Literary Ireland: The Literary Pub Crawl

by Neil Woodburn on

Walking tours, as the term implies are cultural tours which involve walking.  Pub Crawls, on the other hand, usually involve a more horizontal form of walking–whether the participants intend this or not.

And then there is the Literary Pub Crawl.  This would be a combination of the above where scholarly and inebriated meet head on, in a collision of grey matter and sudsy matter.

As far as I know, there is only one city on this planet that offers such high-brow/low-brow activity.  This would of course, be Dublin. 

Dublin’s Literary Pub Crawl retraces the steps of Ireland’s most famous writers–Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, and Samuel Beckett among others–as they sallied forth from one pub to another.  The tour is lead by a group of actors who portray the illustrious scribes and takes 2 hours to cover eight pubs and Trinity College.  The price is €8 per person and no, it does not include beer.

Literary Ireland: Dublin’s Author Museums

by Neil Woodburn on

Few cities on this planet have been blessed with the rich literary history that has embraced Dublin over the ages.  The roll call of famous writers who have called Ireland’s capital home is like a mental jaunt through any college literature course; James Joyce, WB Yeats, Samuel Beckett, Oscar Wilde, Jonathan Swift, and George Bernard Shaw.  The list goes on and on.

The Irish greatly revere their men of letters which means that Dublin is awash with tributes, monuments and even pub crawls which honor these great writers. 

But where to start?  Fortunately, The India Times recently ran a rather in-depth article covering the literary landmarks which Dublin has to offer the erudite traveler. 

The wise and scholarly can loiter in the James Joyce Centre, peruse hand-written manuscripts in the Dublin Writers Museum, visit various writers’ homes, and catch a play at the famous Abbey Theatre which launched so much of Beckett’s work. 

Oh, and just in case you find yourself in Dublin with a low-brow philistine, The India Times also delves briefly into less scholarly tourist sites which should prove more entertaining to the simple-minded.  And then, of course, there are the pubs as well. 

Tomorrow we continue our brief tour of Literary Ireland with a walking tour of dives and haunts made famous by Ireland’s literary greats. 

Literary Ireland: Bloomsday

by Neil Woodburn on

Today is June 16.  It is a rather innocuous day for most people.  But not for Leopold Bloom.
 
Mr. Bloom is a literary character and as such, you’d imagine any day written about him would be a rather momentous one to warrant pen to paper.  And June 16 certainly was.  This was the day James Joyce carefully chronicled in what many consider the greatest novel of the 20th century: Ulysses. 

The novel takes place over the course of a single day and was the original 24 long before Keifer Southerland was ever born.  It follows the course of Mr. Bloom as he wanders and weaves his way through Dublin, paralleling Ulysses’ journey home as chronicled by Homer in The Odyssey.  

And you can do the same.

Every year, Dublin celebrates Bloomsday in honor of this lost soul.  There are readings of the book, a road race, and other festivities celebrating Joyce’s masterpiece. 

Fans of the novel, often adorned in period dress, start the day as Bloom did, with a kidney breakfast and then journey out to the Dublin streets and pubs featured in the book, stopping for Burgundy and a Gorgonzola cheese sandwich at Davy Byrne’s Pub.  Few, if any, properly replicate the entire journey which ends in the book at 2 a.m., but the fun is the attempt to do so. 

A wonderful bonus for participants is that the more they drink, the easier it is to begin grasping this otherwise impenetrable novel.  Somewhere between 12 beers and passing out, clear-sited epiphanies usually occur on the streets of Dublin and for one, brief moment, Joyce is finally understood. 

Hanging Ten in Dingle

by Neil Woodburn on

Surfer Alex Wade was looking for a place to hang ten where he could also bring along his non-surfing wife and two kids and ensure that they had a nice time as well. 
After consulting a number of surfing guidebooks, he settled on the Dingle Peninsula in Ireland.

We’ve posted before on Irish surfing, something I thought was an oxymoron until I did some reading up on the topic.  Unfortunately for Wade, who sadly arrived during a window of poor surf, it turned out to be just that; an oxymoron

His search for the perfect Irish wave took him to quaint little Dingle Town where he enjoyed its “arty shops, cafés and restaurants” as well as a chat with the proprietor of the local surf shop who informed Wade he had missed some “pumping” waves only a week earlier. 

The article morphs into more of a land-based travel perspective as Wade fails to locate anything worth riding, but instead discovers the beauty of Dingle Peninsula and friendliness of its people–something which more than compensated for the poor performance of the water.  The trip becomes well worth it and the article ends with Wade claiming that the Dingle Peninsula was the “most beautiful place I have ever surfed in the world.”  And, I believe it. 

 

Surfing Ireland's Monster Waves

by Neil Woodburn on

“Surf’s up,” is rarely cried out in a thick Irish brogue.  It is shouted even more rarely
on the Irish mainland itself—or so you’d expect. 

As it turns out, one of the world’s most perfect waves was recently discovered off the coast of western Ireland
and now, surfboards rolling off the carousal at Shannon Airport is no longer the unimaginable sight it once was. 

This wave isn’t for everyone, however.  It is one of this planet’s true monster waves, soaring
20-30 feet high and requiring a tow-in and death wish for those willing to ride it.  Only about ten people have
done so since last October but the wave, known as Aileen’s, is attracting a lot of attention in the surfing world these
days.  Expect Hawaiian style surf tournaments to make their way here in the near future. 

Part of the allure is the location of the wave that crashes just beyond Ireland’s famous Cliffs of
Mohr.  This amazing stretch of coastal cliffs is a rugged shot of nature and beauty that attracts more than a
million tourists a year.  I’ve stood on the edge of these cliffs and marveled at the crashing waves but
thanks to the cold Irish weather, frigid waters, and rocky conditions, I simply could never have imagined someone would
actually surf out there.  But they are. 

You can see for yourself in a short video clip here.