Trinity college and the Book of Kells

In Dublin, Ireland there is this book, it is housed in one of the oldest universities in the world, "The Book Of Kells".  It was written a long time ago, maybe 800 AD, before printing press, by monks. These monks spent hours writing down the Bible in Latin and creating illustrations to go with them.

The Book of Kells contains the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Basically, its a really old book written in Latin about parts of the Bible. Boring. Right? Not so much. The artwork in the book is very, very intricate. The detail in the pictures and the amazing colors are enough to mesmerize even the least studious person. The pictures are illuminated with a variety of colors and some are made from various toxic substances, which made the creation of this book very dangerous.

The paper the book is written on is called Velum, and it is made of calf skin. This is what books were made of before paper. When writing on it they had to push in really hard to get the dye into it, similar to a tattoo artist. As stated they also used many toxic substances, like lead, to get the colors to stay in the book. This book was almost burned so many times, during the middle ages. The beautiful artwork of the pages was considered to be of the devils' work and also it was stolen during a Viking raid where the original jeweled cover was ripped off.

Each decorated word is different, which suggests several different people worked on the text. Many scholars believed it was just four scribes (one for each gospel) and it took a year to 18 months to complete. My tour guide gave us the suggestion that maybe it was four teams of people. Each team worked a particular way, after all the toxic substances they were using some people may not have lived to see the completion of the book.

The artistry is amazing and it really is a work of art. You can see in the text where mistakes were scratched out and painted over. These could be possible misspellings or places where the ink was blotched.

When we entered we could take pictures in the museum,  but in the room with the book, you can not. This is to preserve this very delicate text. There is a place on the web at Trinity College where you can view all it's pages online, the link is attached at the bottom. It was beautiful to look at and when I saw it the book was opened to a very ornate page. The book is always open to two pages, one of illustration and one of the Latin text.

Upstairs is home to some of the oldest books in the world. This is the Trinity College Library.  If it looks familiar,  it is the library from Harry Potter. At least parts of it are... the library has very important texts and there is even a part where scholars have to wear masks and gloves in a room with a constant vacuum going in order to keep the delicate books preserved.

The ladders up and down each of the sections of books were very narrow. I could not imagine climbing up and down one of those, nor would I want to. I'm not sure those ladders are still in use today. I would hope not, you would probably have to weigh less than 100 pounds to keep it from collapsing on you.

The tour continued on into the rest of the campus and it ended at the Dublin Castle.  We came upon a building on the campus which used to be used as an exam room for the students. The tour guide kind of lost it when he saw it was open. He said the building has only been opened about four times in the last five years he's been doing campus tours, so we took a detour. It was only open because of a used book sale. At that moment I knew I was right where God intended me to be and had no question of my purpose on Earth. When we finished the tour Sherry and I came directly back to campus and the book sale.

The tour was interesting because we not only went through the Book Of Kells, the Trinity College Library, a small campus tour, and Dublin Castle Gardens, the tour guide explained Bram Stoker's life and influences in writing Dracula, which I knew nothing about. Overall, it was an interesting tour.

Libraries have always been a place of safety and comfort for me, but they haven't always been like that in history. Whenever there has been an uprising or a change in authority, books are burned, texts destroyed, museums trashed, and history is erased. It makes me wonder about the future of the internet and the simple action of the delete button. What will generations in the future look at for our "Book of Kells'? Where will vast stores of knowledge be held and retained? Only time will tell.



Here is where we went:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_College_Library

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Kells

https://www.tcd.ie/visitors/book-of-kells/

https://www.tcd.ie/library/manuscripts/book-of-kells.php

English Market: Cork, Ireland

In Cork, Ireland there is a little market worth looking into, English Market. This is a beautiful little place full of interesting foods, friendly merchants, and fresh meat. It is indoors, but it is open air. It feels like you are still outside. It was raining the day we visited, but that didn't seem to slow the traffic coming in and out.

It had many different smells all over, fish, coffee, lavender, and just about anything you could think of wanting. It was really lovely.

We stopped to get a coffee and some lemon meringue pie (and french style flan, how could I resist?) Then we went in search of exotic things we could legally bring home.

I settled on some chocolates with unusual flavors: one was black pepper and lime, then pistachio and rose, and also Irish Honey flavored.  We also bought some gooseberry jams and pure Irish Honey.

The produce shops were most intriguing because of the seasonal produce they had shipped in from other regions. There were items I didn't even know what they were. This was a great spot to come in from the rain and browse.

The fish smell was a bit overwhelming in parts, but it was all very fresh. The sea is so close and some of the catch was brought in that morning. The sales people and shop owners were very friendly and able to answer questions about their goods. 

It was worth checking out, even if it was for just one short afternoon. The parking is truly dreadful, but that happens, it's a busy city and there are a lot of cars. Also, I'm American so driving on the left is really confusing and awful, especially with all the one way streets. Luckily, I am a good driver and I pay attention. We managed the trip unscathed. I even parallel parked and I don't even do that here!

Other than English Market, Cork is full of lovely shops and it's a very lively downtown scene. We've already decided when we return to Ireland, (which we will because it's one of the greatest countries I've ever been in) Cork would be a great place to stay!

Dunluce Castle

In Northern Ireland there is a place called Dunluce Castle. It is the remains of a stone castle situated on a cliff. It's a lovely place. As we arrived the sun was setting and it made incredible views of the sea to the North or Northern Ireland.

The amazing thing about Northern Ireland was the beauty everywhere we went. The way the wind whipped up the long grasses made them look like waves.  The views from the cliff edges were unbeatable.

Dunluce Castle was first built by an Earl in the 13th century. The castle has passed through various hands, Irish and Scottish, and eventually was abandoned. The story behind the abandonment is that the kitchen fell into the sea and the mistress of the castle refused to live there. At the East side of the ruins there is still what appears to be a kitchen with two ovens, but a lot of scholars debate about this, ovens could be used for things other than kitchens, like blacksmith work, or glass making.

I'm not a historian, nor am I a professional archaeologist, but I did major in anthropology and that room looks like a kitchen to me. It even has a small room attached to the side of it which would be perfect for housing a chef or kitchen staff, even though it looks like a little jail cell. It's too far away from the stables for it to be useful as a blacksmith/farrier making horseshoes or Armour, because it would all have to be moved to the stables as storage, but I'm not an expert, so I'll leave that up to them.

It was wonderful to walk around the grounds and picture a bustling little community around it. The views were amazing and it's proximity to the sea would have made it an excellent trading post with Scotland and Scandinavian countries. It would also be a useful outpost to warn the inland of incoming attacks from Viking raids.


Whatever it was used for and whoever lived there, it's beauty has not been abandoned by time and disuse. It's truly a magnificent place to visit.

Here's where we went and a lot more pictures:
https://discovernorthernireland.com/Dunluce-Castle-Medieval-Irish-Castle-on-the-Antrim-Coast-Bushmills-P2819/