Dublin – Travels with Ali

🥃 Delights of Dublin – Day Three – The Spirit of Dublin 🥃

“The Light Music of Whiskey Falling into a Glass – An Agreeable Interlude” – James Joyce

I always like to go on a Hop on Hop off bus whenever I’m in a new city, it’s a good way of seeing everything and hopping off whenever something takes your interest. So today that’s what we decided to do, I had a few places in mind I wanted to visit. Dublin Castle, Phoenix Park and the Guiness Store. We walked over to Dublin Castle but didn’t go inside and then onto the City Hall.

City Hall

Dublin City Hall was built between 1769 and 1779 and was originally used as a financial centre by the merchants of Dublin. Twelve columns support the dome of the Rotunda and the mosaic floor depicts the Coat of Arms of Dublin. A truly breathtaking building.

After this we hopped on our bus and our first stop was Teeling’s Distillery, not somewhere we had planned on going but our driver said there was a lovely coffee shop there, so we decided on a quick stop.

While we were drinking our coffee a very dapper old gentleman came up to us and wished us a “top of the morning, ladies”. He said he hoped we would be going upstairs for a proper coffee, and then introduced himself as John Teeling, the man himself. When we said we were not whiskey drinkers (blasphemy, indeed) he insisted that we follow him immediately. With that we were whisked through the entrance, no ticket required and he proceeded to give us a private tour, we actually interrupted a fully paid up tour and our man introduced us all to everyone.

While he was giving us a very in depth talk of how the place started and the way whiskey is made, I took photos of the beautiful artwork adorning the walls.

“Whiskey is Liquid Sunshine” – George Bernard Shaw

Entering the distilling plant itself we were met with a very earthy aroma! We peeked inside the fermenting mixer and watched the grains being mashed.

Next up was the distillery room itself, where the whiskey is distilled in the vast copper pots. Mr. Teeling proudly showed us the three huge copper pots with brass name plates and lo and behold there was one name after me! Well not me personally but his granddaughter.

Moving on to the bar itself, I think Mr. Teeling’s favourite place, judging by his enthusiasm to get us up there and insisting that we have an Irish Coffee. As we sat at the bar watching the barman make us very extravagant coffees, I was hoping fervently that our man wouldn’t stand around and make us drink every drop.

The Perfect Pour

I managed a quarter, which was good going as I’ve never drank whiskey in my life.

We all agreed that this was a highlight of our trip, we’ve obviously still got that certain je ne sais quoi!

Phoenix Park was next up our our tour, but when we arrived the bus driver turned at the start of the park and drove back! Deciding it was far too long to make the trek to the entrance we had a quick walk and waited for the next bus.

Getting off at the Epic Centre we had a quick coffee stop and then proceeded to walk along the river, over the Sean O’Casey Bridge and back to our hotel.

Sculptures depicting the Great Famine – 1845 to 1852, a period of starvation and disease due to the potato blight. A truly terrible time to be alive.

I hope you’ve enjoyed these three days in Dublin with me, I have many more photos but will post these another day! I think enough is enough at this stage. I’ll finish with one last quote:

“What Whiskey will not cure, there is no cure for” – Irish Proverb

Delights of Dublin – Day Two

Meeting up at 10 am in the lobby we headed off in the direction of the river with a stop for coffee and a bowl of porridge for me! It was a very chilly 5 degrees so I made sure I was well rugged up.

One place I was interested in seeing was The Book of Kells, located in Trinity College. So we walked over to see about tours and tickets. There was no ticket office only an app to scan to buy tickets. What a palaver to do this, and we weren’t the only ones finding this difficult. Finally we managed to download all tickets and headed off to wait for our time slot.

The Book of Kells

The Book of Kells is an illuminated manuscript, containing the four Gospels of the New Testament. It was created in a Columban monastery in either Ireland, Scotland or England. It is believed to have been created around 800 AD. It takes its name from the Abbey of Kells, County Meath which was its home for centuries.

