Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland - 04/28/17

Motto: Ar Aghaidh
"Forward"

We've just arrived in Castlebar, the County town of County Mayo, after hearing about one of it's festivals, The Four Days' Walk.
Castlebar grew up as a settlement around the De Bary castle in 1235, and was given the right to be made a city in 1613 by King James I. The city's name derives from the castle,

We observed during our walk that Castlebar has a much smaller population than the last cities we visited. Castlebar experienced a population boom only in the late 20th century, currently standing with over 11.000 inhabitants according to the 2011 census, from 4.256 in 1926.

Castlebar is mainly a market town, being the second largest retail centre in Connacht, after Galway, and the 7th largest retail centre in Ireland.

Interesting Facts:

• Inventor, watchmaker, and mechanical engineer Louis Brennan(1852-1932), whose most popular inventions were; a steerable torpedo, a gyroscopically-balanced monorail system and an early helicopter, was born in Castlebar.

• Ulick Bourke, founder of the Gaelic Union, was born in Castlebar.

After asking around a bit, we discovered that the "Four Day's Walk" festival had nothing to do with walking after all, it is a blues music festival.

Close to the city center is County Mayo Peace Park and Remembrance garden, a park honoring people

from County Mayo who lost their lives in both world wars.

Along the names, we saw a dedication to Michael Fenney, the creator of the project, and Mary Mc Alesse, the President of Ireland, who inaugurated the park in October 2008.

Although we were pleased and impressed with the amount of people from the region who fought in the war, we couldn't help but notice that, for some of the population, it seems more turned to the British side of the story, as it doesn't feature important Irish conflicts, such as the Irish War of Independence.

We realized that we wouldn't have many places to visit as soon as we observed the city's density, though something special is located here. The Country Life part of the National Museum of Ireland (which we visited in Dublin) is located here, and it's the only part of the Museum outside of Dublin.

We made a quick turnaround and walked more 6 miles, reaching the Museum in Turlough Vilage in less than 1.5 hours.

The Country Life Museum opened in 2001 and exhibits the way of life of rural Irish people between 1850 and 1950. The exhibitions we saw varied from religious and sacred artifacts such as a piece of the True Cross, believed to be a piece from the cross upon which Jesus was crucified, a collection of photographs showing the lives of the noble and their servants, biography collections and jewelry.

Galway, Ireland, Capital of Connacht - 04/25/17

Motto: Laudatio Ejus Manet In Secula Seculorum
 "His Praise Remains unto Ages of Ages"

On the 104th day of our journey outside the US, we arrived in Galway, Ireland, Capital of Connacht, and the sixth most populous city in Ireland and fourth most populous urban area in the ROI (Republic of Ireland, which we learned is separate from Northern Ireland).
Galway city had a population of 79,504 according to the 2016 Irish census, without counting the rural population, which is far bigger.
The city got it's name from a fort which was based in the region.
Constructed by Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobar, King of the Connacht, in 1124,, Dún Bhun na Gaillimhe was a small fort which later grew into a small settlement, the name Galway is derived from it's name.
The settlement grew into a walled city and was later conquered by Hiberno-Normans in the 1230s. As the invaders became Gaelicised (accustomed with Irish costumes), the merchants of the town pushed for control over the city.
The merchants became known as the Tribes of Galway, 14 merchant families which gained complete control over the walled city and were granted mayoral status by the English crown.
The city thrived on international trade and was the principal Irish port for trade with Spain and France in the Middle Ages.
Only two of those families were claimed to be of Irish origin, thus there were complications with Irish neighbors. The city remained loyal to the English crown until 1642, by allying itself with the Catholic Confederation of Kilkenny during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms (against Catholicism in Ireland).
After this event, the city was recaptured in the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, after a nine-month siege, destroying the Tribes and the city's economy, causing great famine.
The city has experience rapid growth due to the Celtic Tiger economic boom. It was only in the 20th century that the city recovered from the Great Famine and now thrives with local economy, including manufacturing, tourism, retail and distribution.

