Friday, July 25, 2014, 5:15 a.m. our Aer Lingus flight lands in Dublin.
Dublin International Airport
(Satellite view of Ireland from the air)
Ireland time is 5 hours ahead of Michigan time. For example, mid-night in Ithaca is 5:00 a.m. the next day in Dublin.
Ireland Itinerary Overview
Wednesday, July 23, 2014 Meet in Chicago at Embassy Suites Chicago – O’Hare/Rosemont 5500 North River Road, Rosemont, Illinois 60018 847-678-4000
Thursday, July 24, 2014 Depart Chicago O’Hare airport at 3:50 p.m, arrive Dublin July 25th, 5:15 a.m. Dublin time
Fri 25th – Dublin city tour Kilmainham -Athlone- Tullamore distillery tour – Shannon boat trip – Athlone
Sat 26th – Athlone – Corlea Trackway- Irish national famine museum- Irish museum of country life – Westport
Sun 27th – Westport- Achill island- Croagh Patrick – Westport
Mon 28th – Westport – Sligo- Drumcliffe- Mullaghmore- Lake isle of Innisfree boat trip – Westport
Tues 29th – Westport – Ceide fields or sheep dog demonstration
Wed 30th – Westport- Connemara tour to include all sights requested- Kylemore -Renvyle- Letterfrack- Clifden – Roundstone Tully Cross
Thurs 31st – Tully Cross – Aran islands- Inishmore- Tully Cross
Fri 1st August – Tully Cross – Cliffs of Moher – Dunguaire castle- the Burren-Athlone
Sat 2nd. August -Athlone – Clonmacnoise -Shannonbridge – Tullamore distillery tour – Dublin Guiness Storehouse
Sun 3rd August – Depart Dublin Airport 11:30 a.m. Arrive Chicago O’Hare 1:50 p.m. Chicago time.
Todays’s itinerary (Friday, July 25, 2014)
1. Tour of Dublin City including: the River Liffey; O’Connell Street; Ha”Penny Bridge; General Post Office; Kilmainham Jail; Temple Bar
HA’PENNY BRIDGE (over the River Liffey, downtown Dublin)
Originally called the Wellington Bridge (after the Duke of Wellington), the name of the bridge changed to Liffey Bridge. The Liffey Bridge (Irish: Droichead na Life)[1] remains the bridge’s official name to this day, although it is still commonly referred to as the Ha’penny Bridge.
Before the Ha’penny Bridge was built there were seven ferries, operated by a William Walsh, across the Liffey.[2] The ferries were in a bad condition and Walsh was informed that he had to either fix them or build a bridge. Walsh chose the latter option and was granted the right to extract a ha’penny toll from anyone crossing it for 100 years.[citation needed] Initially the toll charge was based, not on the cost of construction, but to match the charges levied by the ferries it replaced. A further condition of construction was that, if the citizens of Dublin found the bridge and toll to be “objectionable” within its first year of operation, it was to be removed at no cost to the city.[3]
The toll was increased for a time to a Penny Ha’penny (one and a half pence), but was eventually dropped in 1919. While the toll was in operation, there were turnstiles at either end of the bridge.
O’CONNELL STREET – DUBLIN
Located in the heart of Dublin city, O’Connell Street forms part of a grand thoroughfare created in the 18th century that runs through the centre of the capital, O’Connell Bridge, Westmoreland Street, College Green and Dame Street, terminating at City Hall and Dublin Castle. Situated just north of the River Liffey, the street has a fine axial positioning, running close to a north-south orientation. Lined with many handsome buildings, O’Connell Street is the most monumental of Dublin’s commercial streets, having been largely rebuilt in the early 20th century following extensive destruction in the struggle for Irish independence and subsequent civil war. It has the air of an imposing 1920s boulevard, with signature stone-faced neoclassical buildings such as Clerys department store complemented by the more subtle grain of elegant bank and retail premises. O’Connell Street Upper by contrast retains something of its original 18th century character, with the western side conforming to original plot widths and some original fabric still intact.
