Had a fantastic day yesterday in Dublin which included a Guinness for lunch at the Temple Bar (doesn't get any more Irish than that!). Some 20,000 steps and I think I had Dublin covered! Even had a view of Lansdowne Road Rugby Park where in 1991 Australia pipped Ireland 19–18 with a last-minute try from Michael Lynagh, coming after the Irish took an unexpected 18–15 lead. The crowd went so silent! Australia went onto win the World Cup - those were the days!! Dublin is a beautiful, walkable city. The weather was perfect, but so many people - everywhere. Not sure how much more tourism some of these cities can take. Even the pubs were bursting and it was only 11am, but maybe they were all Irish! Today did a sensational drive down to Kilkenny and was on the lookout for old monasteries and other obscure things. Managed to find the largest portal tomb in Europe which has a capstone weighing around 150 tons. Built around 4,000BC it has never been evacuated, so no one knows what it was really for but it's believed to be an ancient burial tomb. I then found another amazing place which has an epic name "The Ring of the Rath". Its offical name is Rathgall Hill. At first it appears to simply be a series of rock rings on a small Irish hill but is actually the fortification of an ancient people. It is composed of four rock circles dating back to the Bronze Age in 800 BC. My last full day in Ireland tomorrow when I head back to where I started in Cork.
top of page
bottom of page