Day 1:
Recently, I had the opportunity to visit Ireland for the
second time in my life. The first time
was on a back packing experience about 3 years back, but I must say the city
was even more impressive then I remember it.
I have always felt that if I was not Métis/Canadian and
German that I would have definitely been of Irish descent. A country with a troubling past, beautiful
nature, great music, great food, great beer and an all-around great atmosphere;
this is a place that everyone needs to visit at some point in their life.
We arrived on a Ryan Air flight into Dublin on June 7
(Saturday), after hearing the triumphant music that accompanies any landing,
followed by clapping of the passengers and bragging that Ryan Air completes
over 90% of its flights on time and has the most punctual record in all of
Europe, finally a time to enjoy a vacation.
The shuttle down town costs 6 Euros, which is a decent price
as it dropped us right near our accommodation (Paddy’s Palace). Paddy’s Palace, offers a free breakfast, free
wifi, tours around Ireland and a friendly staff. On the other hand, the showers have push
buttons with scolding hot water and locks broken off the doors.
After having a hardy Irish breakfast at O’Sheas, we headed
to the city hall to meet for a free tour of Dublin city.
I have taken these tours before in many
different places and they have always been informative and entertaining, so we
were excited to learn and get some exercise.
Our guide was originally from Northern Ireland and had lived
in Dublin for five years, she was energetic and a fast talker, but got the
groups attention with her humour and energy.
First stop, we went to Dublin Castle, built in 1204 and for the 700
years following would be the seat of British rule in Ireland. In the courtyard, a wall was even constructed
so that the occupants of the castle could not see the poor people that
surrounded its walls. The castle in my
opinion is not one of the most spectacular castle’s I have viewed in Europe,
but then again, I don’t believe it was supposed to be.
From Dublin Castle we walked past the large Christ Church
Cathedral and heard the story of St. Patrick, who was sold as a boy to the
Irish as a slave. One night he had a
dream that a boat would soon be coming to take him back to England and two days
later he was on the boat and sailing away from Ireland. During his captivity, he embraced the Irish
culture, which was a culture directed towards honouring many gods, but the
dancing, singing and lifestyle attracted St. Patrick.
He then studied to become a priest and eventually became a
Bishop in Rome, but had another dream that he must make it his mission to
return to Ireland to convert the people to Protestant. He succeeded by convincing the Irish Kings to
convert, thus leading to the people eventually following their Lords.
Next we walked past the old Viking settlement, which had
been knocked down, but was reconstructed from bricks that had been laid.
This is where I was selected to lay down with
9 other people in the outline of their old dwelling and display how the Vikings
slept. I have found out that the Vikings
are responsible for inventing the “SPOONING” position, so thank you Vikings.
After we walked into the Temple Bar District, which houses
many of Dublin’s famous pubs and clubs, all within walking distance, reminds me
of a stretched version of the oude markt; we saw where U2 got noticed and where
Bono once was refused service in a bar based pre-judging by the manager, so
Bono vowed to the manager that when he got famous, he would return, buy the
building and fire the manager. This is
exactly what happened.
Then we passed by O’Connell street that has the island of
Irish revolutionary statues along the River Liffey. Behind it all, is the Millenium Spyre,
which
many Irish people are not impressed with, seeing as this Milennium project that
was erected in 2003 during the only time in Irish history they were considered
an economic powerhouse cost in the millions to build. The locals make jokes about the Spyre with
nicknames such as (“the erection by the intersection”, “the stiffy by the
liffy” and they refer to writer James Joyce’s statue as “the prick by the
stick”).
Some of the revolutionaries who through the many generations
fought for Irish independence and have statues on the street include: Daniel
O’Connell, Charles Parnell and James Larkin.
Next we ventured to Trinity College, I have to say that if I
had a chance to do an exchange again, I would attend this institution, such an
amazing history. Built in 1592 by the
British, it was initially built as a Protestant seminary that would “civilize
the Irish and cure them of Popery”. Up
until the 1960’s the Catholic Church deemed it a sin to attend this
institution. Recently, this is Ireland’s
most prestigious University that houses the ancient “Book of Kell’s” and became
famous for the library being in the Star Wars movie “Attack of the Clones”.
We were also informed that the tower at the middle, as in
the fashion of Irish people and luck, was said that if a student walked under
the tower, then they would be given bad luck on their tests. Also if you walked under the tower and the
bell sounded it informed everyone that a virgin had passed underneath, got to
love folklore.
The final stop on our amazing and informative 3 hour walking
tour was at St. Stephen’s Green, where we saw the Wolf Tone monument, who was a
revolutionary in the late 1700’s and the famine statue. The great famine was a very dark period in
Irish history, especially when the subsistence crop of potatoes started to
fail. Most people in Ireland at this
time owned a small plot of land where they farmed potatoes to eat, since one
could live quite well of water and potatoes and corn to sell at the market to
pay rent.
Once the potato crop failed, the people had to make a choice
about the corn, whether to eat, or have shelter. The British Empire (and as Indigenous people
in Canada, we have felt this as well) left the Irish people to starve and
die. Over half to three-quarters of the
Irish population died during this famine, so we paid our respects at the famine
monument.
In the evening, we settled in at O’Neill’s pub, now if ever
in Dublin this is a place to eat, the buffest style Irish food was
incredible. I had the traditional Irish
stew with lamb and a pint of O’Hara’s Irish Red Lager. O’Neill’s pub also has the most Irish craft
beer on tap then any place in the city.
After that, I enjoyed a friar’s weisse, which was a very
smooth German style weiss beer that tasted of banana, clove with a hint of
citrus. Then we continued the pub crawl
by heading to the Foggy Dew, which was packed wall to wall, so I enjoyed a
Caledonia Smooth (great Irish beer).
We ended by heading to the Porterhouse Microbrewery, which
brews its own beer and has an extensive list of import craft beer. This is where I sampled some of the house
beer and also enjoyed the Flying Dog Double Dog, which was an 11.5% knockout
punch of a beer. The Porterhouse has
three levels and is usually packed full as it resides on the same street that
U2 was discovered and has live music every night.
Stay tuned for Day 2 of the Ireland vacation as we explore
the Wicklow mountains, Kilkenny and more food and drink!!
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