A Brief View of Dublin

We were on vacation mainly in Edinburgh and London, but took a quick trip to Dublin because none of us had ever been there. We arrived on a Monday afternoon and left at noon the following Wednesday, so we had only a little time to experience Dublin.

Our first highlight was the taxi driver we had from the airport to the guesthouse we were staying at. After telling him this was our first trip, he proceeded to explain how the city is laid out and our approach into it from the airport. He drove into the city center, explaining which were the main streets and pointing out things we would want to see, like Trinity College. It was very easy to get oriented to the center of Dublin.

Trinity College, specifically the Old Library, was a highlight we would not have wanted to miss. It is described separately.

The people of Dublin were another highlight. Dublin has one of the fastest-growing economies in Europe. That usually brings growing pains, but the people we encountered were very informative and helpful. We liked talking to people to hear their Irish accents, which were quite different from our idea of a stereotypical Irish accent.

The layout of the old city center is very attractive, with a number of parks, like St. Stephens Green and Merrion Square and their surrounding buildings. Many of the buildings are of significant historical importance, particularly as they related to the struggle for Irish independence. If history is of any interest, a good guidebook that describes the events in around around the buildings in Dublin can be an invaluable companion. If we had had more time, we would have liked to explore more of Dublin's history.

Quick Tips:

Staying in the center of Dublin means you can get to almost everything on foot. It is also very pedestrian friendly, with streets like Grafton closed to auto traffic.

Pubs in Dublin are very child friendly. We have been kicked out of a number of pubs in Edinburgh because we had our kids with us and the pub did not have a family licence. In Dublin, we did not find a pub that would not allow children to enter. Of course, they could not drink alcohol unless they were 18, but they could eat and drink nonalcoholic beverages.

The Temple Bar area is renown for its bars and evening entertainment, but because we had children with us, we visited in the daytime. We still found a very tasty lunch and lots of narrow streets with shops full of items to buy for souvenirs.

A short walk along the River Liffey provides an attractive and interesting view of the multicoloured buildings that line the streets and runs along the river. The number of cranes working on new buildings is astounding, and a good indication that the economy of Dublin is very active.

Cross over or at least take a look at the Ha'penny Bridge. It is a much-photographed landmark in Dublin, with its intricate ironwork. And there is no longer any toll, not even a ha'penny.

Shopping can be found almost everywhere in the city center. We did not find much that could be called a bargain, although that was likely because we were in the main tourist areas. An indoor shopping mall with a very attractive exterior, St Stephen's Green Mall, was a respite on a wet, cool day. There, however, we found we had to pay €.40 to use the restrooms. Previously, the only place we had ever seen which charged to use the toilets was Harrod's in London.

Best Way To Get Around:

Dublin has a lot of one-way streets. Driving in from the airport required a circuitous route because of all the one-way streets, and as it turned out, our map, which was a year old, was out of date for some of the one-way directions. Driving yourself looks like it would be a nightmare for a first-time visitor.

We found that getting around on foot was very easy and prefer walking, as it provides time to look around and explore things that appear interesting.

Dublin also has buses, including the ubiquitous double-decker hop-on, hop-off tour buses. We did not try either of those.

We wanted to be in a fairly central location, but have some more personal contact while visiting Dublin for the first time. A guest house seemed to be ideal. Kilronan House is located at the south end of central Dublin, making it ideal for walking to everything we wanted to see. It is a block to the national concert hall, and a further block to St. Stephen's Green, which is close to many of Dublin's attractions.The guest house is located in a townhouse along a fairly busy street. The interior has some rather charming Victorian details in both the rooms and the decor. With 14 rooms, the place seemed busy at breakfast time, but because the rooms were located on a number of floors, we rarely saw people as we were coming and going.We had two rooms both of which were spacious for European accommodation. The one bathroom was rather small, but the other fairly spacious with a sky light which made it very attractive. Both had hot powerful showers. Neither had a bathtub. The rooms were clean and the beds comfortable. There was lots of storage space. A small TV, with a desk and telephone in each room. There were coffee and tea making equipment and ingredients, and little biscuits provided. One of the rooms was on the first floor (second floor to North Americans) and faced the street. We could hear some traffic but it was not a problem for sleeping.The breakfast, which was included, was the most extensive I have seen for a guest house or B&B. The full Irish breakfast not only included eggs every possible way, bread, porridge, sausage, bacon, fruit, etc., but you could also order waffles, pancakes, a great variety of cold cereals, a fruit and yoghurt dish and eggs Benedict. Service was very prompt and the food very tasty.The price was €70 per person per night. That price appeared to be about average for Dublin accommodation. Cheaper rates appear to be rare in this booming city.The staff was very friendly and helpful with our questions. This place worked well for our family of four and would likely be a good place for other sized groups. We saw single travelers at breakfast and a number of couples.

We wandered around Temple Bar around noon hour and stopped at Quays Bar for a bite of lunch. The outside is appealing with a gold and green painted wooden exterior, large windows and a brass and wood revolving door.

