Last evening after I posted yesterday’s blog, several of us took an Uber to a pub that advertised Irish music 7 days a week…..@7:30, for dinner as well. Food was great but music was “Guns and Roses” at 9 pm. Disappointed we all were.

Our guide today is Alan

Price of housing is so costly “because they quit building public housing 30 years ago so now there aren’t enough homes and no one to build them”….. sounds familiar. 

Times have changed in Ireland. Used to be that once a woman married she had to quit working. It took till 2010- that you were allowed to ask a doctor for condoms. Then in 2015- same-sex marriages were legally allowed by “a vote” …. the first in Europe.

1980-18%(so govt said)-60% (otherwise thought) was the unemployment rate. In 2025 there was only 4% unemployment. 

In 1996-3rd level education became free… so now there are no “trades”. 

Dublin is main headquarters for all tech companies in Europe. Apple paid 13 B tax in ‘24. 

Kilmaingam Gaol… housed political prisoners from rebellions for independence…including execution of 14 leaders of 1916 Easter Uprising.

Stopped at Kilbeggan-the oldest whiskey distillery in Ireland, for bathroom break & coffee/tea. Walking back to the bus we were hit with hail.

Athlone… army base, has a connection with Palestinians. The city was founded by Vikings because of the River Shannon connection. Stopping at Sean’s Bar, the oldest bar in world is in Athlone. 

“Timmy”… tells us about Athlone and Sean’s Bar. It’s been around since 900 AD.  Walls from the building from the 1700’s were made with woven wicker & horse hair (wattle).  There is a patch on the wall but rest is in national museum. The floor is sloped toward the river because it provides a drain toward the river Shannon when it floods. The tidal estuary is 102 kms long but the river is 360 kms long. Most towns are built around a castle but here in Athlone, the pub was built first in 900 AD …. The oldest established bar in the world. Named Luain’s Inn originally, renamed Sean’s in 1954(?)

Athlone had first stagecoach in Ireland. 

“Timmy”…(I think he was a bartender owner of Sean’s Bar) was writing a manuscript the “old” way…. by hand” using info gleaned back and forth, from the museum in Dublin ….  19 years in the making …. for a book, a history channel and Netflix documentary …..was cancelled because his dogs ate his manuscript. He’s working on it again.

Monks turned perfumes from Spain into whiskey. Aquivit (water of life) made from whiskey, Vikings started in Ireland.  Irish monks were the biggest bootleggers in the work. Whish-kababa, (from the original town’s name Ishikeran… not sure if that the exact name…. Became “whiskey” after 12-13 drinks.

It used to be that 8-14 pints of beer were the rations/day in the army.

“Blind drunk” comes from ….”first take off the barrel is pure Ethel alcohol must not be drunk because it will cause blindness. “Hungover” comes from the drunks being draped over a boom til they sobered up. 

Irish whiskey must be aged 3 years plus 1 day…. So that it is older than Scotch whiskey which is aged 3 years. 

Galway…. Is a university city. We walked over the “raging” River Corrib on a pedestrian bridge, then walked alongside to the harbour. There is the lovely old pedestrian street “Shop Street”with shops and pubs, of course….. and Lynch’s Castle from the 15/16th century. Then back across to the cathedral. Along the way were a bunch of teens from a private school celebrating a pre-grad…. all dressed up but some were “pissed to the gills”. They did not impress our guide.

I’m tired and want to go to bed so there maybe some errors… sorry