Interesting facts:

• Galway will be European Capital of Culture in 2020, alongside Rijeka in Croatia

• Galway is known as Ireland's Cultural Heart and it's renowned for it's vibrant lifestyle and numerous festivals

• On 1 December 2014, the Director General of UNESCO announced the official designation of Galway as a UNESCO City of Film, for it's film related festivals, such as Galway Film Fleadh and Super8 Shots.

• In 2007, Galway was named as one of the eight "sexiest cities" in the world

• It is sometimes referred to as the 'Bilingual Capital of Ireland'

• Galway Airport, located 6 km (3.73 mi) east of the city at Carnmore, ceased to have scheduled passenger flights on 1 November 2011 because the runway is too short to take modern passenger jet aircraft.

Important Event: Siege of Galway

We arrived by the Eyre Square, a reference to Ireland (Eire Land), at the city center.

Eyre Square is also known as John F. Kennedy Memorial Park, due to a speech Kennedy made in the square in 1963. The square is an inner-city public park, adjacent to the Galway station, William Street and Shop Street, on the route to our next stop.

Interesting fact: Eyre Square hosted the third longest Occupy Camp in the world, that ran for 216 days consecutively in 2011.

Shop Street is Galway's main shopping street and contains old brick buildings, bright storefronts, numerous pubs and an array of street performers.

We visited Galway City Museum, which checked two stops at once. 

Galway Museum is currently beside the Spanish Arch, an extension of the old city walls, and was founded in the mid 1970s. The museum, which at this point was at a different location within the city, began as a collection of medieval stones from the city, and then built up a general folklife, industrial and militia collection, but was was closed in 2004.

The new building, which is by the Arch, was built in 2007 and hosts a variety of permanent and touring exhibitions. 

In the museum we had an inside view of the city in different historical times; Pre-historic Galway, Galway in Medieval times, We saw many objects relating to Archaeology, Art, Geology, Natural, Historical, Political, Social and Industrial History and Folklife, as well as the old stone collection.

Next we headed to St. Nicholas' Collegiate Church, the place where the triennal elections of the mayor and city council were held. Only male members of the fourteen Galway Tribes had suffrage. The church was founded in 1320, dedicated to Saint Nicholas of Myra, the patron saint of seafarers, in recognition of Galway's status as a port.

Interesting Facts : 

• Local legend states that Christopher Columbus worshiped there when he visited the city in 1477.
• In September 2002 the Collegiate Church attracted controversy when it was the scene of the first public blessing for a same-sex couple in an Irish church. The Avowing Friendship service for a lesbian couple, it was reported, was conducted by the rector, the Reverend Patrick Towers, in September 2002. The Bishop of Tuam, Richard Henderson, prohibited any further services of this kind, and Towers agreed to abide by this ruling.
• The monumental work of Irish genealogy, the Leabhar na nGenealach was produced here in 1650 by Duḃaltaċ MacḞirḃisiġ.

This was a quick and interesting visit, just out of curiosity, for a place so iconic for the city's history.

Our last stop in Galway is less than a mile away (as with all other stops) at the National University of Ireland.

NUI is a tertiary-level educational institution ranked among the top 2% of universities in the world. The University is ranked #249 in the 2016 QS World University Rankings and has been also been awarded the full five QS stars for excellence.

National University of Ireland Galway was founded in 1845 as Queen's College, Galway and has graduated many relevant alumni, including Michael D. Higgins, president of Ireland.

The University's quality schools include: 

• School of Business and Economics
• School of Chemistry
• School of Education
• School of Geography and Archaeology
• School of Health Science
• School of Humanities
• School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures
• School of Law
• School of Mathematics, Statistics and Applied Mathematics
• School of Medicine
• School of Natural Sciences
• School of Nursing
• School of Physics
• School of Political Science and Sociology, and School of Psychology

Interesting facts: 

• - NUI Galway has more than 110 active societies and more than 50 sports clubs. Five constituent society types exist: Debating & Political; Artistic & Performing; Social & Gaming; Religious & Socially Conscious; Academic.

• International students make up 12 per cent of the student population at NUI Galway.

