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| Cliffs of Moher |
Over Memorial Day weekend
we took a trip to Ireland. We arrived at our Dublin hotel on Thursday night and
our adventure began on Friday morning with a Sandman walking tour. The first
stop on our tour was City Hall. The building was built between 1769 and 1779
and was the center of British government in Ireland until 1922. The function of the building was to
provide a meeting place for Dublin’s businessmen, where they could buy and sell
goods and trade. Today the Dublin
City Council meets in the building.
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| Inside Dublin City Hall |
After leaving City Hall
we walked to the nearby Dublin Castle. Until 1922 the castle was the seat of
British rule in Ireland and is now a major Irish government complex. Most of
the castle dates from the 18th century and was originally built as a
defensive fortification for the city. Today the castle is used for inauguration
ceremonies, hosting official State visits, State banquets, and Government
policy launches.
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| Dublin Castle |
Our walking tour also
took us to the medieval walls of Dublin, The National Library, Trinity College,
and other famous Dublin sights. Trinity College was founded in 1592 and was
modeled after Oxford and Cambridge.
The oldest university in Ireland was seen as the university of the
Protestant Ascendancy during much of its history.
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| Grounds of Trinity College |
Christ Church Cathedral
was another stop on our walking tour. We later spent more time walking through
the cathedral and grounds. The medieval cathedral was founded around 1028 and
was built on high ground overlooking the Viking settlement of Wood Quay. Christ
Church also contains the largest cathedral crypt in Britain or Ireland, which
was constructed in 1172-1173. We
spent time exploring both the cathedral and the crypt.
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| Christ Church Cathedral |
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| Inside Christ Church Cathedral |
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| Christ Church Cathedral Crypt |
Temple Bar is an area on
the south bank of the River Liffey in central Dublin. The area has preserved
its 18th century street pattern, with many narrow cobbled streets.
Many believe Temple Bar Street received its name from the Temple family.
Specifically Sir William Temple, provost of Trinity College from 1609-1627. Sir
William’s house and gardens were located in the area in the early 17th
century. Today the area is known for its lively nightlife, traditional Irish
hotspots, and famous Temple Bar Pub. Our walking tour took us through this area
and we later returned and enjoyed fish and chip at a couple of different pubs.
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| Temple Bar District |
On Saturday we left
Dublin on a day trip to the Cliffs of Moher. The cliffs are located on Ireland’s
West coast. Our bus traveled through the countryside of Ireland where we took
in the sights of shimmering lakes, rolling hills, and medieval castles. The
first stop on our trip was in the city of Limerick. This Mid-West Irish city
began as a Viking colony in 812. Today Limerick is the fourth most populous
city in Ireland. In Limerick we spent time taking pictures of the imposing King
John’s Castle. The 13th century castle is located next to the river
Shannon and was built in 1200.
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| King John's Castle |
Our next stop was the
main attraction the beautiful Cliffs of Moher. The cliffs are 702 feet high at
their highest point and span more than 5 miles of the Atlantic coastline. The
cliffs take their name from an old fort called Moher, which once stood on the
southernmost point of the cliffs. O’Brien’s Tower
marks the highest point of the Cliffs of Moher. Sir Cornelius O’Brien built the
round stone tower on the cliffs in 1835 as an observation tower for the
hundreds of Victorian tourists who were frequenting the cliffs at the time.
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| Cliffs of Moher |
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| Cliffs of Moher |
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| O’Brien’s Tower |
After leaving the Cliffs we journeyed
on to the quaint village of Doolin where we had lunch in a traditional Irish
pub. Following lunch we drove through Burren National Park and making a stop at
Giant’s Causeway. Burren is a vast limestone region, suggestive of lunar
landscape, containing rare flowers. The Giant’s Causeway is an area of
approximately 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient
volcanic eruption. The tops of the columns form stepping stones, which lead
from the cliff, foot and disappear under the sea. Many of the columns are
hexagonal and the tallest are approximately 39 feet high. The solidified lava
in the cliffs is 92 feet thick in places.
