All things bright and beautiful: (2020) 6 days in Ireland --- Day 4: Dublin

With a full day to explore Dublin on Day 4 of our trip to Ireland, we chose to see a small number of places in some detail rather than rush through a long list of attractions, of which there are plentiful in the city. So we picked some of the famous sites within walking distance from the Temple Bar district where we were staying. Following visits to a number of historical buildings, including the General Post Office, Christ Church Cathedral, St Patrick's Cathedral and Dublin Castle, we ended the day on a high note --- a dinner with live Irish music and dance.

The Merchants' Arch alley leading from the quay to Temple Bar

Map of the sites we visited on Day 4

We started the day by strolling along some of the many cobbled streets in Temple Bar. Lined with pubs, the streets in this district play host to reveling customers in the evenings. Locals and visitors alike come not just for drinks and company, but also for the live music staged in some of the venues. It is a contrasting scene on a Saturday morning though, with the pubs not yet open and the now quiet streets virtually void of pedestrians.

Cobbled street in Temple Bar

One of many pubs in Temple Bar

Another pub in the locale

Colourful wall painting at a street corner in Temple Bar

Merchants' Hall (or Merchants' Arch) opposite Ha'penny Bridge. The alley on the right leads to Temple Bar.

Of course we had to see, and cross, the iconic 19th century Ha'penny Bridge, possibly the most famous bridge in Dublin.

Ha'penny Bridge over River Liffey

River Liffey flowing through central Dublin

The next bridge down the River Liffey is the O'connell Bridge. Besides pedestrians and cars, the bridge is also used by the Luas tram/light rail that runs through the streets of central Dublin.

A Luas tram crossing the O'connell Bridge

At the point where the O'connell Bridge joins O'connell Street is a large Memorial to the 19th century leader, Daniel O'connell.

O'Connell Memorial

A short distance up the street is the early 19th Century General Post Office, one of the most iconic buildings in Dublin. Amazingly, the GPO still functions as Dublin's principal post office.

General Post Office

A classical counter at the General Post Office, Dublin

General Post Office

In front of the General Post Office stands a tall pin-like modern structure, called the Spire of Dublin. This monument was erected in the early 2000s, at the site of the former Nelson's Pillar, which was destroyed by a bomb in the 1960s.

General Post Office and the Spire

Looking up the Spire

A statue of James Joyce, the Irish novelist and poet, stands on a pedestrian street adjacent to the Spire. I first came across James Joyce in my school days through the account of how the physicist Gell-Mann coined the name "quark" (pronounced "kwok") for the elementary particles that he theorized. Apparently he first thought of the pronunciation of the name of the particles, before coming across the word "quark" in James Joyce's work Finnegans Wake:

Three quarks for Muster Mark!

Sure he hasn't got much of a bark

And sure any he has it's all beside the mark.

James Joyce Statue on N Earl Street

There are two remarkable historical cathedrals located fairly close to each other in central Dublin --- the Christ Church Cathedral and St Patrick's Cathedral, dated to the 11th and 12th century, respectively. Both cathedrals look magnificent to this day.

Christ Church Cathedral

Labyrinth outside Christ Church Cathedral

Footbridge connecting the Synod Hall on the left and Christ Church Cathedral on the right

Synod Hall and Christ Church Cathedral

Altar, St Patrick's Cathedral

John Mathews copy of Handel's Messiah, dated 1798, in St Patrick's Cathedral

St Patrick's Cathedral

Bronze figure in St Patrick's Cathedral

Celtic cross discovered near the Cathedral

While I had known of Jonathan Swift the author since my school days, thanks to his famous book Gulliver's Travels, I was not aware that he was rather versatile in his career. In particular, apart from being a writer, he was also involved in politics and served as a clergy. So I was quite surprised to find that he was in fact Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral in his later years. A bust of him adorns a wall in the Cathedral, placed above a printed script of his epitaph, which he wrote himself.

Jonathan Swift, Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral and author of Gulliver's Travels

The day followed a pattern that we had observed in the previous three days in our trip to Ireland --- each day started off bright and sunny, but turned cloudy and fairly cold with rain in the afternoon. So it was already quite cloudy when we came out of St Patrick's Cathedral. When we finished lunch at a little cafe near the Cathedral, it had started to drizzle.

Our next destination was the Dublin Castle. Some of the current structure of the Castle dated back to medieval times. Interestingly, apart from being a tourist attraction as a castle with state apartments, the Castle also functions as a complex of government offices.

Brightly coloured buildings, including the blue Bermingham Tower, forming parts of the Dublin Castle

Dublin Castle

Bedford Tower, Dublin Castle

Upper Castle Yard with State Apartments on the right

Organ pipes in the Chapel

Portrait of Queen Victoria at Dublin Castle

The Chester Beatty Library located on the grounds of Dublin Castle proved to be well worth a visit. It has a surprisingly large collection of ancient Western, Islamic, as well as East Asian manuscripts. We found the early Christian papyrus writings to be particularly interesting and an eye-opener.

Chester Beatty Library at Dublin Castle

Greek text of Philippians 1:5-15 on papyrus, dated around 200AD. The abbreviation XY IHY (Christou Iesou) , such as on the fourth line, stands for Christ Jesus.