The book itself is kept under a large dome, with just a different page being turned each day. No photography is allowed of the book itself.

For me to think of a book like this that has lasted for centuries, through wars and pillaging is astounding. How was it hidden and preserved all these years? That is something that is not really known.

The illustrations and ornamentation of the Book of Kells surpass those of other Insular Gospel books in extravagance and complexity. The decoration combines traditional Christian iconography with the ornate swirling motifs typical of Insular art. Figures of humans, animals and mythical beasts, together with Celtic knots and interlacing patterns in vibrant colours, enliven the manuscript’s pages. Many of these minor decorative elements are imbued with Christian symbolism and so further emphasise the themes of the major illustrations. Source – Wikipedia.

Pages of the book are enlarged with descriptions next to each illustration. The paintings are wonderful to see and the more look the more you see!

It took me a while to find all the images mentioned in the page next to this painting.

⛪️⛪️⛪️⛪️⛪️⛪️⛪️⛪️⛪️⛪️⛪️⛪️⛪️⛪️⛪️⛪️

After this we walked around to The Long Room, the main chamber of the Old Library. This room is nearly 65 metres in length, it is filled with 200,000 of the Library’s oldest books and is one of the most impressive libraries in the world. The books are still used by the students of the college.

**“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing”**

The Grounds of Trinity College

Lunchtime was looming and stomachs were rumbling so we went in search of a pub, not that hard in Dublin. We found a French named Irish pub, where we had a hearty mushroom soup.

We had a walk to St. Stephen’s Green next and to have a look at the prestigious Georgian houses surrounding the green.

Scenes from the streets

In the wake of all the walking we went back to the hotel for a well earned rest before agreeing to meet later for drinks and dinner.

Dinner, bars and bands

Tonight we were venturing to Roberta’s, an Italian restaurant within walking distance of our hotel. The reviews said it was noisy but the food was good, it also mentioned a glass atrium.

We had a table near the bar area and noticed an engagement was in place. We got chatting to the bride to be, I think she was glad of a chance to take the weight off her feet as she sat down and gave us her life story!

It was time to sample one of the bars that Temple Street is so famous for. We opted for The Temple Bar Pub and squeezed our way to the bar! I hadn’t been to a place this packed since my twenties. Not a place to go if you are claustrophobic! Everyone was singing and laughing and it did feel like gatecrashing a party in full swing.

A great rendition of I’m a Believer

Walking back to our hotel

A marvellous second day filled to the brim with sights and sounds, delicious food, wonderful company and fantastic entertainment.

And to finish with a very apt quote

“Work is the curse of the Drinking Classes”
Oscar Wilde

~ Delights of Dublin in Three Days ~

“The World is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper” – W.B. Yeats

First Night

During my stay in the UK I took the chance to hop across the Channel to see my neighbour and friend from Perth. She was also on a visit back to her home country.

I flew Ryan Air from Stansted Airport, being the most convenient for me. I meticulously measured my case and bag and weighed each but wasn’t challenged on either. An hour or two on these flights is enough as they are not made for comfort.

First views of Dublin

We were staying in the infamous Temple Bar area at the Temple Bar Hotel. I had a room overlooking the street on the fourth floor. It could have been in the bar itself for all noise at night!

Our first night’s dinner was at the Fire Steakhouse and Bar, the most impressive restaurant I’ve ever been in. With incredible vaulted ceilings and stained glass windows, it feels as if you are an art museum. It is built next to the Mansion House, the residence of the Lord Mayor. He is often known to have dinner in the Supper Room.

Of course we couldn’t end the night there, so Brigid suggested a bar for a cocktail, and never one to turn down a cocktail off we went.

We walked to the iconic Cafe En Seine, a fantastically art nouveau style bar housed in an historic building. Complete with doric columns and glass panelled ceilings, there were booths to sit in or small cosy corners in front of fireplaces.