Limerick, County Limerick, Ireland - 04/22/17

Motto: Urbs Antiqua Fuit Studiisque Asperrima Belli
"There was an ancient city very fierce in the skills of war"

 We made a stop in Limerick, County Limerick, an important city in the history of Ireland and the fourth most populated city in Ireland, with over 107.000 inhabitants.
Limerick is a very old city, firstly being inhabited by native Irish people and then invaded and pillaged by the Vikings in the early 800s, via the Shannon River (around which the city was founded) and then conquered by the Normans in the 12th century, which then transformed the city and added the present architecture.
Limerick had an important role in The Troubles for rejecting a treaty made with England, a law protecting Catholic rights. Rather than keeping the treaty, the city reinforced the punishments for Catholics, prolonging the war against the Catholic British. This period earned the city it's motto: Urbs antiqua fult studisque asperrima belli, after resisting many breaches in the 17th century. The city later became know as The City of The Broken Treaty.
Limerick grew in the 18th century, after the turmoil of the 17th century, establishing itself as one of Ireland's major commercial ports, exporting agricultural produce from one of Ireland's most fertile areas, the Golden Vale to Britain and America.

We reached Limerick following the Cork Limerick Galway trail 

Our first visit is King's John Castle, right in the city center, where we have just arrived.

As the name suggests, the castle was build in the early 13th century by order of King John of England, after taking the city from the Vikings in 1195. It is one of the best preserved Norman castles in Europe.

The castle sufferend 5 sieges in the 17th century, done by Irish protestants, who occupied the castle later.

Between 2011 and 2013, the castle underwent massive redevelopment, aimed to improve the visitor facillities of the castle, including a new visitor centre, interactive exhibitions wih computer generated animations and a café with outside view of the yard and the river.

Across the river Shanon from King John's Castle is the Treaty Stone, where the Treaty of Limerick was signed, resting on a pedestal erected in 1865 by John Rickard Tinslay, the then mayor of Limerick. 

From the Treaty Stone, we followed along the river for what seemed like 1.5 miles, reaching the Limerick University by the Living Bridge, which joins the two sides of the university through Shannon.

The University was established in 1972 as the National Institute For Higher Education and was made a university in 1989, but there was movement in the city since the 1950s for the establishment of a University.

The campus has a total of 137.5 hectares (540 acres), 46 of which are on the North bank and 91.5 (226 acres) on the South bank.

The University has currently over 11.000 full-time students and 1.500 part-time students, including 2.400 international students.

• Interesting Fact: Limerick University was the first University established after the foundation of the Republic of Ireland, followed by the establishment of Dublin University later on the same day.

Limerick University also holds many Art buildings, including; Irish World Academy of Music and Dance and Irish Chamber Orchestra (both internationally acclaimed buildings). The art collections include: 

The national Self-Portrait Collection of Ireland, The Watercolor Society of Ireland Collection, The Richard Wood Collection of Irish Landscape Paintings, The O'Malley Sculpture Collection and The Armitage Collection. It also has a gallery and a concert hall.

The Living Brigde in the university was designed by Wilkinson Eyre Architects to provide a social and cultural space, providing views of the city and space to rest while crossing the slightly curved structure. It was opened in 2007 and has won 2 awards and a good influence, including European Awards and Institution of Struction Engineers winning Pedestrial Bridges award in 2008 and declared by French Steel Construction Syndicate as the most beautiful steel work in the Bridges category.

This was a quick, refreshing visit, everything flowed well. What is still waiting for us on our future stops? it's so exciting to think about it.

Cork, The Rebel City, Ireland - 04/17/17

Motto: Statio Bene Fida Carinis (Latin)

"A safe harbour for ships"

