29/06/18 After a late arrival in Dublin, I walked for 1/2h to the hostel, located besides the Jameson distillery. A DJ was playing when I got there, as every weekend, while young people were dancing and drinking.
I unpacked my suitcase, and realised the temperature is really hot inside the room. The party downstairs went until 1am, but people in my room came back one after another all night, the first ones to wake up left around 6, this is definitely a party place ;).
30/06/18 I read at reception that there is a free walking tour departing at 10.30 so I had plenty of time to have a shower and breakfast. The hostel has its own bar and buffet with various options for a decent price. I met the tour guide with a small group of Americans and 2 Irish girls. We walked for 20 min to meet with a bigger group of tourists which was split in 6 or 7 groups of 15, each with a guide. Mine, Conor (with 1 N), studied at the Dublin Institute of Technology and did some acting before joining the tour company full time. Born and raised in Dublin, he is really proud and passionate about the country’s history and culture. For 3 hours, he took us to bridges, buildings, bars in the south side of Dublin while telling us fun facts and stories. He also made us sing in front of the statue of a famous lady who used to sell fish on the market, Molly Malone. We stopped by the Liffey river, ha’penny and O’connell bridges, Trinity college where a few famous people studied like Oscar Wilde who graduated with 100% or Jack Gleeson (King Joffrey in GOT). We also stopped by Temple bar, an area named after a bar and where Bono from U2 owns a few places, the city hall, Dublin castle, Christchurch cathedral. In the group there was 1 Australian from Wagga Wagga NSW, the only guy with a hat ?.
After lunch, it was just perfect timing for the gay pride, which happened to be that day, so I wait along the main street just behind the hostel and watch thousands of colourful dressed up people and cars for the occasion. Irish people voted yes to abortion a few weeks ago so this was a good opportunity for them to celebrate (78%) and Ireland is the first country who legalised gay marriage by democratic vote, in 2015.
The hostel has discounted rates for the Jameson distillery, maybe I will check that in the next few days. Tomorrow I will meet with Susan, an ex colleague from Sydney who will join me for a city tour.
01/07/18 I met Susan and her friend who drove from Belfast to join the walking tour guided by Maggie, a 60+ year old Irish lady. Only 2 or 3 stops similar to yesterday, and Maggie is telling us other facts so it does not feel repetitive. We stopped by a pub for lunch then went to another pub for one last drink before I left the girls on the main shopping street so they could find their car and drive back home. As usual, seeing someone away from where I met them is weird, but it was nice to see her in Dublin. She just bought a beautiful house in Belfast.
02/07/18 I was hoping to join a bus tour I read about in a brochure for a day, to get to Kilkenny, a medieval city and the Wicklow mountains, but I booked too late so I googled for other options and found a similar tour run by Paddywagon, 10€ cheaper.
We left around 9.15 and drove to Wicklow. On the way we passed Roundwood village, and we stopped in Glendalough (land of 2 lakes), where I saw a demo of sheep dogs at work. The dogs are mostly guided by whistle, and every dog has its own. They can be trained in 4 months but not all border collies are good sheep dogs. They need to have the power and stay strong in front of the sheep, if they are too weak they don’t have what it takes and they might never learn what comes naturally to some of them. The farmer uses the dog’s natural instinct to position himself at 12 o’clock from the farmer, then guides the dog on the left or right with whistles depending on the direction the sheep should go. Quite impressive!
There are multiple breeds of sheep in the area, one of then has a typical brown face and is aboriginal to the land. These are also immune to the mountain ticks whereas the others don’t. Apart from the tick, there is no real predator for the sheep, a few foxes around can give the sheep a hard time sometimes. The sheep used to be very profitable for the wool, but today it is mostly for the meat.
Wicklow is also famous for its granite, used to renovate castles and buildings and was used to build Buckingham palace in the UK.
After the sheep dog demo, I just had time to cross the cemetery, walk to the lake and come back before getting back on the bus. On the way, we drove past the landscape used in the movie Braveheart. and we also drove on the bridge on which scenes from the movie PS I love you were filmed. We also passed by Hollywood, a village who gave its name to the Hollywood in the US.
Next stop and last was Kilkenny, the medieval city built in the 6th century by the Vikings and Normands. I started with a mini train trip around the city, then explored by foot, crossed the park of the main castle then I stopped by the Marble city café to get a nice pizza and a glass of Guinness (my first try). I could not have left Ireland without trying its famous beer at least once ?. On my way back to the bus I treated myself with an ice cream and spent more time in the cute streets and shops. Then a 2h drive took us back to Dublin city, where I found a money exchange shop to get at least 3000 Islandic Kronas (25€) to get ready for Iceland tomorrow.
