Kilmainham Gaol
August 7 - Caught an afternoon bus to Belfast.
Our bus to Belfast didn't leave until the afternoon so we went on a particularly interesting tour of the Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin. The associated museum was also quite thorough, covering aspects of daily prison life as well as the political history of the prison's most famous inmates, the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising who were held and executed there. The place was a bit depressing, particularly when they led us out to the work yard where prisoners broke rocks for hard labor. Two crosses in the yard marked the spots where the nationalist men were shot by a firing squad. Definitely a worthwhile hour and a half.
Before we went to the bus station we picked up some fresh apples from the Moore Street Market where we also found some complicatedly dyed flowers. I still haven't figured out how they get them to look like that. Some poor person has to sit there with a needle and inject each petal individually?
From there we took a rather long bus trip up to Belfast through yet more rain. We got our first glimpses of the Irish countryside, replete with content looking sheep lounging on damp grass and hundreds of miles of rock walls.
The Belfast International Youth Hostel felt a bit sterile - it looked like a college dormitory including acoutrements like a pool table and library. We did get our own room though, and just around the corner was Benedict's, a beautiful bar/restaurant that did a brilliant early bird special. From 5-7PM dinner costs as much as the time your ordered. Starving after our ride, we ate at 5:45 and paid less than £6 for a salmon dinner.
Our bus to Belfast didn't leave until the afternoon so we went on a particularly interesting tour of the Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin. The associated museum was also quite thorough, covering aspects of daily prison life as well as the political history of the prison's most famous inmates, the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising who were held and executed there. The place was a bit depressing, particularly when they led us out to the work yard where prisoners broke rocks for hard labor. Two crosses in the yard marked the spots where the nationalist men were shot by a firing squad. Definitely a worthwhile hour and a half.
Before we went to the bus station we picked up some fresh apples from the Moore Street Market where we also found some complicatedly dyed flowers. I still haven't figured out how they get them to look like that. Some poor person has to sit there with a needle and inject each petal individually?
From there we took a rather long bus trip up to Belfast through yet more rain. We got our first glimpses of the Irish countryside, replete with content looking sheep lounging on damp grass and hundreds of miles of rock walls.The Belfast International Youth Hostel felt a bit sterile - it looked like a college dormitory including acoutrements like a pool table and library. We did get our own room though, and just around the corner was Benedict's, a beautiful bar/restaurant that did a brilliant early bird special. From 5-7PM dinner costs as much as the time your ordered. Starving after our ride, we ate at 5:45 and paid less than £6 for a salmon dinner.
posted by Amy at
8:27 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home