The Greenway brought us to Cork, through Durgavan; a coastal town, birthplace to physicist Ernest Thomas Sinton Walton, the first person to artificially split the atom.- And we even tried jogging the entire 74 mile distance, but we wouldn't be able to do it without a spell.-
Cork, The Rebel City, is the second largest and third most populous city in Ireland, just behind Belfast and Dublin, with a population exceeding 300.000 in the greater Metropolitan Cork area.
We arrived at the city center, which is divided by River Lee, at St Patrick's Street.
Cork has the nickname The Rebel City for it's collaboration with pretender Perkin Warbeck, during the Wars of the Roses: The mayor of Cork and several citizens went with Warbeck to England in a plan to overthrow Henry VII, but the rebellion failed and they were captured and executed.
Besides adopting the nickname The Rebels, some Corkians also claim that Cork should be Ireland's Capital and not Dublin, showing the existence of a healthy dispute between the two cities. - Cork was the European Capital of Culture in 2005
Cork is a prosperous coastal city, known for being Ireland's 'Food Capital'. Cork's traditional food include different types of Cheese, like Durrus chesse and Gubbeen cheese and animal cuts, like Crubeens; boiled pigs' feet, Tripe; edible lining from stomachs and Drisheen; blood pudding, often paired with tripe, a meal strongly associated with Cork.
The city was the birthplace to many TV Personalities, Writers, Actors and Sport Players

Important Events:  Burning of Cork

Interesting Facts:

• Actor Jack Gleeson, known for playing Jeoffrey in Game of Thrones, was born in Cork.

• Actor Cillian Murphy was born in Cork

• Cork Airport is one of Ireland's main airports.

• The first factory that Ford Motor Company built outside of America was in Cork, where owner Henry Ford’s ancestors were from.

• Cobh port in Cork was Titanic's last port stop

• Cork is an important educational centre in Ireland - There are over 35,000 third level students in the city, meaning the city has a higher ratio of students in the population than the national average.

The Greenway in Waterford set us in the right direction, creating a pleasant way to Cork City.

On our way to St Patrick's Street we passed through Cork Harbour, a view we could not ignore. Cork harbour claims to be the second largest natural harbour in the world, and has major significance in energy generation, shipping, military, refining and pharmaceuticals, also hosting the headquarters of the Irish Naval Service. The harbour also has 12 populated Islands. 

Including: 

• Great Island – The largest island in Cork Harbour, which includes the town of Cobh
• Fota Island – Containing Fota Wildlife Park, Fota Golf Course, Fota House and Arboretum and the Fota Island Resort Hotel
• Little Island – A residential and industrial area
• Haulbowline Island – Headquarters of the Irish Naval Service
• Spike Island – Former prison island
• Hop Island, County Cork – Site of an equestrian centre
• Corkbeg Island, County Cork – Whitegate Oil Refinery
• Rocky Island – Once housed a magazine building for the Royal Navy. Used by Irish Steel for storage until 2002. Now home to The Island Crematorium, the first crematorium in Ireland outside Dublin.

We hope his aerial video makes it justice, but walking around this view, feeling the ocean breeze and smelling the waters is something we can't trade.

We arrived by the main shopping street in Waterford, St Patrick's street, a competitor for Grafton Street in Dublin.
Since it's redevelopment in 2004 it was awarded Ireland's Best Shopping Street twice.
The street dates from the 18th century and is curved due to being over an arm of River Lee. The street is  a visible sign of the expansion of Cork beyond it's medieval walls.
 The redevelopment done in 2004 by architect Beth Gali was made to turn the street more pedestrian friendly, including repaving and widening of existing pedestrian pavements, and to rejuvenate and modernize it.
The street is home to many large retail outlets, from videogame stores to health stores.
There is a monument in the street honoring priest Theobald Mathew, creator of 'Total Abstinence Society' movement, which promoted complete abstinence from intoxicating beverages.

We also got a chance to see The Elysian, a collection of 6-8 storey buildings with the tallest building in Ireland, being 68m/224ft tall.

The building was completed in 2008, during an economic crisis in Ireland, and one year after it's completion 80% of the 211 apartments remained unsold and 50% of it's commercial units vacant, earning the building the nickname "The Idle Tower" (Idle Hour reference).
We were surprised to see that there is actually an Aldi supermarket on the ground floor, opened in 2014. The Elysian was bought by Carbon in 2015.

