UK & Ireland - hiking & more

We traveled to Dublin and spent four days and 5 nights there.

Our Tuesday trip from Galway to Dublin was easy - a couple hours on the train. It was a 30 minute walk to Blooms Hotel in the Temple Bar area, the most touristy part of town (and the highest concentration of pubs). We spent the afternoon and evening getting familiar with the area.

Day one (Wed) - we went to...

... the Book of Kells at Trinity College. Here there is a 1,200 year old manufacturer manuscript of the gospels. They are ornately decorated with colorful pictorial script.
The long room there contains a copy of every book ever written in Ireland. We walked around the campus as well.

... The National Archeology Museum. Here they had an exhibit of the bog bodies. These were from the Iron Age (500 BC to 100 AD). People were killed and thrown into the bogs. Some of them were royalty. The conditions of the bogs - wet, acidic, and having low oxygen, kept the bodies from deteriorating.

... The Ha Penny Bridge, the most ornate of the bridges in Dublin. A river runs through Dublin and it had so many bridges - another connection to Pittsburgh. One of the bridges is wider than it is long.

... 14 Henrietta St. This is a building that went through major changes in it's history starting as an elaborate summer home for the wealthy and then becoming a tenement for the poor where families of 10 - 12 people lived in one room.

... The shopping streets of Henry St, and Grafton St.

Day 2, we...

... Did the Guinness Tour Experience learning all about Guinness beer, how it is made, how it has changed, and it's history of advertising.

... Toured Christ Church, originally a viking Church. The church went through many reformations, decay and rebuilding, including a major renovation paid for by an Irish whiskey giant, Henry Roe. The church tower has 19 bells and they are rung by bell ringers weekly and for special occasions.

... Toured St. Andouen's church, the only remaining medieval church in Ireland. It, too went through changes but the original walls still exist.

... Walked around the Temple Bar area where we were staying. It is the center of the tourist area. We went into the famous Temple Bar but didn't stay.

... Attended a Coldplay by Candlelight concert at St Patrick's Cathedral, the largest in Ireland. It was a different way to see the beautiful church. This church again has a long history of registration and renovation. In the 1800's,a major restoration took place paid for by Benjamin Guinness (yes, the beer family).

We ended each night with Irish music at our hotel bar.Read more