A Travel Blog
On our second evening we visited the Museo de Bellas Artes de Sevilla (Museum of Fine Arts of Seville) located inside a former convent building constructed in 1594.
Although non-EU residents are supposed to pay €1.50 to enter, a friendly guard gave us our two tickets at the entrance for free.
Our flight from Dublin landed in Seville yesterday. Amidst the whirlwind of checking into our Airbnb, stocking up on basics at the local supermarket, and catching up on sleep and real life, we’ve also managed to head out to explore a few times.
Our wanders have lead to us becoming pleasantly disoriented on the city’s narrow, winding streets, but thankfully Google Maps on Josie’s phone has always brought us back home. Eventually.
We took a tour of the Little Museum of Dublin, located in a Georgian building across from St. Stephen’s Green.
The museum is filled with artifacts donated by the people of Dublin.
We visited Dublin’s Natural History Museum on Merrion Square. It contains exhibits of stuffed animals and insects that remain more or less unchanged since it opened in 1857.
The grounds of Trinity College dominate a large swath of central Dublin on the south side of the Liffey. Trinity is a highly ranked university, but it also attracts hordes of tourists, many on walking tours.
But the unmistakable highlight, for us and many others, is the Book of Kells and Old Library.
It is true that the black stuff does taste better in Ireland, if only because frequent and rapid consumption by so many citizens ensures that every pint is fresh.
My search for a respectable pint of Guinness outside the Temple Bar district raised a few intriguing candidates, but The Confession Box was a five-minute walk from our hotel so it jumped to the top of the list.
After an overnight flight on Aer Lingus (good experience, would fly again) we arrived very early in the pre-dawn drizzle of Dublin. Since we’re just on a short layover, for minimum hassle we stayed at the shiny new Holiday Inn Express on O’Connell Street, located on the north side of the River Liffey. Free breakfasts and Wi-Fi are nice touches, and we can walk everywhere.
Here are few examples of the lovely traditional Portuguese pavement cobblestone we’ve seen around Lisbon.
Most are in good shape and a pleasure to walk upon. Occasionally we’ve encountered rough patches worn away by construction, damage or age.
“Lisbon is older than Rome” is a surprising claim we came across a few times during our stay. In fact it is 400 years older, settled by the Phoenicians around 1200 BC. The Roman Empire later founded their city of Olisipo on the site. Evidence from that era can still be seen in a few places.
We visited two fascinating archeological sites: the Núcleo Arqueológico and the Museu do Teatro Romano.
Josie filmed short video of one of the two fountains in Praça de Dom Pedro IV (commonly known as Rossio Square) in Lisbon.
Half an hour from Lisbon is the small town of Sintra, located on a forested mountain. It is home to historic palaces, a Moorish castle, and other picturesque tourist attractions.
We visited on Good Friday and the crowds were out in force. We were glad we decided to go with Lisbon Destination Tours instead of finding our own way on the trains and overcrowded buses.
Roughly 40 minutes west of Lisbon is Cabo da Roca, a rocky outcrop that forms the westernmost part of mainland Europe. (Ireland is conveniently not counted in this context, being considered an island.)
Somewhat reminiscent of Peggy’s Cove in Canada, the only signs of humans at Cabo da Roca are a lighthouse, a gift shop café, some stone monuments and a hundred or so fellow visitors.