Rhodes

I absolutely LOVE Greece - it's far and away my favorite country in the world.  It's got beautiful weather, the people are the most adorable people in the world, the food is fabulous and the landscape is both ever-changing and stunning.  What's not to like?

Sunset

I used to go to Sivota in the north mainland of Greece for triathlon training in May, but this year that wasn't feasible with my 15 new places in 2015 plan (and the fact that I was no longer doing triathlon in a competitive fashion).  However, I was really keen on the idea of still going to Greece, but to a new part which I'd not visited before.  I was also really tired, having had a mammoth few months at work, so I looked around and decided that a week on the beach in Rhodes was just the ticket.  Not only would the weather be amazing in May, but the old town looked beautiful, and it would actually work out cheaper than staying in London if I did an all-inclusive package.  SOLD!

I was going by myself and I planned a week of doing NOTHING and recharging my batteries.  I was hoping that I'd meet some people out there, but I wasn't really that bothered if I didn't because I had my kindle loaded up and my iPod sorted with some toons, so I thought I'd be cool my myself.  It was lucky that I'd anticipated not meeting anyone else because I had booked into the Club Kalimera Sunshine Resort and, as it turned out, it was all German speaking!  Everyone there was either a German couple who didn't speak English or a Russian family ... .who didn't speak English.  This was fine though and I settled in to enjoy myself, soaking up the sun.

The first few days were absolutely lovely - I really did nothing at all apart from go for a run each morning, then lie on my sunlounger all day, only emerging to feed myself at mealtimes.  The beach was pebbled (which I like, I hate sand because it gets everywhere) and had the clearest, most amazing water I have ever ever seen.

Sea water!  How clear is that?!

I also went for a walk along the beach each night, because I was staying on the west of the island so I 

got the benefit of the amazing sunsets that nature put on.  It was also an interesting walk, because there were loads of remnants and reminders of the Dodecanese Campaign from WWII, including old Nissen huts.  They were a poignant reminder that no matter how peaceful the beach was, Greece's history has been turbulent and is still today with its economic issues. 

Nissen Hut left over from the Dodecanese campaign

 By about the fourth day, I decided that it was really better for me to haul myself off my sunlounger and do something a bit more proactive.  I was staying in Ialyssos, which is about a 15 kilometre walk from the Old Town and New Town, so I thought it might be nice to walk up to town, have a look around, then potter back in the afternoon.  The walk itself is STUNNING - straight along the coast.  It's almost impossible to get lost as long as the sea is on your left!  Once I got into town I cut down the most lovely avenue and found myself on the outskirts of the Old Town. 

Fortress of St Nicholas

The Old Town is not very easy to describe ... it feels incredibly ancient, but it's so well preserved that at the same time it feels very modern.  It's completely walled, and the walls contain tiny winding cobbled streets which all lead off from each other and snake around to join another street, and the vast majority of them are lined with stalls, shops, icecream vendors, cafes and tobacconists.  The atmosphere is incredibly peaceful, despite how busy it is, and it feels almost completely timeless.  After I'd spent some time pottering about, I headed down through to the port on the other side of the Old Town.  The port was incredible - the water was crystal clear, even with the boats all jostling for position in the docks, and it was huge, spilling out into the harbor.  I walked all the way around the harbor and then doubled back on myself to see the Colossus of Rhodes and the Fortress of St Nicholas, which is on the same peninsula.  Unfortunately for me, the Colossus was being repaired so I didn't get to see him!  The Fortress was wicked though, and I really enjoyed climbing around it and looking at the view.  There are loads of stray cats around which are all looked after by the Greeks quite well, so they wanted to come and play, and there were some gorgeous kittens as well.  After a lot of photos, I headed back up through the Old Town, past the New Town, and back along the coast to the resort.  All up it was almost 40km, so I was glad to reach my sunbed again!

