From Trinity College with its magnificent Colonnades old library and the famed Book of Kells to St Patrick's and Christ Church cathedrals, the Ha'penny Bridge to The Old Storehouse Guinness experience, we walked and walked, listened and learned and still only just scratched the surface of this great city.
Trinity College Library is gob-smacking - one of the world's great research libraries, with the largest collection of manuscripts and printed books in Ireland. Since 1801, it has had the right to a free copy of every book published in Britain and Ireland. Nearly three million volumes are housed in eight buildings. The Old Library was built in the early 1700s.
Most people visit to see the Book of Kells. Although it is more than 1000 years old, the Book of Kells is not the oldest in the collection and even contains mixed up parts of the four gospels.
However, it is lavishly decorated copy in Latin and has had an elaborate journey around Ireland in order to be kept safe after probably been produced by a handful of monks of Iona early in the 9th century.
But the biggest surprise of the day was stumbling upon Dublin Castle as we strolled suburban streets, allowing us to sit for a bit to admire its gardens and great open spaces and reflect on a magical day in the Irish capital.
Lesson of the day: Who would have thought you could get a tan in Ireland, even in summer.


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