Ireland-2019 (Dublin)

From Iceland it takes a little over 2 hours to fly to Dublin Ireland where we started our 14 day Rick Steves tour.

A view down the River Liffey at the Samuel Beckett Bridge, nicknamed the "Harp" bridge for its shape.  It is a full moon, Friday the 13th, and Dublin is on the eve of the finals of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship between Dublin and Kerry.  Not just the finals, but a finals replay as they tied last week.  This is not soccer, but Gaelic Football played mainly in Ireland.  The streets in Dublin are always lively at night, but I suspect they will be much livelier tomorrow night if Dublin wins.

The next day we toured the old part of Dublin, starting (and ending) at Trinity College.

A cobble stone pathway under construction at Trinity.  It looks like a lot of work, but necessary to maintain the feel of the campus.

Temple Bar is an old part of Dublin that has been turned into a beautiful area of shops, bars and restaurants.  Along the way we learned about Ireland's history, including the heavy Viking influence, famines, and of course the struggles with England for independence followed by a bloody civil war.

We ended our tour at the old Trinity College library.   Above is a picture of the Long Room housing more old books than you could ever imagine.  Most interesting is the Book of Kells on the first floor, where no photos were allowed.  This is an old manuscript of the Four Gospels written in Latin around 800 AD and widely regarded as Ireland's finest national treasure.  The workmanship is unbelievable and some of the dyes used came from as far away as Afghanistan. 

We followed our tour with a stroll down Grafton St. and lunch.  Grafton is a pedestrian only thoroughfare with lots of street entertainers.  As you can imagine, there were lots of people out getting ready for the football match.  On top of that, it was a warm (for Ireland) day with lots of sunshine.