Walking further into Patrick's street we went by the English Market, and got in to have a look a the Crubeens personally. They say it is nice when cooked, but we won't eat any meat for this week, so we will pass it this time.
English Market is a food market comprised of two different markets; Princes Street Market and Grand Parade Market, and exists on the same spot since 1788. The market is administered by the city council, which refurbished it in 1980 after it was damaged by fire.
The market is known for it's fresh fish and for it's butchers, serving many of the city's top restaurants. However, after it's refurbishment the market has also become more multicultural, selling a variety of international produce.

Our path took us to Church of St Anne, atop a hill overlooking River Lee. We heard much about it on the way here, and couldn't wait to visit it.
The present Church was constructed in 1722, due to the population growth in Cork, but two other churches dedicated to St Anne existed on this site.
We can clearly see why the church is so remarkable; for It's red sandstone and limestone structure reaching 51m/170ft into the sky, it's 8 Ellacombe bells, each with a peace of a poem, which we could ring ourselves, the amazing view of the city from it's observation area in the tower, and it's four clocks telling the time from all directions.

That was all for our visit in Cork, despite being so short we had a very good time.
All the stops we made here where on the road to Limerick.

Waterford, Ireland - 12/04/17

Motto: "Urbs Intacta Manet Waterfordia"
(Waterford remains the untaken city)

Walking 95 miles southwest of Dublin we arrive in Waterford in the Munster Province, Ireland's oldest and 5th most populous city, with 65.928 people in it's metropolitan area in 2011.
The name Waterford comes from Old Norse 'Veðrafjǫrðr' meaning 'ram fjord' (our mages know everything!). We found a pattern here; as with Dublin, the city also started as a Viking settlement, but Waterford was the earliest one in Ireland, or the earliest to become a city, as far as we know, being where the vikings reestablished in Ireland in the year 914.
Great industries such as glass-making and shipbuilding thrived in the city in the Industrial Revolution, birthing the large international glassmaking company Waterford Crystal and having one of Ireland's greatest ports for over a millennium.
Waterford Port is Ireland's closest deep-water port to mainland Europe, handling 12% of Ireland's external trade by value.
Waterford's economy was greatly damaged in the Irish recession from 2008 onwards, having a number of multinationals closing in the city, such as Talk Talk and Waterford Crystal, as we later learned.

Interesting Facts:

• Waterford is the oldest city in Ireland, it is known for it's glass making through the company Waterford Crystal.

•  The city's motto 'Urbs Intacta Manet Waterfordia' ("Waterford remains the untaken city") was granted by King Henry VII of England in 1497 after Waterford refused to recognize the claims of the pretenders Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck to the English throne

• Waterford Crystal was in the brink of shutting down in 2009 when it was bought by Waterford Wedwood plc, which then opened the Waterford Crystal visitor attraction that is annexed to the factory in 2010. Wedgewood (or WWRD, Waterford Wedgewood Royal Douton) was then bought by Fiskars in 2015.

• Waterford man Thomas Francis Meagher created the Irish flag colors.

Walking 95 miles southwest of Dublin we were struck by a solar storm, a global event which caused a global black-out and made our Global Positioning Systems obsolete, even our mages were confused and couldn't use their skills correctly. After a day of walking blind we surprisingly arrive in Waterford in the Munster Province, Ireland, without any delay.

The Viking Triangle (Reginald's tower, Waterford Crystal and the Museum of Treasures)

This time we were a little less organized and let it to the wizards talents, for they are never late, thus never lost.

Our fate brought us to Reginald's tower, the oldest monument in the country with it's original Viking name, which is a little disappointing. Imagine how cool it would be to walk by and see cool Viking names like 'Ragnarok Temple' or 'Fenrir Monument'... We are losing a great opportunity here.

We arrived there boasting, saying that it was a Viking tower, built by Vikings in one of their settlements, and that it was probably the oldest of it's kind, since Waterford was the first Viking settlement in Ireland... - Until a stranger politely intervened after overhearing our conversation.

The stranger said that the tower was actually built by their invaders, the Anglo-Normans, after they conquered the city. Only the site was formerly a Viking settlement.

The name is possibly a reference to Ragnald Mac Gildemaire, the last Viking ruler of the town.

