We landed at Dublin Airport around 8:15 am. Immigration had 4 flights from the US arriving around the same time, so the line was quite long, but it moved pretty fast, taking us about 20 minutes or so. We got our bags, which were waiting, exited into the arrivals hall, walked over to the SPAR (the ubiquitous convenience store) and bought 3-day LEAP Visitor Cards for unlimited use of the 2 tram lines (Luas), buses, and DART train. We headed outside to take the 9:20 Dublin Express 783 bus and got off at the Harcourt Luas stop, about a 7 minute walk to the Clayton Charlemont. So pretty much two hours door to door.

We booked the night before so we could get in our room and sleep for a while. Leaving about 1:30 pm, we took the north-south green tram line from the Charlemont stop, a few minutes walk from the hotel, to the Westmoreland stop by the River Liffey, split a sandwich at a coffee shop, and walked to the Crown Alley in the Temple Bar area for a tour with the Original Dublin Walking Tour.

James, our tour guide, masterfully covered the gamut of history, from Vikings to present day, stopping at Dublin Castle, the Dubh Linn Garden, and Christ Church, and pointing out other interesting attractions/buildings and museums to visit on our own. He also spoke about how Guiness contributed much to Dublin and Ireland, funding many projects and having good pensions and health insurance for employees right from the start.

Dublin Castle. From 1204 until 1922, it was the seat of English, and later British rule in Ireland. It was constructed on elevated ground once occupied by an earlier Viking settlement. On 16 January 1922, the last ever Viceroy of Ireland handed Dublin Castle over to Michael Collins and the government of the newly-independent Irish state. Successive Irish governments have continued to use it for important national events.

We headed by tram back to the hotel for a rest before dinner. Dinner was at Davy Byrnes on Duke Street, a famous literary pub James Joyce visited often and even wrote about in Ulysses. We took the tram to dinner and walked back on pedestrian Grafton Street and St. Stephen’s Green.

Original Walking Tour
Davy Brynes