First Stop: Dublin

 A tour of the British Isles has been on our wish list for some time.  So, when the price on a September Seabourn cruise offering dropped in late July, we decided to jump on the opportunity.

Our tour of the British Isles would be on the Seabourn Ovation, a new ship with 16 months in commission.  You might call it a yacht since it carries only 600 passengers. We have had several cruises on Seabourn’s Odyssey class (Odyssey, Sojourn and Quest), all of which carry 450 passengers.  So we were curious to see what changes came with the larger ship.

So, after an overnight flight from Atlanta, the sojourn began in Dublin.  Leaving the airport by taxi, we quickly secured our hotel and headed out to see Dublin.  We had two days to explore before boarding our ship and not a minute to waste. You have to know the first stop would be the Guinness Storehouse.  

First Things First

We walked past all the exhibits showing the water, the barley, the hops, the whole process. The 360 degree observation bar on the top floor afforded a wonderful view of Dublin with graphics on the window glass pointing out features important to the brewing history of Guinness.  The place was packed with people.

Clogging Like the Irish!

After our afternoon in the Guinness Storehouse, we returned to our hotel to prepare for our evening of Irish food and dance at the Belvedere. We expected this to be tourist-oriented, and it certainly was. However, the show was entertaining, and the food was excellent. The dance troupe pounded the stage into submission with over two hours of dancing.

We had an entire Friday to explore Dublin. So, our plan for the morning was to join a tour of Trinity College and Dublin Castle. And, for the afternoon, I had arranged to meet Derren of Panoramic Ireland for a walking photo tour of the city while Susie shopped. So….we began after a superb Irish breakfast and joined our tour shortly past sunrise at Trinity College.

Trinity College and the Long Room Library

The first stop was the Long Room Library. Built between 1712 and 1732, Harry Potter fans may recognize this magnificent 200,000 book repository. Also, rows of busts of the great thinkers were fascinating. For example, Dr. Boyle’s law concerning the inverse relationship of pressure and volume of ideal gases served this chemical engineering student well. The library includes original works of Shakespeare in the stacks somewhere.

The Book of Kell

Before leaving the library we visited the Book of Kells exhibition. This remarkable exhibit hall actually displays four books, two at a time, that are illustrated manuscripts of the four Gospels. They were created in approximately 800 AD in Ireland and possibly Britain. The quality of the calligraphy is unsurpassed. The text is drawn from the Vulgate version of the Bible. The vision of young monks poring for hours and hours, day after day, over pieces of calfskin and inscribing them with brightly-colored pigmented inks seems like a special kind of torture. Our guide delighted in informing us that scholars have occasionally found very “unbiblical” caricatures surreptitiously inserted into the illustrations in the books!

The history of the books is not known with certainty. Several theories exist to explain its preparation. What is known is that Columban monks are responsible for its creation. The name Kells derives from the fact that the books were maintained in the Abbey at Kells for many, many years. How this treasure survived over the centuries of warfare and strife is a miracle in and of itself.

Cockles and Mussels, Alive, Alive, Oh!

Leaving Trinity College, we headed toward Dublin Castle. Along the way, we passed the statue of Molly Malone. And Kevin, our guide, as I believe all guides in Dublin, felt compelled to render an a capella version of “Cockles and Mussels”. But Kevin was no song bird! And I have to say that Molly was no pretty thing, but her ample bust, judging from its shiny surface, draws the attention of many. (No, I did not!)

Susie made the police officer her new best friend as he annotated her map with the great shopping areas and places to eat. He told us to avoid Temple Bar. “It is a tourist trap”, he said. And regarding places to eat, he advised that if a place smelled good, it likely was. He sent us to O’Neill’s across the street. Good call.

Dublin Castle and the Early Times

In the 13th century, King John of England ordered the construction of a castle where English governance of Ireland would take place. The land chosen for the castle was originally the site of a Viking settlement beside a dark pool which formed at the confluence of the Liffey and the Poddle Rivers. The word Dublin is from a contraction of a Norse phrase meaning dark pool. The Poddle River is now an underground stream while the Liffey prominently flows through Dublin.

We learned that the Vikings played a major role in the beginnings of Ireland. Interestingly enough, we both took the Ancestry DNA test a couple of years ago, and our tests showed small fractions of Scandinavian heritage. We could not imagine why. And now we know!

The statuary shown below guard the doorway to the castle. On the left is Brian Boru, King of Ireland from 1002 to 1014 AD. He remains Ireland’s most famous king. And on the right is Saint Patrick. According to common belief, Patrick, a 5th century Englishman, brought Christianity to Ireland. He spent his lifetime converting the polytheistic Celts to the Christian faith. But his reputation for chasing the snakes from Ireland fails scrutiny. The country is too cold for snakes to survive.

Photography Tour of Dublin

So, after lunch at O’Neills, Susie was off to shop and I went to meet Derren. And for the next 5 hours, Derren and I walked the brick and cobblestone streets of Dublin. So many things were striking. Even the street lamps were fascinating. Moreover, the people were interesting. There was such a mix of old and new things, young and old people. A start-of-the-art Convention Center Dublin across the Liffey River from a centuries old pub. We finished our walking tour after dark having covered at least 8 miles. So, tired and sore-footed, we declared victory and returned to Hotel Morrison Doubletree to relax and enjoy a Peroni.

Saturday Morning on Grafton Street

In summary, Friday was a very full but satisfying experience. But we still had Saturday morning in Dublin before we needed to take a cab to the port to board the Seabourn Ovation. So we decided to head to Grafton Street, THE high end shopping district of Dublin. It was a bustling place with all manner of stores, street musicians, and vendors.

So, after two and a half days in Dublin, it’s a wrap. We are anxious to board our ship and continue our adventure through the British Isles. Oh, by the way, the Irish, the Welsh and the Scottish people hate that term! We needed to board at 2 PM depart for the port town of Cobh in County Cork of southern Ireland. There was still much left to explore in Dublin, and we looked forward to our return.