J&D's Travelog - Dublin 2006

Dublin, Ireland

November 1-9, 2006

We were firm in our decision to only add trips to this chronicle in which both of us participated. However D’s father F recently turned 75, so D and his brother B organized a guys-only trip to Dublin with ambitious plans of conducting the ultimate pub crawl – 75 pubs in a week. So while J went on a trip of her own to the Caribbean, she gave D a special dispensation to provide this write-up.

St. Stephen's Green.

The River Liffey.

Ha'penny Bridge.

A view down O'Connell Street.

Georgian doors.

Dublin's General Post Office.

Dublin

The city of Dublin was principally founded by Vikings in the 9th century when they established a settlement where the Liffey and Poddle rivers met to create a black pool or dubh lynn. The fact that the largest city of this Celtic nation was founded by foreigners can be seen as a barometer for Ireland’s turbulent history. The Irish populace has been subjected to foreign rule (Norse, Normans, and English) for the better part of their existence. Dublin was the scene of a key attempt at self-rule when, gunmen took over the General Post Office in April 1916 and read a proclamation declaring a sovereign and independent Irish Republic. The Easter Rising was abruptly quashed by a British gunboat that battered the surrounding area, but the seeds of revolution had been sown. The signing of the Anglo-Irish treaty, effectively giving the industrial northern counties to the British in exchange for self-rule over the remainder of the island, caused a rift among the Irish people that ultimately erupted into civil war. The Republic of Ireland was officially recognized in 1949 and severed all ties with Great Britain. The wounds still run deep, however, and the Irish Republican Army has terrorized British soldiers in an attempt to reunify the Emerald Isle. Thankfully, the conflict has been in a state of détente over the past few years.

Take a load off at the James Joyce statue on North Earl St.

Trinity College.

Oscar Wilde leers at some passers-by.

Dublin Castle.

Jim Larkin greets the sun on O'Connell Street.

The Viking Steine.

Christ Church Cathedral.

Charles Stewart Parnell.

The Boyne River.

Newgrange.

St. Patrick's Church.

Entrance to the passage at Newgrange.

St. Patrick.

Boyne Valley

North of Dublin, along the Boyne River valley, is a string of Neolithic monuments built by the first people to inhabit this island. We felt that it would sit better with our womenfolk, if we infused at least some culture into our extended pub crawl, so we booked a bus tour with the entertaining Mary Gibbons. Our first stop was the grassy Hill of Tara, the former heart of Irish power and mysticism. At one time, it served as a coronation site for 142 kings of Ireland and even accommodated colleges of military, history, and law studies. Today, it is no more than a collection of hilltop furrows and mounds from which one can allegedly see 23 of Ireland’s 32 counties. We moved on to the town of Slane, nestled along the Boyne River, where in the distance we could see the 18th century Slane castle, now a venue for concerts, and the Hill of Slane on which St. Patrick himself celebrated Easter by lighting a Paschal fire large enough for the pagan kings to see from Tara.

We continued along the Boyne picturing the scene in 1690 when the Catholic James Stuart, pretender to the English, Scottish, and Irish thrones, had his showdown with the Protestant William of Orange. The Protestant victory signaled a renewed persecution of Catholics in Ireland that would last for centuries. Soon we arrived at the Neolithic burial site of Newgrange. To preserve the tomb, entrance is limited to a fixed number of tourists each year, but we were fortunate enough to be on one of the tours that is taken inside the mound. We were second-guessing just how lucky we actually were as we stood cramped in the center of the mound with 22 other fortunate souls after squeezing through the 60 ft entrance passage. As with seemingly all other Stone Age chambers, Newgrange is also specifically aligned with the sun at the winter solstice, but the white quartz face stones that glow orange in the setting sun make it unique.

Mound of the Hostages.

A celtic cross.

The Royal Seat at Tara.

Pub Crawl

When you imagine Dublin, you can’t help but think of pubs. A contraction for "public house", these establishments have long been gathering points for writers, thespians, politicians, revolutionaries, and just your average guy looking for refreshment. Perhaps nowhere else is the pub woven into the fabric of life as it is in Dublin. There are pubs throughout this fair city from the overpriced touristic strip along Temple Bar to the working man’s refuge of Noel Leonard’s near the Guinness brewery. There are pubs of literary fame such as the Oval and Davy Byrnes from Joyce’s Ulysses, McDaids where Brendan Behan often over-imbibed, and James Toner where William Butler Yeats reputedly had his first and only pint in a pub. Near the famed Abbey Theatre, the Flowing Tide has long been a meeting place for actors and playwrights as was Neary’s near the Gaiety Theatre. There are also key historical pubs such as the Brazen Head, a place of drink since the Norman occupation, Patrick Conway, the Old Stand, and the Bailey, all of which have connections to Irish politics.

The foundation of any successful pub crawl is preparation, and ours could certainly have benefited from just that. The only semblance of research we could muster was a comprehensive list of pubs in the greater Dublin area – 974 of them to be exact. Having supplemented our list with a good city map, we were on our way. To hit our quota of 10 pubs per day, we often found ourselves arriving at an establishment just as it was opening, and we had to resist the temptation to linger and have a second pint. Pacing ourselves was critical to success. One last key element is maintaining an open mind. Not all Dublin pubs are going to resemble the archetypal Irish country pub. They range from traditional (Doheny & Nesbitt) to Georgian (Maguires) to Victorian (the Bank) to hip (Panama). While recent years have seen the emergence of mega-pubs like Fitzsimons, the Porter House, and Messrs. Maguire, there are still some gems like the Pale, Stag’s Head, Dame Tavern, and Brogan’s Bar full of the craic for which Ireland has always been known. In the end, we were up to the challenge, having toasted our undertaking in no fewer than 80 pubs.

Ireland's black gold.