Travel Day 3 – Exploring Dublin
Dublin is a city that is rich in history; you can’t then a corner and not run face first into something old. Well, off the River Liffey that is. Our first exploration of the city took place on the South side of the river. First, Dean and I visited Trinity Collage and the Book of Kells. The campus on Trinity is amazing with ivy covered stone brick buildings and large fields and trees to fill your view. After a walk-around of the grounds, we headed into the library for the book.
The Book of Kells is an illuminated version of the Gospel written in Latin believing to be created in 800AD. As soon as you enter the museum on the Book you’re overloaded with information about its creation, the language used, and its impact on. early teachings of the word of God. While it does get crowded, especially when you finally make it to the Book, I implore you to take your time, read the information about the book on the panels on the walls, and really learn about wha the Book did for everyone it touched.
After the Book, we made our way up to the Long Hall, Trinity’s library that contains 20,000 books! While you can’t read any of them, the structure that houses them is incredible. The Long Hall is something to take your time in, and make your way all the way to the end of the hall to get a picture as it’s far less busy than the front.
Once we finished Trinity, we explored more of the streets, stopping in at a bar/kitchen called O’Neils for second breakfast. Yes, second breakfast – as it was only 11:00 and they still had their breakfast menu out. The ham omelet I had was fantastic, but the Irish Coffee is what made me swoon. I could really get used to having those in the morning. And flights out of Dublin to Rome are fairly cheap…
After second breakfast we headed to St. Stephens park, and what a lovely day in Dublin for a walk in the park. With the sun raining down, the green of the park really popped and showed us everything it had to offer. We walked it’s entirety then moved along to Dublin Castle. While we didn’t take the tour, the outside was captivating and the heart that Dublin was created around was timeless. After Dublin Castle we made our way to Christ’s Church. For 1000 years, this church has been a site for pilgrims from around the world to come and visit. Once inside the gothic arches your lost to the story the stonework has to tell. All I could do was stand in awe at the behemoth before me. We spent nearly an hour and a half before we realized with all this walking, just how sore our feet were. We figured we can’t do everything the first day and decided to head back to the hostel and relax our feet and our eyes for just a bit.
After relaxing, we headed to the Temple Bar district, eating dinner at The Quays Irish Restaurant (crowded but good food) and then over to the famous Temple Bar. The live music there and the Irish cultured songs hit home with the Guinness. Most of the night was spent there before turning in, with promises to head back before we leave.
So much more to do, and I can’t wait!
~Spencer
