My Irish adventure: Dublin part 1

Dublin. This city which amazed me so last summer, how was it to return to it? Dublin is a city that has undergone tremendous changes the last 20 years, and the Celtic tiger has left its footmark on the city. Dublin was the Irish city which thought it was unbeatable…until EVERYTHING went wrong.

But that is not what this post will be about; I let someone else revel in the darkness of the Irish economy. I want to tell how my second visit to this city went.

Our accommodation this time was Kinlay Hostel in Lord Edward Street, which let us be honest, was pretty central and pretty noisy. 2 minutes away from Temple Bar, and perfect for exploring the city on foot. I like to walk, but my sister doesn’t, so we had to make a compromise so I wouldn’t bite her head off.  

Solveig in the hostel

A squiky staire-case

The hostel was like a treasuretrove for someone like me, always on the lookout for extraordinary details. A stairecase, a picture, even a word was enough...I could pursue the perfect shoot just by looking for details.

Wonder what this tells us about the Irish...

 The first day was a wet day and perfect for museums. My dad wanted to see animals and mum wanted to see gold, so the choice was easy: first the museum of natural history and then the national museum with its archaeological exhibition. On the way there I got a chance to show them some parts of St Stephens Green and the main street, hoping they would be able to find their way around town in case we lost them…

But how could I present Dublin properly to my parents? The idea of "important things to see" is not necessarily uniform within my family...so another compromise was made.  We ended up with the tourist-solution: hop on-hop off-ticket for 2 days. This meant that we could travel around the city, see what needed to be seen and discover the city in our own tempo. And this was what I did the 17-18th....

*Guiding my family

*Visited some places of importance...like Chapters bookstore

Heaven on earth for a bibliophile like me...

*Ended up in Porterhouse....AGAIN

*Visited Kilmainham Gaol...I will try to describe it to you now:

KILMAINHAM GAOL

I never got a chance to visit this last summer, and it had annoyed me since. A place so closely connected to the bloody history of Ireland, to its failed rebellions and to its political growth. I highly doubt my words would do justice to it at all, so I will let the pictures speak and add small comments on them to give you, as a reader, an understandable recount of it.

The chapel: this is the place where Joseph Mary Plunkett and Grace Gifford got married 3rd May 1916.This happened just before he would be executed for his role in the infamous Easter Rising. Grace never remarried.

Grace was herself imprisoned in Kilmainham Gaol for 3 months in 1923 together with many other republicans. This was done because people who either were related to the leaders of the Easter Rising or friends were seen as someone the people of Ireland could unite itself under, and the english feared them.

Such a gloomy place. The walls were made up of a type of stone that works like a sponge- So instead of keeping the irish rain outside, it seeped into the walls and made the conditions within the prison both raw, wet and cold. There were also very little light, so you can imagine how it must have been for the prisoners.

What a terrible beauty. This part of the prison was designed so the prison-guards could keep total control at all times. The shape of it makes it very easy to keep an eye on all the cells, you can literally see each one from every point in the room. The acoustics are brilliant, so if one prisoner were talking to another, the guards would hear it nomatter what. What they did not hear was the tapping on the  pipes...

Kilmainham is mostly famous for being  the prison were the leaders of the Easter Rising were held before their executions. This plaque hangs in the stonebreakers yard to commemorate the leaders who bravely gave their lives in the fight for Irish freedom. James Connolly had been wounded during the rising, and had to be tied to a chair so he could be executed by firing squad. This enraged people both in Ireland and abroad, since it made no sense to execute a dying man...the rebels went from being scapegoats and villains into becoming heroes and martyrs

A few tears were shed when I walked through this place, being told about the different people that sat here for minor or major crimes. It meant a lot to me.

So here ends the first chapter---do you want more? It will come, just be patient