The street’s layout is simple but elegant. Not dissimilar to Paris’s Champs-Élysées, though more intimate in scale, it has a wide pavement each side of the street serving the retail outlets that line its length, and a parallel pair of two-lane (formerly three-lane) roadways. A paved median space runs down the centre of the street, featuring monuments and statues to various Irish political leaders. The famous large London Plane trees that lined the median for the second half of the 20th century were removed in 2003 amidst some controversy, with the oldest of these at the northern end planted c. 1903 being cut down in 2005 – all as part of an extensive regeneration scheme recently completed by Dublin City Council.
The centre of the street is dominated by the imposing presence of the 1818 General Post Office (GPO) with its hexastyle Ionic portico projecting over the west pavement, and the 120 m (393 ft) Spire of Dublin, a needle-like self-supporting sculpture of rolled stainless steel erected in 2003. Both structures are addressed by a large civic plaza space, traversed by the street’s two roadways.
O’Connell Street has often been centre-stage in Irish history, attracting the city’s most prominent monuments and public art through the centuries, and formed the backdrop to one of the 1913 Dublin Lockout gatherings, the 1916 Easter Rising, the Irish Civil War of 1922, the destruction of the Nelson Pillar in 1966, and many public celebrations, protests and demonstrations through the years – a role it continues to play to this day. State funeral corteges have often passed the GPO on their way to Glasnevin Cemetery, while today the street is used as the main route of the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade, and as the setting for the 1916 Commemoration every Easter Sunday. It also serves as a major bus route artery through the city centre.
THE GENERAL POST OFFICE
During the Easter Rising of 1916, the GPO served as the headquarters of the uprising’s leaders. The building was destroyed by fire in the course of the rebellion and not repaired until theIrish Free State government took up the task some years later. The facade is all that remains of the original building. An original copy of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic is on display in the An Post museum at the GPO, where an exhibition, Letters, Lives & Liberty, highlights the history of the Post Office and the GPO. The building has remained a symbol of Irish nationalism. In commemoration of the Rising, a statue depicting the death of the mythical hero Cúchulainn sculpted by Oliver Sheppard in 1911 is housed in the front of the building and was featured on the Irish ten shilling coin of 1966. Despite its fame as an iconic place of Irish freedom, ground rent continued to be paid to English and American landlords until the 1980s.[3]
KILMAINHAM GAOL
Kilmainham Gaol (Irish: Príosún Chill Mhaighneann) is a former prison located in Kilmainham in Dublin, which is now a museum. It has been run since the mid-1980s by the Office of Public Works (OPW), an Irish government agency. Kilmainham Gaol played an important part in Irish history, as many leaders of Irish rebellions were imprisoned and some executed in the prison by the British and in 1923 by the Irish Free State.
TEMPLE BAR
Temple Bar (Irish: Barra an Teampaill) is an area on the south bank of the River Liffey in central Dublin, Ireland. Unlike the areas surrounding it, Temple Bar has preserved its medieval street pattern, with many narrow cobbled streets. It is promoted as Dublin’s cultural quarter and has a lively nightlife that is popular with tourists, with locations such as The Temple Bar Pub, Oliver St.John Gogargty’s and the Auld Dubliner proving to be traditional Irish hotspots. Temple Bar is in the postcode Dublin 2 (D2), and has an estimated population of 3,000.
ATHLONE (Home Town of our Irish Guide, Geoffery)
The Town of Athlone is recognised throughout Ireland as the biggest town nearest the centre of Ireland. The town is situated almost halfway between the countries two major cities, Dublin and Cork, and has always been an important crossing point on the river Shannon.
Athlone is one of the biggest towns on the Shannon River, and as such has a great deal to offer. There is a wide variety of pubs and restaurants to choose from, as well as major department stores and fast food outlets. Despite the rapid expansion of this bustling town, it has managed to retain its’ old world charm within the narrow streets.
Athlone is at the foot of lough Ree, one of the biggest lakes to be crossed while cruising the Shannon, and as such offers a wealth of water related sports and activities.
SHANNON RIVER CRUISE – ATHLONE
The River Shannon (Irish: Abha na Sionainne / an tSionainn / an tSionna) is the longest river in Ireland at 360.5 km (224 miles).[1]
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