Dublin, Ireland

A four day weekend in the UK. I've had it my mind for several years now to visit Ireland. After three nights of internet research, I settled on a route from London to Holyhead, Wales by train, then a ferry crossing to Dublin.

Due to the holiday weekend and a sailing regatta weekend in Dublin, hotel rooms were at a premium and terribly expensive. I finally found a B&B located a few miles north of the City Center and reserved for two nights through expedia.com. The next morning I had an e-mail from the proprietor saying they had accidentally double-booked the room for Saturday. He gave me the option of canceling or taking Friday night at no charge. I took the Friday night with hopes of locating accommodations for Saturday after I arrived in Dublin. I checked a number of places and found the cheapest room at around $200, which would have come to about $40 per one hour of sleep before I had to catch an early morning ferry     on Sunday. Being a budget traveller, I refuse to be extorted, so I decided to re-book my ferry for Saturday night, causing me to spend about 6 hours in the Holyhead ferry station waiting for the train back to London. I am no stranger to long lay-overs and quite adept at sleeping in an upright position in airports and railway stations all over the world, so the cost trade-off was acceptable.

My thoughts on Dublin (based on a 1-1/2 day walking tour):

1) Bars, bars and bars....and a few catholic churches.

2) Architecture not unique from anywhere else in Europe

3) Guiness Storehouse was a wonderful marketing production. Alfred Guiness signed a NINE-THOUSAND YEAR lease (around 45 pounds a year) when he bought the property. An amazing statistic.

4) Unique to this city from many of the others I've visited - PEOPLE NEED TO PICK UP AFTER THEIR DOGS. The rain turns this waste into a creamy mush on the sidewalks, a hazard that must be carefully stepped over.










Other facts:

The Guiness Book of Records was started in 1951 by Hugh Beaver, then managing director of the Guiness brewery, to enable bartenders in Dublin pubs in settling disputes of the who/what are the biggest, shortest, longest, deepest, fastest, etc of whatever the customers were arguing over.

Dublin is a writer's center, awarded numerous historic awards, and home to James Joyce, an early 20th century master, contemporary of Hemingway, T.S Eliot, and author of the classic novel Ulysses.

Walking tours are extremely challenging. The street names, when they are even seen, change from block to block. As in most European cities, the streets turn and veer off in different directions. I found myself heading south after starting out north more than a few times.

Would I go back?

A day in Dublin is plenty. A tour of the countryside would be worthwhile. Repeated visits not in my future itineraries.

Northern Wales is very scenic. A trip back may be worthwhile.