i arrived in dublin and already had a good feeling about the place. for being the capital of ireland, this city is quite small. i appreciated it because it was very walkable! i arrived early saturday morning and met up with grace at her apartment which is south of the river liffey. the liffey river divides dublin into north and south. the south side of the river is more posh and safer. the socioeconomic status is a bit higher there than in the north. just walking between the two you could see a very clear difference.
little did i know that i picked a very important weekend (easter) to visit. it was the anniversary of their easter rising that happened in 1916. essentially it was the catalyst that helped the irish eventually gain independence from great britain's rule.
grace and i headed into town and meandered around since things were not really going yet and it was already 11am! we headed to the temple bar area which is pretty touristy. took a few pictures and walked through their small market that was going on. everything looked so good! i wanted to buy a snack from every stall but i refrained. coffee was more important after my extremely early morning.
that afternoon we met up with grace's belgian friend lieseke who drove us to the glasnevin cemetery. it is the first non-denominational cemetery which is really important because as i learned, stillborn babies couldn't be buried because they weren't baptized. that is just one extreme example. there are more people buried there than currently alive today in dublin! the reason why glasnevin is really famous is because there are revolutionaries buried there--many that were executed as a result of the easter rising.
glasnevin was HUGE. i believe they said that there are 122 acres currently so they should be able to accommodate for the next 40 years. we went on this guided tour and i really enjoyed it. the girl was very knowledgeable and it was fascinating to learn about the leaders who were there. i learned that body snatchers used to go steal corpses there! at the time, there was a need for cadavres for medical research and you could go several months of pay for one body so people would sneak into the cemetary, dig an angled tunnel to the coffin, break through it, then use a hook or rope to pull up the deceased by their necks!! how awful is that! it happened for a long time till they finally put up a watch tower. apparently there is currently a body snatcher in austria who has been stealing teeth of famous composers. he has johannes brahams and johan strauss's so far. what's sad is that since this isn't a common occurrence today (or so we think), there really aren't laws around this SO this homie might get away with this. he is apparently planning on opening a museum in a few years with all of the stuff he's stolen. so wrong.
after glasnevin, we headed to kavanagh's aka gravedigger's pub which was right next to the cemetery. it is as it sounds--the gravediggers hung out there. that was my first proper pub experience. no music, friendly irish folk and most importantly, my first pint of guinness!
for dinner that night, i met up with my friend graeme (pronounced graham) whom cat and i met in krakow when we were traveling back in september. we went to a pub and had some traditional irish food and caught up. i had some beef and guinness stew--nothing to really write home about but i had to try it! afterwards, we met back up with grace and had drinks at a speakeasy in temple bar called the vintage cocktail club.
the next day, i headed off to kilmainham gaol (jail) as it is also famous because the revolutionaries were held there prior to being executed. because it was easter sunday, and with the uprising, the president of ireland was in town and drove by in his motorcade when i was on the bus! that was neat.
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kilmainham was a very modern prison when it opened at the time. it was a reform prison because they wanted the prisoners to actually be better citizens when they left. the guided tour was good, but not as good as glasnevin. they had plaques over the cells where the revolutionaries were held. women were also held there too. there is this story of joseph and grace plunkett. they were engaged to be married when joseph was sentenced to death for his involvement in the easter rising. grace was insistent that they get married so the night before his execution, they were married in the prison chapel and spent 8 minutes together before the guards took him away. grace plunkett was also held at kilmainham for her involvement in the rising but was later released.
after kilmainham, i headed to the guinness storehouse! i had to make the most of my day :) that place is huge! i wandered through the floors learning about the ingredients, arthur guinness then finally ended at the gravity bar where i got my complimentary pint while enjoying a 360 view of dublin. it was a clear day so i could see for miles! you could spend hours in that place doing things like learning how to pour a proper pint and there was a tasting room, but i didn't have enough time.
finally i headed quickly to the chester beatty library where i met back up with grace. to be fair, it's more of a museum than library, but i digress. from what i gathered, sir alfred chester beatty really liked collecting things so he did and then donated his collection to dublin and great britain. he collected ancient oriental books and artwork in addition to ancient greek papyrus which was really cool to see. since it wasn't in perfect pages, you could see the fibers and how they were woven.
after two very filled days of touring and sightseeing, grace and i grabbed some dinner at a very tasty italian restaurant before spending the rest of the night at the exchequer, a very cool cocktail bar. i had a baby guinness (patron xo cafe with bailey's to top it) shot in addition to a few well crafted drinks.
i woke up very early this morning then headed back to london. i didn't know what to expect when i booked this flight a few weeks ago but i had such a wonderful time! grace was an amazing host and the people were so friendly. i had cab drivers that were genuinely concerned with my experience was like in dublin! i will definitely be back to explore more of the country.
