Dublin

Ah ... Dublin!

We arrived in Dublin, at Heuston Station, around 1 o'clock. It was a pretty uneventful trip.

We headed out of the station to get a tram into the heart of the city.

These sleek vehicles were both frequent and well used by the locals and quickly had us in to the city centre where we alighted.

After bidding farewell to Michelle, who was heading off to Scotland and another walk, we trundled off to find our hotel, The Ripley which was only a short distance from where we alighted from the tram.

After checking out the hotel and the neighbourhood Trevor and I headed out to explore so of the nearby sights.

Dublin is full of pubs and eateries. The biggest problem was choosing where to eat.

The breakfast at the Ripley was not flash but was certainly OK and, suitably feed, we headed out to do a hop on hop of tour of Dublin.

As we walked up Talbot Street, the street our hotel was on, towards O'Connell Street, it was hard to miss "The Spire". The Spire of Dublin, alternatively titled the Monument of Light, is a large, stainless steel, pin-like monument 121.2 metres in height. Getting a decent photo of this very tall structure was near on impossible.

The bottom section of The Spire was decorated as can be seen in the second photo.

Just before reaching O'Connell Street there is a statue of Henry Joyce, an author of whom the Irish are justly proud.

Trevor meeting Henry Joyce

Along O'Connell Street, along with The Spire are a number of other notable monuments. The Parnell Monument (which I did not get a photo of) and the O'Connell Monument which stands quite close to the River Liffey which runs through the centre of Dublin.

One of the statues on the O'Connell Monument. This one is notable as there is a bullet hole in her breast, a result of the fighting that occurred in Dublin in the early 20th century

We did hop on and hopped off but just the once.

The drivers of the large tour buses do an amazing job of negotiating the narrow twisting streets of the inner city. Between the streets, cars, trams and people on foot and bikes and other buses the traffic appeared to be a total nightmare! Oh, and there are also one way streets and loads of bridges and the odd horse drawn carriage. More about the bridges later.

After our tour Trevor returned to our hotel and I headed out on foot.

Dublin, like all cities we visited on this trip, boasted numerous stations at which bikes could be hired.

Initially I headed down to the River Liffey with the intention of walking the quays. I started out at Customs House Quay which, surprisingly, has Customs House. This building was constructed in 1791.

Along the quays were remnants from the past:

And now for the bridges.

The first bridge I came to was the Butt Bridge which was built in 1922. This bridge had one way vehicle traffic, footpaths and train line.

Then came the Rosie Hackett Bridge

Note the four buses crossing this bridge

There was a wide pedestrian path complete with seats for the weary as well as planter boxes and garbage bins

The next bridge was the 1880 O'Connell Bridge

This is a wide bridge leading onto the multi lane O'Connell Street.

From the Rosie Hackett Bridge a boardwalk runs along the northern side of the Liffey as far as the Grattan Bridge. Two pedestrian bridges cross the river between the O'Connell Bridge and the Grattan Bridge:

The first of the pedestrian bridges: Liffey (Ha'penny) Bridge 1816

The Liffey (Ha'penny) Bridge

and the more recent addition

The Millennium Bridge (1999)

Next came Grattan Bridge (1875)

Then the O'Donovan Rossa Bridge (1816)

Alongside the river in the next section was the Four Courts.

Yes, that is scaffolding on the top section of the Four Courts

The next bridge was the FR Mathew Bridge (1818)

There was a bit of a gap and then came four bridges in quick succession:

The Liam Mellowes Bridge (1768)

The James Joyce Bridge (2003)

The sides of the James Joyce Bridge angled out from the sides:

Then came the Rory O'More Bridge (1863)

I was a little bridged out at this stage and skipped the Frank Sherwin Bridge which is adjacent to Heuston Station.

Moving away from the river, I turned up towards the National Museum Collins Barracks which date from 1704. Here I came across something which is much more modern.

An electric car recharge station complete with plugged in car

Behind the wall next to the above car was a grassed area called Croppies Acre.  The Croppies Acre memorial commemorates the United Irish rebellion of 1798. It has been closed to the public since 2012 owing to anti-social problems. The park serves a memorial to many young revolutionaries who were at the backbone of the first Republican movement in Ireland. Many were said to be buried here following their executions, though the claim is sometimes disputed. ... and it is closed to the public even during the day!

My next target was Phoenix Park which dates from 1662. This park had quite a few people in it enjoying the sun as well as using the tracks to walk and run. The park is home to the impressive Wellington Monument.

Some of the many people in Phoenix Park

Leaving teh park I crossed the River Liffey and, after a few dead ends, finally made my way to Heuston Station where I grabbed some lunch.

James Joyce House of  'The Dead'

Many streets are still cobblestoned

One of the many churches that dot the city

A remnant of the old city walls dating from the 13th century

One of the city gates

About this time I ran across Jen and Sue who filled me in on the activity in the area. There had been a chemical spill of some kind and police and fire units were in attendance. Rather than evacuating are area or keeping out of the way of the potentially toxic fumes there were oddles of people leaning out of windows directly above the effected area.

Dublin Castle (1204)

Another part of Dublin Castle

Then it was on to Trinity College with lots of visits to bookshops and anything that looked like it dealt withh outdoors activities as I attempted to find a book covering the Dingle Way.

Trinity College

Next came a quick trip to the northern parts of Ireland which I will cover in a separate post.

Dublin is full of museums and other places worthy of much more time than we had on this trip. We only scratched the surface and had a superficial look at Dublin. Maybe we will return and give it a little more of an indepth look.