Christ Church, Dublin's oldest cathedral, was across the street and was one of the first places we visited.
In one of the photos below,
Mike is standing in the church crypt, dating from the late 12th century.
That's us in the Brazen Head Pub, which claims to be Ireland's oldest. We'd spent a week with the Waldlaubersheim family and then flew to Dublin to spend a few days relaxing on the Emerald Isle before Christmas. Our home base was the Harding Hotel, perfectly located near Dublin's Temple Bar area.
The next day, we visited the Chester Beatty Library, on the grounds of Dublin Castle. We viewed
a fascinating collection of books from the ancient world and texts from each of the world's major religions
(shown below is the Thebaid of Statius, circa 1380, and a 14th century parchment, Birth of the Virgin).
Dublin City Scenes
A one-day bus tour took us to the western side of Ireland, stopping at several places along Ireland's rugged Atlantic coast. Even on a foggy, wet day, the Cliffs of Mohrer and the jagged limestone coast were impressive.
The photo on the right shows Mike at the place where we stopped for lunch in the coastal village of Doolin. The warmth of the fire (and of the Irish Coffee) was a delight on a cold day.
On our last day in Dublin, we visited Ireland's largest church, St. Patrick's Cathedral. Dating from roughly the same time as Christ Church Cathedral, it is designated as Ireland's National Cathedral (Christ Church being the Cathedral of Dublin). Both are Anglican churches.
