The Day of the Big Bus Tour

 The sun was shining as Mark, Julie, Wallsy and I set out to forage for breakfast this morning. A nice little cafe in Dublin Heuston Railway Station provided exactly what we needed. Fuelled for the day, we returned to the hotel to meet up with Carolyn and David in the foyer, where we held protracted discussions about the plan for the day. 


It was agreed that a Hop on Hop off bus tour would be a good way to start, but which company should we go with? Did we want the 24 or 48 hour ticket? Did we want to add a river cruise? Would we use the included night tour if we bought the 48 hour ticket? This, and many more questions kept us talking and debating the pros and cons for a good half an hour. 

We finally decided on the Big Bus Tours option and set out for the bus stop near the hotel. On board, we enjoyed the live commentary of the young Irish driver. Unfortunately, before we had completed the full circuit, it was time for his break and we had to change buses and drivers. The commentary from the second driver wasn’t quite as entertaining but we only went a few stops before we decided to get out at St Stephen’s Green and walk up busy Grafton st to Bewley’s for coffee and a light lunch anyway. We paid our respects to the statue of Phil Lynott on our way to the next bus stop around the corner at College Green. 






The ‘canned’ commentary on this next bus was not to our taste, so we jumped out at St Patrick’s Cathedral for a brief wander through the colourful St Patrick’s Park, in the hope that the next bus to come along would  have live commentary, ideally provided by driver number one again. However we were not to be blessed with the luck of the Irish today, and the subsequent bus also had the very annoying pre-recorded commentary. 


Hopping off at stop 24 we walked along Bachelors Walk and up O’Connell st to the GPO building, a symbol of modern Irish independence, which still wears its battle scars from the Easter Rising of 1916. Inside the magnificent building which still operates as a General Post Office, we found a lovely coffee shop where we could rest and recuperate. It also had an interesting history display to engage the history buffs among us. 


Outside, we planned to regroup to find a dinner venue at 5:30 and then catch the 7pm night bus tour. Realising it was cooling down rapidly, and he had come out without a jumper, Wallsy decided to return to the hotel before dinner, so we walked the 30 minutes back along the River Liffey to grab something a little warmer,  and then caught the Big Bus back to O’Connell st to meet up with the rest of the group. 


Dinner was sourced after a bit of trouble finding somewhere that could feed us all before 7, but David worked his charm at Flanagan’s Restaurant and we were soon fed and watered and ready to go again. At stop 1 we again boarded the bus for the hour-long night tour, although it was more of a twilight tour, as being summertime, it was not at all dark, which meant we had to use our imagination when the driver described the lighting of various buildings after dark. 





It was a long day, but a great day, as new friendships formed and old ones were cemented while the Big Bus drove us round and round. 

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