In mid-May 2022 Padma and I met up in Dublin with my sister Jenni and her husband Russ for a couple of days of steady wandering. We set out along the River Liffey on our first evening, crossing between the north and south quays as the light faded. Dublin is a city that reveals itself at walking pace – Georgian terraces, bridges stitched across the river, the dome of the Custom House catching the last of the sun.
Later that night the weather turned and we pulled our jackets tighter, strolling through light rain towards the famed Temple Bar. The cobbled lanes were slick and reflective, music spilling out of doorways, the red façade glowing against the grey. It was busy, unapologetically so, but it felt like a rite of passage.
The next morning we made our way to Trinity College, founded in 1592. We joined the line to see the Book of Kells, the illuminated manuscript created by Celtic monks around AD 800. Up close, the pigments and intricate lettering are astonishing. From there we stepped into the Long Room of the Old Library – barrel-vaulted, lined with dark timber shelves and marble busts of writers and philosophers. It has the gravity of a working archive rather than a mere attraction.
We finished at the Guinness Storehouse at St James’s Gate. The tour traces the brewing process and the history of Irish industry before depositing visitors in the Gravity Bar. Looking out over Dublin’s low skyline towards the Wicklow Mountains, the four of us raised a cold pint. After rain, manuscripts and miles on foot, it tasted exactly right.
