Dublin much? Sightseeing

A weekend goes by way too fast, and in the limited time we had – choices had to be made. We absolutely love museums and historic sites, but the weather was nice and we really didn’t want to spend all day standing in lines and touring indoors museums. The only way we could solve this dilemma was by promising ourselves that we will return and see what we opted away this weekend.

So we took a stroll on the sidewalks of Dublin and took in the atmosphere, popping in and out of stores that caught our attention, lunched and dined at pubs and enjoyed the live music, and we took a round on the hop-on-hop-off city sightseeing buses. In short – we had a lovely time without getting deep into any of the sights.

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Saint Patrick’s Cathedral is the largest church in Ireland. Christ Church Cathedral is the elder of Dublin’s two medieval cathedrals. Have to admit, I think I have the pictures of the two all mixed up.

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St Audoen’s Roman Catholic Church, built between 1841 and 1847 . The church is now home to the Polish chaplaincy in Ireland.

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Just to confuse me, there is another St Audoen’s Church adjacent to the Roman Catholic one above, but this one is in the Church of Ireland.  Erected in 1190, St Audoen’s is the oldest parish church in Dublin and still used as such.

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Then you have the John’s Lane Church, opened in 1874 on the site of St. John’s Hospital (founded 1180). This church is served by the Augustinian Order.

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St Patrick’s Tower. I must admit I was very curious what this was, I figured it was either  a drying tower or an old windmill in connection with the Guinness brewery, and it turns out I wasn’t too far off.

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The next set of pictures speaks for themselves; The Guinness Storehouse:

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Irish Museum of Modern Art

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Heuston railway station, opened on 4 August 1846

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Wellington Testimonial, an obelisk located in the Phoenix Park, built to commemorate the victories of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (“Iron Duke”) The structure is 62 metres (203 ft) tall, making it the largest obelisk in Europe.

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“The Floozy in the Jacuzzi” – or (said with a heavy Irish accent) “The Whore in the Sewer”.

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The Ha’penny Bridge, or officially the Liffey Bridge, is a pedestrian bridge built in May 1816 over the River Liffey.

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The ONLY store Sir Nerdalot enjoyed: Games Workshop

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The Spire of Dublin, is a large, stainless steel, pin-like monument 121.2 meters (398 ft.) in height. Irish humor being great, they have of course given this monument nicknames: The Stiffy at the Liffey, The Erection at the Intersection and The Stiletto in the Ghetto

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Of course, no one goes to Dublin without noticing Trinity College! Founded in 1592, it is one of the seven ancient universities of Britain and Ireland, and also Ireland’s oldest university.

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This is a statue of Theobald Wolfe Tone (20 June 1763 – 19 November 1798), a leading Irish revolutionary figure and one of the founding members of the United Irishmen. Tone is regarded as the father of Irish republicanism and leader of the 1798 Irish Rebellion.

Now, the semicircular set of pillars surrounding Wolfe Tone, of course sets the Irish mood here – as the place is nicknamed the Tone-Henge.

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Temple Bar is the cultural quarter of Dublin and has a very lively nightlife. Actually I found it quite lively at daytime too. Very enjoyable!

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Grafton Street was the fifth most expensive main shopping street in the world in 2008.

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The Ace with the Base, Phil Lynott, founding member, the principal songwriter, lead vocalist and bassist of Thin Lizzy

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The River Liffey flows through the center of Dublin

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The Memorial to Daniel O’Connell (6 August 1775 – 15 May 1847), often referred to as The Liberator or The Emancipator. He was a political leader and campaigned for Catholic emancipation and repeal of the Act of Union.

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Before I leave you with some random pictures from Dublin, I just have to mention one of my favorite authors; Roddy Doyle. He is an Irish novelist, dramatist and screenwriter, and is notable for his heavy use of dialogue written in slang and Irish English dialect. He is super witty! Have you seen the movie The Commitments? Sure you have. He wrote it!

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Just some random pictures, looks like I was fascinated with the Georgian houses:

crabcakes

choc fondant with salted caramel icecream

Couldn’t resist!

get your tickets for the bus!

lunch

Coffeebreak

SAMSUNG CSC

Coffeebreak

My new fav mug

SAMSUNG CSC

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For my next two posts from our Dublin-weekend, we venture out of town. There are some fab photos in store for you, so check back later!

And while you wait, make sure you check out my previous posts from Ireland:

An Irishman goes into a bar…

Beef and Guinness Stew (English)

Dublin much? Viking legacy

Dublin much? Slainte!

Dublin Much? St. Stephens Green and the Easter Rising

Amble