Best of Ireland” tour ended tonight with a farewell dinner at Roly’s Bistro Restaurant where we had a lively conversation with some new friends from Philadelphia.

Dinner at Roly’s

Tomorrow we fly to Boston, catch the bus to Portland, and drive home. I’ll post again tomorrow with some final thoughts about our Irish adventure.

The National Gallery and EPIC (Every Person is Connected)

On By Barbara GreenstoneIn IrelandLeave a comment

Day 3 in Dublin began with a visit to the National Gallery of Ireland. We didn’t have much time so we decided to concentrate on the third floor where we saw a lot of European Art including a room titled “Caravaggio and His Circle“ in which I saw one actual Caravaggio and a lot of paintings in the style of Caravaggio. We wandered through several other rooms of paintings from the Renaissance through the 18th century with a few 19th century impressionists thrown in. After an hour or so we felt the need for another dose of caffeine, so we headed for the coffee shop.

John Singer Sargent’s “Bead Stringers of Venice”

The coffee shop was crowded, so when a women asked to join us at our table we readily agreed. Her name is Eileen and she ‘s a retired educator from Dublin where she taught languages. We chatted for quite some time, and Eileen and her friend who joined us later gave us lots of advice about things to see and do in some of the areas we will be visiting on our tour. We also talked about politics and Eileen shared her dismay about what is happening in the US these days. It saddens me to hear how Europeans see us now.

After the gallery, we caught a bus back to the hotel. I really like the Dublin city buses. They’re clean and easy to find (with the help of Google Maps) and they run often. The people riding the buses have been extremely polite and accommodating. More than once a rider has given up their seat to us so we don’t have to stand, and everyone says thank you to the driver when they get off, even if they have to shout it from the doors in the middle of the bus.

Ashtown Castle

Our Trafalgar tour began this afternoon with a sight-seeing drive around the city and a stop at Phoenix Park where we visited the People’s Gardens and Ashtown Castle. From there, we rode to Epic The Irish Emigration Museum We started at Bakehouse where we were treated to drinks and finger food, and then made our way through the various exhibits that told the story of Irish emigration and how Irish people contributed to the culture of the countries they emigrated to.

Sculpture Depicting How the Irish Emigrated By Sea and Air

Tomorrow we board the bus and head to Waterford and Kilkenny.

Rock ‘n’ Roll, Old Books, and Classic Theater

On By Barbara GreenstoneIn IrelandLeave a comment

Our second day in Dublin was a long and exhausting one. After breakfast, we took a bus and a short walk to Temple Bar and the Irish Rock ‘n’ Roll Museum . Our tour guide was an adorable young man named Reese who is very passionate about Irish rock music and we learned a lot from him. I now know the true origin of the band name “U2” and it’s probably not what you think. I also learned where Bono’s name came from. The tour was excellent although it involved a lot of stairs as we moved through the museum and the Temple Lane Rehearsal Studios. If you’re interested in Irish rock stars or Michael Jackson’s pajamas (really!) this is the place to go.

A tourist trying out the drum set in the U2 room

From the museum, we made our way to St. Patrick’s Cathedral for a presentation about the cathedral a hundred years ago, in 1926. The presentation was informative, although I wish I could have turned on the captions as I do when watching a British or Irish TV show. The presenter had a lovely Irish accent that required a level of concentration I just didn’t have today. The cathedral itself is beautiful and worth seeing.

View of St. Patrick’s Cathedral from the Choir

After the cathedral (and an ice cream cone) we had a short walk to Trinity College where we saw the Book of Kells and enjoyed the Book of Kells Experience, a self-guided tour. The tour ends in the Long Room of the Old Library where most of the shelves are empty due to an ongoing restoration project. It’s still impressive.

The Long Room of the Old Library, Trinity College

We decided to have dinner at a nearby, very noisy pub. Many of the pub’s patrons were watching a cricket match and cheering enthusiastically. I do not understand cricket; I barely understand baseball.

We ended our day at the Gaiety Theatre for a production of Eugene O’Neil’s A Moon for the Misbegotten. It’s a lovely old theater, but our seats were in the very last row of the balcony, so again we had many flights of stairs to climb because the theater has no lift (elevator). The seats were cheap though, and the production was excellent.

The view from the cheap seats at the Gaiety Theatre

Tomorrow we will visit the National Gallery of Ireland in the morning and meet up with our Trafalgar tour in the afternoon. Planning and transportation will be out of our hands for the rest of our Ireland adventure.

We’ve Arrived in Dublin

On By Barbara GreenstoneIn IrelandLeave a comment

Here’s a travel tip for all my more mature friends: Walk with a cane! As you age and acquire some mobility issues, you suddenly become a privileged character in airports and on planes, trains, and buses. Paul sometime uses a cane, and he decided to bring it with him on this trip. At Logan Airport, the TSA agents looked at us and immediately waved us over to the old folks line where you don’t have to remove shoes, or take anything out of your carry-on bags, or go through the full-body scan. We got early boarding on our plane with no questions asked. At customs in the Dublin Airport we were told to skip the lines and go directly to the customs officer in the “accessibility” booth. On a crowded bus, a woman saw the cane and immediately gave up her seat to us. There are some advantages to old age.

I can never sleep on planes and so, as I write this, I have been awake for more than 36 hours, When we arrived in Dublin, it was too early to check into our hotel, so we stored our luggage and set out to see the city. We began at the fascinating National Museum of Ireland at Kildare Street which houses the museum’s archeological collection. These artifacts tell the story of the Irish people from prehistoric times through the rise of Christianity. The most fascinating may be the bog bodies, well-preserved remains of of Irish people from the Iron Age, between 400 BC and 200 BC.

Bog Body
Another bog body

We wished we could spend more time at the museum, but our energy was waning and the sun was shining, so we decided to take a stroll through St. Stephen’s Green, a lovely park in the center of Dublin. Hundreds of other folks had the same idea, so we had plenty of company.

St, Stephen’s Green

By the time we left the park we were definitely suffering from jet lag, so we decided to go and check into our hotel. On our way to catch a bus, we encountered two protests, one pro-Palestine and the other pro-immigrant. They seemed very intense but peaceful.

By the time we checked into our hotel, we were exhausted, so we rested a bit, found a pub for an early dinner, and called it a day. Tomorrow we will visit the Irish Rock ‘n’ Roll Museum, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and Trinity College before dinner and an evening of theater,

By the way, I used to think the nicest people in the world were the Canadians, but after one day in Dublin, I believe it’s the Irish.