When I travel I like to have a general sense of what I’m going to do. I usually buy some sort of book and pick out cool stuff. It helps me feel organized, which feels good. This was not the case on my way to Europe.
I pitched to J about my 9 hour layover in Dublin and came to realize I should go into town and sightsee. Mind you, this was decided the night before. So I few to Dublin, no guidebook, no plan, just vague idea of what I might do.
BEST layover ever! Turns out even though it was my first point of entry into the EU, I didn’t have to get all my luggage through customs. In fact, “customs” involved me walking through a door. I had been prepared to take a cab into town but found the tourism desk where I learned about the express bus. SCORE! I’m always down to save some money!
I really enjoyed the bridge you had to walk across to get into the main part of town
Heading into town, I walked over to Trinity College and saw the Book of Kells. So cool! Its basically just a religious book that was written in like 500 AD. It included the process of how special books were made, the materials used (cow hyde!) and the detailing that went into this particular special book. It was a trip!
I wasn’t allowed to take pictures of the book itself, but did get some pics of the college.
Old-school style university buildings
Next I headed to Christchurch Cathedral. The Irish sure do know how to construct a cathedral! I bought myself a Celtic knot ring, which I totally adore!
Side view of the cathedral
It was so nice inside. Very peaceful
I have a strange fascination with floor patterns and this caught my eye
Not quite sure what this was doing in the church, but i liked it
The Dublin Castle was really close so I headed there next. It was hard to find, especially considering it was a CASTLE, and not terribly impressive once I got there. Maybe Frommer’s would have warned me of this, but oh well. I was a woman on a spontaneous mission! So anyway I ended up in the courtyard and saw what appeared to be a door leading inside. There was a man sitting and I thought he was the tour guide that would lead the next tour indicated on the sign outside. Everyone had been really friendly up til then so I was surprised when he barked at me “We’re closed. You can’t be coming in ‘er” (said in thick Irish accent of course. Confused, I just headed out. That was a bust!
Front entrance, not too spectacular!
Bridge over moat
I had an hour or so to kill so considering the Guinness storehouse was a mile away, I decided to just stop in a pub and grab a leisurely Guinness. I mean, when in Dublin you can’t go home without having one right! I found a suitable place and took my time. This is truly what a layover should be like!
That rounded out my day in Dublin. I’m so excited I went out and had such a spontaneous adventure! Sure beats the hell out of doing crossword puzzles in the airport for 9 hours!
