Poor St Patrick

Well I didn't believe it either. Dublin, the capital and largest city in Ireland, a country staunchly catholic, which was converted by St Patrick, and sent missionaries to convert heathen all over the world, doesn't have a catholic cathedral! The three large cathedrals in the city are all protestant, and have been since Henry VIII in the 1600s. I don't get it.

Anyway, we started the day by walking to St Patrick's (Anglican) Cathedral where St Patrick is believed to have converted and baptised the first celtic believers. Then we spent another 9 hours hoofing it around the city - north of the Liffey in the morning, and south of the Liffey in the afternoon. Posted some stuff home from the General Post Office where the Irish declared independence from the British in 1916 until a solitary British gunboat sailed up the river, took aim at the GPO, flattened the whole road, and put paid to that idea.

During the day we saw monuments to the potato famine, Joyce, Oscar Wilde, Shaw, Beckett and a host of famous rebellion leaders, the docks area, the shopping areas of Grafton and Henry Streets, the first purpose built maternity hospital in Europe, some wonderful parks including Merrion Square and St Stephen's Green, Trinity College, a viking boat, the place where Handel's Messiah premiered, Temple Bar, the canals and loch systems used by the merchants, the Dail (parliament), and lots of historical museums and galleries. Too much really to absorb in the time we have. Mandy resorted to taking photos of the front doors of Dublin buildings which are painted in a kaleidoscope of colours to have something to distinguish them. She wanted a 'collection'.

After almost 9 hours of pretty continuous walking, we ended up back at the hostel pretty tired. Found it in a much better state than we left it this morning. The Swedish school group moved out this morning and left the place looking like a war zone. Even the lift had gone on strike in protest.