Last day in Ireland

The flight was in the afternoon, so the problem was how to spend the time after the 1000 checkout and have lunch. I realised my EPIC ticket was the solution. It was near the shuttle pickup point and allowed a second visit within a month for free. Also there were lockers and eateries. I didn't have Euro coins left, but I found that a ₤ coin from Belfast worked as a refundable deposit. (I had saved some coins to pay for dinner at Heathrow because NI ₤ notes are not acceptable in shops, but could be exchanged at a bank.)

I took a walk around the Custom House Quay area. I had paid little attention to the River Liffey, and now was the last chance to make up for that.

The Seán O'Casey Bridge crosses the river at this point. An amusing story I just read now is that the bridge which swings to allow boat passage could not be opened between 2010 and 2014 because the remote control was lost.

I walked over to the other bank and took some of the following pictures.

This is the Jeanie Johnston, a replica of the original barque that sailed between Tralee and North America. The original carried many of the Irish fleeing the famine to the New World. Remarkably, thanks to the captain and the ship's doctor, not a single life was lost during all her passages. Ships carrying fleeing emigrants were called coffin ships because of the high death rate from starvation and disease.

Another view of the Jeanie Johnston. In the distance is the harp shaped Samuel Beckett Bridge.

The quay from east to west.

Was Ireland what I expected? For the Wild Atlantic Way it was better than the picture on the box so to speak. I covered key sights between Achill Island and Kinsale. It fully justified the car rental. I would gladly trim days from the cities in exchange for additional days on the WAW. But there are many aspects of Ireland and this was the one I concentrated on.

People ask me if the Irish were chatty as seems to be the popular image. Nobody buttonholed me for a conversation but I got a sense that they are at ease expressing themselves when they do converse. Good natured is the term that comes to mind. Perhaps it's influenced by being recipient of hospitality as Ireland is and has been for a long time geared up to cater for visitors. Céad míle fáilte (a hundred thousand welcomes) is a traditional Irish greeting.

Many of those visitors are ancestrally Irish and have come back to see the "old country". Later that day there was a long queue at check-in due to many USAn passengers going home.

When people think of Ireland it's usually the tumultuous events of the last century that come to mind first. But Ireland has a long history which I did not explore more than superficially, going back to prehistoric settlement, then a Celtic culture. Then there were Viking arrivals. The arrival of the British divided the island into a Protestant minority and a Catholic majority, setting the stage for future conflict.

The Famine Memorial is a set of sculptures that represent the defining event in Irish history that also changed the world. The proximate cause of the famine was the failure of the potato crop due to blight. In fact blight also struck other European nations but the effect was more pronounced in Ireland due to mono-crop dependency. The famine was exacerbated by the inadequate response of the ruling government.

Even today, weather forecasts in Ireland warn farmers when conditions are ripe for blight, then they can take measures.

Before my trip, one piece of news gave me a favourable impression of the Irish. When war broke out in Ukraine, the Irish government set up a website where people could pledge accommodation for refugees. Within 4 days people had crashed the website with 4000 registrations. You've gotta love such big hearted people.

Another thing that impressed me was how progressive Ireland has become. They have shaken off years of church-led conservatism by legalising abortion and enshrining LGBT rights. Leo Varadkar who is gay and of mixed parentage served as their head of government. Dublin was crowded when I was there due to pride week. I read somewhere that the change is partly due to the greater proportion of youth in the population compared with other European nations.

I did use my ticket to revisit a couple of EPIC displays I liked. One was a film about the beginnings of the Irish Dance phenomenon that swept the world with Riverdance. Very impressive footwork.

The other was this montage of notable people of Irish ancestry who have influenced the world. Can you spot Paul Keating peeking out of the top right of the text panel?

Is there a typical Irish look? Well they are already a mix of settlers over centuries and their descendants are all over the world so it might be just imagination, but I think the proportion of red haired people is slightly greater in Ireland.

I had an excellent chicken and leek soup with bread lunch, then caught the shuttle to the airport, and a few hours later, it was goodbye to Ireland.