The Monastery at Ancient Ialyssos

The track to Ancient Ialyssos

After a relaxing break the next day (God forbid that I should do an activity two days in a row), I decided to walk up to Ancient Ialyssos on my last day in Rhodes.  Ancient Ialyssos sits on a huge hill above Ialyssos where I was staying, and I knew that there were ruins and a monastery up there.  Ancient Ialyssos used to be one of the three major polis's, or regions, in Rhodes which mainly flourished in about the fifth century BC.  It has only recently been excavated and Minoan and Mycaenaean settlements have been found as well as the monastery.  The monastery was founded by the Knights of St John a lot later, not having arrived in Rhodes until the early 1300s, so that is far better preserved than the acropolis generally.

Filerimos Hill

There's also a tiny cobbled avenue (the Road of Martyrdom) from the monastery which leads slightly further up the hill, and all along it are shrines with various depictions of Christ's walk to Calgary.  They finish up with an enormous cross at the end and it has the most amazing views over the west coast of Rhodes from it.

The Road to Martyrdom

I thought since it was only 5 kilometres away, according to GoogleMaps, it would be a bit rude not to bother to go.  Oddly, GoogleMaps also told me that it was going to take about an hour and forty five minutes to get there, but since it was only 5km I thought Google must be drunk again and took little notice.  I started off really early so that it would be nice and cool, and the first part of my walk was lovely - through the tiny town of Ialyssos and up through the fields.  I then had to turn right to start my ascent up the cliff, but I was a bit confused because it didn't look like a road.  The blue dot assured me that it was the right way, and it swiftly turned into a lovely path in a tiny wood.

However, the path became steeper and steeper the further up I went ... and steeper ... and steeper ... until it was almost vertical.  With a bit of help from my hands I got up it, but it was definitely not the nice walk I'd anticipated!  After passing a little church I found myself on a road.  You know how normally roads up very steep hills are winding?  Well this road didn't bother ... it sort of tried to wind and thus cut the gradient, but in a very desultory way.  I was determined that I would make it by this point, so I kept on going, passed by busloads of slightly confused looking tourists who'd obviously decided that going in a coach was a much better idea!  Clever people ... but it was all worth it in the end, because the little abandoned monastery at the top was absolutely beautiful.  Not only that, but for the most part I didn't have to compete with too many tourists - even the busloads who'd passed me had either left again or were in some other part of the complex.  I absolutely loved the Road to Martydom and the views from it, and I was sorry to have to leave to get back in time to check out of the resort.

Ancient Ialyssos

I loved Rhodes but I wouldn't necessarily do this particular trip again - I'd like to have been able to meet loads more people, although it was good for me to be able fully to relax and do whatever I wanted for a week.  It did get a bit boring towards the end of the week though, even though I spent ages learning lots of Greek words to bore people with when I got back!

Ancient Ialyssos

Cork, Blarney and Cashel

The third day of my crazy Irish tour was back down in the Republic of Ireland.  Once again I was on an organised coach tour, because I had so much to fit in!  I wanted to get to Cork in particular, but I was also keen on seeing the Blarney Stone (I need better chat, it seemed like I needed to get there).  I found a tour that did Cork, Blarney and Rock of Cashel and I thought that would be perfect.

Rock of Cashel

Sadly, my Cork tour wasn't quite as good as my Northern Ireland tour - the guide was plainly in a hurry to get back to Dublin to get to the pub or to bed or something, because he was determined to rush us through as much as he could.  He also had a visceral hatred for the English which colored his entire commentary (and in case you're wondering if he was trying to be funny, he definitely wasn't).  However, at least I got to get to three new places which was winning!

Rock of Cashel

Our first stop was the Rock of Cashel.  Cashel is actually a teeny tiny little village in Tipperary which is the cutest place.  I wish we'd had time to visit it properly as it was adorable, but we were pressed for time and only had time to visit the Rock itself.  The Rock is a collection of mediaeval buildings which were formerly the seat of the kings of Munster.  Most have now crumbled into ruins, but the Round Tower still exists, as does the Cathedral.  The old walls are also mainly still standing and contain a lovely graveyard within them as well as the buildings.  The Queen visited Rock of Cashel in 2011 and an entire room within the Cathedral is dedicated to her visit, but otherwise the main attraction is the graveyard and the rolling views across the Tipperary landscape - it is really stunning, and totally what you'd expect from Ireland in that it's green, has a lot of cows, and loads of space!

