St. Patrick was a real person. The story is that pirates from Ireland raided a coastal village in Britain, and taking several young people as slaves. The future St. Patrick was one of these slaves, and was put to work on an Irish farm. He had not been a practicing Christian but now began to pay more attention to his faith.
After several years, he received a vision from God showing him how to escape, and made his way back to his home village. He then began to believe that God wanted him to go back to Ireland, not as a slave but this time as a missionary and, as the saying goes, the rest is history. The shamrock is so important to St. Patrick's Day because he is said to have used it to illustrate the principle to the three-in-one of the Holy Trinity. Ireland became a powerful early center of Christianity, eventually sending the missionaries who converted much of northern Europe.This is what approaching Dublin by ferry looks like. First you see Howth Head, the headland that extends into the sea. Then you see the two stacks of the former Poolbeg Power Station. Both images from Google Earth.
There are good deals on hotels in European cities. But beware. If you see a train overpass right next to your hotel it probably means that you will be waking up whenever the commuter trains start running. This is where I stayed in Dublin.
The following images begin in a courtyard of Dublin Castle. The cylindrical stone building is the outside of Dublin Castle. The first two images of Dublin Castle are from Google Earth. Notice that Irish castles often include a church. It's not a bad idea to have God on our side.
https://www.google.com/maps/@53.343175,-6.2674355,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1srfnRbBW2YP7yHLWOkj4J_g!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DrfnRbBW2YP7yHLWOkj4J_g%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D76.898773%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656
The following twelve images of four important sites in Dublin are from Google Earth or Street View.
Trinity College, south of the River Liffey, is one of those great European universities and was founded in 1592.
This is the Irish Parliament.
This is St. Patrick's Cathedral. But he probably never visited Dublin because it was, at most, a minor settlement in his time.
This is Christchurch Cathedral.
These seven views of central Dublin are my images from the posting "Travel Photos Of Europe", February 2024. All but the first one were taken north of the River Liffey.
This is the Wellington Monument, in Phoenix Park. In the Nineteenth Century, when Britain and Ireland were one country, Arthur Wellesley who was a native of Dublin, became one of Britain's greatest prime ministers. Before that he had been a great general, who was the nemesis of Napoleon.
On display at Trinity College is the famed Book of Kells. This is a richly illuminated copy of the Gospels that was produced in an Irish monastery about 1200 years ago. It is possibly the most valuable book in the world. The following image is from the Wikipedia article "Book of Kells".
The following scenes begin outside the brewery of Jameson's Irish Whisky.
https://www.google.com/maps/@53.3481348,-6.2766321,2a,75y,346.95h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1st5ZjM-9kVVCqJ9BmyM0C3Q!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3Dt5ZjM-9kVVCqJ9BmyM0C3Q%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D352.12512%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656
Another famous brewery, that we saw in the travel photo blog of Europe, is, of course, the Guinness Brewery, just south of the River Liffey. The company came up with the idea of providing something to debate and discuss while drinking Guinness, and the result of the project is the Guinness Book of World Records. My image.
The reason that the color green represents Ireland is obvious. The frequent mild rain and limestone soil provide the green grass that gives it it's nickname of "The Emerald Isle". This is what Ireland looks like from up high on Google Earth.
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