He also said that there is no certain date for it's construction, the speculated time-frame we have is from 1253 to 1280, or even as early as 1003 AD.

It was one of the 17 towers which encircled Waterford, along with city walls. Today it is the largest or the 6 survivors.

Interesting Facts: 

• In 1649, Waterford was unsuccessfully besieged by Oliver Cromwell, which then returned in 1650 and successfully captured the city. A cannonball, firmly lodged in the wall of the tower, is reputed to be from this siege

• The tower's cannons were the force which deterred Peter Warbeck, the pretender to the throne, sinking one of his ships during a 11-day siege and gave the city it's current motto "Urbus Intacta Manet"

• The tower has been used as a storage house, as a prison and as an air raid shelter.

Waterford Viking Museum, Medieval Museum, Bishop's Palace Museum

Upon getting in we realized the place was made into a museum, Waterford Viking Museum, and we couldn't expect anything better, we should learn to trust our mages more.

The museum is one of the three museums in this area which, as we learned in awe, is called the Viking Triangle. The collection of the three museums is called The Waterford Museum of Treasures.

Inside we saw a great stone construction, much bigger than it looks, with many artifacts such as day to day Viking objects, Viking swords and weapons, a miniature of the triangle as it once was and all that in a naturally lighted ambient, with little modernization work, which we loved.

The two other museums which make the Museum of Treasures are;

Medieval Museum, with two dedicated chambers, the 13th century Choristers' hall and the 15th century Mayor's Wine Vault. It contains the only surviving piece of clothing worn by Henry VIII, which was awarded to the mayor in 1536 along with a bearing sword.

This one was transformed entirely into an exhibition hall, all we could see were clusters of informational posters, artifacts and sculptures.

Thirdly there is Bishop's Palace Museum, originally the Bishop's residence. Facing the Mall and Waterford Crystal Factory, it holds the only surviving Bonaparte mourning cross and the oldest surviving piece of Waterford Crystal dating back to 1789.

Apart from the treasures and artifacts, the museum also tells Waterford's history.

The Wizard's Might brought us to one of the most packed and interesting parts of the city, The Viking Triangle, what proves that a Wizard is never late.

The place is so called because of the 1000-year old walls which once surrounded it. All of our stops so far are based here, we also found a 12m/39 ft Viking longship exhibited beside the tower.

Stepping out of the Bishop's Palace Museum, on the other side of the road we saw this building, once Waterford's biggest employer and forever an important part of the city's history, House of Waterford Crystal. 

Inside, we had a Factory Tour which is basically a live tour through all the production processes while they are taking place. We saw the glass being hand worked, the company's high quality standards, the blowing, cutting, sculpturing and engraving of the glass. 

The building also has a Retail Store, where one can buy a piece of crystal work to take home, and a Café, called Crystal Café.

As we said before, since we are visiting places so distinct and unique, we decided to temporarily sacrifice our diet for the sake of experience. We shall try different cuisine from all around the world!

"Tasting and experimenting is one thing, eating is something completely different"

Here in Crystal Café we had the chance to taste Waterford's unique kind of bread, called 'Blaa', which is a doughy, white bread bun sold in two varieties; "Soft" and ''Crusty''.

The taste was slightly sweet and malty, and the texture was light but at the same time firm, it wouldn't just dissolve in our mouths, or worse, in our hands. Nutrient-wise it isn't so rich, most of the calories come from carbohydrates with high GI. But walking so much has it's advantages huh ? No amount of these Blaas would increase our fat content, we just wouldn't rebuild our muscles as effectively. 

An estimate of over 12.000 Blass are sold each day in Waterford, and it is generally eaten for breakfast with butter, eggs, bacon and a variety of fillings.

We were lucky to be here at this time! For our amusement, Waterford Greenway was opened this March 27 and is a 46 km/28.5 mile greenway which forms part of EuroVelo 1 route, which passes Norway, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, England, France, Spain and Portugal.

It features 11 bridges, three viaducts and a 400-metre tunnel and runs between the city of Waterford, Mount Congreve, Kilmeaden, Kilmacthomas, and Dungarvan, and passes along part of the Copper Coast. It is Ireland's longest greenway.

