Day 8 ~ Dublin

This morning, we set out on a bus tour of Dublin. Our first stop was Phoenix Park. At 1,750 acres, it is the largest park in Europe and is twice the size of Central Park in New York City. It includes large areas of grassland and tree-lined avenues, a zoo, a herd of wild deer, various monuments and the homes of the president of Ireland and the US Ambassador. The Victorian People’s Vegetable Garden is located next to the visitor center with many vegetables as well as beautiful flowers.

The nearby small Ashtown Castle is a tower house thought to originally date from the 1430s.

Our next stop was Trinity College and the Book of Kells. It is a major tour attraction in Dublin; and after about a 45 minute wait, we were allowed inside the building. The Book of Kells is an illustrated manuscript containing the four Gospels of the New Testament in Latin. It is believed to have been created around 800 AD in a Columban monastery in Ireland and is considered one of the greatest contributions to medieval art ever to come out of the British Isles. In 1641, the monastery of Kells was destroyed. Twelve years later, the Book of Kells was brought to Dublin for safekeeping, and it has been in the possession of Trinity College since at least 1661. We were not allowed to take pictures so the image below is from the college’s digital collection.

Trinity College was founded in 1592.  The Old Library dates back to the early 1700s and is home to the Book of Kells. One floor above this book is the appropriately named Long Room. It is the main chamber of the Old Library and houses around 200,000 of the Library’s oldest books.

Books are not categorized by title or author, but by size.  Notice how the bottom shelves contain the large books while the top shelves only have small books.  In front of each section is a bust of a famous writer..

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In the evening, we went to the Old Punch Bowl Bar and Restaurant for Irish Food and Entertainment. The Old Punch Bowl is over 200 years old. It got its name years ago when funeral  precessions would pass by and need to stop by for some warm refreshments. With necessity being the mother of invention, the owner created the recipe for hot mulled wine which he served out of a big pot (aka the punch bowl).  Besides a delicious dinner, we were treated to some wonderful Irish music from this trio.

Then these darling Irish dancers dazzled us with their tapping. They were adorable as well as being great dancers.

We are up early in the morning and moving south to Kilkenny.