When I landed in Dublin Sunday afternoon, I headed for the Guinness Storehouse. Playing drunk tourist on day one. How very American of me, right? But I waited four years to finally take this trip so I needed a beer. A ruby red (if you hold a Guinness up to the light, it is in fact red) beer with chocolaty flavor. The brewery tour was great, five floors of Guinness history done so well that it felt more like a fun history museum instead of a brewery tour. The best part was seeing a lot of the old advertising. Some pretty great stuff there.
Two beers and an authentic Irish dinner of beef stew and potatoes, I was ready to head to the hotel and sleep with my beer themed souvenirs.
I woke up on Monday feeling jet lagged and maybe a bit hungover, but it didn’t stop me from dragging myself to the city center when I planned on squeezing in as much as possible. I started at Trinity College for the Book of Kells tour. If you’re not familiar, The Book of Kells has been preserved at the college and dates back 1200 years. The writing and illustrations drawn by monks are ornate and easy on the eyes. At the end of the tour, I walked through the library room where Oscar Wilde once studied. The books have been removed for the most part for preservation purposes, the room is beautiful. An inspiring place to study, I’m sure.
I also made time for the National Gallery of Dublin which houses artwork by the likes of Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, and Paul Cezanne. It also included many works by local Irish artist including Mainie Jellett.
From there I made my way a few blocks down so I could see some other sites. Dublin Castle was up first. While I chose not to tour the interior due to time constraints, I did get a good view of the buildings courtyard.
As I walked to my next venue, some of the buildings in the area were catching my eye. The architecture in Dublin is something you don’t see much of in the states so I could wander around all day here and marvel in it.
Like this one residence that stood out because if its blue and white coloring:
Next, I toured Christ Church Cathedral. This gothic style church was far more impressive inside than out, which says a lot since the outside is really something to look at.
Inside, it is like being in another era where architecture mattered for a house of worship.
See that floor in the photograph above? The entire building is tiled like that. I can’t even imagine the painstaking work that went into building this church. I mean, just look at these stained glass windows:
After Christ Chruch, I headed up the street to Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. I had the opposite feeling about this building. I was drawn to the outside more than I was the interior. Saint Patrick’s feels more like a castle than a church.
Inside, the medieval architecture felt dark, almost as if the building was in despair for all it had seen in its lifetime. That is a compliment, even if it does not sound like one. The history is palpable.
And it has a spectacular spiral staircase. If you’ve ever spent time with me, you know I’m obsessed with them.
The stained glass windows were awesome here too:
When I exited the church, it had started to rain a little so my day of wandering the city ended at around 12000 steps. A great day from a great city.
Discover more from Becky Tyler Art and Photography
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Becky Tyler Art and Photography 
When I landed in Dublin Sunday afternoon, I headed for the Guinness Storehouse. Playing drunk tourist on day one. How very American of me, right? But I waited four years to finally take this trip so I needed a beer. A ruby red (if you hold a Guinness up to the light, it is in fact red) beer with chocolaty flavor. The brewery tour was great, five floors of Guinness history done so well that it felt more like a fun history museum instead of a brewery tour. The best part was seeing a lot of the old advertising. Some pretty great stuff there.
Two beers and an authentic Irish dinner of beef stew and potatoes, I was ready to head to the hotel and sleep with my beer themed souvenirs.
I woke up on Monday feeling jet lagged and maybe a bit hungover, but it didn’t stop me from dragging myself to the city center when I planned on squeezing in as much as possible. I started at Trinity College for the Book of Kells tour. If you’re not familiar, The Book of Kells has been preserved at the college and dates back 1200 years. The writing and illustrations drawn by monks are ornate and easy on the eyes. At the end of the tour, I walked through the library room where Oscar Wilde once studied. The books have been removed for the most part for preservation purposes, the room is beautiful. An inspiring place to study, I’m sure.
I also made time for the National Gallery of Dublin which houses artwork by the likes of Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, and Paul Cezanne. It also included many works by local Irish artist including Mainie Jellett.
From there I made my way a few blocks down so I could see some other sites. Dublin Castle was up first. While I chose not to tour the interior due to time constraints, I did get a good view of the buildings courtyard.
As I walked to my next venue, some of the buildings in the area were catching my eye. The architecture in Dublin is something you don’t see much of in the states so I could wander around all day here and marvel in it.
Like this one residence that stood out because if its blue and white coloring:
Next, I toured Christ Church Cathedral. This gothic style church was far more impressive inside than out, which says a lot since the outside is really something to look at.
Inside, it is like being in another era where architecture mattered for a house of worship.
See that floor in the photograph above? The entire building is tiled like that. I can’t even imagine the painstaking work that went into building this church. I mean, just look at these stained glass windows:
After Christ Chruch, I headed up the street to Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. I had the opposite feeling about this building. I was drawn to the outside more than I was the interior. Saint Patrick’s feels more like a castle than a church.
Inside, the medieval architecture felt dark, almost as if the building was in despair for all it had seen in its lifetime. That is a compliment, even if it does not sound like one. The history is palpable.
And it has a spectacular spiral staircase. If you’ve ever spent time with me, you know I’m obsessed with them.
The stained glass windows were awesome here too:
When I exited the church, it had started to rain a little so my day of wandering the city ended at around 12000 steps. A great day from a great city.
Discover more from Becky Tyler Art and Photography
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
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