Irish Spring- And I Like It Too!

Another box checked off the bucket list. One we had planned to take care of in 2020 but like the many things in our COVID life, we had to abandon. 

I am the grandson of an Irishman, Thomas Andrew Connell.  He immigrated to Canada shortly after the 1^st World War to meet and marry my grandmother, a 17 year old Newfoundlander named Elsie Brett and thus begat my long held desire to visit Ireland. I have to admit that there was also a smaller desire to quaff a pint of Guinness freshly tapped from the mother brewery. So dusting off our 2020 plans we departed Penticton on April 16^th for Dublin, Ireland.  It is not a typo but how Connell became Cornell is fodder for another blog.

I had spent the weeks prior to our departure watching the weather for the areas we would be travelling and it seemed we might be facing inclement weather for much of our time there. As D day approached, I began to see small improvements. To make a long story short, the weather was perfect, not once having any impact on our activities. What rain we did see, seemed to magically fall on our travel days and allowed us to watch the rain from the comfort of our first class train seats.

 

Flying Lufthansa from Vancouver to Frankfurt I discovered that the Boeing 747 which I thought was dead was very much alive. A little research revealed that the 747 made its debut in February, 1969, 4 months before I graduated high school.  The major airlines in North America found the jets to large and inefficient for their markets so they discontinued purchasing them in 1977 only keeping them around for long haul flights to overseas destinations. 

The last one was retired by Delta Airlines in 2017.  Our flight was booked on Lufthansa so I was quite surprised while sitting in the waiting area to see this great white whale of a plane pull up to the gate. Not sure how old this one is but they still had CRT video screens installed in the ceilings and ashtrays conveniently located near the washrooms. But man was there unbelievable legroom along with plenty of washrooms available for the 11 hour trip, something sadly lacking in modern planes. Boeing continued to produce the 747 for their European, Asian and Middle Eastern clients with the last one rolling off the assembly line in February of this year. Over 1550 planes were produced with 500 still flying today. Lufthansa operates over twenty 747s.

Dublin is a lovely city. Calling it cute would do it a disservice. It has a Disney like quality with well maintained century old buildings populated by friendly people only too happy to make you feel welcome to their country. I must admit to some early skepticism about this friendliness. There is friendly and then there is tourist pseudo-friendly but after almost 3 weeks I can state unequivocally that the Irish truly are a friendly people.  

 

We had a 2 days to explore before we were scheduled to travel to Belfast. We were returning in a week and would have another full day to do more exploring. We were booked into a very nice hostel near Connolly Station from where we would catch our train to Belfast. A quick shout out to Jacobs Inn that will always be remembered for my first of many Irish pours of that black elixir. It was served at the perfect temperature of 42.8 degrees F and topped with required 18-20 mm of golden foam.

 It has been a while since we stayed at hostel but when we can find one where we don’t have to share a bathroom, we are all over it.  Our planned 5 day hike required hiking poles and boots so I ditched my usual carry-on bag for a larger suitcase that converts into backpack.  As we entered the hostel, there were already a number of youngsters in front of us waiting to check in.  When staying at hostels I expect to see young people arriving with backpacks, giddy with excitement and ready to see the world. Things have changed as I discovered.  I was the only one carrying a backpack. It seems that those giant fiberglass rolling suitcases held together by bungee cords have replaced backpacks. It left me feeling oddly out of time and place. The giddy with excitement is still there as we discovered in the bar later that night.

We were up early thanks to jet-lag and my desire to eat a “full” Irish breakfast. A “full” Irish breakfast consists of a porridge appetizer then two eggs, two thick slabs of ham (which they call bacon), two sausages, beans, fried potatoes, mushrooms, fried tomato, wheaten bread and the aptly named black (blood) pudding. This would be our last “full” Irish breakfast as there was no way in diet hell we could keep eating like this for the next 18 days.