This one we can't miss, let's use those Blaas we ate to power our jogg through this beautiful place!

We'll follow the Greenway until Durgavan and then head to Cork.

Following our hearts we ended up missing these stops: Waterford Port; the largest port in Ireland, Rock of Cashel; Ireland's most visited heritage site, People's Green; the largest public park in Ireland, and Curraghmore House & Gardens; with Ireland's oldest bridge.

No time to think! Let's run!

Dublin, Ireland - 04/06/17

"The Obedience of the citizens produces a happy city"

We arrived at the capital of Ireland, Dublin, what is strange, since Belfast also was? Quickly enough did we learn that Ireland is divided in Northern Ireland, with Belfast being recognized as capital, and Republic of Ireland, whose capital is Dublin. Most of the north portion of the country identified themselves as UK and not Irish, and were mostly Protestant/Anglican, while those from the south were predominantly Roman Catholic, being finally separated in 1998 in the Good Friday Agreement. We will try to learn more about these events which shaped the country, which were called 'The Troubles'.

Dublin used to be a walled city, and was much smaller in the medieval age. The site was founded as a viking settlement, and was invaded by Normans by 1169 and expanded rapidly from the 17th century onwards.
The city is listed as a Global city, with an Alpha- ranking, staying among the top 30 cities in the world, what is no small feat when you consider the over 4037 cities with more than 100.000 inhabitants in the world.
Dublin is the economic capital of Ireland, being listed in 2009 as the fourth richest city by purchasing power and 10th by personal income. By this information one could conclude that the cost of living in Dublin was also very high, but fortunately that is not the case. Dublin ranks 58 in Mercer's Worldwide Cost of Living survey and 13th in Most Expensive City in the European Union.
Many technology companies, such as; Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Ebay, Paypal, Yahoo!, Facebook and Twitter, have their European headquarters based in Dublin, as well as International financial firms; banks and insurance companies.
On the cultural side, Dublin is also very rich, producing several writers and musicians of international success, including the writers; Oscar Wilde, Jonathan Swift, William Butler Yeats, James Joyce and many others, in honor of the unlisted names, we are visiting the writers museum in Dublin. As for bands, the following were born here; The Dubliners, Thin Lizzy, U2, Boomtown rats, The Script among others (full list here)

Although we don't drink alcohol, because we are too self conscious and responsible (☺), we are pretty excited to learn that the Guinness Beer was created here, back in 1759, by Arthur Guinness. Today there is a kind of museum showing the brewery's history and the brewing processes, called Guinness Storehouse.

Interesting Facts:

• Guinness Brewery was founded in Dublin, in 1759 by Arthur Guinness.
• Dublin City University is the oldest university in Ireland.
• Dublin was European Capital of Culture in 2012

The stops are a bit farther away here in Ireland, an average of 100 miles each, but we won't let that stop us. We got here in 4 days.

We arrived by O'Connell street, following the unmissable sight of the Monument of Light, a 120m (390ft) stainless steel spire, which was shining brightly like a giant light saber. Taking quite an unusual route through the city.
The spire was completed in 2003 by a design from Ian Richte architects and manufactured by Radley Engineering from Durgavan.



Since being founded in 1759 the company has grown to be the largest brewery in the world, by 1886, though it no longer is.That was one of the first things we learned at Guinness Storehouse in James Gate.
Guinness remains the best selling alcoholic drink in Ireland, selling many varieties of beer, around 10 in fact, being: Drought, Stout, Harp Lager, Guinness Original and other types of beer.
The exhibition takes place over 7 floors, in the shape of a glass of Guinness (14 million pints, in size) on the final floor, called Gravity Bar, it has an almost 360° panorama over the city.
This visit was very strange to us, since we don't drink. On the last floor they were offering pints of 'the black stuff' and there were people drinking everywhere, it's mind boggling the amount of people willing to change their mental and psychological functions and be under the influence of harmful external substances.
After learning about the city's heritage at Guinness Storagehouse, we headed to a library.
For some reason, being at such a place provoked philosophical thoughts in us and we ended up with an insatiable thirst for knowledge.