We only stayed at Rock of Cashel for about half an hour, but that was about right in terms of timings anyway as there isn't much to do once you've taken the obligatory hundred or so photos.  We drove down through the countryside to Blarney, where we were dropped with strict instructions to be back within three hours.

Blarney Castle

Chocolate Factory!!

My first introduction to Blarney wasn't the castle, but the high street.  This was because before I hit the castle, I found the sign pointing to the Chocolate Factory!  This definitely seemed worth a visit, so I popped along.  It wasn't quite as exciting as I'd anticipated, being just one room, but it does have lovely chocolate and, most importantly, it has samples and tasters!  Once I'd managed to eat my own body weight, I rolled back out of the door and along back to the Castle.

Blarney Castle Gardens

Stairs up to the Blarney Stone

The Castle is actually amazing - it's surrounded by the most lovely gardens where there are all kinds of weird things going on.  The first thing I saw was this guy, dressed as an elf, playing the harp.  I don't think you could ever find this anywhere else.  Passing him, I headed up the path, past the trickling stream and over the stones, up past the caves, and eventually found myself at the entrance to the Castle.  Lucky I ate all that chocolate - I needed it for the next bit!  Once you get into the Castle, it's a mass of winding staircases, tiny rooms (with terrifying drops in the floors), and little enclaves.  Once you've finished exploring them, if you have the will, you can climb up the world's narrowest, most winding staircase to the top where the Blarney Stone is housed.  The Stone is actually set into the wall, so you have to queue around the turret (and back down the stairs, if you're particularly unlucky, but it was pretty quiet when I was there) while each person kisses the Stone in turn.

Kissing the Blarney Stone

I hadn't quite appreciated before I did this that to kiss the stone you have to lean backwards over the parapet and underneath it's a sheer drop underneath the stone to the ground, a good 35ft above a concrete courtyard below.  Banging.  Especially since heights are not my favorite thing in the first place ... fortunately, however, they have installed metal handles that you can grab onto as you bend backwards, and there is also a nice man who holds you steady (although not particularly forcefully, so I hope his reflexes are good!).  In the event I managed to get through the kiss without tumbling to my death which was winning.  However, that meant that I had to go back down the winding staircase (which was about the same width as me, and I am not a large person ... built more along the midget scale really) which almost scared me to death anyway.

The top of Blarney Castle

Once I'd navigated my way out again, I spent some time in the poison garden.  There are loads of different gardens within Blarney Castle but that was the one that interested me the most and, since I didn't have loads of time, I spent most of my time in the gardens in there.  The plants in the garden used to be used for medicinal purposes but are highly toxic in anything but the most minute quantities.  It was super-fun in there, imagining all the potential Agatha Christie-esque plots that could be hatched using the herbs there!  Once I was done there, I went back down the path to the exit, but this time I stopped at the Owlery and Falconry just below the Castle itself.  I'm not sure what the purpose of this was, but it was heavily populated with slightly bemused looking owls and falcons.  They didn't seem too keen on socialising so I left them fairly quickly and headed back across the road to the Woollen Mills to have lunch.

Poison Garden

The Woollen Mills are HUGE!  I spent some time looking in the tourist shops before I went into Insomnia to grab some lunch.  I had already learnt to LOVE this coffeehouse chain - it's sort of like a cross between Pret and Starbucks but way better than both!  It had loads of sandwiches and salads, plus this amazing herbal tea.  I really liked it!  I had a bit of time to spend over my crab noodle salad (oooh posh), but eventually it was time to get back on the bus and travel the 20 minutes or so to Cork.

