Ireland: Pablo, Luis, Sonia

Our group has prepared some trips, journeys, landscapes and sightseeing we can see, visit and go in Ireland when we spend  a few days there. Some of these landmarks I highlight in Dublin are the Trinity College and the National Museum of Ireland. The first one is a masterpiece in art of the world and it has an important library; the second one is a museum about the history and archaeology of Ireland. Therefore these places will let us close to Ireland and  its past.

The Trinity College was founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I. Most of the impressive buildings were built during the renovation of 1759. The campanile, built by Charles Lanyon, is the view of a thousand postcards. Trinity College Library is home to more than an million books and priceless manuscripts. The most famous  is the "Book of Kells": a 9th-century gospel manuscript.  I would recommend this attraction in spite of high entrance fee and of usually long wait and queues, over all in summer.

The Trinity College is located in the heart of Dublin City, in Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin 2. The Open hours are from Monday to Saturday 09:30 - 17:00 . The price for Adults is € 9 and Children (under 12): free ( all year round). 

 The National Museum

On the other hand, I recommend you to visit the National Museum of Ireland, at Kildare Street, Dublin 2.

It hosts an archaeological and historical Irish collection from prehistory to the middle ages.  There is an interesting exhibition "Kingship & Sacrifice" showcases four Irish bog bodies, prehistoric noblemen’s mummies, from the Bronze Age. The entrance to the museum is free and Opening Hours are : Tuesday - Saturday: 10- 17 and Sunday: 14 - 17 h. 

Apart from these two landmarks, another “must see” is  the National Gallery at Merrion Square West and near the National Museum . Collection of renowned masterpieces, (of) a variety of paintings and sculptures among them Hogarth, Gainsborough, Poussin, Monet, Degas, El Greco, Velazquez, Goya, Picasso, Titian, Caravaggio, Brueghel, Vermeer and Rubens. The entry is free. The Gallery is open from Monday to Saturday from 9.30 to 17.30.

If you’re thinking of visiting not only Dublin, I enclose this video useful for that.  In addition, I also rate useful the below video to close Ireland.:  This video has lyrics.

 Finally to summarize my part of this article, apart from these sightseeing which  is a “must see” in Dublin; I rate we must know the feast of Saint Patrick, on March 17. I enclose this video: History of St. Patrick’s day: 

http://www.history.com/videos/history-of-st-patricks-day  . 

Questions about the video History of St. Patrick’s day

1- What century is the history of St. Patrick’s day?

2- What season is given the welcome in this feast?

3- What was happened to Saint Patrick as a boy?

4- Why is celebrated the feast on march 17?

5- What city of America celebrated for first time St. Patrick’s day? And which year in?

I put this link in case you’d like to learn of it further about Ireland. It speaks about traditions and symbols, such as the Shamrock, Irish music, the Snake, corned beef and cabbage and the Leprechaun.

 Places to sleep

 Dublin, depending on where you look for accomodation, seems an expensive city but it is not a real true.
There are a lot of possibilities to spend some nice days, only you need look for the best option for you. We propose you 3 of them, and after you just decide which one is the best, because it´s different to travel alone, with your couple or your family.

If you travel with your couple, you can go to a hotel. There are hotels near the city center with low prices,  they cost around 50 €, and even  four-star hotels  from 60 € to ……… Probably this not the best option for a cheap “sleep”, but yes,  for a romantic trip.

Another possibility, especially if you travel alone or with your friends and your dream is to live an adventure, we recommend you a good option: go to a hostel.   In a hostel you can book a bed and sharing a bed room, in  other words, you will sleep in a bedroom with  other persons just unknown for you.

Prices are around  10 €/bed, if you want, have a look this video on youtube...

If you go there alone, maybe you find new friends or your new lover,  who knows?

And lastly, we think  that for a family travel the best option can be to rent an apartment. The advantage  when renting a flat or an apartment is that you can choose your times,  (if you have  children, you will understand us), and you will only depend on the timetable of the museums or on the trip you would like to do.

 A different day in Dublin

We are going to visit the St. Jame's Gate Brewery. And what is this? Well, it's the place  where Guinness beer is made,  which is considered by many people as the best beer in the world.

Here we will learn all about making the drink and something about the history of the brand.

St. James Gate Street is located next to the centre of Dublin and we can go on foot.

The history began in 1759 when Arthur Guinness signed a contract of renting a deserted brewery for 9,000 years. Ten years later, he exported the first six barrels to England.

The price of entrance ticket is 15 € for adults and 13 € for students over 18.

In the first floor, they show us how the beer is made. The beer is made of water, barley, malt, hops and yeast brewery. It’s necessary to put into the proccess CO₂ and N₂ .

In the second floor they show to the visitors how the advertising of the Guinness beer has been along the history. In 1916, thousands of bottles of beer were thrown to the sea with some message. Dozens of years later some of them appeared in other part of the world.

In the third floor, we can play interactive games about our knowledge of alcohol.

In the fourth floor you have to learn how to put the beer into a glass, but properly.  How to pour a pint of beer.

In the fifth floor, the life in the factory.

The sixth floor is an intermediate way to Gravity Bar and at the end, on the 7^th floor it's the Gravity Bar. It's a viewpoint of Dublin of 360º. A place from where you can see all the city of Dublin