Tag: Dublin

Heart & Soul of Ireland- Day 3

Wednesday, May 13th, 2026

Our day started meeting our guide for a tour of Trinity College. She was a student who had finished her studies and was getting ready to graduate. We met her in front of Library Square. She was full of energy and information.

Trinity College is the home to the Book of Kells and the Old Library (Long Room). It was founded in 1592 by royal charter from Queen Elizabeth 1. It is the oldest Ireland university with continuous operation. Some of its famous alumni are Oscar Wilde, Jonathan Swift, and Samuel Beckett.

At the juction of Library Square and Parliament Square was a monument to William Edward Hartpole Lecky. It was erected in 1906 and the bronze cast was by Sir William Gascombe. Lecky was a prominent English language historian of his time.

William Edward Hartpole Lecky Monument

Near Lecky’s monument is the college’s Campanile (bell tower). It stands 100 feet and is located in the center of the Parliament Square. It was constructed in 1853 and the corner statues represent Divinity, Science, Medicine, and Law.

Trinity College’s Campanile (Bell tower)
The Graduates Memorial Building

The Debating Chamber is located in this building. The Hist (College Historical Society) was founded in 1770 and The Phil (University Philosophical Society) was founded in 1683. The Phil meets weekly and values free speech. The Hist also meets weekly and debates political and controversial issues. It would have been quite an experience to attend one of the debates.

Below are pictures from the Trinity College Dublin Museum building. It is home to the Geology Discipline.

TCD Museum Building
Ceiling in the Museum Building
Entrance staircase of the Museum Building
Entryway of the Museum Building
College Park is a cricket field on the grounds of Trinity College.
Samuel Beckett theater on the Trinity College Campus

We visited the Book of Kells which was located in the Old Library. It is a 9th century gospel manuscript written in Latin at a Columban monastery in Scotland. It includes the four Gospels of the new testament. It began with an exhibition entitled “Turning Darkness into Light”. It explains the history and symbolism of the Book of Kells manuscript as well as how the vellum and pigments were made. It was a great introduction.

The pictures below were taken in the exhibition. No photos were allowed when we visited the Book of Kells which was open to pages from the Gospel of Luke. The pages are turned several times per year for conservation purposes.

After our visit to the Book of Kells we went upstairs to the Long Room. It housed over 200,000 of the library’s oldest books in oak bookcases. Due to the redevelopment project of the Old Library the books were removed, cleaned, tagged digitally and relocated to an off-site, climate controlled storage facility to stop the deterioration of the ancient paper and leather. Once the redevelopment project has been completed, the collections will be returned to the library shelves.

A gem in the Long Room was the 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic which was read outside the General Post Office on April 24, 1916 by Patrick Pearse at the start of the Easter Rising.

Installed in the Old Library is an illuminated artwork called Gaia. It features NASA imagery of the Earth’s surface. It floats in 3 dimensions as it might be viewed from space.

After our tour of Trinity College we decided to get some lunch before heading for our Guinness Brewery tour. On the way we passed the Oscar Wilde Memorial Sculpture. It is a life-sized statue. He stood 6′ 3″ and was depicted at age 40. He was dressed in his famous smoking jacket and is carved from solid jade. His face is happy on the left side and sad on the right side. He is sitting on a 35 ton quartz boulder.

Oscar Wilde Memorial Sculpture

We checked in at the St. James Gate at Guinness to begin our tour! Guinness beer began in 1759 by Arthur Guinness. The Storehouse tour covers 7 floors and ends at the Gravity Bar.

Below are some of the views from the Gravity Bar looking out at Dublin.

The Gravity Bar gives 360Ëš views of the city and the tour includes a pint of Guinness!

Arthur Guinness’ home

When we finished our Guinness tour we headed back to our hotel because we needed to get ready for our Celtic Nights Show & 3 course Traditional Irish Dinner at the Arlington Hotel.

The eleven of us getting ready for food and Irish entertainment!

A short example of one of the dance numbers with the band. The dancers and the band were very good.

After the show we walked back to our hotel.

Tomorrow morning we meet our driver/guide and say goodbye to Dublin!

