Dublin's Fair City!

-
Well, another wonderful trip to Dublin. We had the luck of the Irish, good weather, not a drop of rain. The Gresham hotel is still a grand old lady, friendly staff,a good breakfast, comfy beds. http://www.gresham-hotels.com/ . (A horrible view of the inner courtyard, pretty dire, but, as it turned out, a blessing in disguise. It meant that the room was very quiet, thank goodness, if we had been at the front of the hotel the traffic in O'Connell street would have kept us awake for sure.)

We had a very busy four days. Apart from the usual trips to the shops, lunch on the green at Trinity, coffee at Bewleys etc. we went to the Gaiety theatre to see a performance of The Rat Pack. http://www.gaietytheatre.ie/ . They were all brilliant, especially "Frank Sinatra", he looked like him, had the mannerisms, and sang like him, great! Some of the women in the audience, who were old enough to know better, were in ecstasy, practically throwing their knickers, (personally, we think it was the drink!) But we did enjoy the show, I recommend it if you get the chance to see it, do.

The next night we went on the Musical Pub Crawl, another excellent night out. Book it at the tourist information centre. The blokes running it were excellent musicians, and shared the history of Irish music with us, everyone was singing by the end of the night. (And, no, it wasn't the drink, (or maybe it was!))

The last night we saw a performance of Noel Coward's Private Lives at the Gate theatre. http://www.gate-theatre.ie/ . It's still funny, even after all this time. The male actors were great, the female ones hadn't got the upper class accent quite right, they were rather too high pitched and squeaky. But we still enjoyed it.

A trip to Powerscourt Gardens was well worth it. The gardens really are spectacular,
especially the rose garden. http://www.powerscourt.ie/ .
The most fun thing we did on this trip was a sightseeing trip around Dublin on an ex-army amphibious vehicle, ending up in the Liffey for a tour around the docks. It is run by Viking Splash Tours http://www.vikingsplash.ie/ . We were trained in the Viking Roar and then proceeded to terrify "Celts" (any group of people) around town during the tour, complete with Viking helmets atop Viking maiden's heads!

All in all, a fantastic trip again, don't you just love the Irish! And I'll still go again when I get the chance!

Popular posts from this blog

British Holiday Websites

-
You can have excellent holidays at home too. We don't always go abroad, we love Britain, especially the South West. Come to our part of the world, check out: www.beautiful-devon.co.uk it's full of Devon tourist and travel information and has lots of lovely pictures. How could you resist us? www.classic.co.uk this is a West Country cottage specialist website representing over 450 self-catering properties in Cornwall, Somerset etc. It will even tell you how far the property is from the sea. www.corncott.com this site offers self-catering holiday accommodation throughout Cornwall at very affordable prices. Your Journey: Coming in the car? Plan your route using either the AA - www.theaa.com or the RAC - http://rp.rac.co.uk/routeplanner for free detailed plans. On the motorway and need a break? Check out www.5minutesaway.co.uk a directory of services and facilities available to motorists within 5 minutes of each motorway junction. Taking the train? Plan your journey and find...
Read more

Dublin For Bloomsday

-
Image
This was our first trip to Dublin, friendliest of cities! Two of us went in June 1999, flying with Ryanair from Bristol, we were there in 40 minutes - great view of Dublin Bay as we came in! We treated ourselves to a superb old hotel called Buswells, very central, great full Irish breakfasts and old world charm. They have their own website, www.quinnhotels.com/buswells.html , but it's worth checking a few others for special offers. Bewley's Coffee House in Grafton Street is an Irish institution and a must see. Check out the stained glass windows. The cakes are fantastic too! Take the open-top bus tour, worth every penny to see all the sights. Another thing all the tourists do is have their picture taken with Molly Malone's statue, what a buxom girl she was! When we were there it was the annual Bloomsday Celebration. This takes place on June 16th and is a celebration of James Joyce and his book Ulysses. Everyone dresses in old fashioned costumes and reenacts the events of ...
Read more

Where are we going next? The Alhambra!

-
Our next holiday is in one weeks time, five of us are going to Spain, near Fuengirola for a week. We are staying here because one member belongs to Club La Costa, www.clublacosta.com and three of us are staying in her apartment and two in an hotel nearby. We are flying with Easyjet from Bristol again, www.easyjet.com . Tip: Sign up for their emailed newsletter, you will get first chance at their special offers and notified when the latest seats are released. Book as soon as you can for the cheapest prices, it gets dearer nearer to departure date. The main reason for the trip is to visit the Alhambra in Granada. (One of us decided she wants to see it before she dies!). www.alhambra.org . I have been emailing coach tour companies today, tying up the loose ends before departure. It looks like we shall be going on a day trip with Viajes Torreblanca, their website has lots of good coach trips on it: http://www.viajestorreblanca.com/ we will give a report of it when we get back. There ar...
Read more