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8 am breakfast Lanyon’s Restaurant
Traditional ingredients in a full Irish Breakfast are bacon rashers, sausages, fried eggs, white pudding, black pudding, toast, fried tomato. Sauteed mushrooms are sometimes included, as well as baked beans, liver (this popularity has declined), brown soda bread. Beverage may be a strong Irish breakfast tea (such as Barry’s Tea, Lyons Tea, Bewley’s breakfast blend) often served with milk. Fried potato farl, boxy or toast is sometimes served as a brown soda bread alternative. We look over choices but stay with tried and true – juice, yogurt, fruit, eggs with bacon and strong coffee.
9 am tour Trinity College and Library
Dublin’s most famous tourist attraction, Trinity College (also known as the University of Dublin) sits proudly on extensive grounds right in the center of the city on College Green. Queen Elizabeth I established the college on the grounds of an old Augustinian Priory. Now more than 400 years old, it is Ireland’s oldest university and today ranked as one of the world’s top 50 universities.
A student guides us around the grounds and traces the history of each building and every tree. The formal dining hall has walls lined in paintings of people important to the history of the college. White linen on tables, maroon linen covers chairs – not your usual college cafeteria. The science building’s interior has a Moorish flavor. Many different marbles were used to create the arches and staircase.
Despite architectural riches built over four centuries and the magnificent grounds, the college is most famous for the Book of Kells, an amazingly ornate illuminated manuscript in Latin that monks inked by hand as many as 1,200 years ago. The Berkeley Library is the repository for the “Book” as well as over 5,000,000 other books and priceless manuscripts. The Berkeley Library’s Long Room is thrilling, playful and delightful to see. The space is huge, arched, with open galleries on two floors. A white marble bust placed at the evenly spaced dark wood of the arches creates a dramatic visual rhythm. Interesting exhibit tables fill the center.
11 am visit Book of Kells
The exhibit queue is not very long but it is really warm today and we’ve forgotten our sunscreen. Once inside photos are not allowed. The 9th century “Book” has it’s own room. The workmanship is unbelievable! Colors and gold still bright, lines clear. The skin of 182 animals provided the vellum for the “Book. Turning Darkness into Light explains the background story of the famous gospel manuscript. Knowing Latin would be handy right now. Other important manuscripts are also on display in this area.
1 pm lunch Avoca Cafe
Once through Trinity College main gate the world changes immediately. Behind the stone wall it is tranquil. Now local noontime activity – bikers, walkers, shoppers, tourists, buses surround us. It‘s a short walk to Avoca – a family business with 12 locations across Ireland – described as a mixture of Heal’s for homeware, Selfridgres Food Hall, Betty’s tea rooms, Ghost for womenswear and Daisy & Tom for kids clothes and toys…laid out as though you were looking around the house of a friend with very good taste. Avoca Pantry has take-home ready foods, tins and jars of food, and gift type items. Avoca’s Nest features homewares – soaps, perfumes, ceramics, kid’s stuff, fashions, and heaps more. Displays are colorful, enticing and fun.
There are 7 floors with the Café on the second floor. Its bustling but we find a small table and order lunch. The light-filled room is like a country home. Dessert is displayed among bountiful live bouquets. Yum for both food and flowers. Staff very friendly, service prompt, guests probably “regulars”. Excellent choice for lunch.
2:30 pm enjoy the Dublin sights
Slowly we stroll back to the Davenport through the scenic historic Georgian area noticing the doorways, brasses and chimneys. Elegant Merrion Square, with its attractive public park, retains much of its Georgian character. Plaques on the walls of the mansions recall famous occupants – Daniel O’Connell and W.B. Yeats. Back at the Davenport we rest up for our evening ahead at the Gaiety Theatre.
5:30 pm dinner Bewley’s Café on Grafton Street
Bewley’s, a Dublin institution since opening in 1927, played a part in the literary, cultural, artistic, architectural and social life of the city.
It’s pedigree places it on the tourist circuit so we decide to have dinner here before the theatre. We’re seated on the main level near the beautiful Harry Clarke stained glass windows surrounded by magnificent mahogany furnishings and marble sculptures that take us back to an earlier more elegant time. Our Seafood Chowder order is served with brown bread, freshly baked in the Café Bakery. Our fillet of fresh cod, prepared in beer batter, comes with side salad, home fries, tartar sauce and wedge of lemon. Not wide menu choices but food is well prepared, served promptly by friendly staff. Coffee menu is to die for. Teas, blended by Bewley’s, are not available elsewhere. We linger over after dinner drinks and order from the very large dessert menu.
7:30 pm attend Birdsong play at Gaiety Theatre
For 138 years the Gaiety has given the people of Dublin opera, musicals, drama, reviews, comedy, concerts, dance, festivals and pantomime. We see the Irish premiere of Birdsong; adapted from the critically acclaimed novel by Sebastian Faulks. ”In pre-war France, young Englishman Stephen Wraysford embarks on a passionate and dangerous affair with his host’s wife, Isabelle Azaire. As civil unrest mounts and war breaks in on the idyll of his former life, Stephen finds he must now lead his men through the carnage of the Battle of the Somme and the sprawling tunnels that lie deep underground. Faced with unprecedented horror, the war-hardened Stephen clings to the shrinking memory of Isabelle as his world explodes around him.” It’s a very fine production. The casting, special effects, directing and set all came together to create a superb theatre experience.
stay Davenport Hotel
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