I used to include the Famine Memorial on maybe one in every five tours. Depends on the group. If they looked like they could handle something heavier than anecdotes about …
Some pubs are built for talking. Others are built for people who’ve already done enough of that and just want to sit down without being asked what their plans are …
I gave walking tours of Dublin for years. Not fancy ones — the kind where you start outside a coffee chain and end up next to a bin explaining to …
I spent twenty years walking Dublin’s streets giving tours. In that time, I had more one-sided conversations with statues than I ever did in my last relationship. Not on purpose. …
Crossing O’Connell Street shouldn’t be an ordeal. It’s not that wide. There are traffic lights. You’d think people would manage. They don’t. Locals dart like they’ve just robbed something. Tourists …
Every Dubliner’s got an opinion on where to get the best pint. They’ll argue about it for hours, usually in a place that doesn’t even serve Guinness. I’ve had good …
I don’t tell this one on tours. Not because it’s embarrassing — though it is — but because it doesn’t fit neatly between the statues and the shopping tips. You …
This one’s important. People don’t ask it on the tour — too polite — but you can see it in their eyes about twenty minutes in. Happens just after the …
You don’t need to read Ulysses to talk about Joyce in Dublin. Most of us haven’t. Including a fair few English lit grads who pretend they have. I’ve skimmed bits, …
There’s nothing wrong with wanting a Guinness in Dublin. In fact, it’s practically law. But if you’ve just landed off the airport bus, wandered into Temple Bar, and paid €9.20 …