Day 7

 

Day 7 – Dun Laoghaire

Another day of no rain.  We took a train to Dun Leary (correctly spelled Dun Laoghaire), a very nice city south of Dublin. It is a fishing port and a ferry depot.  We walked on the east pier (there are two – east and west – of approximately the same length, and each has a lighthouse at the end) to the lighthouse. It is one of the longest piers in Ireland – about 1.5 km and it has two levels. There were a lot of people walking, many with dogs even though it was cloudy and windy. The views of the Dublin Bay were great. We then went to the National Maritime Museum of Ireland. It is housed in a 180-year old Mariner’s Church, which is quite beautiful in its own right.  The museum was fascinating and we could have spent hours there.  We were accompanied by a docent, a very knowledgeable and chatty lady, who told us countless stories from Irish maritime history. One of the exhibitions was about RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) and lifeboats. RNLI is a volunteer-based organization set up in 1824 that is responsible for most (or all?) sea rescues off the coast of Ireland. We then walked past the very modern and impressive library, which unfortunately was closed because today is a bank holiday in Ireland. Supposedly, from the top floor of the library you can get the best view of the whole Dublin Bay. After a seafood lunch, we walked up and down the main street of this bustling town. We even came across a Polish shop called “Polski Sklep”. On the train back, we met two ladies who have been traveling back and forth on the same train line because somehow they managed to get on the train going in the wrong direction… No idea how they could possibly do that.







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