Dublin, finally

I got to have a pretty good look around Dublin through staying a night there either side of my trip home. It's a 3 hour bus trip between Cork and Dublin so it was a lot easier to get to and from Dublin airport from closer by.

I arrived around mid-afternoon the first night I stayed and was able to have a good catch up with Shayna and Chris (who were coincidentally also flying out of Dublin the next day on a different flight) as well as see the city. Shayna and Chris had both been to Dublin a few times already, and thanks to Chris's amazing memory of a walking tour they'd done, I got a free proper walking tour covering all the main sights, with historical facts and everything! It was a great sunny autumn afternoon as well so that was a cool light to see the city in for the first time.

The prestigious, famous and beautiful Trinity College

The prestigious, famous and beautiful Trinity College

The prestigious, famous and beautiful Trinity College

The prestigious, famous and beautiful Trinity College

One thing I'd like to go back to see (we missed it out as it's quite expensive) is the Book of Kells and the Old Library. The Book of Kells is a gospel manuscript that is beautifully decorated, created in the 9th century by monks in Scotland and Ireland. It's a part of the collection in the Old Library, built in the 18th century and including the 'Long Room' - a stunning oak library holding 200,000 of the oldest books of the collection. It looks like a stunning exhibition and place to see - check out this pic from Google:

We also checked out a big park called St. Stephen's Green and went past loads of gorgeous old buildings throughout the centre. Surprisingly there is even a castle in Dublin, though the only remaining part is the tower keep and dungeon. We ended the evening with a pub meal at some random place in the Temple Bar district - the famously touristy 'traditional pub' area. It was actually quite a pretty area to see all lit up, and thankfully it wasn't too busy since it was early evening.

Famine memorial in St. Stephen's Green

Dublin Castle

I had most of a day to go for another wander around on my second stay in the city on my way back from New Zealand. I lucked out with a beautiful frosty, calm sunny day so everything was shown in it's best light. It was very strange to have left in autumn and arrive back in the middle of winter, and the cold was definitely a big shock after getting the early summer warmth back home! I spent most of the day walking along the river or up and down the main street, O'Connell St, before meeting up with my friend Anna who I'd met through my flatmate in Cork. She was showing another visiting friend around so it nice to just wander around with them, and warming up with a hot chocolate in a nice cafe Anna knew.

Start of O'Connell St

O'Connell St

The 'Spire' of Dublin - world's tallest sculpture

The Post Office

O'Connell St

O'Connell St

Frozen pool in the garden of remembrance

The Spire

My favourite sight of the day was when I came across the Ha'Penny Bridge, or the Liffey Bridge, a very pretty pedestrian bridge. It just happened that as I got to it the river was super calm and flat and allowed for beautiful reflections.

I had a very quick look through the National Museum, and this and the other museums are something else that I'd like to come back and have a look at at some point. There's only one tiny museum in Cork and seeing the big proper one here made me realise what I've been missing! One extremely interesting exhibit in the National Museum was a display of bodies that had been preserved in peat bog, some from 700-900BC! It was crazy how well preserved they were and it would be great to go back and explore more.

Overall, I really liked Dublin, it's a very cool city, especially to just spend a few days in wandering around. It was nice to be in a big, old city again after living in the much smaller Cork.