Dublin any suggestions
Hello everyone I am Nathan and we will be on the small group trip of The Best of Ireland coming up at the end of Sept beginning Oct. We are arriving early and are looking for some suggestions of things to do in Dublin before our trip. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.
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We were on the standard tour two years ago in June. While some of the hotels differ with those on the small group tour, the itinerary is identical.
As with you, we arrived two days early. The first day, we walked through St. Stephens' Green. There is a set of numbered displays that talk about the 1916 uprising and how it impacted St Stephen's Green. It's a great introduction to the history of the city.
Also within walking distance is Trinity College. You can get tickets to the Book of Kells which is a medieval illuminated manuscript. Even if you don't, it's worth walking around the college. We were there on graduation weekend and saw students in caps and gowns and their families very dressed up.
We are big fans of Rick Steves's walking tours. The next day we followed the one south of the Liffey. We found it very informative and included places that we would not see later on the Tauck city tour. We stopped at the Chester Beatty Museum. This contains illiminated manuscripts, old Korans, and other old religious artifacts. While the Book of Kells is the best known manuscript, this museum has a multitude of similar items.
We also decided to go to Evensong in St Patrick's Cathedral. This is a Church of Ireland (Anglican). Evensong is the same as what you would find in England. There is a young boys choir (now with some girls) coupled with an adult one that performs during the service which lasts about 30 minutes.
The next day we followed the Rick Steves north of the river tour. It's not as tourist friendly bit there's a lot of history contained in this walk. When you see the Spire, you'll learn that there used to be a column with a statue of Trafalgar atop it. It was blown up in 1966 by the IRA. Later when you get to Kilkenny, go over to the gardens in front of Butler House. There you will see a garden with a water lily pond surrounded by blocks of granite. These are the stones from the column that was destroyed in Dublin.
Some of our family went to the Guinness Storehouse for a tour and tasting.
Others went to the National Museum of Archaeology. There are exhibits ranging from the Stone Age to modern times. Among the highlights are the 2,000 year old "bog bodies" that were preserved as mummies in the bogs, 4,000 year old gold jewelry etc..
One restaurant I would recommend is Gallagher's Boxty House. We had a phenomenal seafood chowder there.
Or you might just enjoy the environment like the locals. I lived in or near San Francisco for ten years before I ever went to Alcatraz. I enjoyed the waterfront and looking at the Golden Gate Bridge. Many people see it and say, it’s not golden it’s kind of red. I’m sure most of you know it is not the bridge that is golden, it’s the opening to the gold country. I used to run from my condo on Fisherman’s Wharf to Fort Point every day. It was once a great city. I’m sure over time I visited most of the tourist sights, but the city itself used to be the experience . I would recommend rubbing elbows with the locals. Oh, Irish Coffee and the Buena Vista … I’m sure most of the SF tourists miss that one.
If you like Irish history, go to Glasnevin Cemetery, where many of the 19th and early 20th century Irish patriots are buried. The cemetery offers tours. I booked the 2:30 tour for the day that I arrived in Dublin. I was pleasantly surprised that our tour began with a trip to the grave of O'Donovan Rossa (who had been exiled to the US but whose body was brought back to Dublin for burial) for an actor's rendition of Padraig Pearse's inspiring oration at the funeral of O'Donovan Rossa. We were joined at the grave by the 1:30 tour that was just ending.
We did a Dublin walking tour with a local guide, the Guinness tour and the Devour food tour. It was a great overview to decide things to see from there.
Let’s see if Brooks responds to all your great ideas
Another vote for the Chester Beatty Museum. It's free, has much more to see than the Book of Kells and no crowds. it's located by the Dublin Castle so you can combine the two sights.
When we were in Dublin in May, our tour director said the city is safe to walk and we did a lot of walking there. I agree with the above comments and also found Grafton Street interesting. The street was closed for traffic and there were live musicians performing. There are a lot of stores here; a good coffee shop and a gelato shop where at least the server was from Italy. He told us that he has decided to live in Ireland because it is too hot in Italy. I loved Ireland and want to go back. Enjoy your trip!
I will heartily recommend the National Archaeology Museum. A great museum right behind the Shelbourne with fantastic artifacts. They even have a small Egyptian collection. The current exhibit featuring illuminated texts Irish monks brought to Switzerland that the Swiss have loaned back is really great. Bog bodies, fossilized mesolithic fishnets, a long boat. (I am an anthropologist, so I may be biased.)
I also took the short walk from the hotel down to Merrion Park and visited the Oscar Wilde statue, passed his house, walked the block further north to visit Sweny's (from Ulysses) for the soap and stopped into Kennedy's pub for a pint - Wilde's first job was here.
As Kathy said above, the Book of Kells is good, if the Long Room can get crowded - though I did find if you can wade through the initial crowds at the front of the library and there's far fewer people at the end of the hall. Just walking the campus of Trinity College is nice as well, some really great architecture.
Not sure if it's on your TAUCK itinerary, but the EPIC museum is great. A good experience. There's a touching statue installation for the famine right near it that's worth a visit. We didn't get to it, but one of the famine ships is also right across the road from EPIC. Not too far away of is Ryleigh's Rooftop @The Mayson which is a good steakhouse with a great bar. It did, unfortunately, lose some of its sight lines on the harbor with the construction of a high rise next to it, but it's a cool restaurant and you can still pick out a great view.
St. Patrick's Cathedral was nice but it was the busiest and most "touristy" of the spaces we went to - so busy I wasn't able to get an exterior picture. A little hard to navigate around people and there was something odd about a gift shop being right inside the church. We were a little rushed so we didn't get to it, but Marsh's Library is right next to St. Patricks's and I had heard great things about it.
We didn't know St. Pats and EPIC would be on our itinerary until the tour began - the Kells were swapped in - but these were all things we had been planning for our open afternoons.
We were on the Best of Ireland small group tour last year...It was incredible..as was our guide, Bailey. We arrived early, as well and stumbled upon the Gaiety Theater and bought tickets to 101 Dalmatians for the evening. The theater is within close walking distance to the hotel, and it is beautiful on the inside. The production was great and it was a wonderful experience. So glad we made the somewhat impromptu decision to do this and would highly recommend it in the event there is something on stage while you are there that is of interest. Here is a link to the theater which has more details: https://www.gaietytheatre.ie. Enjoy your trip!
I took a tour of the Abbey Theatre in the afternoon and went to a performance that night, where I saw the props and the costumes that I had seen behind the scenes being used during the performance.
I'm going on this tour (my 30th) at the end of the week and for the first time I received an email from our TD with the itinerary and lots of suggestions and recommendations. WOW
Glayds - 30 tours. You sure the email wasn't from the TD asking you for tips?
Have fun! 😁
Did this trip last year. I hope Michael is your TD. He was very good and a 'hoot'. Go to St. Stephens Park, walk around it and then head toward Trinity College and beyond. Check out the side sts. Keep going to the river and cross the 'ha'penny' bridge. Remember to cross back. See the Book of Kells at Trin Col. Great trip.