(let me just note that this is probably the most on top of it i will ever be blogging about a place i went...)
the river liffey
little did i know that i picked a very important weekend (easter) to visit. it was the anniversary of their easter rising that happened in 1916. essentially it was the catalyst that helped the irish eventually gain independence from great britain's rule.
outside a bbq restaurant. cheeky.
grace and i headed into town and meandered around since things were not really going yet and it was already 11am! we headed to the temple bar area which is pretty touristy. took a few pictures and walked through their small market that was going on. everything looked so good! i wanted to buy a snack from every stall but i refrained. coffee was more important after my extremely early morning.
temple bar
i regret not buying any of these to taste!
there is a crypt under that tall tower!
this is the stillborn area w/ the watch tower
after glasnevin, we headed to kavanagh's aka gravedigger's pub which was right next to the cemetery. it is as it sounds--the gravediggers hung out there. that was my first proper pub experience. no music, friendly irish folk and most importantly, my first pint of guinness!
my first pint!
for dinner that night, i met up with my friend graeme (pronounced graham) whom cat and i met in krakow when we were traveling back in september. we went to a pub and had some traditional irish food and caught up. i had some beef and guinness stew--nothing to really write home about but i had to try it! afterwards, we met back up with grace and had drinks at a speakeasy in temple bar called the vintage cocktail club.
din din
graeme, myself and grace at vcc
the next day, i headed off to kilmainham gaol (jail) as it is also famous because the revolutionaries were held there prior to being executed. because it was easter sunday, and with the uprising, the president of ireland was in town and drove by in his motorcade when i was on the bus! that was neat.
the prez
kilmainham was a very modern prison when it opened at the time. it was a reform prison because they wanted the prisoners to actually be better citizens when they left. the guided tour was good, but not as good as glasnevin. they had plaques over the cells where the revolutionaries were held. women were also held there too. there is this story of joseph and grace plunkett. they were engaged to be married when joseph was sentenced to death for his involvement in the easter rising. grace was insistent that they get married so the night before his execution, they were married in the prison chapel and spent 8 minutes together before the guards took him away. grace plunkett was also held at kilmainham for her involvement in the rising but was later released.
cells from the west wing
the victorian east wing
grace plunkett's cell
the inside of grace plunkett's cell
after kilmainham, i headed to the guinness storehouse! i had to make the most of my day :) that place is huge! i wandered through the floors learning about the ingredients, arthur guinness then finally ended at the gravity bar where i got my complimentary pint while enjoying a 360 view of dublin. it was a clear day so i could see for miles! you could spend hours in that place doing things like learning how to pour a proper pint and there was a tasting room, but i didn't have enough time.
gravity bar
finally i headed quickly to the chester beatty library where i met back up with grace. to be fair, it's more of a museum than library, but i digress. from what i gathered, sir alfred chester beatty really liked collecting things so he did and then donated his collection to dublin and great britain. he collected ancient oriental books and artwork in addition to ancient greek papyrus which was really cool to see. since it wasn't in perfect pages, you could see the fibers and how they were woven.
after two very filled days of touring and sightseeing, grace and i grabbed some dinner at a very tasty italian restaurant before spending the rest of the night at the exchequer, a very cool cocktail bar. i had a baby guinness (patron xo cafe with bailey's to top it) shot in addition to a few well crafted drinks.
baby guinness and hesitation on my part :)
key lime pie!
i woke up very early this morning then headed back to london. i didn't know what to expect when i booked this flight a few weeks ago but i had such a wonderful time! grace was an amazing host and the people were so friendly. i had cab drivers that were genuinely concerned with my experience was like in dublin! i will definitely be back to explore more of the country.
(let me just note that this is probably the most on top of it i will ever be blogging about a place i went...)
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