Our last day in Dublin was extremely fun! The day began drizzly – a taste of Irish weather. I had always thought that Scotland and Ireland had the same weather and landscape. Scotland seemed so romantic – the Highlands, Braveheart, Clans and Kilts. In reality, Braveheart was filmed in Ireland J While Scotland is lush and green, with plains, hills, and valleys, it seemed to always be raining. Ireland was abloom with millions of different colors. Green hills; orange, red, gold, and bronze leaves; ancient castles and cemeteries; lakes; and blooming plants and flowers. The air was chilly, but not frigid and it only drizzled on our last day in Dublin. We caught the Hop on Hop Off Dublin bus, and enjoyed the sights from the semi covered enclosure of the double-decker bus. Our drivers, full of Irish sayings, never failed to charm us (accents and all!). We found that the shopping was fabulous! Much better than in Italy.
The most exciting and memorable part of our time in Dublin was the Irish Musical Pub Crawl that we embarked upon that night. A group of approx. 20 people met at the Oliver St. John Gogarty's Pub for a night of traditional Irish fun. We grabbed our pint of Guinness, and listened and sang along with our performers/guides. Our guides were a lady and gentleman around 30 years old. The lady was from Donegal – where “everyone plays the fiddle!” The gentleman could not only play the guitar and the Bodhran (traditional Irish drum – for the Irish change all of our typical instruments to “make them better!”), but also could dance and sing! It was so excited to be asked to dance with him to explain traditional Irish dances. Over two and a half hours, we traversed three pubs in Dublin (Oliver St. John Gogarty’s, Ha’Penny Bridge Inn, etc), filled with locals! At the end of the night, I bought the cd, and was dying to experience more music and dancing (that wouldn’t be touristy).
We awoke the next morning, stuffed ourselves with the fantastic display of Irish breakfast foods one last time, and traversed to Galway on the bus Éireann. I was of course hoping upon hoping that I would find a pub filled with locals jigging to traditional Irish tunes. We had a leisurely ride, taking in the scenery (and immersing ourselves in our romance novels). When we arrived in Galway, I was near on my way to falling in love. Galway is a precious little town in Ireland, with a tourist industry (but not as touristy by far as Dublin and Italy. The city center was lined with boutique shops – their windows artfully arranged with creative outfits, antiques, and wears. Might I say once again – fantastic shopping (….even though my eye was drawn to the unaffordable!). We stayed in a lovely bed and breakfast by the sea/lake, our window and terrace overlooking the seaside meadow where horses traversed (Amber Bay – I highly recommend it!).
First things first – we inquired as to where we might find traditional Irish music and dancing (complete with locals of course! No Riverdance shows for us!). A local directed us to Monroe’s Tavern, the hotspot for the local dancing on Tuesday nights. It was fabulous! Amazing! And I hoped not a once in a lifetime experience. Dancers arrived around 9:30, slipping off their street shoes for black shoes similar to character shoes. The majority of the dancers were Irish, but one couple came from the Carolinas (they had been taking lessons in North Carolina and came to Ireland to dance on vacation!), and another was from Poland! She arrived in biker gear, with boots laced from ankle to knee, only to trade them for (extremely loud) set dancing shoes! She seemed to feel that the more noise she made – the better! For Irish music has an unusual beat, kept in time usually by the dancers. Irish dancing (or set dancing) is almost like the reel or other traditional dances that involve partners and the line of people can extend all the way across a room! I watched and talked with a few of the dancers for the entire time they were there. I was thrilled to find out that many of the same dancers frequent the Western hotel on Wednesday night for dancing! Another night of Irish fun!! (If you can’t tell by now! I was and am in love!) To Be Continued…..!
The most exciting and memorable part of our time in Dublin was the Irish Musical Pub Crawl that we embarked upon that night. A group of approx. 20 people met at the Oliver St. John Gogarty's Pub for a night of traditional Irish fun. We grabbed our pint of Guinness, and listened and sang along with our performers/guides. Our guides were a lady and gentleman around 30 years old. The lady was from Donegal – where “everyone plays the fiddle!” The gentleman could not only play the guitar and the Bodhran (traditional Irish drum – for the Irish change all of our typical instruments to “make them better!”), but also could dance and sing! It was so excited to be asked to dance with him to explain traditional Irish dances. Over two and a half hours, we traversed three pubs in Dublin (Oliver St. John Gogarty’s, Ha’Penny Bridge Inn, etc), filled with locals! At the end of the night, I bought the cd, and was dying to experience more music and dancing (that wouldn’t be touristy).
We awoke the next morning, stuffed ourselves with the fantastic display of Irish breakfast foods one last time, and traversed to Galway on the bus Éireann. I was of course hoping upon hoping that I would find a pub filled with locals jigging to traditional Irish tunes. We had a leisurely ride, taking in the scenery (and immersing ourselves in our romance novels). When we arrived in Galway, I was near on my way to falling in love. Galway is a precious little town in Ireland, with a tourist industry (but not as touristy by far as Dublin and Italy. The city center was lined with boutique shops – their windows artfully arranged with creative outfits, antiques, and wears. Might I say once again – fantastic shopping (….even though my eye was drawn to the unaffordable!). We stayed in a lovely bed and breakfast by the sea/lake, our window and terrace overlooking the seaside meadow where horses traversed (Amber Bay – I highly recommend it!).
First things first – we inquired as to where we might find traditional Irish music and dancing (complete with locals of course! No Riverdance shows for us!). A local directed us to Monroe’s Tavern, the hotspot for the local dancing on Tuesday nights. It was fabulous! Amazing! And I hoped not a once in a lifetime experience. Dancers arrived around 9:30, slipping off their street shoes for black shoes similar to character shoes. The majority of the dancers were Irish, but one couple came from the Carolinas (they had been taking lessons in North Carolina and came to Ireland to dance on vacation!), and another was from Poland! She arrived in biker gear, with boots laced from ankle to knee, only to trade them for (extremely loud) set dancing shoes! She seemed to feel that the more noise she made – the better! For Irish music has an unusual beat, kept in time usually by the dancers. Irish dancing (or set dancing) is almost like the reel or other traditional dances that involve partners and the line of people can extend all the way across a room! I watched and talked with a few of the dancers for the entire time they were there. I was thrilled to find out that many of the same dancers frequent the Western hotel on Wednesday night for dancing! Another night of Irish fun!! (If you can’t tell by now! I was and am in love!) To Be Continued…..!
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So great to hear from you! I think I've fixed the links to the pictures so that you can see them. I'm working on uploading some more (I've taken approx 700 more pictures since my last upload! Ah!) Hope you are doing well! Love,
Anna