There are three words to sum up our adventures today. Drink – Look – Brrrr.

Like the last time I was in Dublin, the weather wasn't exactly welcoming . It again was a cool, overcast day where you knew it would very likely rain.

After catching the cruise shuttle into the centre of town, we got on one of the Hop On Hop Off buses and begun our loop of the city.

First stop was the Guinness Factory/museum. Being an avid Guinness drinker, Mum was very much looking forward to this stop and was kicking herself when she realised she wasn’t wearing her Guinness t-shirt for the occasion.

Having been previously, I was interested to see what had changed since my last visit. Quite a few of the main exhibits were the same as last time; however there were a couple of new interactive ones that were pretty good.

We worked our way up through the museum and saw how the famous black beverage is made, the old marketing approaches to getting people to buy it and various other bits of interesting trivia.

Having reached the Gravity Bar that sits atop the museum, it was time for Mum to drink her free pint of Guinness . Her excitement was palpable, whereas I was psyching myself to drink the thick black liquid before lunch (eck). Mum enjoyed her pint, while I gave it a good go and managed to finish 1/3 of mine – mine did not go to waste, as Mum still had room to drink that one too. A couple of hours after we had entered, it was time to leave the Guinness factory and continue our loop around Dublin.

While on the loop we went past a couple of large churches – Christ Church Cathedral, the original cathedral of Norse Dublin and connected with a long history of important Irish historical figures. St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the national cathedral for the Church of Ireland and built in 1192 in honour of Ireland’s patron saint.

Next on the to do list was to get off at Trinity College and try our luck at seeing the Book of Kells – sometimes there can be a long line to get in to see it.

The Book of Kells was written over 1000 years ago and contains the four lavishly decorated gospels . The book has been associated with St. Colum Cille who in 561 founded a monastery on the island of Iona (off the west coast of Scotland). It is thought that the monks who wrote the book worked on Iona as well as on the mainland at Kells. During the Cromwellian period the book was sent to Dublin for safe keeping. In 1661 the book was moved to the grounds of Trinity College.

The line to get in was quite short and meant we only had to wait about 10 minutes. Because the book is so old and the vellum used so delicate, you are only able to see one of the gospel books and from that only two pages. Also housed with the Book of Kells is another Irish manuscript (the Book of Durrow) that is hundreds of years old. This one was also produced by monks.

The building that houses the Book of Kells and other manuscripts is the Old Library. On the second floor is the Long Room. This room houses around 200,000 of the library’s oldest books and is 65 metres in length . Since 1801 the Trinity College Library has had the right to claim a free copy of all British and Irish publications. The library has over 3 million books housed in eight warehouses and also has on display a copy of the original Proclamation of Independence.

Having seen the Book of Kells and bearing in mind it was now nearing 4pm, it was time for lunch. After hunting around the Temple Bar area and having a 'discussion’ about lunch, we settled on an old pub. Mum had a beef and Guinness pie while I had a ham, cheese, tomato and onion toasted sandwich.

Now fed and watered we hopped back on the bus and did another loop of Dublin. Unfortunately the weather had deteriorated while we were eating and we spent the last loop on the bus sitting on the top deck on slightly damp/cold seats while a cold wind buffeted us. The tour finished on O’Connell Street – Ireland’s widest and most famous street. It is lined with statues of Irish heroes. It is also where the General Post Office is. The Post Office was a focal point of the 1916 Easter Rising (including the associated bullet holes) and it was here that the Proclamation of Independence was read.

As the last shuttle bus to the ship didn’t leave for an hour and we were quite close to it, as well as us being a little cold from our bus ride, we decided it was time for a hot beverage. This stop served multiple purposes – it warmed us up, let Mum have an Irish coffee and let me access some free Wi-Fi. Mum’s Irish coffee was interesting as all you could smell and taste was the whiskey. It was as if they had put in a full shot of whiskey instead of a dash and I’m sure she felt much warmer after drinking it.

Back on the ship, the sail out of Dublin was fairly standard. Since it was late departure, we weren’t able to see too much.

Fun fact:
The people of Dublin like to give statues interesting nicknames. The statue of Molly Malone is lovely referred to as the ‘Tart with the Cart’, while a statue to a group of women sitting on a bench is referred to as the ‘Hags with the bags’.