By now you’re probably glad I was only in Dublin for seven hours. Imagine if I’d been there for seven weeks! (You don’t have to imagine it. I went berserk in Italy….) Here are a few photos that didn’t fit into the rest of the “theme” postings. A guy tuning his dulcimer on Grafton Street. I’m so sorry there wasn’t time to go back to hear him play! I love the dulcimer when it’s played well.
This bleak, classical structure was the Irish Houses of Parliament, built by the English in 1729. The Irish Parliament was dissolved in 1801 and the building is now owned by the Bank of Ireland.
Side street off the Grafton Street pedestrian mall.
Sign outside a shop in Temple Bar.
It really is a curved street! A very short curved street.
Not sure what this building is but it made a cool reflection.
I’d love to know how this tour group persuades teenage girls to wear viking helmets and ride around the city in a bright yellow bus shaped like a boat. Whenever the bus stops, they yell some kind of cheer, so you can’t help but notice them.
Book of Kells socks, sold in the Trinity College gift shop.
Door knob and drawer pull shop. Get your mind out of the gutter.
Wee Irish purse with wee lucky charms sewn on the front. Pot of gold not included.
I wasn’t sure whether this was a tarted-up burger joint or a Victorian gothic building that has sunk to unbelievable depths. It’s the latter.
O’Connell Street is Dublin’s main thoroughfare. Although it’s only half a kilometer long, it is an impressive boulevard with monuments and shops. It’s been through some ups and downs, especially during the 1970s and 80s, but the Dublin City Council began to implement a concerted plan to redevelop the area in 2002, restoring a lot of its fine old architecture. I didn’t have very long to explore O’Connell Street–just a quick run up and down its length–but I managed to get a few shots. The square above was taken at the end of O’Connell Street, where O’Connell Bridge begins.
Jim Larkin, an early 20th century labour leader, with a pair of shoes over one arm.
I had to follow this girl for quite a distance in order to get a shot of her matching green flower decorations.
The Spire of Dublin, aka the Knitting Needle, is the world’s highest sculpture (121.2 m or 397.6 ft). Its official name is the Monument of Light. At night it is illuminated at the top and at its base.
What great sweaters! They’re perfect–Aran on the left and Shetland lace on the right. These women were resting on a bench on the central median of O’Connell and I happened to see them on my way back to the center of town.
O’Connell monument with the Spire of Dublin in the background.
Angel at the base of the O’Connell monument. No special reason for photographing her. I just liked the angle of the light.
A number of explanations for the colourful doors have been offered. One widespread but apparently apocryphal story is that Queen Victoria ordered all the doors of the British Empire to be painted black, in mourning for Prince Albert. The Irish reacted by painting them in rainbow colours. The most likely explanation is that the Georgian style exteriors were designed to be very uniform, down to the smallest detail, so painting the doors in different colours enabled residents to set themselves apart.
The Georgian doors have been photographed many times and have their own poster and Facebook group.
Merrion Square is considered one of Dublin’s best preserved squares, with its lovely Georgian architecture. Since I didn’t have much time, I photographed mainly the colourful doors around the perimeter of the square. I barely went inside the park in the center. Oscar Wilde lived at 1 Merrion Square (now the American College in Dublin); the park contains a statue of Wilde. Construction began in 1762 and continued for about thirty years.
A few buildings have lacy iron balconies and ornate fanlights.
Our guide called Dublin Castle “the ugliest castle in Christendom.” Its architecture is rather eclectic.
The courtyards were closed because Ireland was still hosting the EU presidency when we were there. Normally the grounds are free and the royal apartments are accessible to organized tour groups. The castle dates back to 1204, the oldest part being the tower that looks like a grain silo in the center of the photo above. The neo-Gothic wing sticking out of the left side of the tower is Victorian. The right wing and most of the buildings surrounding the courtyard are Georgian.
If you walk around the corner of the castle, you could be forgiven for thinking you’ve landed in Burano. Here’s the side of the castle, looking west, towards the gate.
And here’s a view to the east, towards the entrance of the castle.
This view of the castle isn’t too bad, if you compose the shot without the coloured bits and with the stone wall almost out of the way. I was standing in a memorial corner of Dubh Linn Gardens.
Dublin is named after Dubh Linn (“black pool”), which used to occupy the area where the present Dubh Linn Gardens are situated. It’s a quiet park, which doubles as a helicopter landing pad. The brick paths form a Celtic knot. Since the park is round, standing in the middle feels a bit like standing in the center of a crop circle.
Picturesque street near the castle. It doesn’t seem to have a name on maps but it runs parallel to Ship Street Great. Actually, it might be an access road along the back of the buildings.
This woman’s blue dress and red shoes caught my eye because everyone else was wearing artsy black. I tried several shots through a group of tourists and from across the street, when I just happened to catch her looking over her shoulder, though not at me. I thought her Bohemian friends with tattoos and cigarettes were a great contrast.
Temple Bar is a restored area of shops and cultural institutions about five minutes from Trinity College. It’s also known for its thriving nightlife. We were there during the day, when the atmosphere is much more sedate. Also, it was pouring while we were walking around the neighbourhood. I would have loved to have spent more time exploring the narrow cobbled roads, but my mother-in-law was tired and wanted to buy souvenirs, so we headed for Grafton Street.
In the next photo is one of the lovely restored facades, a pub.
Wall of Fame is a building covered with musicians connected with Ireland.
It’s so hard to find a good mask and fetish store in a strange city….
These break-dancers on Grafton Street were really good! A video captures a lot more than a still photograph can, but I was glad to get the shot of the guy balancing on his head.
Penny-whistle player, also on Grafton Sreet.
OK, the first band in the video clip is on a stage, so they aren’t exactly street performers, but the performance was in a public square.
Although photography is not permitted in the Book of Kells exhibit, it is allowed in the Long Room of the Old Library. The Long Room was built between 1712 and 1732. The upper gallery was added in the 1850s to accommodate the growing collection.
The Long Room is believed to have been the model for the Jedi library in George Lucas’s film Attack of the Clones.
View looking up at the gallery
Staircase to the gallery was not open to the public. Pity–I would have loved to photograph it from above!
If you only have seven hours to spend in Dublin, Trinity College is likely to be on the to-do list. The weather in Dublin changes very quickly. The photo above was taken during a rare moment of sunshine. This is the main entrance of the college, facing College Green.
Trinity College was founded in 1592, making it one of the oldest universities in the world. It was originally a Protestant enclave, and as late as 1970, Roman Catholics were forbidden (by the church, not the university) to attend without a letter of permission from their bishop. Catholics started attending the university quite early, although rules barring them from professorships and scholarships were not lifted until 1873.
The Old Library houses the Book of Kells. There was quite a long line waiting to get in. (I didn’t get any photos — too dark.)
The Campanile (bell tower) stands at one end of Parliament Square. Tradition holds that a student who walks underneath the Campanile while the bell tolls will fail his or her exams.
The bronze sculpture below, in front of the Berkeley Library building, is Amaldo Pomodoro’s Sphere within Sphere. Last February it was yarn-bombed.
Public Theatre building, on the right side of Parliament Square. The Old Library is visible on the left side of the photo below:
This and That 