South Africa to Ireland

Hazyview to Johannesburg

From Hazyview it was a pleasant 5 hour trip back to Johannesburg airport. We allowed ourselves plenty of time, but in the end got there way too early, and had to kill several hours wandering around the airport.

The flight was a Lufthansa 747, non-stop from Johannesburg to Frankfurt - a 10 hour overnight effort. The seat spacing was tighter than on the Singapore airlines flight into Johannesburg, and quite claustrophobic. We're seriously thinking of ging business class for any future long trips. The incremental cost taken against the overall cost of the holiday is not that great, but the benefits would make it worth while.

At Frankfurt we had another long wait for our connecting flight to Dublin. This airport is a huge mega-hub, but has surprisingly little to offer the transit passenger (compared with Changi, for instance).

We got a last minute (no cost) upgrade to business class, which was very nice. But on such a short sector, and coming just as we boarded the aircraft, it was of limited value.

Dublin

Picked up our car at the airport (a Pugeot 307 5 door diesel) and drove at a very leaisurely pace to the B&B. Even at 1:00 in the afternoon, the motorway was congested and moving very slowly.

We are staying at St Jude's B&B in the suburb of Rathmines. It was well down on our list of favourites, but all the good ones were booked out. Won't speak too soon, as we haven't seen the other B&Bs yet, but it's a far cry from the standard of Rissington inn. Poky little room, no tea or coffee facilities in the room, and no guest lounge. To say nothing of the plastic-lined sheets! On the positive side, breakfast was great and the landlady Mrs Boyle is a lovely old thing.

Dublin city as a mixed bag - some magnificent old (real old!) buildings and lots of history. But it was also very crowded, with dense jostling crowds. O'Connell Street - the main street of Dublin, has been dug up from end to end for a new development - come back in 18 months.

The highlight for us was Trinity College - Ireland's foremost university, founded by Queen Elizabeth the first. We saw the school attended by Jonathan Swift, Samuel Becket and Oscar Wilde. Beautiful old buildings set around a series of courtyards. A spectacular library, with what is claimed to be the biggest reading room in the world (65 metres long). And sitting in a display case in the reading room is the famed harp of Brian Boru. It wasn't actually owned by Boru, having been made a long time after his death. But it is still the oldest harp in Ireland.

The most famous exhibit at Trinity is the Book of Kells. It's a beautifully made made copy of the four gospels, scribed and illuminated by monks in the year 800 (approx). The exhibit and al the supporting displays are extremely well done - so much so that the book itself was a little bit of an anticlimax.