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.

And the winner is....

LISBON, PORTUGAL!!!

I left London on Saturday and arrived in Lisbon late Saturday afternoon. I made my way to my hotel via city bus and quickly settled in. The hotel left a lot to be desired, but was clean and close to lots of things, including local transportation. I then started walking around near my hotel and wouldn't you know...I ended up at the mall. I decided to go in and see if they had a food court, so I could grab some dinner, as it was about 5:30pm by this time. Another guy in my office and his family were also in Lisbon for the weekend (this would turn out to be a yearly trip for his family and I), so they met me for dinner. The next 2 days I hung out with he and his family. Here are the highlights......

On Sunday morning, we got up and headed down the Avenida da Liberdade (Liberty Avenue). This street takes you down to the water of the Tagus River and is lined with lots of shops and things to see along the way. Here are a few.......

Along the way, we stopped at the Elevador de Santa Justa...

It was opened in 1902, made of iron and is 45 m high. It is an elevator that takes you up to the Baixa area and Convento do Carmo. The Convento do Carmo or Museo Arqueologico do Carmo, has been an archaeological museum since the end of the 19th century. Its construction was concluded in 1423; however, there was a great earthquake in 1755 which brought down the roof and left the church in its current derelict condition. There is also some great views of the city from up there.

After the elevator and convent, we headed down to find the 28 Tram (Pic 1) to take us to the Castle of Sao Jorge (Pic 2 is from the top of the elevator with the castle in the distance). The castle sits on the highest hill in Lisbon, so there are spectacular views. It was in 1147 that King Afonso Enriques received help from the powerful armies of British and Frank troops to snatch the castle from the Moorish troops. The battle went on for 17 weeks. The castle has strong outer walls, various defensive buildings, 11 towers and the former Arab palace that served as the residence for the Kings of Portugal during the 14th-16th centuries.

After the castle, we started walking back down toward the city, and passed the Se of Lisbon, or Lisbon Cathedral, along the way. The cathedral began to be built in 1150 on a site formerly occupied by a mosque. The facade is 2 round towers flanking a rose window, with a Latin-cross floor plan divided into 3 naves. According to tradition, Saint Anthony of Padua was baptized here in 1195. Also, legend has it that in 1173 a boat arrived in the city with a crew of 2 crows carrying the body of Sao Vicente. Once they had arrived, their duty being done, the 2 crows flew off to the castle to make their nest in one of the towers. For hundreds of years, these crow's descendents became an attraction at the church...until the last one died in 1978!

We then headed to Belem, in west Lisbon. Belem has some extraordinary things to see and in my opinion, was better then the city of Lisbon. We started off at the Tower of Belem. The tower was built between 1515 and 1521 and had the duty of controlling the entrance to the city. Shortly after, the Spanish used it as a prison during their years of occupation. It consists of 2 main buildings, the first with a hexagonal base and cylindrical sentry-boxes in each of its 6 corners. The 2nd is the tower itself, rising to a height of 4 floors.

After the tower, we walked over to the Monument to the Descobrimentos. The monument is an enormous stone ship's prow, 52 m high, and built in 1960 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the death of Henry the Navigator. It shows the figure of the prince carrying a small caravel in his hands, crowned by an entourage of 21 characters related to the Descobrimentos. (Pic 1-2) I then headed over to the Mosteiro dos Jeronimos (Pics 3 - 6). It was built during the first half of the 16th century at the request of King Manuel I with some of the treasure brought by Vasco de Gama on his voyages to the Indies. In this bulding is housed a monastery, the National Museum of Archaeology, and the Maritime Museum. I skipped the museums, but did go into the monastery and the Church of the Jeronimos. History says Vasco de Gama prayed here before the altar the night before he started his historic crossing taking him to the Indies. The great cloister of the monastery (Pics 7 - 8) is beautiful and very quiet and peaceful. It has 2 floors and one special feature...there are no two columns alike.

On Monday morning, we took the metro system out to the Parque das Nacoes (Park of the Nations), where the Lisbon Expo was held in 1998. This was definitely a more modern looking part of Lisbon. First we visited the Oceanarium, which is the "star" building of the park. The Oceanarium is one of the largest of its type in the world, and houses more than 25,000 fish and marine animals. It has this huge central tank in the middle with all kinds of fish....regular fish, sharks, eels, stingrays and manta rays (although I'm not sure the difference)...then you walk around the tank and they have different species from each of the 4 oceans.

We then took the cable car ride across the park (Pics 1-2), and then went shopping and had lunch at the Oriente station, which also happened to be a mall. The Vasco da Gama Tower (Pic 3) is 100 m high and has a restaurant at the top. It is built from one of the towers of the former refinery. Another feature of this area is the Puente Vasco de Gama, a bridge that is 16km long, 13 of which are over the River Tagus (Pic 4 in the distance).

On Tuesday morning, I got up and took the open top bus tour of Lisbon. I rode it all the way around once, and saw a lot of the same things again. I got off at the last stop at...wouldn't you guess...the largest shopping center in Lisbon. However, Tuesday was a bank holiday in Lisbon, and the mall was CLOSED! So, I walked down to the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, which exhibits collections that embrace practically all the periods of the history of art. I also visited the Modern Art Centre, which houses modern works of art by mostly Portuguese artists. After the museum, I went over to the Jardin Zoologico de Lisboa, or the Lisbon Zoo. I did not spend much time here, and frankly did not even see any animals. I only had about an hour before I had to start heading back to my hotel to get my luggage and head to the airport, so I decided to skip the zoo.

Here are a few more random photos (left to right). Pic 1 - the 25 April Bridge (designed by the same people who did the Golden Gate Bridge...in case you couldn't tell) with the monument to Cristo-Rei in the background. Pics 2 & 3 - Praca do Rossio, Lisbon's most lively square. Pic 4 - Eduardo VII Park, with the Tagus River in the background. Pic 5 - Triumphal Arch in the Praca do Comercio.






Overall, I really enjoyed Lisbon. There is a lot more to see there than I anticipated. The weather was really nice...about 55-60 everyday, and I didn't see rain until a light drizzle the last day.