Adventures in the Emerald Isle - Dublin and South to Wicklow

We flew out of Auckland at midnight and landed in Hong Kong at 7.00am. Immediately our senses are bombarded with noises, smells and sights that are so Asian and foreign to us, and we still haven’t left the airport. We booked a nearby hotel on an hourly basis. We booked 10 hours and checked in at 10.00am.  I was a bit apprehensive about booking per hour. Last time we did this was many years ago in Kuala Lumpur. It was great until around 11.00pm, and then banging and bumping noises continued through to daylight. It was only when we checked out that we realised we had booked into a brothel!

Another 11 hour flight ensued as we departed Hong Kong at midnight and landed in Dublin at 7.00am, way to early for check in. So on with the walking gear and we headed out for some culture. We bought an all day pass on the tram car and headed to the Kilmainham Gaol, a place where anybody of political note appeared to have inhabited at some time. It seems that over the past 500 years the Irish have been continually bickering amongst each other and with the English with very little profit to anyone. There were so many political activist groups that no one seemed to hold power for any length of time. The IRA would imprison the IRB (nothing to do with International Rugby) Irish Republic Brotherhood. Someone in the IRA would form a splinter group, release the IRB and imprison the IRA. Add into this the potato famine where a 10 year old boy was imprisoned (2 weeks) for stealing a turnip. Then chuck in Oliver Cromwell from across the Irish Sea, and any number of Englishmen claiming Ireland as theirs and the gaols were fill to busting, with filthy hungry men and women…and children. We were pleased to get out of there without getting 10 lashes.

Back to our lodgings, unpack some gear have a shower and head to Temple Bar for some Irish music and a beer. This is a vibrant corner of Dublin, with numerous bars and ales. We had our fill of both and were pleased to get horizontal as the sun set (at 10.00pm in Dublin presently).

A hearty Irish breakfast got us started for another day on the streets of Dublin. First to the EPIC museum. Every Person Is Counted is what that stands for and it was a modern, self guided setup about Irish emigration. The whole show was well presented and interesting but I think I missed something. Why would a country want to bring to the attention of the World the number of its citizens that have left to set up their lives in foreign lands? There are close to 5 million Irish, living in Ireland. There are 10 times that number living overseas and that seems to be grounds for a celebration of sorts??!! What’s that about. It seems that poverty, famine, starvation, unemployment and political unrest are among some of the reasons given for this situation. We met a fellow who seemed embarrassed that we had come so far to visit his country when there was nothing much to see and very little of interest for its inhabitants nor those that travel so far. He did thank us for coming though, chuffed and humbled…..but why did you bother were his parting thoughts. Interesting land this one.

It was time for a beer and that means Guinness if you’re in Ireland. The Brewery was established in 1759 by Arthur Guinness. He was pretty sure he was on to a good thing and got the powers to be to sign him a 9000 year lease. Looks like he will be sticking around for a while yet. They have a really good tour and information boards, along with tasting, sipping and hard out chucking it down. We had a couple of hours there before heading back to our digs, a quick change and off to “Riverdance”. We had a 2 hour show and learned that it only found fame when it ran as an interlude for the Eurovision Song Contest in 1994. Michael Flatley had choreographed that exhibition and got it underway as an international act. It was good fun for the evening.

Yesterday we bussed to the airport and picked up a Dacia Duster and got out into the traffic. We wanted to get a wee way south along the coast, take a walk along a sea side climbing track then find a place to stay and watch the rugby. By 10.00pm we had achieved all of those things so were feeling pretty satisfied with our day. We will now spend a couple of nights on the South coast hoping to knock off a cycle trail if it stops raining!