It was a rainy and windy day and the interior of Quays Bar felt like a haven from the weather. We later learned the place is well known for its live music but that does not begin until the afternoon. At lunch time, it was quiet.

Like many pubs in Ireland and the U.K., the bar is on the ground floor with a restaurant above. We opted for the restaurant because, as is also typical of most pubs, the tables in the bar area are tiny which leaves little room for a plate of food. The upstairs restaurant area of Quays is much like the ground floor, lots of dark wood including the floors, walls, tables and chairs. It gives it a very old and traditional feel. We sat by the window which gave us a view out to Temple Bar Square.

For lunch, the menu had the usual pub food offerings of sandwiches, soups, bangers and mash, steak and kidney pie, but we all had fish and chips. The fish and chips arrived quickly and were ripping hot, in my opinion, the best way for chips to be. The fish was of good size and tasted very fresh. It came with a small salad and most importantly for some of us, we also had a glass of Guinness beer. After all, we were in a pub in Dublin. As we had been told, Guinness tastes better in Ireland, much smoother than the imported stuff we have had.

The wait staff were very friendly and maybe because it was not very busy, were keen to chat. They wanted to know where we were from and what it was like there. They apologized for the weather (as if it was their fault) and promised it would get better soon. (It did.) In between all the chatter, the service was very quick.

For a tasty lunch, the Quay Bar was very good. We would like to return sometime to experience the dinner and the music.

I wanted to visit the National Gallery of Ireland primarily to see Caravaggio’s painting, The Taking of Christ. Caravaggio is one of my favourite artists and I had just read Jonathan Harr’s book, The Lost Painting, which captivatingly tells the story of how this painting was discovered in a Jesuit monastery in Dublin.We walked to the Gallery along Merrion Square which led us to the entrance at the old building. Admission is free and the staff were unconcerned whether we checked our coats or backpacks. We were told we could take photographs as long as no flash was used. This was certainly a much more relaxed attitude than we have experienced at most art museums and galleries.Floor plans of the Gallery were available at the entrance but we found them hard to read. We started with the collection of Irish paintings. My favourites were those by Jack Yeats, brother of the poet, W. B. Yeats. They were very colourful and reminiscent of post-impressionist works. We found the old Master European works after some wandering around and then headed to the Caravaggio room. When we got there, instead of the painting, there was a note that the painting was on loan to an exhibit in Amsterdam. What a disappointment! I should have checked the website for the Gallery but it did not occur to me that the jewel of the Gallery would be on loan.We got lost looking for the Impressionist and post-Impressionist works. It required taking an elevator up half a floor, something I still do not understand.The Gallery has a new wing which connects to the old building with a beautiful light filled atrium. The new wing also has an entrance off of Clare Street. The shop can be found there, and there is also a restaurant which looks very attractive.I’m still disappointed about missing the Caravaggio painting, but the visit was worthwhile to see the Irish painters, especially Yeats.

We went to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells. We had just been to the National Gallery of Ireland and left through the new wing onto Clare Street. Across the road we could see a sign indicating the Book of Kells. We followed the signs which took us to the Old Library where the Book of Kells is to be found.Entrance is into a rather cramped gift shop where a ticket to see the Book of Kells can be purchased. It was €16 for a family of four and included admission to the Long Room and the exhibit. No photography was allowed in the Old Library.A self guided tour of the Book of Kells explains in detail what they are about, how they were made and what to look for before you actually see them. The Book of Kells was written around the year 800 AD and considered one of the most beautifully illuminated manuscripts in the world. It contains the four gospels in Latin accompanied by pages of magnificent and intricate decoration. Some of the details like two mice tugging on the host are curious and unexplained. The Book is bound in four volumes. The volumes are displayed under glass, two when we were there, and opened to show decorated pages and pages of script. Along with the Book of Kells, the Book of Durrow, an 8th century gospel manuscript and the Book of Armagh, a 9th century gospel manuscript, were also on display.It was all very informative and the illuminated pages are amazing. I needed to wait for my turn to get right up to the displayed books and take a close look but it was worth the wait. The brightness of the colour and the texture is amazing to see after all these years.When you leave the display, you are led into the Long Room, an overwhelming room of the Old Library where stacks of antique books are crowded into shelves going up to the ceiling which rises two stories. The dark wood and brown volumes make the room feel massive. Busts of famous scholars and writers and the oldest Irish harp, the inspiration for the Guinness symbol, are also on display. Unfortunately, you cannot walk among the shelves. I would have liked to see what all those books were about but the aged colour and faded printing on the spine made it too difficult to read from behind the cordoned line which kept visitors to the center of the room.You leave the Long Room back down to the gift shop which is stuffed full of souvenirs of Trinity College, the Book of Kells, including a CD-ROM so you can see the entire book, post cards of the Long Room and Dublin and Irish mementos. We spent quite a while poking through all the items looking for things to purchase to take home.