DUBAI, January 4, 2011 — Everything about our trip to Ireland was unforgettable, there is a sense of spirituality that reminds me of India, the people are unpretentious, the culture, the coastal towns, the terrain, the flowing streams, the shoreline, the ocean, the rain, the smells, the architecture, people enjoying food and music in restaurants and pubs, young college age kids begging on the street and the economic hardships the country is trying to overcome, all of it touched a chord.
One young man sat begging on the street near Dublin’s Trinity College, displaying a copy of Norman Vincent Peale’s book, The Power of Positive Thinking. It was a poignant moment for me and I couldn’t help slipping him a fiver and telling him that long ago a reference from that book (2 Timothy 1: 7) turned my own life around.
If the arts or history is your focus you will enjoy visiting Dublin for its amazing literary heritage. Ireland’s scholarly tradition goes back over a thousand years to when monks began transcribing great works of art like the Book of Durrow and the Book of Kells and for centuries Irish legends and mythology were written in the vernacular.
My Dublin highlight was a visit to Trinity College founded in 1592, from where many great Irish writers of the 18th Century when Anglo-Irish literature started their careers. Ireland’s first great internationally recognised writer was Jonathan Swift, author of Gullivers Travels, another Dubliner was Oliver Goldsmith author of the Vicar of Wakefield. Bram Stoker, of Dracula fame is undoubtedly Ireland’s most famous horror writer, while other famous 19th Century writers are Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw. Every year on 16th June Dublin celebrates the life of perhaps its most famous son, James Joyce whose novel “Ulysses” established Joyce as one of the great writers of the world. Samuel Beckett, Flann O’Brien, Patrick Kavanagh, Brendan Behan, Seamus Heaney, Michael Longley, Eavan Boland and Maeve Binchy are other well known Irish writers.
Trinity College/Image Holger Leue
Dublin’s main tourist attractions kept us pretty busy: O’Connell Street and the General Post Office, National Museum, Christchurch and St Patrick's Cathedral, Temple Bar, National Gallery, the infamous Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin Castle, Phoenix Park, and the Guinness Storehouse. One of the highlights was an absorbing evening at a Sean O’ Casey play, ‘The Plough And The Stars,’ at Dublin’s renovated 600 seat Abbey Theatre, which was opened by WB Yeats and Lady Gregory in 1904 adding a new dimension to Irish literature. Theatre aficionado or not you cannot get bored in Dublin with its large population of young people, both natives and students, and a constant influx of young, up-for-it tourists all keen to party the Irish way. Dublin is quite a popular weekend destination in Europe, and clubs and bars are a big feature in the city’s pulsating night life with its lively music and dance scene. There are many famous Pubs and guided pub crawls are available for the uninitiated.
Beer lovers should not miss The Guinness Experience, the dramatic 250 year old story of the Guinness brewery in Dublin that ends in Gravity, their sky bar, with a complimentary pint of Guinness at the end of the tour.
If golf is your passion, Ireland has 400 golf resorts in exquisite locations.
Whatever ground transportation you decide to use, the best way to see Dublin is on the ‘Hop On – Hop Off’ bus which will take you to 25 popular sightseeing attractions. Timings change through the year but its starts from designated locations at 9am and the last tour is at 1615 hours. Parking is a major hassle in Dublin so we used the bus and saw all the main attractions over two days, leisurely returning to the ones we wanted to see again, it was also a very convenient way of getting to know the city.
I am sceptical about Indian restaurants in the West and usually avoid those I haven’t checked out. If you must indulge your curry cravings in Dublin be prepared to spend more than you are used to and don’t expect the quality you get in many Asian or Middle Eastern cities, where Indian food lovers are spoilt for choice.We enjoyed different cuisines at a variety of great restaurants like Rolys Bistro, one of the most popular places to eat in Dublin, and Gaby’s Seafood Restaurant in Killarney, where the food was outstanding. Sadly the only disappointment we experienced on the eating out circuit was dining at a pricey Indian place called ‘Jaipur.’ The locals are getting ripped off there by what passes as “authentic” Indian food.
The other big disappointment was finding out that Molly Malone was not who I thought she was – just an ordinary fishmonger who plied her trade on the streets of Dublin. Apparently Ms. Malone had a part time job that was more lucrative than her seafood business. The following lyrics are extracted from the famous unofficial Irish anthem by James Yorkston, which I picked up with gusto when I was a student in St. Columba’s, New Delhi, the best known Irish Christian brothers school in India. Apparently the song does not reveal her true identity it just tells half the story if our driver cum tour guide on the Hop On–Hop Off bus is to be believed. Frank Harte, one of Dublin’s great singers, who also sang Molly’s song, used to say: “Never judge a song by the company it keeps!” The Molly Malone statue on Grafton Street displays Molly’s considerable assets unveiled by the Lord Mayor of Dublin himself in 1988 and June 13 is officially commemorated as Molly Malone Day.
In Dublin’s Fair City
Where the girls are so pretty
I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone
As she wheeled her wheel barrow
Through streets broad and narrow
Crying cockles and mussels alive, alive o!
Chorus
Alive, alive o!, alive, alive o!
Crying cockles and mussels alive, alive o!
Driving across Ireland we came across The Kennedy Homestead, in Dunganstown, County Wexford, birthplace of President John F. Kennedy's great-grandfather Patrick Kennedy. It celebrates the story of five generations of the Kennedy dynasty and besides being a tourist attraction, the farm is still managed by his descendants.
Kennedy homestead/Image Frank Raj
Joining the multitudes of Irish fleeing the Great Famine, Patrick Kennedy departed from his homestead in 1848 to set sail for the United States where his descendants would become probably the world’s most famous political family.
The Kennedy Homestead is a unique cultural museum and visitor centre that celebrates the family history like no other. An epic story it is full of triumph and tragedy from the slums of Boston and the Court of St. James to the White House, that golden era Americans refer to as "Camelot.”
Frank Raj is based in India and the Middle East, where he has lived for over three decades. He is the founding editor of ‘The International Indian’ (www.theinternationalindian.com) the oldest lifestyle magazine of Gulf-Indian society and history since 1992. Frank is also the author of ‘Desh Aur Diaspora,’ and co-author of the ‘Universal Book of the Scriptures.’
Read more of Frank's work here. Email Frank and follow @frankraj08 on Twitter
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