February 2003
Dublin, Ireland
From 31 January until 3 February we went to Dublin in Ireland with a free Ryanair flight out of Charleroi airport. We saw Christchurch Cathedral, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Guinness Brewery, Tara Hill, Newgrange, Bewley's, Book of Kells at Trinity College, GPO and more.
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1/25 On Friday 31 March we left really early in the morning with Ryanair at Charleroi airport, south of Brussels. The tickets were 1 cent each.
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2/25 We checked into our very nice hotel, the Phoenix Park House right at the entrance of Phoenix Park. We had room 25.
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3/25 A street sign in Dublin with text also in Irish.
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4/25 Here is the statue of Molly Malone also known as the Tart with the Cart.
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5/25 The first day we took a bus to Malahide where we visited the Malahide Castle and Park. Here we are at the entrance.
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6/25 On Saturday 1 February we did a bus trip to Tara Hill and Newgrange, both ancient burial mounds. This is the entrance of Tara Hill.
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7/25 Tara Hill had a few burial mounds that were thousands of years old. The view from this place was very nice with lots of sheep in the background.
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8/25 Arthur in front of one of the mounds showing the self-made map that our talkative bus driver John Bolton had given us.
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9/25 After Tara Hill we arrive at Bru na Boinne in Newgrange. This is the visitor center, which was very nice and had a museum piece. From here we took a small bus to the actual Newgrange site.
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10/25 Here we arrive at Newgrange. It is a very big megalithic passage tomb built about 3200 BC (older than the pyramids in Egypt). The kidney shaped mound covers an area of over one acre and is surrounded by 97 kerbstones, some of which are richly decorated with megalithic art.
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11/25 The 19 metre long inner passage leads to a cruciform chamber with a corbelled roof. The passage and chamber of Newgrange are illuminated by the winter solstice sunrise. A shaft of sunlight shines through the roof box over the entrance and penetrates the passage to light up the chamber. The dramatic event lasts for 17 minutes at dawn from the 19th to the 23rd of December.
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12/25 This is the General Post Office. Built in 1818 halfway along OConnell Street, the GPO became a symbol of the 1916 Easter Rising.
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13/25 On Saturday evening we had a glass of Guinness beer at the Brazen Head, the oldest pub in Europe, and probably the world.
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14/25 This is the map to the Dublin castle, which was unfortunately closed on the Sunday morning that we were there.
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15/25 This is Trinity College, founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth. The Book of Kells is housed in the Old Library.
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16/25 Here Arthur looks over the main courtyard of Trinity College before we head over to see the Book of Kells.
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17/25 The Book of Kells was in the Trinity College Library, which was really spectecular. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take any photos inside.
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18/25 On Sunday night we had dinner at the extremely nice restaurant Nancy Hands, pictured here. The restaurant was right around the corner of our hotel.
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19/25 On Monday morning, the day that we leave, we head out early for a long walk in Phoenix Park. Here Amy is wearing her new shamrock hat.
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20/25 Another sign with fun Irish text.
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21/25 From the park we could see the Wicklow mountains to the south.
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22/25 A spire of St. Patrick's Cathedral. We visited here after Phoenix Park.
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23/25 After St. Patrick's we went to Christchurch Cathedral.
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24/25 The River Liffey that runs through Dublin.
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25/25 Crossing the famous Ha'penny Bridge before heading back to the bus station to get our bus back to the airport.
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