Dublin When It Drizzles: British Isles 2025, Part 4

The end of this trip is logistically the beginning. As I think has been discussed, the reason we hit the road in the first place was to end up in Dublin around this time; everything else we did was backtracked from here. So, we’ve seen the Giant’s Causeway (which neither under- nor over-whelmed us) and we’ve toodled all over the Isle of Man (which was pretty good at whelming, all things considered). On a crisp morning, eaaaaarly for a vacation, we returned our car and boarded the packet steamer for a 3-ish hour sail to Dublin, Ireland.

Arriving in new cities in the morning can be tricky. If you’re carting luggage, you’re rolling the dice that your lodging will hold it for you even though your room probably isn’t available yet – although, true, most decent hotels don’t have a problem with this, gods know short-term rentals are a crapshoot. Even if you drop your bags, the time gap between then and check-in can feel daunting to utilize, especially if you’re at the end of a long journey. Fortunately for us it was a quickie this time; unfortunately there was a huge football match going on in Dublin and you couldn’t hire a cab or a rideshare for love nor money. So, the two of us and about sixty Manx schoolkids on a field trip piled into one bus and trundled into the heart of Dublin. (And here’s a pro-tip: Dublin is the first city in Europe we’ve been in for quite some time that was cash only on its public transit. The harried driver waved us through, but we were moments away from being completely screwed.) Once we reset ourselves, we made straight for a place held dear in our hearts: Trinity College of Dublin.

Trinity College is one of the first places we visited on our honeymoon back in 2012, and it has lost none of its charm. We didn’t go on a tour of the whole campus this time, though; we were there to see the revamped presentation of the Book of Kells. Since we were last there, they’ve erected an elaborate entrance with numerous displays about the history and significance of the Book, which is nice since, when you actually get to see the book, it can be underwhelming. After all, for the sake of preservation they only display one open page, it’s under serious glass, and no pictures are allowed. Completely understandable precautions, but that still doesn’t make for the most enthralling exhibition. Fortunately, before and after the actual display space are just chock-a-block with less precious but still interesting artifacts as well as a detailed lineage explaining why we even care about this particular book. After the Book of Kells display you actually navigate across the campus to an entirely new structure that has been erected, with further displays including an “immersive experience” that plays out much like the currently popular “living Monet/Van Gogh/etc etc…” exhibitions across the world. And, of course, there’s a gift shop.

Popping out from Trinity College we made our way back to our hotel for a pit stop, then it was a quick jaunt to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. This was on the recommendation of family, and it was a fairly up-and-down experience. On the one hand, it’s a beautiful building owing to a steady influx of tourist income. On the other hand, the steady influx of tourist income stems from the fact that the place is like Disney Catholicland. Seriously, there’s a pop-up gift shop inside the sanctuary. I’m not Catholic and I still had my nose fairly bent out of shape. Still, if you want to tick the box on iconic locations in the city, it’s worth a quick visit. After a low-key dinner we tucked ourselves in for the night, ready for our flight home the next day.