Monday 24 – Wednesday 26 April
The party left me to the mercy of the cold wind and rain, to ride the DART into central Dublin to wander through Trinity College, St Stephen’s Green and Iveagh Gardens. They were disappointed to find entry charges for Christ Church and St Patrick’s Cathedrals, and made the most of the outside areas of Dublin Castle.
They absorbed the atmosphere in the Temple Bar district and the ‘creative’ area nearby known as ‘Purple Flag’, reminiscent of London’s Soho. The National Library was a lovely example of classical architecture, built in the round with a beautiful high domed roof.
On the last full day of the visit, everybody enjoyed a lazy morning, before making the most of the three-day saver ticket to ride the train back into the city centre. The visitors explored a second art gallery of the trip, while my crew wandered along the river to the replica tall ship the Jeanie Johnston, near the memorial to Ireland’s potato famine, which they found very moving. They strolled into the shopping district up O’Connell Street to the GPO, the post office building where the 1916 Easter Rising began.
A delicious ‘farewell’ Italian meal was enjoyed near the rendezvous point of Ha’penny Bridge (not Haypenny, if you ask the Second Mate’s brother), after which the “real Irish experience” was discovered, according to SMB’s girlfriend, in a hostelry in Temple Bar offering proper Guinness and live music – great craic all in all.