Dublin bound!

Maybe it's finally time to tell you a little about my trip to Dublin. I must admit that doing the research for Dublin was mostly frustrating since internet seems to be like the world, full of Irish pubs - and nowhere more than in Dublin! I'm usually looking to do something other than spending my time at pubs while I'm traveling and I do like planning ahead. Dublin did surprise me in more ways than one.

The biggest surprise for me was to travel there only to find out that it was Vikings who founded the city! I'm not sure if I slept on the history lesson where they told that information or how did I miss that, but there it is. Now you know too! They have a whole museum floor dedicated to the Vikings in Dublin at Dublinia. It was super interesting to learn more about that topic.

I have been curious on what's the link between celtic art and viking art - who influenced who? Now I have an answer. Vikings did influence the celts. While doing some additional googling about this topic, I ended up reading about the Siberian Ice Maiden and her tattoos that remind me an awfully lot of the visual style of the Vikings. Disturbingly lot. So now there's another sidetrack I need to follow. (Not going to travel to Russia anyday soon though.)

One of the most amazing things I saw during my trip was the Trinity College Library. Yes. It's one of the worlds most amazing ones! You'll find it right after the Book of Kells! (which was also amazing thing to see and learn more about!)

I would like to say I'm not a big reader, but in the end I do read quite a lot and I do love my books, so visiting one of the most amazing libraries in the world was truly a great experience! I mean... Look at it!

When going to Dublin there's the mandatory visit to the Guinness Storehouse and of course the pint or two at Temple bar. The former was a surprise after seeing some smaller breweries around the world, where you get to see the beer being made in the authentic environments. Guinness Storehouse was a carefully designed experience and I would compare it to a well curated museum. As a designer it was super interesting to see a good collection of their old marketing gathered in one floor.

As someone who doesn't usually like Guinness (or other darker beers) I must say that the pint I had there - oh wow! I didn't know Guinness can be that good! They say it's the Irish water that makes it so fresh. I also got to try the Guinness 0.0 but it was very different stuff and doesn't get even close to the real stuff.

Temple bar was good for one quick pint but I did visit a few other places in the area that were less crowded and had nicer athmosphere. I didn't really get into reading why the Temple bar is THE place to go to, but been there done that now.

But without any further ramblings- the thing you've been waiting for: Photodump time! (I know some of you come here for my quirky remarks, but I know some of you really want to see the pictures!)

I'll leave you with this. I'm not sure anymore why I took this picture at Guinness Storehouse, but I'm happy I did. It has it's rightful place here in this blog, because my Camino was the beginning of this blog.

xoxo

Pilgrim with Dragon Tattoo