Thursday, 2nd of October, 2025
Pray, Read, Guinness
By the looks of this title, you may be confused. Honestly, I think it is just a fun Sunday. Today we have 3 main items on our itinerary: go to mass at Whitefriar’s Church, see The Book of Kells at Trinity College, and visit the Guinness Storehouse. Taking into consideration how much we have seen over the past week, I think a slow(er) day is in order.
Our day starts off with a quick bite to eat at Ebb and Flow. I switch it up today and choose to have some carrot cake with my cappuccino. For someone that is not a big fan of the cream cheese icing (I know, weird), this cake is delicious. As we become more awake to the sounds of international pop music, we finish our breakfast and take a walk to Whitefriar Street Church.
We arrive early at the church to permit us some time to explore the church, art, and orient ourselves in the building. The clerestory of the church has beautiful stained glass windows, paired with more elaborate windows on the ground floor, and a beautiful display of mosaic decorating the baldaquin. For the Catholics reading this, some of St. Valentine’s relics are housed here in one of the side chapels on the right. Once the time comes for mass, we find a pew to sit in, though there is no shortage of seats.
I enjoy how calming it is here. It is hard to describe - the atmosphere some churches have just feels peaceful to me. This peace is not defined by beautiful statues on display, or a magnanimous organ playing in the background, but something else, something intangible. I hope you, reader, have a peaceful space wherever you live so that you may take a moment to relax.
After mass, we meander through Dublin a bit before reaching The Book of Kells exhibition and the Old Library at Trinity College. The Book of Kells was made back in the late 8th century/early 9th century and originated from the island of Iona in Scotland. The manuscript travelled to Ireland with a group of Columban monks in the early 9th century, where it was housed in a new monastery. Eventually, the manuscript made its way to Trinity College in 1661 and has been housed here ever since. One of the reasons The Book of Kells is famous is that this manuscript is one of a few surviving manuscripts from its time with ornate Celtic decorations in a religious text. Pictured to the right, and below to the left, are details of the manuscript provided in The Book of Kells exhibition.
Before we can see The Book of Kells manuscript, we walk through an initial exhibition explaining how medieval manuscripts were made, history of communication in Ireland, and the art history of manuscripts. An invaluable aspect of this exhibition is the opportunity to view details of fantastical creatures and carpet pages from The Book of Kells. For context, the manuscript that we will see shortly is behind glass, and only shows two leaves of the manuscript per day. Thus, this exhibit beautifully provides a comprehensive understanding of the manuscript we are about to see in the dark room ahead of us.
Once our eyes adjust, we can see a lone manuscript opened for visitors to look at. We cannot take photographs here, but I am making a couple of sketches and taking notes of what we are seeing to explain everything in this blog. The portion of the manuscript we are seeing includes a carpet page with the symbols of the Four Evangelists before the start of the Book of Matthew. The other folio on view appears to either be a faded carpet page, or a page that has text, but reveals transferred pigments from another page. I am having trouble getting a clearer look due to the light and not trying to cause concern by putting my head too close to the glass.
The Book of Kells was originally a singular Gospel Book, but in 1953, it was rebound by Roger Powell into four separate volumes to minimise overall exposure of the manuscript. 1 Nevertheless, this singular section of the manuscript is quite large, both in the size of a single leaf, as well as the thickness of the manuscript volume. I am entranced by how bright the yellow pigment is on the hair of the angel for Matthew, and the blues on the symbols of Luke and John. Furthermore, the red pigments on the representations of the Evangelists are so vibrant and clear despite the dark room. Considering the tumultuous history and the visible weathering on the edges of the pages of the manuscript, we are lucky that The Book of Kells has survived to modern history.
As the room starts to fill with more and more visitors, we leave the manuscript and head towards the Long Room in the Old Library. Last time I was here, all of the bookcases were filled to the brim with beautifully bound books. However, only a few sections of bookshelves house books today as the library is undergoing a conservation effort. Trinity College, as shown on a number of digital monitors throughout the library, is meticulously cleaning the books, documenting what is currently housed, and digitising the content for the larger academic community. While this leaves the space more barren than usual, it is great for academia as it preserves the current collection, and ensures a larger audience has access to information within these books.
After walking around the Long Room, catching glimpses of important Irish documents and Brian Boru’s Harp, we meander through the courtyards of Trinity College to a new area: The Red Pavilion Digital Exhibition. This interactive and playful setting breathes life into Trinity College’s collection through animations of books and scripted audio conversations between famous authors. In my opinion, this was a fantastic addition to exploring Trinity College’s library as visitors are reminded of the importance of books and artifacts, as well as the history objects have experienced to bring them to their final home. If you have the time and opportunity to explore this space, I highly recommend it.
After our visit to Trinity College, we start our walk across the south side of Dublin towards the Guinness Storehouse. Our food break before some Guinness is at Arthur’s Pub just a few blocks shy of the Storehouse. This jazzy place was a perfect stop for us to eat, refresh, and get to know some of the local things to do. In the back, we see a band passing by a fireplace covered by ever flowing candle wax from above, making their way towards their stage upstairs. By the look of all the reserved signs being placed on our neighboring tables, this space will be stacked in an hour for the live music. On the list for next time is swinging by here for a drink and seeing the party scene at night.
Back on the street, we arrive at the Guinness Storehouse around 16:00. Luckily, we booked our tickets ahead online to avoid the long lines at the entrance. The Storehouse is a fun place to explore as we are welcomed by a staff member to view Arthur Guinness’ signed lease of the area for 9,000 years, and an inside look into the process of making beer. As we go through The Storehouse level by level, we learn about the beer making process, what makes Guinness unique, how the Guinness factory has changed over time, as well as other parts of the beer’s history. My favorite sections are the evolution of Guinness advertising as well as the Guinness tasting. Though, I see they have added (or added back, as this was not here in 2022,) a live music and dancing auditorium. On stage are a handful of dancers, with a live band in the back, doing modern and traditional Irish step dancing. Their performance is so heartfelt as you can see the emotion in their eyes, focus in their movements, and joy at the end of each performance.
Moving on, we rise up towards the upper levels and make our way to the Gravity Bar. This level provides us a beautiful vantage point to look out towards all of Dublin and the surrounding areas. As a bonus, we can admire the view with a Guinness in our hands (one pint is included with each ticket). Seats are precious commodities here, so we have our eyes peeled for potential tables opening up and get lucky after standing around for five minutes. Over a couple of beers, Ramón and I relax and reflect on all of our amazing adventures this trip. Tomorrow is our last day in Ireland, but we find peace knowing we will return home soon, and with this trip’s closure, we are able to look forward to our next adventure.
Our day comes to a beautiful end with a long walk through Dublin’s neighborhoods, and a dressed up dinner at Elle’s Bar & Bistro. As for tomorrow, we will head towards the train station for our next and final adventure on this journey.
I hope in your travels, reader, you find the joy in both the start of an adventure, as well as its close. Until next time.
- Christopher de Hamel, Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts: Twelve Journeys into the Medieval World (New York: Penguin Press, 2017), 103.