May 9, 2018

Today was a cool 9 C in the morning, a bit drizzly, breezy and the high was 12 C. After breakfast in the hotel, we went out for a walk to find the Molly Malone statue near Trinity College, about a 10 minute walk away.

The statue depicts the woman fish seller of an Irish ballad who sold fish from a cart but died in a cholera outbreak.  It was unveiled in 1988 as part of the Dublin Millennium celebrations.  Molly Malone Day is celebrated in Dublin on June 13.

   The lyrics to the traditional Irish ballad Cockles and Musselsby Laura Finn:

In Dublin’s fair city, where the girls are so pretty
I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone
As she wheeled her wheelbarrow through streets broad and narrow
Crying cockles and mussels alive a-live O!

A-live a-live O! A-live a-live O!
Crying cockles and mussels alive a-live O!

She was a fishmonger and sure it was no wonder
For so were her father and mother before
And they both wheeled their barrows through streets broad and narrow
Crying cockles and mussels alive a-live O!

A-live a-live O! A-live a-live O!
Crying cockles and mussels alive a-live O!

She died of a fever and no one could save her
And that was the end of sweet Molly Malone
Now her ghost wheels her barrow through streets broad and narrow
Crying cockles and mussels alive a-live Oh!

A-live a-live Oh! A-live a-live Oh!
Crying cockles and mussels alive a-live Oh!
A-live a-live Oh! A-live a-live Oh!
Crying cockles and mussels alive a-live Oh!

  We continued our morning walk to Merrion Square about 15 minutes further and found Oscar Wilde’s statue lounging on a boulder and walked around the paths of the square. We were surprised to find a bust of Bernardo O’Higgins.  We had heard about this 19^thcentury liberator of Chile while visiting in Peru and Chile last December. It was a gift from the Republic of Chile to the Republic of Ireland in 1995. 

   Then we walked over to the Westin hotel to meet Karen and walked over to the Do Dublin office for the 11 a.m. walking tour.  We discovered over the 2 ¼ hours, that there were two couples from our tour group also on the walk.  We will meet them officially tomorrow.  

   The walking tour started on the north side of the Liffey River at the O’Connell Street Do Dublin office.  There have been people living in the Dublin area for over 2,000 years. In 1829, Daniel O’Connell liberated the Catholics of Ireland giving them write to worship in their churches, vote (for men), own horses and own property.  In Ireland, women were given the right to vote with the passing of the Representation of the People Act 1918.  The street name was changed to O’Connell to recognize Daniel. After the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century, land along the Liffey River was reclaimed and the river narrowed. On lower O’Connell Street in 1818 the General Post Office was built and is the oldest post office still in use. Nearby is the 120-metre-high steel spire constructed between 2000 and 2003 as a millennium project costing €4million.  The General Post Office was one of the building held for five days by rebels during the 1916 Rebellion and was almost destroyed by the British forces with their powerful cannons. The rebels fled toward the river back to Henry Street and Moore Street. Many rebels were gunned down by British troops as they tried to surrender. The Republic of Ireland was created in 1922 in a treaty where the British kept 6 of the 9 Ulster counties, today’s Northern Ireland, and the other 26 counties became the Republic of Ireland.

  We continued along Henry Street to St. Mary’s Church built in 1702 which was deconsecrated in the 20^thcentury and today is a pub and restaurant. Fredrik Handel practiced on this church’s organ before his debut performance of the Messiah on the south side of the Liffey River near Christ Church Cathedral on April 13, 1742. The organ is still visible in the church. Another 18^thcentury personality, Jonathan Swift, dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral sometimes attended the church. There is also a bust of Arthur Guinness the founder of the brewery who married Mary Wishart in the church. Mary bore Arthur 22 children, but only ten survived.  Behind the church is a non-descript park which used to be St. Mary’s Church cemetery. Across from here, one of the leaders of the 1798 Irish Rebellion, leader of the United Irish, Theobald Wolfe Tone lived. The 700 year old Irish Parliament, whose members were mainly Protestant and English property owners, was so frightened by the Irish Rebellion, following so closely on the heels of the French Revolution, that it passed the Act of Union (1800) Ireland, which abolished the parliament and Ireland was ruled from London until 1922.

