Three things I learned in Dublin

I actually came to Ireland's capital for a week to work, but I used my free time to explore the city.

On the day of my arrival, I already noticed that the relationship to traffic lights seems to be different here than in Germany: While I stood for a very long time in front of red pedestrian lights, the other passers-by simply ignored the color of the little men and crossed the street as they pleased.
Later, during a tour, the city guide explained that you should never trust a traffic light in Dublin – even drivers interpret the colors flexibly…

In addition to this realization, the second one awaited me that day: When I went shopping, I became acquainted with the interesting Irish accent and the very friendly nature of the locals: The cashier chatted happily with me, even though I had to ask a few times before I understood what he was trying to tell me.

On the evening of my arrival I took a short walk through the Sandymount district.

There is a sandy beach here that is particularly wide at low tide.

I walked along the waterfront promenade and strolled through the adjacent residential area, where many of the small, typical terraced houses are located.

On a city tour the following afternoon, I saw some of the city's most important sights and learned a bit about Irish history.

I found the Powerscourt House shopping arcade, which was built into an old, very large town house, particularly exciting: the former inner courtyard had become a restaurant and the various rooms now housed shops, some of which could be reached via the old staircase.

In the evening we got lost in the Temple Bar district, where mainly tourists frequent the pubs. The Guinness here was correspondingly expensive.

The entrance fee to the Guinness Store House was also not exactly cheap.

In the former factory building of the well-known beer brand, a modern exhibition tells the story of the beer production process and the history of the brand.

Finally, there is a beer on the top floor with a beautiful view over the city.

On the second day, I also became acquainted with the pitfalls of public transport in the city: buses seem to have rather random departure times (especially in the morning rush hour). At least they were not the ones Google suggested.
There is also an app that is supposed to show the live departure times of the next buses at a stop. But here too, the Irish time unit seemed to be different...
Some buses were also initially displayed, but then apparently disappeared along the way: suddenly they were no longer shown as arriving in the app, without ever having passed the stop.

I still made it into the city center.

The representative rooms in the former castle are still used today for official occasions.

However, I did visit the museum next door: The Chester Beatty Library exhibits manuscripts and books from ancient to medieval times.

These come from different parts of the world, including a larger collection from Asia.

One floor is dedicated to religious texts and provides information about the major world religions.

On the way back I passed the famous statue of Molly Malone. It depicts a young woman who worked as a fishmonger until she suddenly died. Legend has it that her ghost has been wandering the streets of Dublin ever since.

It was not easy to take a picture of the statue without a line of (in this case Italian) tourists: they all wanted to pose for a photo touching the already polished part of the statue...

I also saw two other museums in Dublin: The Epic (Irish Emigration Museum), which tells the story of Ireland as a country of emigration.

After a section on the historical background of the waves of emigration, such as oppression and famine, the achievements of Irish people or their descendants around the world were praised.

For example, I learned that an ancestor of John F. Kennedy was Irish. That's why he was presented in the museum as an example of a famous Irishman...

Afterwards I also went to the National Gallery.

There I looked at the works of Irish and European artists from different centuries.

Not far from there, the statue of Oscar Wilde sits on a rock. It is one of the few that is colorfully designed.

I then walked back to my accommodation through Merrion Square Park.