Dublin

Alright, so, the next big adventure of Spring Break was to go back to Dublin for a whole weekend - without all the crazy drunk people who inhabited the city on St. Paddy's Day. So grandma and I packed our bags and took the bus to Dublin to spend the weekend in a hostel, which was a first for both of us. But hey, vacation calls for being spontaneous and doing new things right? Turns out hostels can be really fun and we had a great time. Prepare yourself for a really long blog since we had a very action packed weekend!

Dublin is the largest and most populated city in Ireland with over 1 million people living in the urban areas, definitely not a place you can visit in a day and expect to see everything there is to see. Even in the two and a half days we were there there was so much more we didn't see. But between visiting cafes and shopping til we dropped we had an amazing time in Dublin and I plan on visiting one more time before flying home.

 

This is Abbey Court, the hostel we stayed in. Right off the main street and across from the River Liffey, it was located in a very convenient place for catching the bus and for shopping....and more importantly it was only a 5 minute walk from Starbucks! The people who worked there were extremely nice and helpful, and it is a place I would go back and stay at if I ever go back to Dublin. 

One of the first places we went was Trinity College, located right in the heart of the city centre. The university dates all the way back to 1592, when it was founded by Queen Elizabeth 1, and is the oldest in all of Ireland. Famous historical figures who graduated from Trinity College include Jonathan Swift and Oscar Wilde, the authors of A Modest Proposal and The Picture of Dorian Gray.

While originally a Protestant school, Trinity college has now become widely known for its Catholic population. It wasn't until the late 1960s that Catholics were able to be freely admitted. The whole university takes up about 40 acres of land and has an abundance of spectacular architecture that attracts visitors from all around the world.

One of the biggest attractions in Trinity College is of course the Book of Kells. This was a must see for grandma and I. The Book of Kells is an amazingly beautiful manuscript from the Middle Ages which contains the Four Gospels: Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John. Produced in a monastery on the Isle of Iona, which is located in Scotland, the manuscript was moved to Ireland sometime around the 9th century after a Viking raid. It is extremely well preserved and is one of the most precious historical and religious artifacts in Ireland, only having suffered minimal water damage to some of the pages and missing the front cover - which to this day has still never been found. The Book of Kells was made out of calf skin pages (over 600 of them have survived), written entirely in Latin, and has exquisite artwork inside.

Directly above the Book of Kells exhibit is another Irish treasure: The Long Room. The library has the largest collection of books in all of Ireland and was built in the early to mid-1700s. It is just over 200 feet long and 42 feet wide, housing approximately 200,000 of Ireland's oldest books in 21 alcoves. Originally the Long Room was only a single story, however in the 1800s the university ran out of room and additional levels were added and the roof raised to make room for more collections. The library in its entirety contains a copy of every book published in Britain and Ireland - a staggering total of over 3 million books. What was so great for me, besides the fact that I am an obsessive reader, was the amazing smell. You know that smell when you walk into a bookstore and smell all the new books? Well imagine that times a thousand. Truly an amazing experience just being in that room.

 Oh, and what's Ireland without a leprechaun or too? A little weird that he was taller than me but hey, sometimes you just have to go with it ;)

Me being a history nerd, we also went and visited the archaeology museum. There were so many different exhibits to see that we could have spent the entire day there but since we only had a little while we tried to get a good sampling of several different sections of the museum. We saw lots of dead people, gold shiny stuff, and some amazing craftsmanship from the Viking Age and before. We also went to the National Library. Besides the beautiful architecture and lighting inside the library, our experience there was shaped by our short trip to the genealogy center. There we were able to find out more about our family roots, confirming that we have ancestors from Newry, Ireland.

 Probably the most fun we had in Dublin was the Hop On Hop Off bus. We bought tickets that were good for two days and the bus took us on an hour and a half tour all around Dublin, stopping at over twenty different hotspots around the city. I have been on some not so good bus tours but this one was so great - the drivers were funny and we could get on and off the bus whenever we saw something we wanted to explore. Definitely something that was worth the money!

Since grandma hadn't seen any castles yet, and I am a definite sucker for castles, we went on a search for Dublin Castle. The funny thing is that the castle is hidden in plain sight - we walked past it probably two or three times before we realized we were indeed in the right place. The castle is right in the heart of the city, right off a main street, and is surrounded by normal looking buildings which turns out to be the best camouflage there is.

There is a long history of occupation at the site of Dublin castle, from a Gaelic ringfort to a Danish Viking fortress, to a motte and bailey wooden castle founded by the Normans in the 1170s, and then finally a stone structure constructed in the early 1200s ordered by King John. The castle boasts one of the rare surviving medieval towers, the only one left from medieval Dublin, which was used to hold prisoners during the time of the Tudors. Dublin castle has also hosted many families of famous English royal administrators, including one who answered to the infamous King Henry VIII.

Next on our list was St. Patrick's Cathedral, one of the most famous cathedrals in all of Ireland. There are in actuality several churches and cathedrals named after Saint Patrick, but this is perhaps the most impressive. The church was built alongside the site of the ancient well in Dublin where Saint Patrick supposedly baptized converts to Christianity during his visit.

The present building dates back to 1220, and four years later in 1924 it was granted cathedral status. Besides being the largest cathedral in all of Ireland, it was often the largest enclosed space in the country as well. It is also the site of the very first school in Ireland founded in 1432- the Cathedral Choir School. Famous visitors include Jonathan Swift, Oliver Cromwell, King James I, and Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

Some of the building may contain parts of medieval structures/elements, however due to the lack of records preserved it is impossible for sure to know which parts are medieval and which are Victorian influence. The cathedral is still used as a place of worship today and remembrance ceremonies are held there every year in November. It is truly a beautiful place.

And of course the most important stop of our Dublin adventure: the infamous Guinness Factory! The brewery was founded in 1759 by a man named Arthur Guinness.  An interesting fact we learned is that Arthur Guinness leased the building for 9000 years, at only 45 pounds a year! By 1914 it was established that the Guinness Brewery was the largest brewery in the entire world, covering 64 acres of land.

Today the Guinness Storehouse is the most popular tourist attraction in Ireland, however it is no longer the biggest brewery in the world. The exhibition consists of 7 floors in total, the top floor being known as the Gravity Bar where you can see a panorama of the entire city of Dublin. The brewery still produces over 2 million pints of stout per day and employs over 600 people.

Clearly, this picture is self-explanatory. While she will probably kill me for posting it for everyone to see, I just couldn't resist this picture perfect moment. We of course did try a pint of Guinness, however we did not find it to be very tasteful and neglected to claim our free pint at the end of the tour. Guess we'll stick to our love of Bailey's Irish Cream instead.

And here's a picture of how ridiculously cute we are! Twins for a day :)

More to come soon!