Dublin (and Surrounds)

Pat, one of the blokes I caught up with in Brussels a few weeks ago, was off to Dublin to catch up with Sandra, another friend from Canberra who was now living in Dublin. Having a free weekend, I decided to head over and meet up with the two of them and check out Dublin (again).

I met up with Pat on Grafton Road, where we had a drink and waited for Tamsin (my landlord) to come in and meet us. Sandra was in the process of moving into a new place, so she could not make it into the city centre. We had a nice drink and then some food before Pat headed off to Sandra's while I stayed at Tamsin's (there was not enough room for me at Sandra's).

The next day Pat, Sandra and I headed down to a place called Glenalough, about one hour south of Dublin. This was a lovely area and it was a reasonably nice day (not much rain), so we went out for a walk along the lakes and rivers - it was all very beautiful. The pictures do not really do it justice.

On our way back we decided to go to Johnnie Fox's pub, which was apparently famous for its seafood. Not really knowing the way Sandra stopped and asked for directions - which were not really much help. The exchange kind of went like this:

Sandra: Do you know the way to Johnnies Fox's pub?
Man giving directions: Sure. Do you know the right turn just after the old bridge?
Sandra: Yes
Man giving directions: Don't go that way, keep going straight. Do you know where the Commonwealth Centre is?
Sandra: Yes
Man giving directions: Well you don't want to take the right just after that, keep going straight. Until you get to a modern looking car park, don't take the left turn after that, keep going straight.

This kept going for about 10 minutes. Basically he told us all the ways not to go. Luckily we got clearer directions down the road and made it to the pub where we had a lovely late lunch/early dinner.

We then met up with Sandra's sister and some of her friends at a tiny pub in the city centre, which was nice. Ireland has banned all smoking inside pubs, so it is nice to go out to pubs and not come home smelling like smoke!

The next day the three of us headed out to Newgrange, which was still just as interesting (or at least I thought so). We did not have time to see both Knowth and Newgrange, so we just headed over to Newgrange. We then headed back towards Dublin and met up with Tamsin at Howth, a coastal village just to the north of the city. We had a nice dinner in a pub, before heading out for a walk and then back home. Pat and I had an early flight back to Bournemouth tomorrow where we were going to meet up with Caroline and David!



Glendalough


More of Glendalough


Some more of Glendalough


Pat and I!


Even more of Glendalogh


Yet more of Glendalough


Almost the last one of Glendalough


One of the few photos with Sandra in it


Pat