Today was our first full day of touring Dublin. As in most cities, there is a 'hop on, hop off' bus tour hosted by some very animated drivers, and one of the stops for Temple Bar district is steps from the hotel which is incredibly handy being that the pass is valid for two days and we plan on making good use of it.
We first did 'the loop' and saw all the major sights over about 2hrs. There are far too many to mention here, but the plan is to visit most over the next few days. We stayed on again for another round and got off west of our hotel to explore.
Its hard to sum up exploring the city. Each building has wonderful architecture and there are signs of ancient walls, gates, historic pubs, places where famous persons lived or died etc on every block. Every apartment block has a story, literally, behind it and you could easily spend a year in Dublin learning about every facet of the city.
In the interest of keeping this short (ha ha?) I'll boil it down to major stops. First was Chester Beatty library galleries that house ancient manuscripts of eastern, islamic and christian faiths including fragments of the gospels dating back to the first and second centuries AD. We then passed through Dublin castle which from the outside is a mixture of towers built over 800 years ago and brightly painted stucco walls in greens, blues and yellows. Probably our second longest stop of the day was at Christchurch Cathedral and the catacombs below. There was a lot to see and photograph but it was rather odd that part of the catacombs was turned in to a cafe and gift shop :\
We had lunch at a pub that was famous for something-or-other (its hard to keep track!) before moseying past city hall, the bank of Ireland, the House of Lords and in to Trinity College. The campus is a maze and we did get turned around trying to shortcut through a chemistry building. Our main reason for visiting, though, was the library.
Trinity College library is home to one very important book - the Book of Kells (an illuminated account of the four gospels c.800) which is often considered the most beautiful and important book in the western world and deemed Ireland's greatest national treasure - and one very important collection of books in a gallery that, sadly, we were not allowed to photograph. Google search 'trinity college library long room' for an idea of the immense collection, which includes rare copies of mainly medical, botanical and biological texts dated from the 1700s through the late 19th century, a select few of which rotate on display behind glass. The hall is lined with marble busts of the greatest writers and minds in the western world, from Plato to Jonathan Swift. Standing in the great hall and gazing upon tens of thousands of these ancient texts was truly awe inspiring.
So much so that I even at first failed to notice the harp! That famous harp that is on just about every piece of Irish memorabilia and even on the coins is on display in the great hall, and is the oldest harp in all of Ireland.
While at the far end of campus we had to snap a quick shot at Finn's Hotel which is of great importance to any fans of James Joyce :)
By the time we left it was nearing dinner but a lot of shops close down by 6 so we did some quick shopping along Grafton street which is a beautiful part of town, but most stores here are far too pricey for our coffers (18euro for a bar of soap hmmm).
So we spent the rest of the night in Temple Bar. We found a pub with live music and stayed until we were simply getting too tired from such a long day. Even so, we have a lot more penned in for tomorrow. It was nice not having to set an alarm today, but I think tomorrow we might have need simply to keep on schedule. They say the weather will be much like today; lots of bright sunshine but every few hours, it will rain for about 4minutes ...the weather here is quite odd that way.
Yep this was a long post. Tomorrow will likely be the same! Cheers~
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