We broke our trip from Cobh to Dublin in Wexford. It was lovely to stretch our legs and wander the harbour quay and the narrow streets of the old town. The place was buzzing and the pedestrian areas were full of proud runners, glowing from their completion of a 10km fun run, enjoying the sunshine.
It was brilliant to arrive at Phil and Niav’s gorgeous Dublin house in the early afternoon. It had been such a long time since we had seen each other in the flesh (Zoom and Facetime sessions are great but it is not the same). We chatted with them and their three amazing daughters and had so much fun filling in blanks, telling stories of our shared pasts to the girls and exploring the southern shores of Dublin Bay, near Dun Laoghaire. Our walk along the foreshore and harbour was a terrific way to clear travel cobwebs. Phil served up a delicious and wonderfully decorated chicken pie to welcome us into their home.
The Storehouse Guinness experience took up a lot of our morning. The seven storeys of information and experiences were great fun and the Gravity Bar, perched like a flying saucer on the top of the old building, afforded us far-reaching views over Dublin and the surrounding hills. A wander through the cobbled streets, squares and gardens, south of the River Liffey, ended up with some ‘day drinking’, consuming lovely beef and Guinness pot pies, conversing non-stop and adulting at the Davy Burnes pub (featured in the James Joyce book Ulysses).
The next day, it was educational activities – a tour of Trinity College and the Book of Kells Experience. The university is gorgeous, with lots of elegant Georgian buildings and a glorious history. We happened to be exploring the campus on a graduation day, so we had the added bonus of gowned and capped students (and their proud parents) filling the courtyards. The university is home to a must-see tourist (gouging) event – The Book of Kells Experience. The introductory rooms give a lot of information and background about this ‘masterpiece of medieval art’. The Book of Kells is a spectacularly illuminated bible from the 800s, with hand-drawn illustrations, Celtic designs and beautiful cursive Latin script. There is a lot of information about the book which was interesting to listen to/read before seeing the real thing. It is a way to justify the entry price, I suppose. We only got to see one spread of the actual book (which makes sense) and our pages were of elegant script, sparsely illuminated. After the book, we were funnelled to an immersive, animated video experience that places the book at the centre of the narrative, which is a rip-roaring yarn of cloistered monks, Viking raids, ocean voyages, protective caskets, burials, clumsy restorations and being a current tourist magnet.
The next part of the tour was a visit to the Trinity’s Old Library a.k.a. Long Room (which used to house the book before it was moved to its own exhibition space). The library is a beautifully proportioned long room, with galleried bookshelves phalanxed on both sides. Many of these were empty as there is a massive restoration and cataloguing exercise happening. The library also displays Gaia, an illuminated globe, which looks sightly incongruous in the ancient room. A wander around the streets of Dublin was next – O’Connell St, Ha’penny Bridge, Temple Bar and Grafton Street areas – then another cultural visit to see the ’bog men’ at the Irish National Museum (a fabulous exhibition of 3000-year-old, well-preserved part or full bodies) and a W.B. Yeats exhibition at the National Library. It was interesting to read about his interest in the occult and that he wanted to start a Celtic Mystical Order, centred at Castle McDermott (the ‘Castle of Heroes’) on Lough Key!
An overcast and wet day in Dublin helped us slow down and we enjoyed the day’s grey and soft light. It also gave us time to chat, repack and rest. We ended the day celebrating Phil’s birthday at a local Italian restaurant, complete with a raucous, congratulatory cacophony from the trattoria’s staff. The next morning we drove onto the Dublin-Holyhead ferry, in glorious sunshine, for our crossing over the sea to Wales. Our stay with Phil and Niav, and the warm welcome we received from their family, was so wonderful. Our visit was nothing short of brilliant.
Add comment
Comments