Day 8 - Galway to Dublin

Monday was our last full day in Ireland, it does go by fast.  We traveled from the far west of Ireland, Galway,  to the far east of Ireland, Dublin. It is really not that far, a bit over 200km (125m).

Our first stop was in Clonmacnoise. It is an Early Christian site founded by St. Ciarán in the mid-6th century on the eastern bank of the River Shannon. It was at the cross roads of Ireland for many centuries and a the center of learning. It was pillaged and raided many times by Vikings and others, but the monks always rebuilt until the dastardly British came in 1552, the English garrison at Athlone destroyed and looted Clonmacnoise for the final time, leaving it in ruins.

It is a very interesting site and our tour guide was a bit of a card. We reenacted a bit of history, Ed was the bad King Henry of England and I was his muscle, Strong Bow.  It was entertaining.

The views at Clonmacnoise are spectacular and really can't be captured by the camera.

After Clonmacnoise we made our way through the countryside to the Tullamore D.E.W. distillery. It was established in 1829 and it's named is derived from the initials of Daniel E. Williams, a general manager and later owner of the original distillery.

It was an interesting place and we had a very nice lunch there.












After lunch we headed for Dublin. Our first stop was Trinity College, established in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I.  At Trinity College we were met by another guide, Gerry Cooley, he is a from Dublin and extremely proud of his heritage.  He is into many things and is an author, check out his website if you want to know more. http://www.gerrycooley.com/

Trinity is a must stop in Dublin because it holds the Book of Kells, a 9th century manuscript that documents the four Gospels of the life of Jesus Christ. The Book of Kells is Ireland’s greatest cultural treasure and the world’s most famous medieval manuscript.  It is believed to have been created c. 800 AD.

After viewing the Book of Kells (no photos allowed) you climb to the second floor to see the long room. There is also an original of the Irish Independence Proclamation, much like our Declaration of Independence. It is jaw dropping, containing over 200,000 books.

It also contains the 14th century Irish harp known as the "O'Neill" or "Brian Boru" harp, which became Guinness emblem in  1862. The new Irish Republic tried to use the Harp as their symbol after their independence, but Guinness would not allow it. They said they bought it and owned it. The New Republic solved the problem by using a mirrored, backwards image of the Harp.

















After Trinity College our guide Gerry boarded the bus with us and gave us a tour of Dublin, he was quite entertaining.

The bus was headed for more touring of Dublin and then to the hotel, but we asked to be dropped at Guinness so we could get the tour.

Unfortunately, this was the last chance we would get to say goodbye to Calvin, but we made the best of it. Calvin really did make the tour, he is very knowledgeable and entertaining.  It is also clear that he is well known by the locals and has a report with them that just makes things go more smoothly, we were lucky to have him as our guide.

In a word, Guinness is huge!.  The tour takes at least 2 hours and we skipped a few of the 7 floors of the tour.












We ended our tour at the Gravity Bar at the top of the building. It has 360 degrees of curved glass looking out onto the city, unfortunately it was a drizzly day and visibility was limited.

With the tour you get a pint of Guinness so we bellied up to the bar and asked for our Guinness.  One thing we did learn in Ireland is how to pour a Guinness, you have to do it in two steps. First you fill the glass about 3/4 full and let it rest then 'finish' it, leaving about a half inch of foam on the top.  Our Guide instructed us that if you get too much foam you tell the bartender, "I wanted to see the Priest not the Bishop" (the Bishop has a much taller collar).

So, our bartender poured our Guinness, apparently Jean was thirsty and reached for her pint while it was resting...the bartender gave her a look that was quite scolding.  We all had a good laugh.

We had a nice time at the Gravity Bar.

















It was about a 15 min walk back to the hotel, it was raining but not hard. Another thing we learned in Ireland was always bring a raincoat.

We checked in and headed for another pub that Gerry had recommended, Ryan's on Parkgate, just down the road from our hotel. He said we should checkout the Snugs in the bar.  Prior to the 1960's no respectable woman was seen in a pub. In the 70s and 80s they could drink but only in a snug, a walled off section of the bar.  Ryan's had three snugs, very cool. The bar tender said it was more for the girlfriend than the wife.

The girls in their Snug.

The bars in the pubs of Dublin are old, ornate and beautiful.












After Ryan's we had to stop back at the pub we hit the first day of our trip, P. Duggan's. We walked in and the bartender, Danny recognized us and was ecstatic that we came back. He immediately gave us two free pizzas and we had a few more Guinness.  He even gave the girls hugs when we left, the people of Ireland are just friendly.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. It has been a good trip. We got lucky with our group, we had about a 50/50 mix of people from the US and Canada and everyone got along swimmingly.