Cork was, frankly, a bit of a disappointment.  We were warned by the driver that almost nothing would be open because it was a bank holiday weekend.  I hadn't really believed him (he was such a miserable sod) but actually he was right - nothing was open!  Luckily I had really only wanted to walk around and to visit St Anne's Church Shandon ... because ... you can ring the bells there!!!  I'd read about it before I went and I was well keen to check this out.  Therefore,I had just a very quick scout round town.  It was really pretty with loads of art deco buildings, built on either side of the river.  However, as nothing was open, it was difficult to get a real feel for it, though it was very pretty.

Main Street in Cork

After I'd looked around for a bit, I headed up into Shandon to find the church.  After a couple of false leads, I finally found it tucked away in a sort of hippie courtyard, full of coffee houses and tea shops and art galleries.  I was issued with a pair of noise-cancelling earphones, with instructions to put them on and climb up through the church to the next floor, where the bells were.  I dutifully put on my earphones and trundled up the stairs, but there was already someone ringing the bells when I got to the next level, so I continued up and through the belfry to the very top of the spire.  You can go outside here and look at the panoramic views over Cork - it's well worth it!  It was freezing up there and massively windy, but it was so beautiful that I stayed anyway, looking out at all the different facets of the city.  Eventually however I climbed back down (and I do mean climbed, some of the access way involves climbing over a sort of stile thing next to the biggest bell!) and back down to the bell-ringing room.  There's a whole book of tunes you can play and they're actually super easy!  I stuck to Frere Jacques because I know it, but had I felt so inclined I could've played songs as complicated as Amazing Grace.  The poor, poor locals.  They must be nearly deaf with all the incompetent tourists getting hold of the bell ropes!

Bells of Shandon

Once I'd played to my heart's content, it was time to get back to the bus.  I did have a quick squizz round the church itself and it was beautiful, but I didn't really have time to linger and I got back to the coach just in time.  From there it was a straight run back up the motorway to Dublin and the end of our trip.

In summary, Cork was a bit of a disappointment but then again, maybe if anything had been open it would've been better!  The bells at St Anne's are loads of fun and I would definitely recommend them.  Similarly, I'd also massively recommend Blarney (not just the Castle, but also the village and the Woollen Mills) and Cashel - I really wish I'd had more time at Cashel to explore the village.  However, I wouldn't recommend the specific tour that I did ... especially if you're English!  Unless you're really keen on vitriol being poured into your ears about the iniquities of the English and a disparaging stare being levelled at you every time you open your mouth with your appalling English accent, I would definitely go with someone else!

Cork from the St Anne's spire

Belfast and Northern Ireland

Since I was on the most whistley of whistle-stop tours of Ireland, I didn't have a lot of time to plan Northern Ireland and I also discovered really quickly that trying to get anywhere by public transport in either Ireland or Northern Ireland is a NIGHTMARE.  Therefore, I took my sister's advice and booked a day trip from Dublin.

Northern Ireland

First, all I can say is I massively, MASSIVELY recommend doing this trip through Wild Rover - they were fabulous from start to finish.  The tour itself was advertised as a day trip to Belfast (including a Black Taxi Political Tour or a trip to the Belfast Titanic Experience), the Giant's Causeway and Carrick A Rede Rope Bridge.  In fact, we also shoehorned in a trip to Dunluce Castle.


We started off from the Molly Malone statue at the somewhat ghastly time of 07:00, but it was well worth it because it was a long drive up the coast.  Luckily our guide reminded us that we had to get £ currency for Northern Ireland at the rest stop we had before the border because I had completely forgotten about that!  We arrived in Belfast at about 09:30 and drew up at the Titanic Experience.  I had chosen to do the Black Taxi tour, and our cabs were there ready and waiting for us - so organised!  We jumped in and headed straight off to the Falls Road.

