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Saturday, September 15’Th

Mary has prepared the breakfast for 7 am, because I have to reach the ferry for Rossaveal at 8.30. From Rossaveal there’s a bus for Galway, where I hurry to the bus-terminal to reach the 10.30 to Dublin.

Then there’s an annoying 4 hour bus-ride before I jump off just in the city-center at a bus stop by the River Liffey.

From there it’s a short walk to one of the greatest sights in Dublin – the Trinity Collage. This sight has got that special quality, which I will be staying there for the rest of this vacation. Like in Belfast the university rents out for tourist during summer, and I have been lucky to get a room. So I pick up the key-card to room 47.1.04 which get’s me into a very nice and useful room.

Trinity Collage is the most prestigious in Ireland. It was established by Elizabeth I in 1592. At that time, it was in the outskirts of the city. But the city has grown much bigger, and now it’s smack downtown. Until 1793 only Protestants were allow to study here. These days most of the 13.000 students are Catholics, even though the Catholic Church actually didn’t allow it’s supporters to go for this university until 1970.

The major Irish Tourist-trap is also here. “The Book of Kells” is an illustrated version of the New Testament. It was made about year 800 a.c. It is on show here, and I saw it last time I was in Dublin. Or rather – I saw one page – from a distance – for about 5-10 seconds – after queuing for hours. I won’t do that mistake this time – The Book of Kells will not have my visit this time.

Instead I go to see a bit more of Dublin. This is very different just arriving from Inishmore. Temple Bar is just beside Trinity Collage, so I find myself a decent pub, get myself some pub-grub and a pint, and watch 2’nd half of a football-match. Temple Bar is not that big, so it’s slowly moving onto the other side of River Liffey via the new pedestrian-bridge called Millennium Bridge. The rest of the day is spent walking around Dublin center. You have to walk a little faster here than on Inishmore, or else you will be overtaken all the time.

It’s breakfast at Trinity Collage Dininghall. It’s a nice place from 1743 with large tables and paintings of the old masters on the wall.

Then it’s off to see a bit more of Dublin. I have brought my own guide. From the Dublin Tourism’s homepage I have downloaded a number of Podcasts with different tours in Dublin. Now I have them available on my IPod, ready for use.

First tour is called “Viking & Medieval Dublin”. It brings me past some of the oldest parts of Dublin. You get to see the City Walls – or what’s left of them. You also pass the oldest pub in Dublin and the very nice St. Audeons Church, which is the only medieval-church in Dublin still in use. It was built between 1181 and 1212. In the front of the church there’s a nice little park, with some people smoking funny tobacco – much to the dislike of the policemen that patrols the park.

Finally the tour reaches Christ Church Cathedral. It was built during several periods, and the style seems a little messy. It’s not always been easy to be a Protestant Church in Catholic Ireland, so it has had its ups and downs. The queue for entering is way to long for my taste, so I head for a local pub for an omelet and a pint instead. And just as I get inside, it starts to rain – so another wise decision.

The Podcast guide is very fine, but you have to remember to bring a map or you will get lost. I didn’t on this tour and that was a mistake.

Pod-Tour 2 is called “Temple Bar to The Docklands”. It starts – of course – with a short tour around Temple Bar, where you are told about the history and the buildings in the area. Then you cross the River Liffey and continue east passing many fine bridges, including the Ha’penny Bridge and the big one – O’Connell Bridge. Then you reach the Custom House, which is a very impressive building build in 1790. There has been much trouble around this place, and it was almost burned downed in one of the independence-battles in 1921. Later it was rebuilt again.

Monday, September 17’Th

First trip of the day is to the outskirts of Dublin – to Kilmainham. I start the trip on Luas, the new light rail in Dublin, to Heuston Station. From there it is on foot to 3 different sights.

The first sight is Royal Hospital Kilmainham. It was build between 1680 and 1687, and had the same purpose as Hotel Invalide in Paris, namely to cater for wounded soldiers from the wars. It functioned as that until 1928. In 1980’s they started to restore the fine buildings. Now it houses the Irish Museum of Modern Art. Thankfully it’s closed today, so I don’t have to find an excuse to stay out. But the building and the park surrounding the building is very nice.

