Traveling the Emerald Isle -- Day 3, August 21, 2022

Dublin, Ireland – Day 3, Sunday, August 21, 2022

We awoke refreshed after a good night’s sleep, ready for more walking and exploring of Dublin.  After

St. Steven's Green

purchasing a 48-hour Hop-on, Hop-off bus pass. Our first hop off was at St. Steven’s Green, a one-mile square park within the city that is beautiful with its wide walking paths, ponds and creeks, ducks and swans, beautiful flowers planted in so many areas, people enjoying the beautiful morning by sitting on benches or on the grass or just laying in the grass.  It is very serene and lovely, as well as educational as we learned about some of the country’s heroes and the 1916 Irish “Rising” …  an effort to gain independence from England … and the struggle that occurred in this vicinity. 

Next top, Trinity College where we met up with an old friend Peter.  We were privileged to host the then 11-year-old Peter for six weeks in the 1980s when an organization helped “rescue” children from the “troubles” in Northern Ireland at that time by bringing them to the States for six weeks. It was during these troubled times in Northern Ireland that there was a lot of violence as groups tried to gain independence from England.  Oh what a beautiful reunion this was after over 30 years!  He spent the rest of the day with us before heading back to Northern Ireland.  It was also so fun to learn from him the “correct pronunciation” of certain words and places, get a personal experiential view of those troubled times, learn more about the cultural and day-to-day living on the Isle and even delved a bit into the political air of the day.

The Book of Kells is located at Trinity College, Ireland’s most famous school; but we were not able to get in today.  Reservations have been made for early tomorrow morning! So we kept on walking down to the Temple Bar area where we had lunch at a typical Irish restaurant. We all enjoyed delicious Irish specialties, drank Guinness or Jameson and Ginger, relished sitting around a small sidewalk table with the lovely sunny weather, talked and talked, laughed and laughed  … and afterwards spent a little time listening to some fantastic Irish music in two different pubs.  Oh what fun!

Because the weather was so grand, we continued walking to the end of the Temple Bar area to Christ

Christ Church, Dublin

Church Cathedral, the center of the City for almost 1,000 years. It is the cathedral of the United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough.  We decided not to pay the $$ to explore the inside, but we did enjoy the beauty of the architecture of the building and some of the grounds. 

A few blocks away is the Dublin Castle, built over the first Viking fortress. This site was the seat of English rule in Ireland for over 700 years.  When Ireland gained its independence in 1922, the transfer of power ceremony was done here.  Since then, the Castle has been used for fancy state affairs and charity functions. We took a tour of the Castle, enjoying the lavish rooms where

Grand staircase entrance
at the Dublin Castle

the English political elites lived and hosted gala functions, and also learning of the many significant functions hosted here since Ireland attained political autonomy. 

By now it’s nearing the end of the day.  We said good bye to Peter as he had a two-hour drive home, but

Not a good picture,
but great dancers!

we anticipate meeting his mother near the end of our stay on the Isle.  Dinner at JW Sweetman was amazing.  The building, as are many of the other Irish pubs, is a converted residence; so you feel like you’re walking into someone’s front door, then probably up the ornate dark wooden staircases or into a small paneled room with cute tables and chairs, unique Irish decorations on the walls, and in this case, lively Irish music with a couple of talented Irish dancers!  This was just heavenly.  The Irish people overall are very friendly and helpful, always willing to share a bit of history, though Dublin is a thriving metropolitan city with people speaking a huge variety of languages.  At this point we don’t know whether most are tourists or have taken up residence of the city.  In either case, it makes for interesting people watching!  It’s another long day of over 13,000 steps (for the third day In a row!), so off for some shut eye we go, so grateful for the day with Peter and getting to explore more of Dublin.