Belfast murals

Peace walls

I had learned about the Troubles as part of my GCSE syllabus at school and I'd been interested in it at the time, but in the same sort of way that one might be interested in WWI or WWII - it seemed so remote to me and I never really comprehended that people (including teenagers like me) were actually experiencing the Troubles as I was comfortably learning about them from my nice safe classroom.  The Black Taxi Tours are run by people who grew up around the Falls Road and who had first hand experience of it, so their accounts really bring it to life, especially as you are seeing the buildings and the roads at the same time.  The Falls Road still has ever-changing political murals, and numerous plaques show where particular political events took place.  The most surprising thing to me was how close the Falls Road and the Shankill Road are - they are literally neighboring.  Belfast is absolutely tiny, so people living in either road must have heard every disturbance on the other.  The city is also still walled and still locked up at 22:00 every night and flags are still flying above various properties so you can still see how it was partitioned.  In addition, the peace walls (ie walls which segregate the city in an attempt to keep the peace between the factions) are still up, and will not come down until at least 2023.  They are the longest peace walls in the world and have been signed by all sorts of people including Bill Clinton and the Dalai Lama. And me.  People get excited about that I hear ...

Signing the peace wall

Once we'd finished the tour, which also took in Crumlin Road Jail and the Court House, we headed back to the Titanic Experience to pick up the others and get back on the coach.  We had time for a very quick peek into the Experience and it did look amazing - if I go back to Belfast that'll be high up on my list!  I'm glad I did the tour though as it was fantastic and the highlight of my entire trip to Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Once we'd managed to herd all the cats back onto the coach, we drove up to the Giant's Causeway, where we were to spend a couple of hours exploring and another hour having lunch.  We did stop off at Dunluce Castle enroute though which was nice - it was just a quick photostop and then we got back into the bus.  Once we got to the Giant's Causeway, my new mate Sam (whom I'd met on the Black Taxi Tour) and I decided that we would have lunch in the pub first and then explore, because then we'd be able to judge our time better.  The pub was the cutest ever!  It was housed in this little thatched cottage with peat fires burning to keep it toasty warm and it was lovely.  We wanted proper Irish food so we had Irish stew and it was delish!

Giant's Causeway

Once we'd finished we headed back out into the cold and miraculously ... the weather had completely cleared!  It was now perfect blue skies, so we definitely made the right decision in eating first.  You can't see the Causeway from the pub, so we followed the path over the hill and down and hoped for the best really.  At one point there were two roads we could take, but everyone seemed to be heading down hill so we followed the crowd. As it turned out this was the right decision (though either would have taken us to the Causeway, the lower road was by far the quickest).  Once we got there, it was amazing.  There is no other word for it - it was like nothing I'd ever seen with the rock formations heading out to sea and then upwards and outwards towards the cliff.  Sam and I wandered over it for ages, just taking in the views and the rocks and the sea - it was so beautiful!  Finally we realised that we'd better get a move on if we were to make it back to the coach in time, because we'd decided to take the longer route back over the cliff.  This was a brilliant choice as it was absolutely lovely, but it wasn't for the fainthearted!  It was a massively steep path up to the top of the cliff, but it was gorgeous when we got up there, covered in heather and gorse with the fabulous view over the Causeway to the right.  We got back to the coach just in time and hopped on, ready to go to Carrick A Rede.

Carrick A Rede

  I was a bit nervous about Carrick A Rede - it's an old fishing rope bridge which joins a small island just off the coast.  However, given that both the mainland and the island are based on cliffs, the rope bridge is incredibly high and I'd heard it was super wobbly.  Heights are nooooooooooooooooooot my favorite thing at all, so I was a bit skeptical about how much I'd enjoy this, but it was only 1 Euro so I figured I'd go ahead and have a look and then decide.  In the event I decided just to DO IT as how bad could it be?!  It wasn't so bad til the evil child in front of me decided to jump over it, shaking the entire thing from side to side.  Great kid.  Loved her.  However, once I got over to the island it was well worth it - Sam and I took approximately one million pictures as it was stunning.  It was another cliff-top walk back to the coach which gave us the opportunity for a few more pictures before we got back on the coach and started the drive back to Dublin.

Holding onto the floor at Carrick A Rede!

