After a memorable three weeks in Italy, we took the train from Florence to Pisa to catch our flight to Dublin, Ireland. We checked into our hotel and went for a late afternoon walk around Grafton Street, a lively shopping area with many street performers. My mom and Amanda were tired, so they went back while Robert, Michael, my dad, and I went to The Brazen Head for a beer. The al fresco pub claims to be the oldest in Ireland, dating from 1198. We had a couple beers there and at L. Mulligan Grocer, then ate some late-night fish and chips at Leo Burdock, which has been in business since 1913. Amanda planned many of our activities in Dublin, including the Kilmainham Gaol prison tour and Guinness brewery tour on our first full day. The tour of Kilmainham Gaol was excellent – we learned about the significant revolutionary leaders of Ireland who were imprisoned and, in many cases, executed there by the British. Though no prisoners have been held there for about 100 years, it is an integral part of Irish history. We had lunch at Nancy Hands, a cozy pub, then spent the afternoon learning about and tasting Ireland’s most famous beer. Though it was a pleasant enough way to spend a couple hours, Guinness was far from the best beer we drank in Ireland. The next day, we had breakfast at Kilkenny Café, a friendly cafeteria-style breakfast and lunch restaurant in a department store near our hotel. Their scones with raspberry preserves and clotted cream were particularly delicious. My dad and I walked around the zoo and visited Dublin Castle while Amanda relaxed and Robert and my mom visited the Trinity College Library and ChristChurch Cathedral. At the college, they saw the 1200-year-old Book of Kells and unusual library where the books are organized by weight and height. We all met later in the day for a beautiful walk around St Stephen’s Green. On our final full day in the city, we took an entertaining free walking tour with Sandeman’s, and went to a delicious afternoon tea that Amanda planned at the Shelbourne Hotel. Some of us went to the Irish Whiskey Museum (the Irish spell it with an "e" in contrast to Scotland's spelling, whisky) to learn about the history and process of distilling whiskey in Ireland. Production is increasing again in Ireland after a stall in the last century, and the country has much to offer beyond Jameson. Compared with Scotch whiskey which is usually distilled twice and made from peat-smoked barley, Irish whiskey forgoes the peat and is distilled three times, so though it tends to lack the smokier flavor of Scotch, Irish whiskey is typically smoother. We of course tried several varieties to taste for ourselves. We visited Howth, a charming fishing village a few miles outside Dublin for a late dinner. We spent the last day of our short stay in Ireland visiting Glendalough and Kilkenny. We got a late start due to a delay at the rental car company, so we didn’t get to spend as much time sightseeing as we would have liked. In Glendalough, we visited the ruins of an early medieval monastic settlement founded by a monk named Kevin in the 600s AD. We saw a stone tower, the ruins of a church, and graveyard set amongst the stunning green valley. In Kilkenny, we walked around the outside of the castle, which had unfortunately closed by the time we arrived. We explored the charming town and visited the Black Abbey, the location of a siege when Oliver Cromwell tried to force Catholicism out of the British Isles in the 1640s. The abbey has beautiful stained-glass windows. The next day, we took a Ryanair flight to Glasgow to begin our travels through Scotland. We hope to return to Ireland soon to spend more time exploring the countryside and to visit the famously beautiful Cliffs of Moher.
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September 2018
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