After an overnight flight on Aer Lingus (good experience, would fly again) we arrived very early in the pre-dawn drizzle of Dublin. Since we’re just on a short layover, for minimum hassle we stayed at the shiny new Holiday Inn Express on O’Connell Street, located on the north side of the River Liffey. Free breakfasts and Wi-Fi are nice touches, and we can walk everywhere.
Crossing the O’Connell Bridge, this large and very friendly bird with a banded leg followed us along the rail. He probably wanted food. We just took photos.
Once on the south side, we scoped out Merrion Square, surrounded by impressive Georgian facades. We spied on the Oscar Wilde statue through a fence, but it was still early and the gates to the gardens were locked.
Chilled through by the cold drizzle, we escaped into the National Gallery of Ireland. It’s been freshly re-opened after a full renovation, and like in the UK, it’s free to visit except for special exhibitions. We wandered for a couple hours, having the place mostly to ourselves as we checked out paintings by Rembrandt, Caravaggio, Monet and Picasso, along with various medieval altarpieces dating to the 1300’s.
The weather had brightened a bit, so we wandered through St. Stephen’s Green, which turned out to be a large and vaguely tropical park, still lush and vibrant in the early winter.
Just beyond the green, we noticed this little dead-end lane called Merrion Court, filled with restaurants and patios.
Jet lag is hard on the stomach, so we hunted down the Meet Me in the Morning cafe for some healthy granola and carrot cakes and tea. It was nice to find the cafe just as friendly and good as it appeared on social media from Toronto, where it had caught my eye months ago for being named after a good Bob Dylan song.
The surrounding neighbourhood was filled with brick townhomes, some decorated with plants that Josie identified as Yuccas.
Looping back north towards the river, we passed by this colourful back entrance to what turned out to be Dublin Castle.
We found ourselves back at the Liffey, further west, near the hideous brutalist Dublin City Council building (not shown, to spare your eyes).
Heading back towards O’Connell, we passed through the famous Temple Bar district, which I remember from my first visit to Dublin when I was backpacking in 2003. It’s just as tacky and crowded as ever, still filled with drunken groups and buskers.
Outside many pubs, guys were selling “match scarves” to fans heading inside to watch either a big rugby game between Ireland and South Africa, or a soccer game between Ireland and Denmark. I’m pleased to report Ireland won both handily.