I absolutely cannot wait to get back to Northern Ireland!  I loved it there; it was so beautiful, the people were really nice and Belfast was so fascinating.  I also felt like I was standing at the crossroads of history when I was in Belfast - I could stand facing the Titanic Quarter, which is brand new and represents wealth and modernity and progress, or I could stand facing the old city with its locked walls and murals and bullet holes and poverty.  I know that Belfast will not stay like that for long, so I am really looking forward to going back a number of times and watching it change!

I think my enjoyment was also helped by the fact that the weather was actually quite nice in Northern Ireland - from the time we got to the Giant's Causeway, it was lovely!  The scenery was so stunning with crystal clear waters.  It wasn't what I expected - it was a million times better!

Dublin

As part of my 15 new cities in 2015, I set up a whistle stop tour of the east coast of Ireland.  I was really excited about going because I'd never been before, and I worked out that I could do pretty much the entire coast of both Northern Ireland the Republic of Ireland within three days.

Instead of traveling through and staying at a different place each night, I stayed in Dublin all three nights and did day trips so that I could get the most out of my trip.  Therefore, my time in Dublin was split.

I arrived at about 15:00 on the first day ... straight into the middle of a train and bus strike which meant that there was no transport from the airport aside from buses.  When I heard that my heart sank, but I found out that there was a coach straight to my hotel - RESULT!  I'd learned very very quickly when booking that Dublin is insanely expensive for accommodation, so I'd booked into a hotel about 20 minutes from the centre, the Red Cow Moran.  Phew!

Temple Bar

The Liffey

Once I was settled into the Red Cow, I caught the LUAS straight into town.  It was literally just 20 minutes door to door to get to O'Connell Street, which is pretty much the centre of Dublin.  It was absolutely POURING with rain, but I'd decided beforehand that I was going to use my short afternoon to do a self-guided walking tour around the city, just to orientate myself and to see those things that were either outside, or which I only wanted to see from the outside!  I started off with O'Connell Street itself and the Spire of Dublin - the world's tallest art!  It's the most imposing spike statue that absolutely dominates the street, and was erected in January 2003 (it was supposed to be for the Millennium, so it was pretty much early by Irish standards).  I also saw the General Post Office, which, as well as being a functional post office, was also the headquarters of the Easter Rising in 1916.  Since I was there for the 99th anniversary of the Easter Rising, it was amazing to be able to see the bullet holes which still exist in the walls and imagine what took place there, not really so very long ago.

Halfpenny Bridge

From there, I headed down past the O'Connell Monument to the river.  The O'Connell Monument is just one of the zillions of statues that litter Dublin - there are literally hundreds of them.  The O'Connell Monument sits just at the entrance to the street and is a monument to Daniel O'Connell, the nineteenth century nationalist leader after whom the street is named.  From there I turned right down the river and past the Halfpenny and Millennium Bridges - I'd been looking forward to seeing the Millennium Bridge but in fact the Halfpenny was much prettier!  I crossed over to the south side so that I could appreciate the Four Courts properly - these are exactly what they say on the tin; four courts!  The building sits right on the river and is absolutely stunning.  It's one of Dublin's biggest landmarks and not to be missed.  From there though, I headed off the river and south down Bridge Street, which brought me past the twelfth century St Audoen's Cathedral.  This is Dublin's oldest parish church and is still functioning!

I'd thought that the rain might have eased up by now, since in England if it rains that hard it doesn't last long.  Ireland is made of sterner stuff though, and as I headed west along Cornmarket to the Guinness Store House it came down even harder.  In self-preservation I nipped into a newsagent ... which turned out to give me another Irish experience - Tayto!  I'd read loads about Tayto because I'm a massive fan of Marian Keyes's books, so I was very excited to try them.  Clutching my packet, I headed back out into the street and down towards the cobbled area which marks out the storehouse.  In all honesty, the Tayto was good, but Lays/Walkers aren't very different!