Heart & Soul of Ireland- Day 1 & 2

Monday, May 11th, 2026 and Tuesday, May 12th, 2026

We are SO excited to finally be leaving for Ireland. It has been on our bucket list for several years.

This morning eleven of us left home for the airport for our first flight to JFK airport in New York.

Ten of us had this van and driver for our transportation to the airport.

Our flight was on time!

Saying goodbye to Columbus!
Arriving in New York!

Due to flight changes we had over seven hours before our flight to Ireland. Luckily we were able to visit the Delta Sky Lounge. We were able to relax, eat, and drink in comfort!

Our flight to Ireland was delayed thirty minutes but it was a fairly smooth over night flight.

Below are our first glimpses of Ireland!

One of our travelers, Jeff, at the Dublin sign.
Dave with our driver Michael who would transport us to our hotel.

Our hotel in Dublin was the Academy Plaza hotel. Our rooms were ready when we arrived so we were able to freshen up before we began to explore the city of Dublin.

We were all hungry so we found a pub and had a delicious meal at Madigan’s.

After twenty four hours of traveling we still were full of smiles!

Our group of travelers!

After some nourishment we purchased tickets for Dublin’s Hop On Hop Off Bus to give us an overview of the city. It is a good way to see the sights and know what to go back to explore.

Dublin is known for its Georgian style architecture and we saw many examples. Georgian buildings were constructed mainly between 1714 and 1830, which included four kings all named George. These buildings were symmetrical and balanced with smaller windows on the top floor.

We passed by Dublinia, a historical Viking and Medieval Museum of the city of Dublin. It is part of Dublin’s Christ Church Cathedral, known as Synod Hall.

Dublinia and Christ Church Cathedral

St. Audoen’s Church is located in the walled medieval city of Dublin. It’s the only remaining medieval parish church in the capital.

St. Audoen’s Church

Phoenix Park is one of the largest enclosed public parks in Europe. Originally in the 1660s it was a royal hunting park. It covers 1,752 acres.

Located in the park is the Wellington Monument. It is a granite obelisk designed by Sir Robert Smirke to commemorate Arthur Wellesley’s victories. The foundation stone was laid in 1817 and it was completed in 1861. It has 4 sides and each side contains a bronze plaque cast from cannons captured at Waterloo.

The gates missing were original cast-iron and some say the gates were misplaced in storage. Others believe the iron was sold off.

Phoenix Park
Wellington Monument
Missing Phoenix Park gates

The Father Theobald Mathew Statue commemorates his founding of the Temperance Movement. He was an Irish Catholic priest known as the Apostle of Temperance in the 19th century. He advocated complete abstinence from alcohol.

Father Theobald Mathew

The Spire of Dublin is located on O’Connell St., the main thoroughfare of the city. It was unveiled in 2002 and stands 390 feet high and made of stainless steel.

The Spire (looks like a needle)

Many people find The Spire to be an eyesore and doesn’t fit in with Dublin’s architecture.

The windows commemorate the birthplace of Oscar Wilde. He was a famous author, poet and playwright. There is a plaque below the windows noting this event. He was born on October 16th, 1854 in Dublin, Ireland.

Oscar Wilde’s birthplace

We went by the Guinness Brewery. It was founded in 1759 in Dublin by Arthur Guinness. It is the most popular beer brand in Ireland. We will do a tour tomorrow!

One of the buildings of the Guinness Brewery and at the top of this building is the Gravity Bar!

After our Hop On Hop Off experience we walked along O’Connell St. We visited some stores and part of group bought their Ireland made Aran sweater. After shopping we headed back to our hotel. On the way back we saw the Dublin Portal. It was installed in May, 2024. It was a public art installation and was real-time 24/7 video livestream that connected cities across the globe. It is a visual bridge that originally connected Dublin and New York with a live video stream that showed New Yorkers the Spire. And in New York it was broadcast from the Flatiron Building. Now it switches locations every so often.

The Portal from the front.
The back of the portal.

It has been a very long day of overnight travel with little to no sleep and walking around Dublin. We headed back to our hotel where we had a light meal and called it an early evening! Tomorrow will be another day of exploring the city!