Today we start with a quick breakfast at the hotel made from the provisions we bought the day before. We have no trouble preparing the meal as the hotel is very well equipped with every possible tool, it even has laundry facilities in the kitchen area.
We start as the day prior on the north side of the river Riffey making our way south over the river to the south side of Dublin.
Our first planned stop is at Trinity College campus. This is both to see the historic campus and the Book of Kells. While we see the campus easily there is a long line to see the Book of Kells and in the end we give up, we have more interesting things to do.
Next we continue following the beautiful streets and avoiding as much as we can the rain towards the Dublin Castle.
Dublin Castle, the former seat of British government administration in Ireland, is a major attraction in Dublin and one worth visiting for us. We start first with the outside marvelling at the imposing structure and continuing to the gardens.
The garden have an interesting circular structure with some weird pattern drawn into the grass. We learn that they represent sea serpents and that the lawn is on or near the site of the original Dubh Linn or Black Pool where the Vikings harboured their ships. It was from this name that Dublin is derived.
And then it is time to enter the palace on our tour. The first major room we visit is the State Drawing Room, created in 1838 and used mainly by successive Vicereines as a formal sitting room and for holding audiences with Irish courtiers.
We continue on our tour visiting the Throne Room and marveling at the details along the way, it was certainly a palace fit for royals.
Two other major rooms that impressed us were the Portrait Gallery, which takes its name from the collection of portraits of Irish Viceroys, and St Patrick’s Hall which is one of Ireland’s greatest ceremonial rooms. It was developed in the mid-eighteenth century as the Castle’s ballroom. Over the years it was used to entertain some of Ireland’s most prominent State visitors including John F. Kennedy, Princess Grace of Monaco and Queen Elizabeth II.
Exiting we take a look at the interior of the castle, it seems that today there is an exhibition of sand sculptures in the yard, quite interesting.
We then descend to the Viking Excavation where you can see Dublin’s original defenses. Here excavations have uncovered parts of the structure of the medieval castle alongside the remains of some of Viking Dublin’s original defences.
We are quite hungry so after saying goodbye to the castle we search for something to eat. Today we settle on some Chinese food from a buffet restaurant, which is quite good. And then we wander a bit through the shops as our relatives rest in preparation for the afternoon’s plans.
