Morgan Ashleigh

After an eight hour flight, I landed in Ireland to enjoy the beginning of summer vacation. When I handed my passport to the customs officer, he was skeptical of my projected ten day visit in Dublin.

“That’s too long,” he insisted. “You only need two days in Dublin. Maybe three. Then, you need to go see other things.”

I nodded, because I was not about to argue with a customs officer in a foreign country, but obviously there was no changing my plans. The hotel was booked and a school librarian’s salary doesn’t provide the luxury of spontaneous traveling.

It worried me that this person who lived in Dublin was insisting I go somewhere else. I had little expectations for Dublin to begin with. My brother chose the destination. I went along with his recommendation, despite knowing nothing about Dublin. What were we going to do? Drink Guinness and look at nature, I guessed.

However, I was pleasantly surprised by the city. I loved it’s walkability and I was amazed by how much pride Dubliners took in their literary scene. They spoke highly of James Joyce and the other writers who influenced the culture of the city, claiming four Nobel Prize winners in Literature. There were flats named after the famous authors and murals of book scenes on the side of buildings.

Dublin really is an inspiring city for writers. I did very little writing on my trip to truly unwind and reset after a busy school year, but everything I saw made me itch to work on my current project.

I wanted to highlight the coolest places I visited as a reader and a lover of all things related to books and literature simply because I think Dublin deserves a bit more love.

The Winding Stair

I love an independent bookshop. It feels more personal to support the local community and talk to people who have a passion for getting books out to the public.

Located across the Ha’penny Bridge, The Winding Stair is a very small bookshop that has a popular restaurant above it. The restaurant actually helped keep the bookshop open when it was due to close in 2005. If you love books and food, this is a great place to spend some time, especially if you need a few minutes to step out of the rain.

The bookstore’s name is inspired by a W.B. Yeats’ poem and has a wide collection of classic literature, especially by Irish writers. I bought a copy of Dubliners in the shop and a collection of essays written by Jonathan Swift.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral

My favorite cathedral in Dublin has an influential literary connection. Jonathan Swift, the author of Gulliver’s Travels and the satirical essay every student had to read in high school, A Modest Proposal, was the dean at the cathedral for the last thirty years of his life. Walking through the cathedral gave a historical connection to the mind of a well educated man as well as the majesty of a building that is nearly nine hundred years old.

Besides the connection to Jonathan Swift, the cathedral is beautiful, in part thanks to the Guinness family who funded the cathedral’s restoration and added the lovely park to the front. I sat out and read at the park every day during my visit, since the sun usually came out in the afternoons. The environment was peaceful and I could sit on the grass and people watch while glancing up from the pages of my book.

Marsh’s Library

Located around the corner from St. Patrick’s Cathedral is Marsh’s Library, the first public library in Ireland that opened in 1707. As a dedicated librarian, I get very excited when I can visit old libraries. Marsh’s Library holds rare and important books including books that were published between the invention of printing and the start of the 16th century, known as incunabulums.

The library is also preserved from its early years and visitors can walk through the Old Reading Room where Bram Stoker and James Joyce both visited. Today’s readers can still consult books and manuscripts from the collection.

The Long Room

I was aware of this room in Trinity College from Instagram, and it is awe-inspiring. The Old Library at Trinity College is famously known for holding The Books of the Kells, the illustrated manuscript of the four Gospels. However, when you take the stairs, you enter The Long Room.

The Long Room normally holds 200,000 copies of the library’s oldest books, but I visited while it was still undergoing its conservation. It was still impressive to me with shelves filled with old books and marble busts of famous authors and influential thinkers lining the room. It also held the Brian Boru harp, the country’s symbol, and an impressive globe that nearly filled the height of the room. I spent nearly an hour in the room just taking everything in.

Hodges Figgis’

I also went into Dublin’s oldest bookshop, Hodges Figgis’. Not far from Trinity College, the bookshop is an impressive three stories tall with a wide selection of books. I got lost in the bookshop when my family went in at the same time. It became an impressive game of Marco Polo for us to find one another again.

I bought a book with watercolors about Dublin in the shop so I could remember all the amazing places I saw during my trip. I love to collect books about places I travel, especially when they have watercolor illustrations.

Tales for Tadpoles

Okay, so this bookshop isn’t technically in Dublin, but it’s only a short train ride away. My family spent a day trip in Bray, which is only about thirty minutes from Dublin by train.

Bray has a beautiful beach and a great climb to a majestic cliff. The beauty of Ireland hit me on that visit that I had only observed in books and movies. While I didn’t have a chance to visit West Ireland, I think the east coast of the island is just as beautiful.

On our wanderings, we came across a small, children’s bookshop tucked away behind an alley near the train station. It was adorable and catered to my favorite books. I bought a few postcards with scenes of children’s books, including Beatrix Potter’s characters and Winnie the Pooh. Not Irish books, but surely Irish children enjoy these characters, as most of us do.

Final Thoughts

I only touched on the literary places I visited, but there was so much to do and see in Dublin. Despite the well intended customs officer’s advice, ten days wasn’t enough. I could have spent so much time exploring Dublin and the surrounding area.

I find it interesting how many prolific authors hailed from Ireland from Oscar Wilde to C.S. Lewis. There is something inspiring about the people and the places in the small country. Everyone was friendly and helpful to a clueless tourist like myself. They were also extremely proud of their literature, although most admitted to not getting past the first page of Ulysses (which made me feel better that I too have not made it past the first page of the book).

I’d highly recommend visiting Dublin. I hope that I can visit Ireland again one day. I’ll probably make my way to the west to see what other amazing wonders there are to explore, but I hope to spend a day or two in Dublin again.