At approximately 8 a.m. we, along with about 50 other members of Cruise Critic, met our vintage double-decker bus on the dock near Dublin, Ireland. As we drove through Ireland’s capital and largest city and observed the hustle of early morning traffic, I snapped a few pictures. The streets were very narrow and crowded by the traffic of the day.
Our first stop on this tour was at Trinity College. Trinity College, formerly known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by England’s Queen Elizabeth I. It is Ireland’s oldest university.
On campus, the Library of Trinity College, is the largest research library in Ireland. This library holds “ The Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript Gospel book in Latin, containing the four Gospels of the New Testament together with various prefatory texts and tables. It was created by Celtic monks ca. 800 or slightly earlier. By far the Library's most famous book and it is located in the Old Library, along with the Book of Durrow, the Book of Howth and other ancient texts. Also incorporating the Long Room, the Old Library is one of Ireland's biggest tourist attractions, and holds thousands of rare, and in many cases very early, volumes.” No pictures were allowed in the library.
From the Trinity campus we traveled to Kilmainham Prison. “Kilmainham Gaol” was first built in 1796, but is now a museum run by the Office of Public Works. Today, a tour of the prison takes visitors past the cells that housed many leaders of the Irish revolution movement against the Crown. A hole in the doors reveals stone walls, a small, barred window, and large wood planks for floors. The cells used to contain a table, chair, shelf, bucket for toiletry purposes, and mattress on the floor to serve as a bed. Prisoners were given a blanket and a candle every two weeks Inmates may have long ago left Kilmainham Gaol, but their stories remain in the historic former prison.
After a quick stop at the Guinness Storehouse to pick up a few members of our group who had chosen to go there rather than to the prison, we continued by some really beautiful churches and other buildings toward Grafton Street (downtown area) before returning to the ship about 2:45 p.m.
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