Dublin and Wicklow

Sorry I didn't make an entry yesterday, but I was simply exhausted last night. I'll tell you what I've done in the last two days here, as well as outline our plan for tomorrow, our last full day in Europe. When I return to the U.S., I also plan to upload the rest of my photographs from Bratislava and Ireland.

On Friday morning, I woke up bright and early at 7AM to catch a bus to the airport in Bratislava. Because it was very crowded, I hand to stand for a majority of the 30-minute ride. We went on a Ryanair flight direct to Dublin, Ireland, and arrived at around 1:30PM local time. We then took a bus to our hotel directly from the airport. Our hotel, The Gibson, is a very new hotel with a very modern design. I was quite impressed. After a short rest, we decided to go out into the city.

We first took a tram from our hotel to St. James Gate, with the plan of taking a tour of the Guinness Brewery. Since we were hungry, we had some lunch at a nice little café, served by a French guy living in Dublin. After that, we walked to the Guiness Brewery. I could smell the hops in the air as we walked in, bought tickets, and discovered that the public area was simply a part of the brewery that was no longer used. The museum that was there explained the brewing process. At the end of the tour, we got to the top of the storehouse for a panoramic view of Dublin and the surrounding area.

From the brewery, we took a bus to the city center where we walked again around Grafton St. and Temple Bar, the city's most popular and action-filled streets. We also walked up to O'Connell Street to find out the place where needed to be picked up by a bus the next day. We were once again getting hungry so we walked all around the city in the three main streets I mentioned earlier. We eventually settled at what seemed to be a good Asian food restaurant. For appetizers, I tried some delicious dumplings as well as some good sushi. The appetizers were very good and made us expect similar for the main dishes. Unfortunately, the main dishes were not as good. The beef teriyaki dish I ordered was actually just a steak (with no teriyaki sauce), and the chicken my dad had in his udon noodles was awful. After leaving, we went to the hotel and went to bed very quickly.

Today, we woke up at around 8AM for our first breakfast at the Gibson. After eating, we went to a tourist office on O'Connell street to go on a tour of the Wicklow county in Ireland. The Wicklow county is the region just south of Dublin with some spectacular mountains and endless green pastures. Our tour guide for the trip was very informative and provided a lot of interesting commentary, and our bus driver drove us very well.

First, we drove through the suburbs of Dublin out to the countryside where we saw many beautiful landscapes. Our first stop was about 45 minutes from the city at Blessington, a small resort on an artificial lake. Although the lake was only created 80 years ago, it looked like it had been there for millenia, and fit perfectly with the mountainous landscape. After a 30 minute coffee break here, we drove again through the countryside where we learned that many famous movies, like Braveheart or Saving Private Ryan, were filmed in the area.

Our next stop was near the Wicklow Gap, or highest mountain in the Wicklow Gap. There, we saw some spectacular mountain views despite clouds. There was also a castle ruin from around 1000 years ago that we could explore. After this 10 minute stop, we descended into the valley of the mountain in the ancient settlement of Glendalough. This settlement dated back to the 6th century when the first Christians arrived in Ireland. There was an interesting bell tower, a ruined cathedral, and a large cemetery. There was also a 1-mile walk to a nearby lake with wonderful views of the valley (pictured above).

After spending around 2 hours in the settlement, we drove to our final stop, Avoca. There, we saw an authentic hand-weaving business. We could see weavers design and weave their designs with 100-year old equipment. Shops in the settlement and around Ireland sold many of the clothes and linens weaved there. We also ate our lunch there, despite it being already 3PM. The lunch I had though was incredibly filling. I had a sausage roll and a potato cake filled with ham, cheese, and onions. It was really good, home-made like food. Once we left Avoca, it was only an hour drive to return to Dublin. By 5:30PM we were back in the city.

After an hour-long break at the hotel, we went out the city with the plan of going to some live Irish music and dancing. We eventually settled on a pub recommended by our tour guide at the Arlington Hotel on Temple Bar. Since our show would start at 9PM, we walked around Temple Bar and heard some of the music being played on the streets. Eventually we got back to the pub and listened to some (loud) Irish folk music, and saw some traditional Irish tap dancers. Like the tour guide said, it was a "lite" version of the Riverdance theater performance. At 10:30PM, supposedly when things at the pub were "just getting started," we left for the hotel.

Tomorrow will be our final full day in the city where we'll go to Trinity College to see the library and the Book of Kells, as well as visit the Irish National Museum of Archaeology. It's been a long trip, but I still have one more day to go.