European Vacation - Dublin, Ireland

Dublin is the Capital of Ireland, the seat of Government and the most populated city. Dublin the ”Town of the Ford of the Hurdles” is the main seaport of Ireland. It is at the mouth of the Liffey River, on Dublin Bay, an inlet of the Irish Sea. The beauty of the surrounding country, combined with its maritime position, give to this metropolis of Ireland a charm possessed by few cities.

Here is a concentration of delights for which you would motor many miles in other places—firm, clean beaches; shoals of sea fish and rivers full of game and coarse fish; championship-standard golf; two superb forest parks; two cathedrals; castles and gardens: boating. bird-watching, walking and pony trekking.

Top Dublin attractions include:

Trinity College and the Book of Kells. The jewel in Ireland's tourism crown is the Book of Kells. This is a magnificent manuscript of the four Gospels, from around A.D. 800, with elaborate scripting and illumination. This famous treasure and other early Christian manuscripts are on permanent public view at Trinity College. Also housed at Trinity College is the “Dublin Experience,” an excellent multimedia introduction to the history and people of Dublin.

Trinity College is the oldest university in Ireland and was founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I. It occupies a beautiful 16-hectare (40-acre) site just south of the River Liffey, with cobbled squares, gardens, a picturesque quadrangle, and buildings dating from the 17th to the 20th centuries.
Bull Island contains a wide range of natural habitats which include inter tidal mudflats, salt marsh, freshwater marsh, dunes and beach area. The mudflats support a large population of birds, at any time up to 27,000 birds are present, which gives the area the highest bird density in Ireland. The Island also provides the only Irish example of an undisturbed sequence of plant communities, from salt marsh to dune vegetation.
General Post Office. With a facade of Ionic columns and Greco-Roman pilasters 60m (200 ft.) long and 17m (56 ft.) high, this is more than a post office; it is the symbol of Irish freedom. Built between 1815 and 1818, it was the main stronghold of the Irish Volunteers in 1916. Set afire, the building was gutted and abandoned after the surrender and execution of many of the Irish rebel leaders. It reopened as a post office in 1929 after the formation of the Irish Free State. In memory of the building's dramatic role in Irish history, an impressive bronze statue of Cuchulainn, the legendary Irish hero, is on display. Look closely at the pillars outside—you can still see bullet holes from the siege.
Custom House. No view of Dublin's skyline is complete without a tableau of the Custom House, one of Dublin's finest Georgian buildings. It is beautifully proportioned, with a long classical façade of graceful pavilions, arcades, columns; a central dome topped by a 16 ft statue of Commerce and 14 keystones over the doors and windows.
Phoenix Park, the largest urban park in Europe, is the playground of Dublin. A network of roads and quiet pedestrian walkways traverses its 704 hectares (1,760 acres), which are informally landscaped with ornamental gardens and nature trails. Avenues of trees separate broad expanses of grassland. The homes of the Irish president and the U.S. ambassador are on the grounds, as is the Dublin Zoo. Livestock graze peacefully on pasturelands, deer roam the forested areas and horses romp on polo fields. The Phoenix Park Visitors Center, adjacent to Ashtown Castle, offers exhibitions and an audiovisual presentation on the park's history.
Dublin Zoo is the third-oldest zoo in the world (after those in London and Paris). In the past few years, the zoo has doubled in size to about 24 hectares (60 acres) and provides a naturally landscaped habitat for more than 235 species of wild animals and tropical birds.
Temple Bar is Dublin’s cultural quarter. The area is a hive of activity where artists, designers and young entrepreneurs with creative ideas have set up small art galleries, cafes, theatres and colorful shops. With narrow cobbled streets running close to the banks of the river Liffey, the area is full of character and charm.
St. Patrick’s Cathedral. It is said that St. Patrick baptized converts on this site, and consequently a church has stood here since A.D. 450, making it the oldest Christian site in Dublin. The present cathedral is mainly early English in style, with a square medieval tower that houses the largest ringing peal bells in Ireland and an 18th-century spire. The 90m-long (300 ft.) interior makes it the longest church in the country.
Chester Beatty Library and Gallery of Oriental Art. This collection of books contains approximately 22,000 manuscripts, rare books, miniature paintings and objects from Western, Middle Eastern, and Far Eastern cultures. Highlights include copies of the Koran, Islamic manuscripts and biblical papyrus dating from the early 2nd and 4th centuries A.D.
Dublin Castle. Built between 1208 and 1220, this complex represents some of the oldest surviving architecture in the city. Highlights include the 13th-century Record Tower; the State Apartments—once the residence of English viceroys and the Chapel Royal—a 19th-century Gothic building with particularly fine plaster decoration and carved oak gallery fronts and fittings. The newest developments are the Undercroft—an excavated site on the grounds where an early Viking fortress stood and the Treasury—built between 1712 and 1715 and believed to be the oldest surviving office building in Ireland.
National Gallery houses many excellent exhibits, with more than 2,000 works on display. Although there is much emphasis on Irish Landscape art and portraits, every major school of European painting is well represented.
National Museum. This museum is a reflection of Ireland's heritage from 2000 B.C. to the present. It is the home of many of the country's greatest historical finds, including the Treasury exhibit, which toured the United States and Europe in the 1970s with the Ardagh Chalice, Tara Brooch and Cross of Cong. Other highlights range from the artifacts from the Wood Quay excavations of the Old Dublin Settlements to "Or," an extensive exhibition of Irish Bronze Age gold ornaments dating from 2200 B.C. to 700 B.C.
Natural History Museum. A division of the National Museum of Ireland, the recently renovated Natural History Museum is considered one of the finest traditional Victorian-style museums in the world. In addition to presenting the zoological history of Ireland, it contains examples of major animal groups from around the world, including many that are rare or extinct. The Blaschka glass models of marine animals are a big attraction.
Waterways Visitor Centre is a modern building constructed in the Grand Canal Basin. It houses an exhibition designed to introduce visitors to the story of Ireland’s Inland Waterways and the range and diversity of activities and experiences they offer. Attractions include an audio-visual show and working models, showing various engineering features, as well as an interactive multimedia presentation.