Dublin, Ireland

This past weekend, I took a three-day trip with a few friends to Dublin.

Sunrise over Ireland from the airplane

There has been a big push for preserving Irish heritage in the last several decades, so all of the street signs throughout the country are written in both English and Irish Gaelic and students are required to take Gaelic in school.

"Baile Átha Cliath" is the name "Dublin" translated into Irish Gaelic. It was first officially called Baile Átha Cliath in 1368.

On our first night, we explored the city centre and took in all of the festive Christmas decorations. For dinner, we went to a little pub and had Irish stew while sitting next to a cozy fireplace. The city was absolutely packed with people the entire weekend-- and I'm pretty sure the majority of them were tourists.

Dublin was originally founded as a Viking settlement, and it's one of those towns where everything you see seems to have some kind of intriguing history or mystery that accompanies it.
The city has produced a ton of writers, so it was fun to walk around and see the monuments and birthplaces of literary figures such as William Butler Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, Samuel Beckett, Oscar Wilde, and James Joyce.

The city is built around the River Liffey. Most of the older buildings are on the south side of the river.

Temple Bar is known as Dublin's cultural quarter, and the cobblestone streets of medieval times have been preserved. There are countless pubs, music venues, and art galleries, which make the area popular with the younger crowd.

Temple Bar

The construction of Christ Church Cathedral began in 1038 by a Viking king.

On Sunday morning, we went on a guided historical walking tour, led by a history major from Trinity College. After the Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169, King John of England decided that Dublin needed a better defensive strategy. In 1204, construction began on Dublin Castle. Not much of the original building still exists today, but it is still used for ceremonies and governmental meetings.

St. Patrick's Cathedral is the largest church in Ireland and was founded in 1191.

There were pleasant little parks throughout the city, where very tame swans were more than willing to get up close to us and investigate their visitors.



On Saturday afternoon, we went to the Guinness Storehouse, where we learned all about brewing through a guided tour. Here is some barley, which is one of the four ingredients included in beer, along with yeast, water, and hops.


Lots of Guinness brewing

Later that evening, we went to a pub called "Legends" in Temple Bar, where we had a fantastic dinner and got to hear live traditional Irish music while we ate. After dinner, stepdancers performed some very high-energy routines. This evening of food and music was my favorite part of the trip!

House of Commons on the bank of the River Liffey

Our weekend adventure to Ireland was the perfect way to celebrate the end of classes and provided us with a little break before finals begin. We were all so glad we made the trip.
And I had several people ask me for directions throughout the weekend, saying that I looked just like a local!