Guinness Quarter

The Guinness Storehouse area was amazing.  It's all cobbled streets and since it was dark and cold and raining, it felt as though I was still back in Sir Arthur Guinness's times.  Sir Arthur Guinness, who started off the entire thing, basically had a vision that Google has mimiced since, whereby the lines between life and work are blurred in the best possible way.  He arranged housing for his employees, medical care, entertainment, transport and essentially every other thing that they needed to be able to work efficiently.  Given that he started brewing in 1759, it was a massively visionary approach to staffcare - no wonder Guinness is still such a success.  I didn't have time to go into the Storehouse - and besides, I absolutely hate Guinness! - but the area around was fantastic and I'm so glad I went.

Statue to Barnardos outside Dublinia

From the Guinness Storehouse area I set off back through the Liberties - an area which formerly retained its own jurisdiction in the middle of Dublin, similar to the way that the Vatican retains its own jurisdiction within the middle of Rome - and ended up at St Patrick's Cathedral, which is Ireland's largest church, completed in 1191.  The Cathedral has absolutely gorgeous gardens which are beautifully laid out and I spent quite a bit of time looking at the pansy beds, because pansies always remind me of my grandfather as they were his favorite flowers.  It was only a hop skip and a jump up the road from there to Dublinia - which looks like a mediaeval stronghold with a stone castle which bridges the road and extends up to the north.  In fact inside it's a children's attraction which deals with the Viking and Mediaeval period of Dublin's history, so I didn't go in, but it was fabulous to see it from the outside.

The weather had miraculously cleared up slightly by then, so instead of heading straight down to Trinity College as I'd intended, I detoured through Dublin Castle.  Dublin Castle is cool!  It's another building which is heavily associated with the Easter Rising because, until 1922, it was the seat of the English government in Ireland.  Apparently a castle has been on the site since King John's time, but this one is an eighteenth century building and it's completely fantastical with various different types of architecture completing it.  I walked through the outside past the Chester Beattie Library, which was established in 1950 to house the collections of one man - mining magnate Alfred Chester Beattie.  It is now in the middle of the Castle and it houses three collections - Western, Islamic and East Asian.

This looks like it is black and white.
It isn't, as the sign shows - it just rained that hard in Dublin!

It wasn't far from there back to College Green.  I diverted one more time to see the Molly Malone statute which was very cool!  I had intended to look at Trinity College as well, together with Merrion Square and St Stephen's Green, but unfortunately it was already pretty dark and I knew I wouldn't really get the benefit.  Therefore, I headed down Grafton Street - oooh posh shopping!  This is anotehr street that features heavily in Marian Keyes books, so I was excited to see it.  It ends near the Gaiety Theatre which was lovely and it was nice to be able to see that too.  I was exhausted by then, so I dived into a handy Wagamamas for supper.  Once I'd managed to eat my own body weight in food (I love that place!) I set off back to the LUAS via Temple Bar.  I didn't want to stay out drinking 'cause I knew I had a heavy day the day after, but it was an awesome atmosphere in there!

After that introduction to Dublin, I spent the next two days away in the north and south respectively, but I had more time on my last day before I caught my flight back to London that afternoon.  There was loads that I wanted to see, but highest on my list were Kilmainham Gaol and the Little Museum of Dublin.  However, I also wanted to see the parts of Dublin that I hadn't managed to see on the first night, namely, Merrion Square, St Stephen's Green and Trinity College.  This was going to be a struggle because I had to be on the 15:00 bus from my hotel back to the airport!  In addition, Kilmainham is quite difficult to get to, being out of town and not massively close to any particular station.  The best way to get there is on a hop-on/hop-off bus tour, as they drop off and collect right outside the door and they have a really regular service.  Therefore, I got into town at 07:00 and jumped onto the first hop-on/hop-off bus tour of the day.  In fact, although I'd covered most of the stops on it on my walking tour a couple of days before, it was actually really good, so I'm glad I did it - plus it went through Merrion Square so I could tick that off the list!  Our driver was stark raving mad, and I'm pretty sure I learned more about him than I did about Dublin - by way of example, I knew where he was born (the very house), how he and his family grew up in the Liberties, that he'd been a singer (and proved it by singing when he wasn't talking) and where he'd played, how he and his wife met, how she'd been his only girlfriend ever and how she'd died the year previously of cancer.  He was absolutely lovely and I'm so glad I had him as my driver - it was a good laugh!