  We continued into the Italian quarter where there is a 14 year old, 9.3 meter by 2.2 meter photo screen-printed onto steel panels called “Dublin’s Last Supper” a modern day version of Leonardo da Vinci's 16^thcentury ‘The Last Supper’, our last stop on the north side of the river, before crossing the Millenium pedestrian bridge to the south side. From the middle of the bridge, we had a good view of the Ha’penny Bridge.  The bridge was originally built in 1816 to celebrate the Dublin born Duke of Wellington’s victory at the Battle of Waterloo in Belgium two year before. It originally was a toll bridge costing a half penny to cross.

   We arrived in the Temple Bar neighbourhood, which in the 1700s was the port area since there were no bridges east to Dublin Bay and ships could sail in.  We walked to Meeting House Square where we were told of the invasion of Ireland by Vikings in the 800s.  Dubh Linn was the first Viking settlement in the area established in 841 as a trading center.  It had a stone wall around it for protection.  The red hair of the Irish was brought with the Viking intermarriage with the local Irish.  

  Continuing on we walked along narrow streets to City Hall, which was the original Georgian style Royal Exchange built between 1769 and 1779 then bought in 1851 by the city of Dublin. It has a beautiful rotunda and one the statues has a bullet hole from the 1916 Irish Rebellion. Murals of the city surround the domed ceiling. Not far away is the highest hill in Dublin where Christ Church Cathedral sits with 19 bronze bells in its bell tower. 

  We visited Dublin Castle next. It was built in the early 1200s on the site of the Viking settlement, Dubh Linn. It was the seat of the English administration in Ireland. The old castle burned in 1684 and was replaced by the current buildings which are more like a palace. During the 1916 rebellion the British troops fought off the rebels since it was used as a barracks and hospital for wounded soldiers fighting in Europe in the Great War (World War 1). In the upper courtyard are the Royal staterooms and the 1750 Gothic Revival style Bedford Tower. It was built as the place for the person in charge of organizing all the social and political events could work and live.  The Crown Jewels were stored in the tower but, were stolen in the early 20^thcentury and have never been recovered. In the lower courtyard is the oldest part of the castle – the 13^thcentury tower which has 5 meter thick walls which was a prison and later the archives. Beside it is the Georgian style Royal Chapel, designed by the same architect as the General Post Office.  The author of Dracula, Bram Stoker, worked at Dublin Castle.

   After a short walk through more interesting narrow streets, we arrived at the old Irish Parliament and Trinity College’s main entrance, the last stop.  When the Bank of Ireland took over the Irish Parliament building only land owning Church of England members could bank there.  Shortly afterwards across the street the Catholics built their own bank. The Irish Harp is the Ireland national symbol. The new Republic of Ireland wanted to use the symbol and received permission from the Guinness Brewing Company to use their patented Irish Harp , but on if it was the reverse of the Guinness’ logo.

   Karen, Larry and I walked to the O’Neill’s Pub and Kitchen for a drink after the tour to give our legs a rest.  It is a typical Irish pub over 300 years old.

   Karen went shopping while we visited the Royal Staterooms of Dublin Castle and then over to Dublinia located where the old St. Michael’s Church used to be across form Christ Church Cathedral.  Dublinia has three floors of Dublin history from the Viking settlement in the 9^thcentury to the 20^thcentury. Dublin’s first foreign king was Olaf the White of Norway.  The Viking age lasted from 793 to 1066.  In 1170 the Anglo-Normans invaded.  In 1240 Dublin established a water system.  Dublin remained a trading center. In the Middle Ages and French was the language of trade. Walled Dublin was a safe English city, outside it in the country were the “barbaric” Irish.  The privileged English ruled the Irish until 1922.  We climbed up the 96 steps of the St. Michael’s Tower, the last remaining part of the 1667 St. Michael the Archangel Church. There was a 360 degree view of Dublin through the old glass windows. 

   We walked back to our nearby hotel to change. Then we walked to Hugo’s restaurant in about ten minutesto meet Peter and Karen for a delicious two course dinner with wine.  The starters chosen were goat cheese & beetroot salad, roasted pumpkin soup and smoked salmon.  The entées chosen were roasted chicken, pan fried cad and beef medallion.

 Then we strolled a few blocks down the street to the Gaiety Theater to watch the play, Minding Franky,based on Maeve Binchy’s book. After the play, Peter and Karen walked east and north to their hotel while we walked west to ours.

Distance walked today was exactly 15 km