Ports of Call: Ireland

Our only Port of Call in Ireland was Dublin Bay.

Castles and Churchs, whether neolithic or 19th century (nothing later!) are my destinations of choice in any place i am fortunate enough to visit.  What can I say?  I was devoutedly Romantic and spiritual as a child and not much has changed where my inner self is concerned, however the decades have worn down my faith in humanity and reality.

It therefore made sense to attempt to walk to Dublin Castle in the brief time given to us to explore the city.

That was not the start of my perambulations, however.  The coach let us off in front of the august National Library on Kildare Street,  one of the most elegant Libraries I ever saw in my life.

It currently has an exhibition devoted to Yeats, one of my favourite poets.  Unfortunately, I realised that I either could see the exhibition or see a bit of Dublin but not do both.  I opted to see a bit of Dublin.

I did manage to explore a little of the interior of the Library very briefly.  The main entrance leads to the dome, lit by stained glass windows depicting the great writers of Europe, from the ancients to the Romantic era.  Virgil is there along with Racine and Corneille.

Dublin Castle is not a place that resonates with good memories for the Irish.  It was the seat of a foreign Occupation for centuries.  Only now does it house the Irish Government but in the past it was viewed as the bastion of the hated British.

Nonetheless, it is a Castle and it sprawls through the streets and along the river, some of it in active use, other parts such as the Walls, in ruins.

In the photograph shown above, you can see a portion of the ruins of the City Walls behind a Car Park and surrounded by some sort of modern housing.

Oddly enough, it was difficult to find and I ran into two other explorers who, like myself, had missed the entrance somehow.  I actually was glad I did, as it gave me the opportunity to catch a brief glimpse of Christchurch Cathedral.

 If any one wonders at the peculiar angles of the photographs of Christchurch Cathedral, they were caused by the awful landscape surrounding this ancient and noble structure.  It is a veritable fast food court, choc-a-bloc with tents and caravans where vendors shout out the virtues of their kebabs, sausages, sweets and other foodstuffs of dubious origin.  I was shocked, frankly, that this sort of thing not only is allowed but evidently encouraged in the very shadow of the ancient sacred walls.

I suppose I should have taken one photograph of the actual landscape for veracity's sake.

The other aspect of Christchurch Cathedral that somewhat dimmed my enjoyment of it was the press of the crowd, absolutely unreal in view of the fact that it was raining most of the time.  I basically always endeavour to keep people out of my photographs but there was no hope of achieving that without cutting much of the integrity of the building out of the picture.

So frustrating not to be able to spend an entire day in a city like Dublin.  How can one do justice to ANYTHING in two hours?