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| Burren National Park |
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| Burren National Park |
Our next stop was for an Irish coffee
in the nearby Galway Bay. The bay is about 31 miles long and 6 miles wide. The
city of Galway is located on the northeast side of the bay. The last stop we
made after leaving Galway and returning to Dublin was the ruins of Corcomroe
Abbey. The early 13th-century abbey is renowned for its detailed
carvings and other rich ornamentation, which are not commonly found in
structures from this period. The
abbey features a typical cruciform church facing east, with a small chapel.
Construction on the abbey is believed to have taken place sometime between 1205
and 1210 using local limestone. Today a cemetery and the ruins of the chapel
remain.
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| Galway Bay |
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| Irish Coffee |
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| Corcomroe
Abbey |
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| Ruins of Corcomroe
Abbey |
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| Ruins of Corcomroe
Abbey |
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| Ruins of Corcomroe
Abbey |
Sunday was our last full day in Dublin.
We spent the day using the hop on hop off bus to get around the city. One of
our stops was the Old Jameson distillery, which was founded by John Jameson in
1780. Today the Jameson distillery is no longer an actual distillery but a
refurbished one that serves as a museum. At the museum we were taken on a
guided tour, which told the story of the creation of the Jameson brand and took
us through a step-by-step visualization of how Jameson whiskey is made.
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| Jameson Distillery |
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| Jameson Distillery Tour |
Another popular stop on the bus route
is the Guinness Storehouse. We didn’t take the time or pay to go on the tour
during our visit to Dublin. Instead we marveled at the building and took in the
history of the company presented to us on the bus. The company was founded by
Arthur Guinness in 1759 and covers a 60-acre site. The building in which the
Storehouse is located was constructed in 1902 as a fermentation plant and was
converted into a Storehouse in 1997. Since opening as a tourist attraction in
2000, the storehouse has received over four million visitors.
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| Guinness |
The most unique attraction we visited
while in Dublin was Kilmainham Gaol. Kilmainham is a former prison which played
an important part in Irish history, as many leaders of Irish rebellions were
imprisoned and some executed in the prison by the British and the Irish Free
State. The Gaol was built in 1796. During this time there was no segregation of
prisoners: men, women and children were incarcerated up to five in each cell
measuring roughly 28 square meters. Children were sometimes arrested for petty
theft; the youngest prisoner recorded was seven. Poor conditions in which women
prisoners were kept encouraged the next stage of development at the prison.
Kilmainham Gaol was decommissioned as a prison by the Irish Free State
government in 1924. The final restoration of the site was completed in 1971
when the Gaol chapel was re-opened to the public. Today Kilmainham is one of
the largest unoccupied prisons in Europe. After looking at artifacts in the
museum we were taken on a guided tour of the prison while our guide shared the
history of the building and its more famous occupants.
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| Old Part of Kilmainham Gaol |
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| New Part of Kilmainham Gaol |
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| Cell in New Part of Kilmainham Gaol |
On Monday before
catching our flight back to Germany we stopped at the General Post Office or
GPO. Here we walked through the post office museum where we learned about the
progression of stamps, the post office, mail delivery systems, and the Easter
Rising. The Easter Rising or the Easter Rebellion was an armed insurrection in
Ireland during Easter week in 1916. The Rising was encouraged by Irish
republicans to end British rule in Ireland and establish an independent Irish
Republic while the United Kingdom was heavily engaged in WWI. On Easter Monday
a group of 1,200 volunteers and Citizen Army members assembled at various
prearranged meeting points in Dublin. Their goal was to occupy a number of
imposing buildings in the inner city. The GPO was the nerve center of the rebellion. Despite the great odds against them,
the Irish patriots held out for about a week. In total, the Rising cost 450
persons killed, 2,614 injured, and 9 missing, almost all in Dublin. Following
the Rising the incompetence of the British government and the arrests of
thousands of men only served to arouse the hatred for the English among the
Irish population. The men who were executed were regarded as martyrs. If the
British had handled the situation appropriately, the Irish radical cause could
have received a severe setback.
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| GPO Museum |
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| GPO Building |
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| Irish Countryside |
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