Dublin, a city famous for writers (among other attractions),
not the least of them James Joyce (Ulysses, The Dubliners), Shaw, Yeats and
Pearse, is our stop of the day.
The city dates back to around 9th century in Viking
Times. Its original name was Baile Atha Cliath, meaning ``town of the hurdled
ford`` in Gaelic. The present name of Dublin appears to derive from the Irish
word Dubhlinn, meaning black pool.
It is home to Trinity College, famous for housing the most
beautifully illustrated manuscripts `The Book of Kells` written around 800 AD.
It is bound into four volumes, two of them on public display attracting more
than 500,000 visitors each year.
Dublin Castle still stands strong since around 1169 when the
Norman invasion took place. Guinness
beer brewing dates back 250 years, and Jamieson Whiskey distillery started
making whiskey in 1780.
One of the best known Dublin Pubs, dispensing above
beverages in huge quantities since centuries is the Temple Bar, with its own
chequered history involving near execution of Sir William Temple, founder who
lived in Elizabethan times and was instrumental in plots to overthrow Elizabeth
I and put James the First of Scotland on the thrown instead. In general he
lived an interesting life of scandal and intrigue (as did his Irish
descendants) – the Temple Bar keeps his memory alive.
Irish whiskey is the oldest in the world dating back to
monastic Ireland. The name derives from ‘uisce’, Gaelic for ‘water of life’.
The word evolved into ‘fuiskey’ when the English asked for the drink during
medieval times. By 1770 there were in excess of 1200 whiskey distilleries in
Ireland, most of them illegal. The number diminished, until by 1822 only twenty
legitimate ones were left. One of the survivors in Bushmills, which was founded
during Elizabeth I reign. Jamieson’s dates back to 1780, so is a relative ‘newcomer’.
A little bit of whiskey trivia – Mark Twain said of it: Too
much of anything is bad, but too much whiskey is barely enough.
Winston Churchill opined thusly: God invented whiskey to
keep the Irish from ruling the world.
I made my way on foot through most of downtown Dublin…visiting
the old Dublin Castle, Christ Church Cathedral, St Patrick`s Cathedral, Trinity
College and down Grafton Street with the usual international `high-end` stores
represented along its entire length. For the souvenir seekers, Waterford stores
abound. Irish knitwear and Celtic inspired jewellery and pottery covered with
green clover-leafs are offered for sale especially along Nassau Street.
I looked for the statue of Molly Malone in vain, as half of
the city was torn up in summer road reconstruction work – no hindrance to
exploring the immensely walkable city, nor to finding a little corner bar
(every corner has one) for a meal of fish and chips and pint.
Our on board Irish entertainment brought an Irish orchestra
and dancers to the stage of the Prinsendam – a veritable treat of lively Irish dancing
in the`Riverside`tradition – an apt finale to a visit to a city which lists
among the top thirty cities in the world by the `Globalization and World Cities
Research Network`. For us regular travellers it offers a myriad of opportunities
and sights to take in – too many to do more than a taste of some of them.