We arrived at National Library of Ireland after a 1.8 mile walk.
NLI is a reference library, what is fine with us, since we are just passersby.
It was established in 1877 by the Dublin Science and Art Museum act.
We hoped to find collections from Dublin writers, but it turned out that the National Library's collection was incomplete. Not because it is small or expendable, far from that, it has millions of Irish content, including documents magazines and genealogy services, but because there is another building in Dublin which focuses on writers from Dublin. We are heading there now.

Our adventure took us to Dublin Writers Museum at Parnell Square, 1.1 miles from the library.

Dublin Writers Museum was opened in 1991 in an original 18th century house. The museum is composed of exhibition rooms, a library, galleries and an administration area. Though it has annexes both behind and next to it; respectively a coffee shop and bookshop and Chapter one Restaurant, and meeting rooms and offices for writers and associations.

Here we could experience the phenomenon of Irish writing from the classics to contemporary writers
We also retraced Bram Stoker's footsteps! Remember when we read his book, Dracula, back in Birmingham library, and then visited Whitby, a town mentioned in the book? Author Abraham "Bram" Stoker was born here in Dublin.

Our next cultural visit will be to National Museum, but we don't expect to spend much time here, though the construction is amazing, mostly because of the large space and the right angles, which make our heads turn unexpectedly.

Broghter Gold

The museum has plenty of prehistoric displays, including; early work in gold, church treasures, objects from viking and medieval periods, special exhibitions of items from Egypt, Cyprus and the Roman world.

Tara Brooch

Some items we saw in the Archaeology area were; famous examples of early Celtic metalwork and prehistoric pieces 

Fonthill Vase

In the Decorative Arts and History gallery we saw displays of furniture, silver, ceramics and glassware, folk life and costumes, money and weapons.

Our exploration stopped here, but we learned that there are at least two other buildings in Dublin which are an expansion of the National Museum; the Country Life, self explanatory, and the National History Museum, with specimens of animals from all around the world.

On our second day in the city we headed first to Kilmainham Gaol, a former prison, now a museum.
The prison was built in 1796, managing incarcerations and hangings in the city until 1891. Public hanging took place at the front of the prison, and in 1891 a hanging cell was built inside of it.
Kilmainham Gaol was used by the British to imprison and execute rebels from the Easter Rising in 1916, which was a separatist insurrection against the British rule in Ireland.
Men, women and children were imprisoned without segregation, up to 5 people in each cell. Children were sometimes arrested for theft, the youngest is said to be a seven year old.
The prison was decommissioned in 1924, and reopened as a museum in 1971.
Kilmainham is very large, sometimes turning into small claustrophobic ringed corridors with tiny windows on one side and many doors leading to small cells on the other side.
The atmosphere was crushing, even knowing that it was just a tour we couldn't stand being there for long, I wonder how we would feel if we someday visit a concentration camp.
We lament the inhumane conditions the prisoners had to experience, and that they had to endure what this place forcefully brought upon them, and the ones who lost their lives here. Let's make it so it doesn't happen again.

Our next visit will help us clear our heads before heading to the next city.



On the road to St Stephens Green, we went through Grafton street, one of the two shopping streets in Dublin, the other being Henry street, where we have been twice; once because of the spire and again on our way to Dublin Writers Museum.
Grafton Street was the fifth most expensive main shopping street in the world and 16th in 2016, luckily we don't need to buy anything here, but the rogues are here for a reason, right?
The square was pedestrianized by 1988, after delays due to objections, with exception of the north end of the street, but there are recent plans (2017) to make it a public space.

• US President, Barack Obama, came to College Green in Grafton Street in 2011.

We arrived in St Stephen's Green after a 2.6 mile walk, to find peace and comfort in the largest park in Dublin.
The current park was designed by William Shepard and opened in 1880.
Stephen's Green has a long story, having been used for grazing, then enclosed by the forward thinking government which reformed the area, and restricted to local residents until 1877.
The park was also where the insurgents of the Easter Rising took position. They numbered between 200 to 250 and used vehicles to make road blocks around the park.
The park features many memorials and statues.