Dublin and Sligo, Ireland – 04/27 – 04/28

(Michelle) TJ went for a little run to Phoenix park… I found a good excuse to get out of the running as I am experiencing my first health issue – a good sinus infection. After TJ returned we got some food from the Spar (convenient store) and sat outside on a lovely skinny street where about 30 busses sprayed exhaust on our food. At least we were in the sun. It is so chilling in Dublin in the shade. We took the city bus to the Kilmainham Gaol, which is a jail that housed many of the Irish ‘rebels’ from 1799 until 1922. We treated ourselves to a nice dinner at a Thai restaurant, which is the best food we have had since we got here. Then we headed out on one more attempt to hear some Irish music. We stopped in for a beer at Stag’s Head, which is supposed to be a favorite. It was pretty packed. We just stayed for one and then we headed to O’Donoghue’s. This bar was even more packed than Stag’s Head, we hung out here for a while and they did have local music, but it was really hard to hear it. You had to sit really close to the front to hear anything. We still had a good time there though.
Saturday morning we left Dublin for Sligo – Northwest Coast. After we got here, we headed over to the Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery. The burial remains there have been dated back to 4000 B.C. Sligo is a smaller town and we weren’t sure if there was a local way to get there so we walked. It was about 4 miles through country roads. TJ had a good time talked to the cows and the sheep along the way. We probably walked a total of 10 miles today… at the end of the day the dogs were barking.

(TJ) Kilmainham Gaol was a great place to see an 18th Century/Victorian Jail, it also has a good exhibit on the Easter rising (and subsequent executions) and Irish civil war. We went on a guided tour that was very good. Apparently the jail has been in several films such as In the Name of the Father, Michael Collins and also a U2 video was filmed there.