BEYOND DUBLIN CITY….BRAY, GREYSTONES, AND HOWTH
After seeing most of the popular tourist sites in Dublin, I decided to take advantage of my discounted "Rambler" bus pass and head out of town by bus. Heading south of Dublin, first past Dalkey to Kiliney, home of some of Ireland's wealthiest celebrities like Bono and film director Neil Jordan (The Crying Game). I’ve decided to go to Bray, located about 20 kilometers south of Dublin along the coast. Its home to a pub that the Lonely Planet guide book boasts as “perhaps the best pub in Ireland". Since it wasn’t drinking time yet, I got back on the bus and headed further south to view Greystones. A pleasant journey, through hills, with the calm sea on my left, Greystones turned out to be a little town mostly full of shops. One, called "The High Society Hat Hire" was currently closed for "renovations". I wonder how much call there is for hiring hats for high society events these days. Hmmm. Perhaps they’re out of business. After walking around for an hour I made my way back to Bray and headed straight to the Harbour Bar, written up as "something special" in my guide book. What a cool, bohemian place! It’s dark and surreal with several separate rooms and a lingering smell of Haight/Ashbury incense. I’m charmed by its funky character. One of the rooms features a giant Moose head on the wall which was donated by a regular patron, the actor Peter O'Toole. The pubs owners, Paul O'Toole Sr. and Jr (no relation to Sir Peter) are very nice. Paul Sr. told me that Neil Jordan visited recently to film an episode of his upcoming film "Breakfast on Pluto" at the pub. Paul Sr. was given a bit role playing (what else?), a bartender and showed me the write-up in the local paper. Bray is also home to Dell Computers in Ireland and Ardmore Studios, Ireland's biggest Indie-film company too. The locals are quite friendly (as they are in every place I’ve been so far) and I was one of the few customers from Hawaii they’ve served. The next day, I took the bus north from Dublin instead and wound up in Howth (as in "both"). Evidently, the Edge from U2 makes his home here. It's right on the sea, with a lovely walk along with cliffs. From here you can view the "Ireland Eye" a protected bird sanctuary, and an old lighthouse. The town of Howth is full of lovely, large homes. Wearing layers on this walk were welcome, even though a bright sunny day, it's been very windy.