7/30/19 Dublin Ireland

Dublin is an interesting city. It has a long history of man living in his area, but was made into a city in the 600-800 AD period by the Vikings. Its long and tenuous history with the English ended with Irish independence in 1921, with the forming of the Free Irish State, todays Ireland. Ireland is part of the EU and the euro is their currency. Ireland wasn’t unaffected by the troubles in Northern Ireland, but today its economic engine is running on high and employment is full!

With the threat of rain😳 in the forecast, we woke early and hit the road for a walking tour that Tour Guide Cindy has put together for us, 20,000 steps I’m warned 😳😓

Ok, off we go to the tram for a short ride downtown. Bad news the tram is down. “When will it be fixed”, we ask, “who knows”, we are told, “this is Ireland”🧐 So, off we go walking to downtown. Our 20,000 step day now looks to be 25,000 steps. Super✔️

The first thing I notice is the large amount of Catholic Church’s every 1/2 mile. Not small church’s, huge cathedrals . We must have seen 30 of them.

The next thing I noticed is there are donut/coffee shops on every corner. Donuts are fancy and €3 a pop. That’s great gross margin 🧐

Next, we walked through the city and explored the area.

Crossing the River Liffey, on the Rosie Hackett bridge, we enter old town.

On to Trinity College Dublin, where The Book of Kells and Trinity Library are located.

Up to Molly Malone’s bust😜

Then to the famous Temple Bar area, Irelands answer to Bourbon Street.

Somehow we make time for an Irish coffee at the world Famous Temple bar. Delicious 😎

Walking, again, across Ha Penny bridge on the way to Dublin castle.

Onto St Patrick’s Cathedral we march. Tour Guide Cindy taking no prisoners😜

Onto Christ Church cathedral , huge.

I don’t know about you but after all this walking, I could use a beer, a cold velvety Guinness. So off we march to the Guinness Storehouse, where the worlds most tasty Irish beer is waiting🍺

We took the tour, great time, 9 stores of Guinness information and tasting experiences, fun time👍

Next, let’s go to Jameson Distillery and do a little whiskey tasting, what the heck. So we walk up the hill to the distillery. Quite a nice place, but tastings are €40 a pop, little too much for people who really don’t like Irish whiskey, so we pass.

Ok, let’s finish up. Quick 1/2 hour walk and we are home. Wheee, 26,000 steps, what a day.

Today a driving tour to Trim Castle, Kells, and the Hill of Tara.

Slainte, Irish for here’s to your health ✔️🍺