Dublin, Ireland

I remember reading some years ago a book by the Irish author Maeve Binchy titled “Tara Road”. Basically it’s a story about 2 women from the United States and Ireland who trade their houses without even knowing each other and without having met; the main reason for the change – searching for adventures and escaping from problems.

 The constant mentioning of the green color, the Trinity College and places like the Temple Bar, Marrion Square and St Stephen’s Green Park in the book, made me think about experiencing a trip to Ireland one day. Moreover, I am a huge Oscar Wilde’s fan.

And it happened – in April 2012. 

Above Ireland

Ireland is the place where “The Craic is Mighty” or at least the Irish people advertise it like that on different souvenirs – from fridge magnets to Irish hats and T-Shirts. /prices from 1.50 to 15 euro/.

A friend of mine and me took a 1 day trip to Dublin in the end of April. We traveled from London-Luton airport to Dublin International airport with the low-cost Ryanair. The flight lasts about an hour.

 If you book the tickets a month before the trip, the price for a return flight from and to London varies from 38 to 55 pounds. And prepare warm clothes because it’s freezing cold. Or at least colder than London, I checked afterwards and found out that the average temperature in August, for example, is 19 degrees and it rains a lot.

 I imagine those people pronouncing a national holiday every sunny day…But whatever, they have at least the Guinness beer to warm up their souls and bodies.

The Dublin International Airport is around 30 minutes away from the city centre and a single ticket costs 2.50 euro / yes, the official currency is Euro/. The bus stop is at quite a good location just in front of the arrivals door for both 1 and 2 terminal of the airport and the bus leaves you exactly in front of the Trinity College which is a good starting point for a walk around Dublin.

If you are of those people preparing themselves with maps and bus numbers before every trip I should tell you just 2 numbers of buses 16a and 41. Those are the buses you need from the airport, everything else in Dublin is approachable by walking. By the way, it is like that for almost every world capital, it’s up to you – if you are of those mumbling easily tired human-beings, maybe it’s not a bad idea to keep in mind that Dublin has subway, good tram services and a lot of local buses.

Trinity College

While you are traveling from the airport to the city centre you will definitely notice that the place is really quite green. Once you get off in front of the Trinity College you should keep in mind to turn to the right side first because the Irish people, as well as the English drive on the left side. Some words about Trinity College – the oldest in Ireland, two statuses in front of the main entrance / Oliver Goldsmith and Edmund Burke/, 40 acres of grounds, and a place where you can catch some wisdom from, because people like Oscar Wilde and Samuel Beckett studied there. And more – the entrance is free.

Oliver Goldsmith guards the College

 Opposite Trinity College are the Bank of Ireland and the House of Lords – if you are interested in interior design or architecture you can find inside a huge chandelier with more than 1000 pieces of crystal. In the same area, on a 5-10 minutes walking distance you can see O’Connel bridge which is pronounced to be the very centre of the city, the National Library and the National Museum of Ireland.

On the airport and on many other places in the city you will be offered to buy a Dublin Pass – it gives you free entry to more than 30 objects in Dublin including the Dublin Castle, the Zoo, Guinness Storehouse etc it costs around 40 euro per person but honestly I don’t suggest you to buy it because you will be in a hurry all the time to catch the working hours of the objects, you will become restless and spoil the whole walk.

If you need to drink coffee, Starbuck’s is everywhere, pubs also, the ordering is like in England, on the bar, the difference is that the places are not that overcrowded and you can actually sit somewhere.

The Millennium Spire, O’Conner Street

Everyone speaks about the Millennium Spire – a monument installed on O’Conner Street made from stainless steel and a little bit pin-like. If you want to make a picture of the whole thing you should take position at the beginning of the street because you can’t capture the whole 20-meteres long statue in any other way. O’Connel Street is the place where you can see the famous statue of James Joyce. For literature and poetry lovers Dublin is a place where you can make a brilliand interests tour by visiting places like Dublin Writers’ Museum, Dublin City Gallery and James Joyce Centre.

Windy Weather in Ireland

Forget about any hairstyle you have, because in Dublin the wind is quite strong / or at least it was quite windy in the end of April/ and your hair will really become MIGHTY!!! Although you may secretly try to fix it in some restroom the result will be exactly zero.

I’ve always been fascinated by doors of hoses and reflections of lights if you are keen on observing stuff like that Bride street should be an important place for you – that is an area with a lot of red-brick Victorian housing.

St Patrick’s Cathedral

And about the light reflections – visit the St Patrick’s Cathedral, especially if you have time in the afternoon because the Evensong’s organ rehearsals are at that time and more you can see the late afternoon sun reflecting and shining through the stained-glass windows.

Don’t be worried you could get lost in Dublin because there are tourist information kiosks at almost every corner and the people there will give you also city maps for free. St Stephen’s Green Park is a must. Beautiful flowers, bushes, grass, ducks and very positive and pure energy at the place. One of the biggest shopping centers is opposite the park. About the shopping experience, honestly, I couldn’t understand which brand is exactly Irish because Marks and Spencer and Accessories were basically everywhere. But the good thing is that some people use the facilities in the shopping centre just to sit and read like a lady for example who was reading the Tom Jones’s biography – this is how the real fans do. 

Tom Jones's fan reading in the shopping center

Marrion Square is a very important place – just because of one reason the famous statue of Oscar Wilde is there and you SHOULD take a picture of yourself with it. By the way, in the end of April and the beginning of May Dublin is hosting the International Gay festival. I checked the program and if you plan your visit at that period, it’s worth seeing.

Oscar Wilde's statue on Marrion Square

If you keep walking around the town you will notice a lot of tourists mainly / as I heard them speaking/ from Italy, France, Greece, most of them students on a day or 2 days trip with their backpacks, cheerful and quite friendly and giving you the feeling that Dublin is a city populated
     mainly with young people.

Dublin Gay Festival

Dublin Castle

You may ask why I don’t mention Guinness? Because we left it as a final destination on our way to the Guinness Storehouse we saw the Dublin Castle, situated in one of the oldest areas of the city – the entrance tickets there are 4.50 for adults but if you are a student you can enter for 3.50;

Christ Church Cathedral and then St James’s Gate Guinness Brewery. God bless the place J A temple for beer lovers but with entrance fee of 15 euro. Honestly we didn’t pay anything because we asked the people there to let us visit just the shop and they were that good to let us do it and in the end we saw everything inside. 

St James’s Gate Guinness Brewery

The best things except the beers are the different Guinness souvenirs from a 1-can cooling bag to fridge magnets, hats, small bottles for collectors.  You really come out of the place with pink cheeks and singing soul ;) but the worse surprise that could wait for you outside is to find out that the wind is accompanied by rain… That’s why I am very sad about the end of our trip because we had 2 and a half more hors to visit the recording studio of U2 and the Striking Famine Memorial but we couldn’t because of the bad weather…

Dublin is a place worth seeing at least once… but I am not sure if that is my place, if I feel the need to go back again… but you never know ….