Dublin

September 21, 2017

Dublin

The Spire, O'Connell Street, Dublin

Dublin, Ireland, is a city with tumultuous history - Still technically a part of the United Kingdom up until 1949, when it was explicitly declared a Republic following the 'Republic of Ireland Act 1948'.

Dublin is a city which feels full of life - even in it's cold fall/winter months (the time which I was there!). There's a warmth, and an age to the buildings, the streets, and the bridges, that I found irresistible with charm. Modern Shops live inside buildings which are over a hundred years old. Churches are dotted amongst the cityscape, and there are museums everywhere (for all tastes). All the while the River Liffey scrolls through the city from the Port, out of the bounds of the city, and into the country.

The Custom House, an 18th century buildings which holds the Local Government, Department of Planning, and the Department of Housing

There are so many museums in Dublin, it would be hard for anyone to fit them all in. You have the big ones first, The National Museum of Ireland, The National Gallery of Ireland, and the Irish Museum of Modern Art. Then you have some more inventive museums, like the National Leprechaun Museum (Only in Ireland!), the museum at Kilmainham Gaol, and my personal favourites, the whiskey and beer museums.

The Museum at the 'Old Jameson Distillery'

The Old Jameson Distillery takes you through the building on a little tour of what the whiskey process is like, at a Jameson Distillery. It's an interactive experience where they explain the process from start to finish! In the distillery there is also a whiskey tasting room, and at the end, a full bar room where you get treated to a free Jameson drink.

'The Guinness Storehouse'

The view from the top of the Guinness Storehouse, in the 'Gravity Bar'

The Guinness Storehouse is a full on interactive experience that, even if you're not a big fan of Guinness, is almost unmissable. It's similar to the Old Jameson Distillery, but on a much larger scale. The highlight for me is their section on past Guinness advertising, where you can see the Whistling Oyster, and all the animals that have dotted their advertisements over the years.

An unmissable sight is the library at Trinity College Dublin. It's a beautiful, beautiful sight, and contains the 'Book of Kells', written about 800 AD. It's elaborately decorated, and "...contains the four Gospels in Latin..." (source), along with some other writings circa 300 AD. So basically, it's one of the most well-preserved, and decadently decorated religious scripts in the world - a magnificent sight to see.

You will never truly know Dublin until you simply walk it. So here's some of my pictures from my strolls.