More Dublin Adventures

From my Ireland Vacation in May 2010

Christ Church Cathedral

During my first day flying solo (my husband went to work to meet his Irish, Intel counterparts),  I planned to take a carefully thought out walking tour of Dublin called Castles & Cathedrals.  I donned my best tourist costume complete with camera around my neck, over-sized bag with umbrella, and map in hand.  Having studied my tour ahead of time I mistakenly believed it was quite straight forward.  I found the starting point, number one on my walking tour, with no problem.  Although I have to admit it was the Tourist Center which I already seen the day before and it was across the street from our hotel. 

After the Tourist Center, while looking for stop number two, I quickly realized I didn't see street names.  This could be trouble, I thought to myself.  I had already learned street names were posted on buildings so I looked on all the buildings around me and saw no sign of the names.  The Tourist Center was on the corner so there were two different nameless street choices.  I picked the one that looked correct although neither of them seemed to really match up with the map.  I started walking; searching for any street name at this point to tell me I was on the right track.  

Dublin Castle Courtyard

Still not having any luck making sense of the map, I finally gave in and asked for directions and found I was indeed on the right track to my second stop, Dublin Castle.  Victory!  Once there, I looked around the outside courtyards of the castle.  Other than a remaining tower from the 13th century, there was not much to indicate it had been a castle.  In 1673 it burned down and was rebuilt as a palace.  I decided to book a tour to see the inside and signed up for one that would start in two hours.

Audoen Cathedral

With time to kill, I wanted to find stop number three on my walking tour before heading back to Dublin Castle.  Stop three was St Patrick's Cathedral which proved to be quite illusive.  I found Christ Church Cathedral, Audoen's Cathedral and seemingly every other cathedral in Dublin but there was no sign of St Patrick's Cathedral.  I even popped into a local store to ask for directions from a friendly clerk now and then but still ended up at the wrong cathedral.  At least it was a good excuse to hear the lovely Irish accent!  After walking around in frustration for over an hour, my Dublin Castle tour time was approaching and I was getting hungry.  

Inside Dublin Castle

I resigned myself to the fact that I wasn't going to see St Patrick's Cathedral before Dublin Castle and headed back for a quick lunch at the Castle Café before the tour started.  I felt like I had spent the first half a day walking in circles so I was relieved to be on a guided tour in which I was fairly certain not to get lost!  The tour didn't disappoint, it was packed with Ireland's checkered history and I got to see quite a bit of the inside of the lovely and ornate palace which is still used today by Ireland's government.  The tour also included an excavation site of the original castle wall first built by the Vikings and then improved upon by the Anglo Normans.

Bird Outside St Patrick's Cathedral

After the Castle Tour, I was determined to find St Patrick's Cathedral and was pretty sure I finally knew where it was.  Adding to my desire to see this particular cathedral was the fact that I had just learned from my tour that St Patrick at one time had converted every single person in Ireland to Christianity.  Now that is mighty impressive in my book.  I walked out through the back entrance of the Castle and came right up to St Patrick's Cathedral.  It was so close this entire time and not so illusive after all!  I have never claimed to be gifted with directions but I'm telling you that map I was using did more harm than good.

Inside St Patrick's Cathedral

I paid (yes paid) 4.50 Euros to see the inside of St Patrick's.  I was a little alarmed at having to pay to go inside a church.  Actually, I was quite alarmed, but if the money is going to help preserve a historic treasure (and hopefully it is!) then I think it's worth it.  The cathedral was dark and seemed almost gothic to me.  There were lovely stained glass windows as I would expect and there were many tombstones which I did not expect.  After seeing the rich and decadent Cathedrals in Italy, this one couldn’t possibly compare but the Irish were much poorer than the Italians so in that respect this cathedral was very impressive.  The incredible acoustics are what struck me the most about St Patrick's Cathedral.  I was fortunate to arrive during choir practice.  The choir's pure voices gave me chills as they sang out so beautifully in the big and open church.  I swear a sound that beautiful could bring world peace.  I soaked in the moment and knew this was a travel moment to be filed in the enrichment files of life!

The Streets of Dublin

After finally finding the right cathedral, I walked around the streets of Dublin soaking in the Irish culture.  I decided to abandon the official walking tour which was bringing much frustration and just enjoy the vibrant city of Dublin. I was not surprised when I ended up at the Temple Bar Pub.  I would have walked on past in favor of a nap (after all, I had already jogged 3.5 miles and walked at least that as well) but the live music beckoned me and drew me in.  This time it was just one man with his guitar, singing beautiful Irish songs that were a bit slower   than the previous night's music.  Like last night's music, his voice was pure and melodic.  The Irish seem to be gifted in this manner and I was starting a new found appreciation for traditional Irish music.  Although this day did not quite go as I had carefully planned, it was a terrific day of exploration in a wonderful European city and I did get to see a lot of cathedrals!

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