Ireland

We spent an entire day travelling from London to Dublin. We left London from Euston Station right after breakfast. We rode it all the way to Holyhead port, in Wales, where we boarded the Stenaline ferry to take us across the Irish Sea to Dublin port. A bus took us from the station onto the ferry, and once we had reached our destination, we all boarded the bus again and rode into Dublin's city center. From there we took a taxi to our B & B, the Botanic View on Iona Rd., where our room, of course, was on the top floor!



Our first night there we walked down to the Brian Boru pub for dinner, and then to the Sunnybank Hotel to listen to some Irish music. An impromptu group of men gets together there every Monday night to sing Irish ballads. They played a variety of instruments, including a guitar, an accordian, a piccolo and a banjo, and entertained the crowd, who sang along with them, for several hours. Garold got into a conversation with one of them after they sang "On the Banks of the Ohio," and he gave us a CD for a souvenir of our first trip to Ireland.
The next day we set out to see the city, and our first stop was at Dublin Castle. It was built in 1169 by the Normans. Now all that remains is the Powder Tower, which once served as a prison. Its walls are twice as thick as the rest of the castle, and that's probably why it is still standing.



The ruins underground were discovered when they began to rebuild their city hall after the roof began to cave in. We toured what is left of the castle below ground level and saw a portion of the wall with steps leading up to a doorway from the moat. Visitors entering the castle from the moat were required to know the password. If they got it wrong, the door, which opened outward, would knock them back down into the moat. "Dublin" comes from a Viking word meaning black pool, and the moat drained into the black pool.



On our way back to our B & B after our first night in Dublin, we got a wee bit lost after we got off the bus. Finally a very nice old gentleman helped us find the way, and even walked a part of the way with us while he told us a story. The Irish people are pretty friendly, and they have a wry sense of humor--sometimes a bit sarcastic, but very funny!
The next day we visited Trinity College, which was established in 1592 by Elizabeth I, and was one of the UK's first Anglican (protestant) colleges. Catholics were not admitted until 1793. While we were there, they were busy getting everything ready for a visit from the Queen. This would be the first British monarch to visit Ireland in more than 100 years!
The University Library is noted for its very large collection of very old tomes which are arranged not in Dewey order but by size. The main reason for our visit, the Book of Kells, is also on display there. It was created on the island of Iona off the coast of Scotland around 800 AD by monks. They probably worked in pairs, one monk carefully transcribing the four gospels in vulgate Latin onto vellum (lambskin) and another monk adding flourishes and illustrations, using lazurite from Iran for dark blue, gypsum for white and azurite for blue from Cornwall and plants (like the woad plant) to mix with white. Local lore says they moved the Book from Scotland to Ireland to protect it from the Vikings, and then the Vikings attacked Dublin! They ripped the cover off for its gold and discarded the book itself. Fortunately it was later recovered and is now carefully preserved by Trinity College. They only display two pages at a time, rotating the displays to protect the pages from the elements. On the day we were there, we saw a passage from Luke 23: 50-56, describing the entombment of Jesus in a "sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid," and a passage from John 6: 42-57, where Jesus explains that he is the bread of life and that "He that believeth on me hath everlasting life."



As an unexpected bonus, we also saw the original "Proclamation of Independence," written in 1916 and signed by the seven leaders of the Easter uprising. In addition to proclaiming Ireland's independence from Britain, this document supported "cherishing all the children of the nation equally." Prior to Catholic emancipation, Catholics were not allowed to vote, own property, or attend school. All seven of these men, who were school teachers and clerks, were executed for treason. This is the exact spot (small cross to the left of the door) at Kilmainham Gaol (jail) where James Connolly was shot. He was already dying from a leg wound and was brought to Kilmainham Gaol for execution. He was unable to walk all the way to the designated execution spot, though, so they shot him here.



Kilmainham Gaol is no longer occupied, but at one time it held men, women and even children, some as young as 8 years old, for anything from murder to stealing an apple. Women and children were put to work doing the laundry and cooking for the prison population. Prisoners were given one candle every two weeks and a blanket. They were allowed to walk outside for 1-2 hours each day. During the potato famine the population of Kilmainham increased dramatically, and sometimes there were 4 or 5 people in a cell intended for 1. As dismal as this sounds, it was probably better than life outside in the cold, with no food.
After leaving the jail, we visited one of the oldest pubs in Dublin, the Brazen Head.
It was surprisingly quiet -- pubs in Ireland resemble sports bars in America. There may be a TV broadcasting a local sporting event, or some live music, and it is a place where local people and tourists alike stop to have dinner. Pub food is good but not fancy. The menu almost always offers meat pies, bangers and mash (sausages and mashed potatoes) and fish and chips. We sampled a Guinness, since it is the national drink and it's brewed in Dublin -- it tastes a little bitter, and it is dark, with a thick head of fine foam on top.



After four days in Dublin, we were ready once again for a trip to the country. So we boarded a tour bus bound for Glendalough and Kilkenny, south of Dublin. Our first stop was at Glendalough, which I think would translate to something like two lakes and some woods. We took a quick mile long walk along the trail.



Alongside the foot path I saw this interesting pile of rocks. Some of the museum exhibits we have seen described a rock tomb which I imagine would look a lot like this:



The scenery was so beautiful and relaxing we would have liked to spend more time there. In spite of all the walking we've been doing we had a little trouble keeping up with the tour group.



At the end of the trail we were rewarded with this 6th century monastic ruin. The round tower in the background was probably a bell tower. It's entry door was about 10 feet above the ground, so they had to use a rope ladder to enter. If they had put the door at ground level the structure would not have been able to support the height. To the right of the house there are some very old tombstones, many of them leaning.



After Glendalough we travelled to the city of Kilkenny, where we had lunch at Kilkenny Castle, and then walked through the city to see the Black Abbey. This is the stained glass window from inside the Abbey, which is still used for prayer and services.



On the way back to Dublin, we had time to contemplate the beautiful countryside in Ireland, and decided we will need to come back for a more leisurely paced look one of these days.