Emotional visit to Kilmainham Gaol

Dublin has so many places to visit, you can spend a week easily and still not see everything. One thing that I highly recommend is Kilmainham Gaol. In order to understand what is happen here, you need to know a little bit of Irish history. 

I don't plan on giving you a history lesson but take a good look at the early 20th century history of the relationship of Ireland and Great Britain. There was an uprising after World War I that lead to a great deal of violence and the death of many heroic young men. 

Al in one of the cells

Learn their story and the story of many others at Kilmainham Gaol. I personally didn't have family in Ireland during this time period, we had already crossed the ocean to either Canada or the United States. Still, I was crying during parts of this tour over the inhumanity that was going on here. If you know how much of an Anglophile I am, you can understand how emotional this was. 

The visit includes a film, a guided tour and a museum with lots of mementos of a tumultuous period of Irish history. Absolutely one of my favorites. 

You can take the hop on hop off bus to the general area. We just took a cab. There is a cafe so you can plan to spend several hours and then sit down to a cup of tea while you mull over all you have seen. I have to admit, it brought out my Irish and made me proud.

Where executions took place