Our last day in Dublin. Howie is up and out for a run, By the time he has returned, his shirt is soaked through - Irish sunshine drizzle has hit and he is damp with a capital D. Howie dries off as the rest of us enjoy some coffee, toast and orange juice in an attempt to clear out our provisions. We depart at 9:45 towards Trinity College Dublin, its famous library, and the renowned Book of Kells. We had purchased on-line tickets a month ago for this timed visit. Our assigned time was 10:30.
We arrived in time and only had to spend a minute or two in queue before they let our lot in. The Book of Kells, one of the great treasures of medieval Europe, is an illuminated manuscript written in Latin, and containing the four gospels of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) together with various introductory texts and tables. It was created around 800 AD by Early Christian monks and is a masterwork of Western calligraphy. Previously displayed in the Long Room of the Library, it now is housed in its own specail interactive display room.
The main chamber of the Old Library, built between 1712 and 1732, is known as The Long Room.
This chamber contains over 200,000 books. The Long Room also has on display the Proclamation of The Irish Republic. This is one of the few remaining original copies printed in secrecy in Liberty Hall the day before the 1916 Rising began. Also on display is a 15th century Irish Harp, which false legend says belonged to Brian Boru an ancient king of Ireland. The national Symbol of Ireland is modeled after this harp.
Following our walk through the library, we ventured out on the streets of Dublin, first heading to see the statue of the mythical Molly Malone, the fish monger heroine of the song “Alive, Alive O.“
Next on to the pedestrian area of Temple Bar, a walking district renowned for its art galleries, restaurants and pubs. Past visits have proved to us that one does not want to be in Temple Bar of a Friday or Saturday night - party time!
We stopped at The Shack Restaurant, for lunch, tasting Irish lamb stew, bangors & mash, a seafood chowder and a chicken tagliatelle. All accompanied by wine and Irish ale. Excellent food, finished of with a dessert of “Trinity Mess,“ Dublin‘s answer to England’s Eton Mess.
Just as tasty although the meringue in this version was a bit chewy, according to our chief “mess“ tester. After lunch, we struck off down Grafton Street pedestrian shopping district and crossed the huge St. Stephen’s park on our way back to our BnB for an afternoon rest and pre-packing for tomorrow’s travels. We enjoyed a glass of our wine, again only to deplete up our supply and then left for a walk to our 6:15 reservation at Matt the Thresher Seafood Restaurant for our last Dublin meal. We arrived on time, and the restaurant seemed empty. We were seated on the upper level, and suddenly, the early reservation time made sense; the entire establishment filled up quickly.
Matt the Thresher’s was clearly understaffed, as were so many of the places we visited in Ireland, and the staff here was working at double-time. They were friendly, accommodating and quick to make recommendations on our choices, but observing how they were hustling was startling. We enjoyed a wonderful meal, a house red wine, a roast salmon special of the day, caprese salad with steamed mussels, a mixed crab and seafood salad and roast Irish chicken Supreme (basically roast chicken breast on a bed of mashed potatoes.) Plenty of dark stout bread and butter. A satisfying meal. We declined the dessert offerings and headed back to our abode to rest, complete our packing and read before bed.
As we reflected on our twelve day Irish holiday, the highlights were our walk around Douth, the first meal in Athboy, the rope bridge at Carrick on Rede, the Japanese Garden in Tramore, the National Gallery in Dublin, the Trinity College library with its Book of Kells, our visit with Zoe, the children and Bernadette, and the overall greenness of the landscape and hospitality of the Irish people; Lina at the SIXT car rental, Rachel at the Tara Lodge, Collette at Molly’s Yard pub, Sue at Sharamore House in Clifden and the Egyptian mummy in the Ulster museum in Belfast all deserve special mention. The Guiness and Irish Red Ales weren’t bad either.
