May 22 - Touring Dublin 1

Today we started touring Dublin.  We signed up for a Hop On Hop Off bus tour that runs through the historical area of town and provides narration that discusses all of the sites you see along the way.  So here we are on the upper open deck of the bus, luckily, no rain today.

One of the site we went by was the house of Guinness family which is right next to the brewery. This house is built in the Georgian style.  Here is a photo:

The name Dublin comes from the Gaelic "dubh linn" or "black pool" which is where the rivers Liffey and Poddle meet before flowing into the Irish Sea.  Here is a photo of the Liffey, doesn't look very impressive.

During our drive we passed through Phoenix Park which has the distinction of being the largest urban park in Europe.  It is also home of the Dublin Zoo and Áras an Uachtaráin, the Irish White House.  Here is a photo:

While riding came across this statute, not sure what it is but it's art.

This is the Ha'penny Bridge.  It is a pedestrian over the River Liffey.  It was built in 1816 out of cast iron and got its name as that is what the charged at the time to cross the river.

After finishing a complete loop on the bus we got off at St. Stephen's Green which is a very nice park in the center of Dublin.  We were there around noon and it was very crowded.  There is a pond in the park as shown in this photo.

There were a pair of swans on the pond with four babies (cygnets).

Here is Pat in front of one of the fountains in the park.

 We then took the bus to an area of Dublin called Temple Bar which is considered Dublin's cultural center.  We got off here to have lunch.  Here is a photo of what the area looks like.

We had lunch at a small pub by the name of The Stag's Head.  Here is a photo of Pat just outside the entrance,

 It was a really nice pub and here is a photo of the interior.  We had a great lunch.

Our next stop was Dublin Castle.  This dates back to 1204 but the only original areas are the Record Tower and some sections of wall in the basement.  Here is the gate leading into the castle.

And here is the Record Tower.

The more modern part of the castle is used for a lot of official function and was closed when we were there today.  Here is a photo of the modern, 17th century, sections.

We then were back on the bus until we got to Christ Church.  I don't know why it is but it seems like every time we go to see a historic church it is under renovation as you can see in this photo.

Here is another view.

There has been a church on this site since about 1030 when Sitriuc 'Silkbeard' returned from a pilgrimage to Rome.  Sitriuc was the Norse King of Dublin.  Dublin was founded by Viking raiders in the 9th century and continued to be ruled by Vikings until after the Norman invasion.

In the church is this tomb for "Strongbow" who actual name was Richard de Clare.  He was the leader of the Normans who invaded Ireland in 1170 after being asked by a deposed Irish King to help him retake his throne.  That Irish King, Diarmait Mac Murchada, got more than he was reckoning and the Normans soon subjugated all of eastern Ireland and brought it under the rule of the King of England.  This is not his original tomb as the first one was destroyed when the roof of the church collapsed in 1562.  For hundreds of years this tomb was used as a site to seal agreements by the participants placing their hands on the tomb.  As a result all of the details of the face have been worn off.

Her is a view towards the nave of the church.

And a photo of the quire area.

And the altar.

We got to climb up to the belfry.  This climb was not for the timid as the circular stair had very small steps, was very steep and was poorly lighted with light only coming thru occasional slits in the wall.  Two thirds of the way up we came out onto a section of the roof that we had to cross before we continued up to the belfry.  The view was great as you can see here.

We finally made it to the belfry.  The ropes connect to the 19 bells ranging in size from 250 pounds to 2-1/4 tons.  We did get to ring a couple of the smaller bells.  The mechanism on the wall is a clock mechanism that rings the bell every 15 minutes just like Big Ben.

We then went down into the crypt which is the oldest and most original part of the church.  Down there we found memorials to various famous Irish as well as this tabernacle and altar which were used in the very last Roman Catholic Mass in the church.  It is now Anglican.

Also there was this set of solid gold  plate and other items that was supposedly given by William of Orange who became William II, King of England.  That's the same guy that won the Battle of the Boyne,

Then there was this Stock which dates to about 1670.

Finally there is this mummified cat and rat.  The story goes that the church organist was complaining that something was wrong with the organ.  Finally they got someone in who took the organ apart to see what was wrong.  What they found was this dead rat that crawled into the pipes of the organ to escape a cat. The cat crawled in after him and both got stuck and died there.  James Joyce even wrote about the incident in one of his books.

That's it for today.  We did have a nice supper at one of the local pubs, I had Thai red curry and Pat had Scottish salmon.