Facts about Ireland and Dublin (I)

Ireland has a weird climate. It rains a lot, and almost every day. Maybe that’s why we haven’t seen any rainer, and maybe that’s why people don’t care about water consume. Irish government has put some advertisements on buses saying “Water is precious. Let’s conserve it.”, but I’m not sure if they really work. Bottled water is very expensive, but we have found the cheapest one (you know it’s the cheapest one for sure when restaurants serve it to you), and costs 1,40 euros a bottle containing two litres, but only at Dunnes Stores‘ supermarkets.

If you ask for water in a bar, restaurant or pub, and you don’t say to the waiter or waitress clear and loud that you don’t want it cold, they serve you an iced glass with a sliver of lemon and cold water… And, of course, you have to ask for ’still water’ if you don’t want ’sparkling water’ (with gas, sort of effervescent water). And what’s more, service charge is NOT always included in the bill, so you have to add an extra charge for the service (I try to avoid this when possible).

Barcelona – Day 20: 25/08/2007

We woke up at 5 am, just to have enough time for the final activities. The taxi left us in the bus stop, and the bus left us at the Dublin Airport at 6:45 am. Our flight departed at 9:45, so we had a lot of time to kill. The flight arrived to Barcelona ten minutes late (we were in an Airbus 320, just like three weeks before). When the plane landed, our journey finished…

This is the class where I have stayed for three weeks, learning English:

Dublin – Day 19: 24/08/2007

This was our last entire day in Dublin. We went back to the hostel for lunch, and then we spent the evening walking by and buying some gifts; we also went to the Dublin Bus Office and asked for another weekly ticket, and so they did. Once back in the hostel, we bagged our belongings and went to sleep at midnight.

Dublin – Day 18: 23/08/2007

Almost everything went according to the plan… We visited Kilmainham Gaol, the main jail of Dublin until the local authorities closed it down in 1924 (see the history of Kilmainham Gaol for more info). The prison, however, has played an important role in Irish history: a lot of leaders of Irish rebellions were imprisoned and some executed here, and you can see their names in the cellings they occuped, in a plate.The tour through the prison lasted an hour, and the guide’s speech was very clear and understandable. It’s easy to divide the prison in a few areas, according to the dates they were built. The older one was built in 1796, and the newest one was built during the georgian period. The jail is dark and annoying, especially the older area. The guided tour ended in the reception desk of the jail, where the prisoners had to leave their properties and receive their ‘new’ uniform and some other stuff.

We went to the jail by bus (78A). When Núria fed the validating machine with her weekly ticket (25 euros), the machine swallowed it… The driver then told us to wait for a couple of minutes, and then he told us to go to the Dublin Bus Office and ask for a copy of the ticket.

Dublin – Day 17: 22/08/2007

Today we arranged to visit Kilmainham Gaol, but the sun was shining brightly and we changed our mind. Núria’s teacher told her that this is the usual Irish climate in summer (and, actually, it’s the second consecutive day without raining). So we took the Dart to Malahide in Tara Station, which is very close to river Liffey, at 15:39 pm, just because we missed the previous train… We got lost trying to reach Malahide Castle and, by the time we found it, they were closing it. The castle was built more than 800 years ago in a lovely and huge garden (about 10 square kilometers).

We spent some time in those huge gardens and then we went to Howth, a peninsula in the northern side of Dublin. Howth is a small coastal village. In its harbor we saw a lot of seals and seagulls, and we can prove it because we photographed them. We spent the evening walking by the coast, and we had dinner in a restaurant next to the Dart station. The dinner was expensive and tasteless, so we left the restaurant as soon as we had paid. No matter how hard you try, it’s almost impossible to have a tasty meal in Ireland, I guess…

Dublin – Day 16: 21/08/2007

Today we arranged to see the house where Bono lived as a child, so after lunch we took the bus and 30 minutes later we where a few streets away from the house (it’s easy to find it if you take the bus 19A). I thought it would be more difficult to find it, but it took us less than ten minutes to get there and take some photographs of it. We had dinner in a pub and, before arriving at the hostel, we spent some time in the Guinness Storehouse, but only in the gifts shop.

Dublin – Day 15: 20/08/2007

After class, we went to the Tourism Office, because we wanted to see the house where Bono was born. It’s quite far away from the city centre, but I think it’s worth. We visited Phoenix Park after a never-ending lunch, because water didn’t seem to begin boiling (we were in the kitchen of the hostel, cooking some pasta). Phoenix Park is one of the largest parks of Europe, and it’s really immense. We had been walking for two hours, approximately. There are some traffic signs announcing that wild deers might cross the road; and it’s true, because we saw more than fifteen of them, and we took some photographs too. After the visit it was time to come back to the hostel. After all, it was a shiny afternoon: the sun was almost blazing up in the sky.

Dublin Reloaded

All the old posts have been revised and improved; what’s more, now they come with photos Next week I’ll upload the remaining posts.

El agua que todo lo purifica

Dicen que en el Reino Unido y en Irlanda llueve mucho. He podido comprobar que en Irlanda, al menos, llueve mucho. Dicen que en el este llueve menos que en el oeste. Pero aún así no hay día en que en el este no se nuble y caigan algunas gotas. El agua lo purifica todo. El agua es un bien preciado y cada vez más escaso. Aquí la deben apreciar bastante porque es carísima.

Pero todo tiene su explicación y es que un país con 40 tonalidades de verde necesita regarse cada día. Aquí no necesitan sistemas de riego, nada de aspersores ni de gota a gota, nada de regar las calles… La lluvia lo limpia todo.

El clima es la explicación de muchas cosas. Explica, por ejemplo, porqué muchas irlandesas llevan falda o traje con bambas o porqué visten con colores más discretos. Explica los horarios de las comidas y de las tiendas (la mayoría cierran a las 18h.).

El agua es buena, la lluvia es buena. Pero el sol también es bueno y un agosto lluvioso y frío no es la concepción que tenemos de verano. Este verano está haciendo un tiempo fuera de lo común. Según dicen, la temperatura en verano puede alcanzar los 30ºC. Ahora ya me lo puedo creer. Hoy ha estado soleado todo el día, hacía hasta calor y podías ir en manga corta. Aunque lo de ir en manga corta es muy relativo, porque ves muchos irlandeses que van en manga corta mientras tú te estás pelando de frío con dos chaquetas.

Irlanda es un país que te cautiva. Dublín no es que tenga monumentos muy emblemáticos, no es una ciudad que podamos decir que es “bonita”. La belleza está en su gente, en su ambiente, en el aire que se respira después de la lluvia, en lo umbrío de sus edificios, en sus parques. Incluso en la lluvia está la belleza: le añade un toque especial.

Staring at the sun

We’re back! Today has been our last day in Dublin, and we are now at home.

Stay tunned, more news and photos will be soon available…