Finally, my last post about Dublin. I’m happy to report that as I write this post about my last day in Dublin, MJ’s last day has wrapped up and he’s coming home to me tomorrow!
Saturday morning we slept in. We had a leisurely lunch on O’Connell Street and at 2PM hopped on a bus for the Dublin Bay & Castle Tour. I have to admit that it was, predictably, the “Take time to feed the seals” that grabbed my attention with the description of this particular tour. The ride out to Howth was a nice one, and upon arriving the tour guide took those of us who were interested up the pier to meet some of “Howth’s residents” – the seals! Just behind where the seals congregate you can go to Dorans on the Pier and for 2 euros get yourself a dozen or so fish to feed the seals, so we did.
There were plenty of seagulls around eager to take advantage of the feeding, but the seals that were hanging around did manage to get a fair number of fish thrown in their direction.
The stop in Howth didn’t end up being very long, we had time to follow the tour guide down the pier to hear some stories about the town, and then all piled back on to the bus to head toward Malahide Castle.
The tour through the castle (where I couldn’t take pictures) was led by our own tour guide and took us through several rooms which were decorated with pieces from the national museums. The castle had been in hands of the Talbot family for almost 800 years, until it was sold to the Irish state in 1975 and opened to public tours. Perhaps the event of most historical, and tragic note for the castle was the Battle of the Boyne, in which 14 members of the family “sat down to breakfast in the Great Hall, and all were dead by evening” and to commemorate this, the large “The Battle of the Boyne” painting by Jan Wyck hangs in the formal dining room.
The tour got us back into Dublin around 5:30PM so we headed out to check out the third of three “formerly something else and now a bar” places – The Church Bar. Just like The Bank from a couple nights before, the interior was exquisite and has little changed from when the building was an operating church – including the organ (as you can see in the picture of the center bar), old memorials lining the walls (and presumably the crypts that go along with them?) and the stained glass windows.
The tidbit that most drove me to come here though was that Arthur Guinness (founder of the brewery) was married here in 1761. Very cool! Thinking about it, I really should have ordered a Guinness! But I had a craving for one last cider before heading home, so I went with that. Then I had my picture taken with the bust of Mr. Guinness:
Our next stop was the Porterhouse Brewing Company location in Temple Bar. In spite of not being much of a porter drinker I had a look at their pile of awards and decided to go with their Plain Porter, and I’m very glad I did. It was the best porter I’ve ever had! The description from their website: “A classic modern light stout with the added complexity of a late kettle hop. Aromatic character. Rich roast, dry, clean and bitter without any sourness.” These are the same characteristics that I enjoy in a good ale, so it’s not a surprise that I’d find it such a pleasant drink. After a few drinks it was over to the kebab place across the street to round off our evening with a nice kebab.
Upon arriving back at the hotel I packed and got ready for my flight in the morning… dark and early in the morning. I grabbed an airport bus at 7AM and was off to the airport to head back home.
In all, an absolutely amazing trip, I really fell in love with Dublin. And I was fortunate that the only rain I experienced while there happened over-night so didn’t impact my travels at all (even if I did joke that living in California I missed rain, and went to Dublin to see some).