Bloomsday Eve

June 15, 2025

With two days in Dublin to take in Bloomsday-related festivities, I set out this morning to hit a few. First, I booked a spot on a Poetry & Music Stroll with a singer and songwriter Remco Jacobs. It was held at Sweny’s pharmacy with a walk to Merino Square and to the former Finn Hotel.

First though, like Leopold Bloom and many Joyce fans before me, I bought a bar of lemon wax soap.

Mr Bloom raised a cake to his nostrils. Sweet lemony wax.

Then the 20ish people on the tour all crowded into the cozy Sweny’s, not unlike the very tight quarters where we saw flamenco performed in Granada, but with a lot more piles of stuff around! Sweny’s is full of old apothecary items, photos, books, hats. A man spoke a bit about Joyce and how Leopold Blooms visit to Sweny’s fits into the story, then Remco sang some songs that were mentioned in Joyce books or written based on Joyce’s writings. It was lovely!

We then walked to Merrion square and did a dive into Oscar wilde’s life. Joyce wrote about Wilde and the Oscar Wilde family home is right there in the corner of merrion square so it was interesting and very adjacent. Then we went to merrion square for a few more songs, then to see the former Finn Hotel, where Nora Barnacle (Joyce’s wife) worked and where they had their first date, on June 16, 1904. Yes, the date that he then set Ulysses on!

Former Finn Hotel

Then back to Sweny’s for some love songs to celebrate Jane’s and Nora’s first date that gave us Ulysses.

Remco and his girlfriend Juliana sing a song together – it was a really sweet song that he wrote for her!
Then we all sang ‘love’s old sweet song’ (lyrics handed out) which was alluded to in Ulysses as a song Molly Bloom sang.

Next, I hopped back on the DART (quick costume change to put on my swimsuit under my clothes in the bathrooms at pearse street station) to sandycove and walked south to the 40 foot swimming area. Readers may remember that last year we swam at sandycove, mistaking it for the 40 foot. Anyway, I’ve now made it into the 40 foot!

Intimidating signs but once I saw the warning was potential illness rather than potential blindness it seemed worth the risk
Clearly at the right place!
Main swim area
After swim and shower
Swim area from the path that leads to the Martello tower, where chapter 1 of Ulysses takes place. Buck mulligan, Haines and Stephen Daedalus walked down this way to get to the bathing area (where only stately, plump buck mulligan gets in). Stephen Daedalus notes that all of Ireland is bathed daily by the Gulf Stream.
Close up of where I swam, from the little arch way in the left to near the splash at the right and back. I kept my head out due to the illness warnings!

Then back the way I’d come, I took the dart back north to malahide, where paddy collected me from the station and we then had a lovely salmon dinner made by Kathleen. Lovely day and evening, thanks everyone!

5 Comments on “Bloomsday Eve”

  1. Looks like a great tour! And nice to cover two great authors with Wilde in there as well. I was a small bit alarmed to read about costume change in Pearse st station but glad you made it to the 40 foot!

    1. I’d give the changing experience there a solid 7! And agree about nice addition of Wilde!

  2. Sweny’s pharmacy looks fascinating! I’m curious to hear what lemon wax soap is like!

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