We finally made it to Ireland!!
Landed in Dublin on time, tired and confused! 11:40 AM here but 3:40am by our brains.
The airport didn't satisfy; we looked for an ATM, but has a built-in 14% fee (NO thanks), we looked for a E-SIM seller (couldn't find it) we looked for our public transport to the hotel (after a while, found it).
Got checked-in, found sim cards, went for a bite. Had a long nap (Pierre, not poor Sheila(:
Day 2:
Sheila really wanted to see Kilmainham Gaol so we tried for tickets at 9am and lucked into some for tomorrow! We had a beautiful sunny day to go to Howth on the coast! We headed to the train station and with only a little trouble found the right line and off we went. We went on the cliff loop walk up along the shore and of course forgot to take pictures along the way. But it was spectacular, you will just have to take our word for it! On the way down into town we stopped for a pint at the local pub and met a couple of hilarious Irish gents who chatted us up for a bit. Just as we started back to the train the skies opened up and we got a wee bit wet for the ride back to Dublin!
Had a nice dinner ay Lundy Foot's restaurant with good friends Don and Sherry.
Day Three:
We had a good breakfast at Jay Kay, now becoming our favorite breakfast spot - great coffee, flat whites.
Took the train to Kilmainham Gaol which seemed to involve walking almost half-way!
The jail tour was really good and a bit difficult to hear everything. The cold damp walls and poorly lit cells must have been depressing for inmates. Even women and children were sometimes imprisoned. During some periods, mainly political prisoners were the occupants, many awaited execution.
During the famine, begging was made criminal and inmates included orphans as young as three years.
The images below show mainly the newer, brighter portion of the prison, but some of the prison was more like the view through the keyhole shown first.
Our escape from prison included a long walk back to the hotel, stopping of course for lunch when we happened on the oldest pub in Dublin. Our day concluded with a fine meal at Hellfire restaurant.