Then I walk through the park to Kilmainhaim Gaol. It’s a prison, made back in 1795, who has played an enormous role in Irish history.

After the risings in 1798, 1803, 1848, 1867 and 1916 against the British all the leaders of the uprising always went here. In connection with the Easter-rising in 1916 14 leaders were executed here. This episode was very much changes the atmosphere in Ireland, which until then not necessarily was pro-rising so to say. But after the executions the rising got backed by the people of Ireland.

There’s a very fine guided tour around the prison where you hear some of the stories. Among them is the story of the leader who married his fiancé in prison – just to be taken to the yard 2 hours later and shot. And another one who was wounded, and wasn’t even able to stand up during his own execution. Friendly as the British were, they allowed him to sit down.

From there I walk back to Heuston Station and take a Luas back to city-center. By the way – Luan means “Fast” on the Gaelic language.

Tour no. 2 is more in the center. I start at Trinity Collage and walks along Dame Street. First I reach the City Hall which was built in 1779. There’s a very fine hall that I get to see just before closing-time.

Right behind is Dublin Castle. It was built during a longer period, and you can see that. There’s a very fine tower in the corner, which looks just as it was built in 1258. They have tours of the castle, but it’s too late for today. That’s fine for me. Behind the castle there’s another fine park. A guy is sitting on a bench playing a Didgeridoo – hmmm – maybe he’s in a wrong place on this planet.

Further on to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Together with Christ Church Cathedral these are the 2 largest churches en Ireland – and they are both Protestant churches, which is weird in a Catholic country. If front of the church there’s another another fine park. There are weird persons here as well. A group is standing in the middle singing. Jesus – is there no normal people around these places??  - I start to think – until I realize that the group is a choir from Denmark – shame on them – do behave when abroad please.

The church was built between 1190 and 1225. No one really knows when. As many such building it has its stories to tell about fire and troubles. I guy named Oliver Cromwell, who visited Ireland in 1649 actually used the church as a stable for his horses. I take a look inside, but there’s a service going on so I’m quickly out again.

From there it is back to Trinity Collage. I have done enough sightseeing for today.

Tuesday, September 18’Th

It’s the last day on this trip and it’s cold and windy. This is an exception; the weather during the trip has been very nice.

Tour no. 1 is passing some of the fine parks in Dublin. First it’s St. Stephens Green a short walk from Trinity. This is supposed to be the most popular park in Dublin, where you can feed the ducks and take a walk and look at the flowers and trees. There is a very fine photo-exhibition in the park, with a lot of big photos of endangered species.

From there it’s another short walk to a fine park at Merrion Square. It is probably even nicer. But there are no ducks here. Instead there are some fine statues of different local celebrities. Oscar Wilde was one of them.

Merrion Square is a nice neighborhood. Around it, it is full of Georgian houses with fine fainted doors and spectacular door-knobs. In front of them there are special devices so you can get rid of the mud on your boots before entering the fine houses. These days most of the houses are inhabited by lawyers, designers and marketing-businesses, who seem to make so much money that they can afford the rent.

Lunch is at a fancy pub called “The Bank”. Mashed potatoes and spicy sausages are recommended.

Tour no. 2 is through Temple Bar to the areas central spot Meeting House Square. There is an exhibition in the National Photographic Archive that I would like to see. It’s a local newspaper-photographer, who is on show. The pictures are ok – but in my opinion nothing more than that. Why exactly these photos had to be on exhibition – I really don’t understand. By the way – Temple Bar – like the Book of Kells and Guinness – is a major tourist-trap if you ask me. Really nothing much around here except for a few bars, that you can find much better in other places of Dublin. There are clearly more interesting places in Dublin than these 3 high profiled ones.

Finally I head up and down O’Connell Street. This is the old shopping-street of Dublin, who is now being restored. There are some statues in the middle of the road. Among them the 120 m. high steel thing called Spire. It’s supposed to be the tallest sculpture on earth. It has been placed there instead of an old statue of Admiral Nelson, which someone blew up in 1966.