Memorial Day Weekend in Dublin, Ireland

Well, this last weekend I went to Dublin. It was a close race between Dublin and Madrid, but I decided to do all of Spain in one trip, so I was the tie breaker and decided on Dublin. I left VERY early Saturday morning for what is only a 50 minute flight to Dublin. I arrived in Dublin and after 3 hours, finally found my hotel (long story). I was so exhausted I took a nap, and woke up at 3pm!! Needless to say, I did not get a lot of sightseeing done on Saturday....kind of a wasted day. I did get up and go on one of the double decker hop-on hop-off tour buses so I could at least get a grasp of the city and where things were. Just as I got off the bus for dinner, the rain started coming...and coming...and coming hard! I was drenched; and I had an umbrella! This was to be a precursor to how almost the whole weekend was going to turn out....cold and rainy.

Anyway, I got up on Sunday morning and got back on the hop-on hop-off tour bus and started out at Christ Church Cathedral. The first cathedral on this site was built by the Christian Viking king Sitric Silkenbeard, but the current building was endowed by the Norman Earl of Pembroke, Richard de Clare, who had it built after his conquest of Dublin in 1170. It has since been restored in 1871. I was unable to go inside since it was Sunday morning and there were services going on until 12:30pm. But I did take some photos of the outside....


After this church, I walked down the street to St. Patrick's Cathedral. This was also closed until 12:30 because of services, but I decided I would come back later. Instead, I got back on the tour bus and headed to the Guinness Brewery, founded in 1759. I got there and went inside and decided I didn't want to go on a tour bad enough to wait in the very long line, so I went shopping in the gift shop (of course) and then got back on the bus and headed to the City Centre, where I walked around a little and did some more shopping. Here are photos of Guinness (1), Phoenix Park and the City Centre. Phoenix Park claims to be the largest urban enclosed park in Europe at 1760 acres. It is where the President of Ireland lives, in the house that looks like the White House in the pictures (2); and the American Ambassador to Ireland lives right across the street from the President. The obelisk (3) is a monument to something, what I can't remember, but it is the 2nd tallest in the world, after Washington Monument in D.C. Phoenix Park is also home to Dublin's Zoo, the 2nd oldest zoo in the world after London's Zoo in Regents Park. The City Centre is primarily O'Connell Street, where the below monument to Daniel O'Connell (4) is located. The last picture is the Millennium Spire (5), a 394-ft high needle in the middle of O'Connell Street. It was designed by London architect Ian Ritchie to reflect the Dublin of the 21st century. The spire has a few nicknames, including Dublin Spire, "the spike" and my favorite, "the stiletto in the ghetto."
I next headed to Trinity College and the Book of Kells. Trinity College was founded by Elizabeth I in 1592 on the site of an Augustinian monastery. The greatest treasure of the college is the Book of Kells. The Book of Kells is a manuscript of the four gospels which dates from the 8th century. On the campus of the college is also the Campanile (photo 4), built in 1852.

Next I stopped at Dublin Castle. Again, I couldn't go in because it is only open for 3 hours on Sundays and was already closed when I got there. But I did take a few pictures from the outside. And here's a little history....it was at first a Viking fortress, with some of the parts of the present building dating back as far as 1208-1220.

Okay, after Dublin Castle, I walked back to St. Patrick's Cathedral and went in. The cathedral is built on what is claimed to be the site where St. Patrick baptized his converts to Christianity. The first church on this spot was built in 450AD and replaced in 1191 by the present building. Jonathan Swift, the author of Gulliver's Travels, is buried here.

That ended Sunday. All day Monday I took a day tour to Dublin Bay and the South Coast and Glendalough. We went to Dublin Bay (1 and 2) and saw James Joyce Tower, one of a series of Martello Towers (3). We then headed down the coast to Dun Laoghaire, and to Dalkey. We then headed to the Wicklow Mountains, and saw some absolutely beautiful scenery, including glacial lakes.
We then stopped for lunch in a typical Irish pub, and headed to Glendalough, "the Glen of the Two Lakes." Glendalough is a valley in the Wicklow Mountains where St. Kevin founded a monastery in 545AD. There is a 108-ft tall round tower (1) that served as shelter for the Christian monks from the Viking raiders, which is now in a cemetery (2 and 3). Near the tower stands the empty shell of the 9th century cathedral (4) and St. Kevin's Cross (5) dating from the mid-12th century. From the cemetery we "hiked" on a trail through some of the mountain area and back to the tour bus. We then headed back to Dublin and I departed for the airport.

Here are some more general pictures from Dublin: 1) the statue of the infamous Molly Malone, aka "The Tart with the Cart," "The Dish with the Fish," and "The Trollop with the Scallops"; 2) Mansion House, official residence of the Lord Mayor of Dublin since 1715; and 3) St. John the Baptist church, where Bram Stoker was baptized and married.

Next week.....off to Reykjavik, Iceland.