Ireland, Part 1: Dublin
- Kim Gilman
- Aug 7, 2024
- 2 min read
Updated: Aug 11, 2024
Dearest Readers,
I've never been to Ireland before, so I'm excited to be writing to you from the Emerald Isle. It's the final voyage of our sabbatical year. (Once we return to Oxfordshire, the remaining days of August will consist mostly of preparing for our move back home.)
I think I'll be ready to return to New England. As they say, "It's nice to go away, but it's nice to come home." I know I will miss many aspects of this incredible year in the UK, but our calendars for the Fall are already filling up. It will be nice to see friends and family again.
But you came here to read about Ireland! So - on August 3rd we drove to Wales and took the 3.5-hour car/passenger ferry from Holyhead to Dublin. (Our dogs are once again traveling with us.) We're staying a few days in the capital city, then heading to the Irish countryside and coast (more on those later).
We decided to see Dublin, Ireland's capital, from a Hop-On-Hop-Off bus tour, which gave us a good overview. With only one full day to spend in the central city, we decided to skip the museums. But I'd happily come back for a future visit and take more time getting to know its attractions. Meanwhile here are a few photos from our rainy afternoon visit:
The next day we drove a little ways north of Dublin to the historic site of Newgrange. Here visitors can enter a gigantic 5,000-year-old burial mound which, with a little restoration work, has survived pretty much intact over the centuries. Their website points out that the term "Ancient Temple" is a more fitting classification of Newgrange, a place of astrological, spiritual, and ceremonial importance.
It was cool to go inside and see how the winter solstice sunrise shone directly into the center chambers. As we've seen also at Stonehenge and other places, these early civilizations were very attuned to the sun, moon, and stars. We've really enjoyed the ancient history sites in Great Britain this year.
No visit to Dublin could be complete without a walk in the city's enormous Phoenix Park (1750 acres, compare to Central Park's 843 acres); and a game at the Dublin Bridge Club. There luck smiled upon us as we encountered some (mostly) friendly Irish players who play a system very similar to Standard American bridge. We concluded our Dublin experience with a quick trip to Howth, a pretty fishing village on a peninsula with nice views looking back towards the city.
We have another full week in our Ireland trip and look forward to exploring some other parts of the country. Next: Beautiful Lakes of Ireland.
Have thoroughly enjoyed traveling with you
Thank you!
Susan DeGrave
Kim, I am so excited that you have a week in Ireland, a place I call home even though I was born in Boston. My parents were economic immigrants and met in the '50s in an Irish dance hall in Boston. I have lovely memories of a trip I took with my parents in 2001 where they got to be tourists in the country they lefts so young (we did family visits on that trip after the week of touring). And so we did the hop on hop off bus in Dublin and so many other places. I cannot wait to see where you go next. Should you have a chance to be a bit north of Galway yo…
I remember seeing the Book of Kells, the original, in Dublin nearly 30 years ago now. A book over 1000 years old! Loved Ireland and the Irish countryside. Have a great journey! Cheryl
We’ll be happy to have you home but will miss these wonderful posts, Cousin Kim! Thank you for taking the time to write and share them. We’ve so enjoyed tagging along via your blog! Enjoy the rest of your time in Ireland!
Always great to read your posts, Kim. Looking forward to having you back stateside.
Gilda