 Photo: Experts Guide to the Best Breakfasts in Dublin

When visiting a new city, we like to start with a guided walking tour that would give us a taste of what each city has to offer and then revisit anything that was worthy of our time.  Sadly a number of sites were covered in scaffolding and under repair which is a condition we are constantly seeing at many of the tourist sites we have visited over the last 15 years. So while I have pictures, I will need to borrow some from the internet because they do deserve to be seen in all their glory, not covered in scaffolding and tarps.

 

The Temple Bar is not just a bar but an entire entertainment district in downtown Dublin with more pubs than you shake a shillelagh at.  

Irish whiskey is distilled three times while Scotch whiskey only twice which some say makes it a smoother drink. Irish whiskey uses barley while North American whiskey uses corn, rye or wheat. Jameson has been distilling whisky since 1780. Their blends of malted and unmalted barley are famous around the world. The whiskies are aged in oak barrels formerly used for bourbon and sweet sherry to give it it's signature flavour. To be called Irish whiskey, it must also be barrel aged for a minimum of 3 years. This come with a cost as the barrel can evaporate 2% of its contents for each year. This is called the "Angels Share".  Thus the longer it's aged, the pricier it gets. 

Originally named after the British Duke of Wellington, it was renamed the Liffey Bridge after the Irish war of independence in 1922 but  lovingly known as the Ha'Penny Bridge. Built in the early 19th Century to cross the river Liffey, it replaced several run down ferries, The builder/city was granted the right to charge a toll of a ha'penny for the next 100 years. The toll was discontinued in 1919.

St. Patrick's Cathedral named for the Irish saint who was best known for banishing snakes from Ireland although it was known before the legend was born that there have never been any snakes in Ireland. Our guide told us if we kissed the beard of St. Patrick, we would be blessed with Blarney Stone like luck in life. No one in our international group took him up on it. A later fact check showed it was just some guide blarney. 

A much later legend tells of Patrick visiting an inn and chiding the innkeeper for being ungenerous with her guests. Patrick tells her that a demon is hiding in her cellar and being fattened by her dishonesty. He says that the only way to get rid of the demon is by mending her ways. Some time later, Patrick revisits the inn to find that the innkeeper is now serving her guests cups of whiskey filled to the brim. He praises her generosity and brings her to the cellar, where they find the demon withering away. It then flees in a flash of flame, and Patrick decrees that people should have a drink of whiskey on his feast day in memory of this. This is said to be the origin of "drowning the shamrock" on Saint Patrick's Day.

Wikipedia: St. Patrick

The Old Library at Trinity College was closed during our visit. If you are a Harry Potter nerd or Star Wars geek, you may believe you had seen images of the library from scene sets in both movies but both denied using the Old Library as the basis for their set construction. The college considered legal action for unlicensed use of the libraries image but decided not to proceed. 

The library is also home to the famous Book of Kells, a 9th century illuminated manuscript. The manuscript had been relocated so that it could still be viewed while the library was closed but with a 90 minute wait, we moved on, may God forgive us.

Photo: www.atlasobscura.com

Sadly, much of the historic parts of Dublin castle were covered in scaffolding and tarps. The 13th century Castle is the heart of Dublin. It has served as a military fortress, prison, treasury, courts and the seat of power for the English for over 700 years. It continues today as part of the Irish Government buildings complex and used for important state events. The patterns cut into the gardens are supposed to represent sea serpents. 

Photo: Wikipedia.org/dublincastle

Christ Church Cathedral has existed in some form or other on this site since the 11th century. What you see today is an extensive renovation along with additions done in the 19th century.  

The first cathedral was founded by the Viking king Sitric Silkenbeard. The Vikings started raiding Ireland in the 9th century. Dublin began life as a fortified Viking base and by the mid 10th century had grown in to a substantial town. By the end of the century the Vikings living in Ireland had adopted Christianity hence the construction of Christ Church. 

We will have another day to continue our exploration of Dublin when we return from Belfast so we are off to the other Ireland tomorrow. My earliest memories of Belfast were  gained from watching the televised broadcasts of  internecine fighting between the Catholics and Protestants in 1969.  The death and destruction were something that I had trouble wrapping my 17 year old head around at the time.