Kilmainham cell door

I got to Kilmainham in time to do the first tour of the day.  You can't just go into the gaol - you have to be escorted through by a key-keeper at set times.  As it was so early, there were only three of us on the tour and it was AMAZING.  The gaol itself is made of limestone which is designed to draw in moisture and keep the interior as cold as possible, because lack of comfort was high on the list of priorities for the gaolers back in the day.  It was absolutely freezing in there and my ugg boots, merino wool jacket, jumper and thick tights didn't stand a chance, so goodness knows what it must've been like in rags back in the 1796 when it was first opened.  Despite its miserable conditions - men, women and children were not segregated and up to five people shared a 28 metre cell at any time, there was no light apart from one candle per cell which had to last for two weeks, and beds were nothing more than mattresses on the floor - it was contemporaneous with the potato famine and a time of great poverty for Ireland.  Therefore, it wasn't uncommon for people to commit crimes to get a place in the gaol, as even that was preferable to being out on the streets.  Over time, however, it was reformed and by the early 20th century it was being used as a political prison.  All of the main players in the Easter Rising were executed there (one, James Connolly, was famously executed sitting down because he was so weak that he could not stand during his execution).  The courtyard where they were all executed is empty save for a cross at either end and a small plaque commemorating those who were killed there after the Easter Rising, and it's a very powerful place.

Kilmainham Gaol

Once I'd finished the tour and looked through the museum there (and had a cup of hot chocolate to warm up!) I got back on the hop on/hop off bus and worked my way back into town.  I jumped off again at St Stephen's Square and had a quick look in before I proceeded to the Little Museum of Dublin.  I loved this museum - it's so random!  It's in what I would call a Georgian house near St Stephen's Square and, basically, when it opened it invited the people of Dublin to donate whatever artefacts of Irish life they fancied.  These were all then arranged chronologically, so that as you proceed through the museum you walk from about 1900 through to the present day (which is represented by, amongst other things, a life-size cardboard cut-out of Mrs Brown from Mrs Brown's Boys).  The ground floor is reserved for specific exhibitions.  On every floor there's a sort of living room which, whilst still surrounded by whatever period you happen to be in, you're invited to sit on the sofa and read magazines and help yourself to sweets.  This is the best idea in a museum ever!  I spent ages here - as long as I dared - and I really enjoyed it.  You can do tours of it, but I preferred to look around by myself.



Once I'd left there, I had about an hour before I had to leave, and I was determined to do one thing that I'd worked out was super Irish.  That was to have an Eddie Rocket's burger!  Dublin is in.sane for junk food - there's one stretch of O'Connoll Street where it's about seven different junk food places all in a row.  I'd tried SuperMac the night before (good, but not very exciting) but I'd practically drooled every time I'd walked past Eddie Rockets, as it looked AMAZING.  I had to try two before I could even get in as the queue was so long, but I tell ya, it was WELL worth it.  If they ever open an Eddie Rockets in London my waistline is completely doomed!  To get there from the Little Museum of Dublin I also got to walk through Trinity College, so I managed to tick off the final outstanding tourist attraction that I'd wanted to see. Winning!

Having eaten myself almost into a coma, I lugged my now considerably heavier body back to the LUAS and off to collect my luggage before jumping on the bus back to the airport.  My overall impressions of Dublin were that it was a super-cute city and the history is fantastic and very contemporaneous.  It's disappointing that the weather was so bad when I was there because it meant that I didn't get that excited about it - it was nice to go and I'm so glad I did, but I won't be rushing back.  Maybe if it had stopped raining for more than a few minutes at a time I'd have been more enthusiastic!  (I know my pictures make it look like it was sunny.  These ones are the ones taken in the rare moments where it actually stopped enough for me to take my phone out and snap some pictures).

Bank of Ireland from Trinity College