Day Three May 12, Dublin, Ireland

Gareden of Remembrance Dublin, Ireland

I had not scheduled anything for today, Sunday.  I had planned on leaving the day open to see what developed. One of the questions some have asked is, ‘ why stop in Dublin and not go directly  to France’? Two reasons, after reading Frank Delaney’s novel ‘Ireland’ I wanted to learn more about this interesting country, its history and the ongoing tensions between Protestants and Catholic’s and as I read more about the Camino I learned there was thought to be a Celtic connection between Ireland and Galatia in northern Spain an area I would be walking through at the end of my walk. Later in the day I booked a walking tour in northern Dublin titled ‘Rebellion and Revolution ‘ thinking this may answer some of my questions about the tensions here and I was not disappointed.

Those in my book group will be jealous as the tour started at Post Office site of the 1916 rebellion detailed in Delaney’s book. We walked up Moore Street and through the neighborhood’s where much of the book events, based on fact, happened. The guide was very passionate as he told the story stating his grandfather was one of 75 rebels captured and sentenced to be executed but was one of those pardoned after 16 others had been shot. It was a nice walk and a great opportunity to learn more of the Irish history.

Much of what I had read about the Celtic connection was contradictory. Yes there were Celts in Spain and certainly Ireland, from 500 BC to 800 AD when the Vikings arrived. But there was no written history left by the Celts. Is there a connect between the two locations? No one really knows. And my tour guided that everything he had read was inconclusive.

Tomorrow I will take a tour up to Northern Ireland with a chance to learn a little more.

PS Loading photos is crushing the band width and is taking far to long to deal with. I am going to have to limit the photos going forward. When I get home I will try to put together a photo package that I can share.

The attached picture is where Queen Elizabeth came to lay a writh as a sign of hope that tension between the Protestants and Catholics could start to heal.