Today is our short stop in Dublin, Ireland. The ship apparently arrived on time at the channel to enter the port because we were awakened at about 3:30 AM by the vibration from the ship’s thrusters, turning the ship around so it could back into the berth, The vibrations lasted over 30 minutes as we tied up at the pier, and then they stopped. That noise was replaced by back-up warning beeping sounds from the loading and unloading of containers on the freighter berthed next to us.
We were able to get back to sleep, but it was not a sound sleep, and we were both tired when we finally got up at 6:45 AM when our wake up call came through. We did not get up right away, we had wondered why we had set the call to be this early when we were not planning to get off the ship until about 8:30 AM.
We had our normal in room breakfast while we were finishing getting ready. We had already purchased our tickets for the ship’s shuttle bus service from the port to downtown a few day ago, so by about 8:15 AM, we were heading off of the ship. It was a cooler morning, but not bad, just a little windy at times. We boarded our shuttle bus, a city bus being used for this service, and found that the seats were really close together. I could barely get my knees in front of me, and it was very uncomfortable. We soon realized, or wished, that we had gotten the next shuttle, a double deck tour bus that most likely had much more room between the seats.
The drive into the city center was supposed to take about 30 minutes, but the traffic was really bad, and we got delayed by a freight train in the port. After 45 minutes, we arrived at the drop off point, Merrion Square, a large park in Dublin. We had found out about using the Google Maps App, in offline mode, a few days ago from Terri and Bill, the couple we had met in Vines. We had downloaded the Dublin offline map, as well as a google map PDF file showing the route we had entered and planned to walk today. We did not realize that although the google map app works great in showing where you are and tracking your progress, it will not give specific street by street directions unless you are online.
We used our pre-planned google map route in the Kindle app on the phone just to enter the specific points we were going to, and then used the tracking function to show our progress as we walked. It ended up working pretty well, once we got the hang of how to use it. It certainly would have been a help in some of the other cities we had already visited on this trip.
Dublin Castle
The walking route we had selected was set up in a circular path to each of the sights we were planning to see, and was about 6 km. total in length to walk. The first segment on the map was to head from Merrion Square to Grafton Street, which is a pedestrian only shopping area. Unfortunately, because it was early morning, when we arrived, the shops were just opening. We did not stay here long, there was not much to see yet. The next stop was the Dublin Castle, so we walked over to it, but had a little difficulty locating it, the Castle was within a walled and gated area, so we had to find the specific entry point. Once we got to the castle, we found out there was an entry fee, and knowing we were short of time today, we opted to skip entry to the castle. We did find a bathroom inside the ticket office, which was a welcome break.
Temple Bar
The next site on the list was the famous Temple Bar. We had visited there in 2009, and had even eaten lunch there and had a couple of beers. However, on this trip, we did not really have time for that. We initially found another bar called by the same name, but knew it was not the original. which was located about another block away. They looked so similar that we thought maybe they were part of the same establishment. When we got to the real Temple Bar, there was a vehicle parked in front and two tourists who were just hanging out by the door. We waited for them to leave so we could get a nice photo, and although the truck moved, the couple just stayed there, oblivious of all of the people trying to take a photo, and most likely, not really wanting to have them in their photo.
We headed into the Temple Bar gift shop, hoping the couple would be gone by the time we looked around in the store. Of course, they were still there when we got out, and so we just gave up on the people free photo opportunity.
Inside The Brazen Head Bar
The next stop was the Brazen Head Bar, which is the oldest bar in Dublin. It had just barely opened for the day, and we went inside to look around. It was very interesting inside, there were several small rooms, and it was quite rustic.
We left there and tried to get a good photo of the front of the bar, but when we got across the street, there were two bar workers outside, sweeping off the sidewalk, and they were right in front of the bar. We waited on them for a while, finally getting a photo without them in it, right before a big delivery truck arrived and parked out front.
The Brazen Head Bar
This was the farthest out destination from Merrion Square, and from here onward, we would be heading back toward the drop off/ pick up point for the shuttle bus.
The next stop was St. Patrick’s Cathedral, an Anglican church. It was very crowded inside with tour groups. We still paid the admission price and went inside to look around.
This is another sight we had visited previously, and it still looked about the same as before. We did not visit the nice gardens beside the church on the last visit, so we headed over there to take some photos.
St. Patrick’s Cathedral
Next stop on our list was St. Stephen’s Green, another large park in Dublin. The gardens were nicely kept, and there were quite a few flower beds in bloom. There was also a pond with a few ducks, and some very large white swans. It was a nice green space in the busy city. One thing to note was the difficulty in crossing streets here, there are crosswalks, but since the drivers are on the other side, like in the UK, it takes a lot of awareness because you need to look right first, then left, just the opposite of how we normally look for traffic when crossing a road.
St. Stephen’s Green
From the park, it was a short walk back to the shuttle pick up in Merrion Square, and we decided that we had had enough of the traffic, and busy streets here. It had not been that busy the last time we had visited Dublin, maybe it had been on the weekend. Traffic here was just constant. It was about 1:00 PM, and the last shuttle was at 2:30 PM, so we knew that the shuttles would be starting to get crowded if we stayed much longer. Plus, we were hungry and tired of walking.
Traffic In Dublin From Our Bus Seat
The shuttle took about 40 minutes to get back to the port, there was still a lot of traffic in the city, which we learned later on might have been due to some roads being closed outside of town, and the traffic being diverted through the city. At least this bus was comfortable, it was a double deck bus with touring seats, so the ride back was much nicer than the ride to town. We sat in the very front seat on the upper deck, and had a great view of Dublin as we headed back to the ship
Once back on the ship, we ate some lunch out by the pool, which consisted of freshly cooked hamburgers at the grill. They were cooking them on an as needed basis, so it was a little slow, but they were very fresh and not so dried out, which is normally the case when they are making them ahead of time and then reheat them on the grill before being served.
Channel Markers – More Like a Lighthouse
The ship left on time at 4:00 PM, and the sail away was nice, although it had gotten cloudy. It was a long way out to the end of the channel, and a long ride back for the pilot boat.
We went to Vines for a couple of glasses of wine before heading up to Alfredo’s for dinner. Stephanie got a pasta dish with eggplant, and I got a pizza with a couple of extra toppings added. We had a nice window seat, and since the ship was at sea, we had a nice view during dinner.
Our Pilot Boat
After dinner, we headed to Crooner’s for a couple of drinks before heading back to the room at around 8:45 PM. Tomorrow, we have an early start in Cobh, Ireland, and a long day planned since the ship does not depart until 10:00 PM.. This will be our last port of call before we cross the Atlantic Ocean on our way to Halifax, Nova Scotia..