Dublin- Last Day

 On Monday morning, we got up and had breakfast at the cafe across the street where we had our first lunch It was delicious- particularly the brown bread which I will for sure miss. From there, we took a taxi over to the Kilmainham Gaol (pronounced Jail) and museum. These tickets were hard to get, we had to get them 28 days in advance at midnight Dublin time. A bunch of people along the way, including our concierge, taxi driver and the tour guide commended us on our success The Gaol was a really interesting tour. It was the site of a lot of important events in the Easter Rebellion of 1916. In the 1950’s, men and women who had lived in the Gaol during the uprising and civil war, campaigned to restore the Gaol and a lot of then did the restoration work themselves. Some of the cells have names above the door where there were significant prisoners held there. After the tour, we were allowed to walk through the museum which has a lot of artifacts and history from when it was used. 

After the Gaol, we took another taxi to the CHQ building where the EPIC museum is. This area is just across the river from Trinity College and seems to be recently revived. We got lunch at a cafe in the small shopping mall that was part of the building. The museum uses the old warehouse vaults as rooms and the ground floor is restaurants/cafes. The museum was really interesting. It is new and we found out privately owned. It’s really an homage to the Irish experience, and Irish emigrants. They give you a paper passport to stamp at each room and it was very interactive. After the museum, we walked through the Merion Square neighborhood and then ran around our neighborhood to do some last minute shopping before having dinner at the Boxty house. Boxty’s are these potato pancake things that sort of have a potato kugel consistency. The food was REALLY good and a great way to end the trip. Heading to the airport soon. We had a great time. 

Dublín Day 4- Out West

 Sunday morning, after breakfast at the hotel, we had a driver, George, pick us up to take us out to the west coast to see the Cliffs of Moher. The driver was several hours, so we stopped at Bunratty castle along the way. The Castle had smaller buildings around it that were either replicas or moved from previous sites and were furnished in the period style. There was an actual working blacksmith doing a demonstration and a weaver who was not actively working but selling woven items. It reminded me of the property formerly known as Plimoth Plantation but less actors. The castle was interesting and pretty small. Unlike the castle at Malahide it was still pretty medieval and not used as a Victorian house later on. After touring the castle and little homes, we had lunch at the pub on site that was VERY old.

From there, we got back in the car to make our way towards the cliffs. The weather at the cliffs was not good but there was still visibility. It was actually windier and wetter on the walk into the visitors center but after killing some time inside we were brave and went out. George had given us big golf umbrellas but we couldn’t really use them with the wind. We made our way to the best viewing spot and then went back to the visitor center to pick up a few things at the shop. Our pants were pretty damp at that point but we weren’t miserable. Next, George took us to this site of a tomb that was from 5800 years ago. Unfortunately while we were there, it started to rain REALLY hard and our pants were soaked at that point. I was grateful for my goretex shoes. After the stop, George took us to a look out area of the burren which had really interesting landscapes. The visibility there was not great. After that, we got back in the car and George took us to Athlone for dinner and a pint in the oldest pub in Ireland. Athlone is pretty much the geographic center of Ireland so it was historically a trade center. After Athlone, we went back to the hotel. It was a great day. Today is our last full day in Dublin before heading home. 

Dublin Day 3

 Saturday morning, we started with breakfast at Bewley’s cafe. We have been seeing Bewley’s tea all over the city and I overheard a tour guide tell his group they were the first company in Ireland to import tea directly from the east. The tea and food was really good. After breakfast we walked to the train station in the next neighborhood over to take the Dart. We started with a train ride to Malahide to see their castle and grounds. It was pretty easy to navigate and the grounds were very close to the train station. We had a castle tour which was really interesting. The Talbot family’s last family member to live there left in 1975 and they sold the property to Ireland instead of donating due to tax laws. The family had been there for centuries (with a brief period they were pushed out by English). The grounds were very pretty but it was cloudy and rainy while we were there. 

After Malahide, we took the train to Howth. We had heard there was a farmers market there and there would be a cliff walk. The market was a little disappointing we were expecting more produce, but it was a cute town. The sun came out so we took a walk up the cliffs and as we saw the weather changing we head back towards town. We decided to find a seafood tapas place recommended to us and we are glad we started early as it was tiny and there was a bit of a line. They sit people together to maximize space and the other couple at our table had just moved to Brookline from Texas. We had oysters, mussels and scallops. Everything was delicious. After dinner, we went back to the train station to head back to Dublin. Of course we stopped at Murphy’s on the way home.