One of the highlights to the trip for me was Kilmainham Gaol. I learned so much on this tour. From where we stayed in Temple Bar we used our Do Dublin card and caught the hop on hop off across from Trinity College and rode it there. This is something else I HIGHLY recommend, getting on one of the hop on hop offs with a live English guide. Some have the automated tour but the live ones are fabulous. We rode this a few times as a mode of transportation around and each time learned a little more and always laughed! The guides at Kilmainham go over a lot of history about the fight for Irish independence. Most notably the Easter Rising in 1916 and the civil war that broke out a few years later in 1922. Sadly those that fought for Ireland's independence in 1916 would be divided in the years to come. Those led by Michael Collin and the pro-treaty provisional government, and those led by E'amon de Valera of the anti-treat IRA. De Valera's history alone at Kilmainham is impressive. If you can't tell I love history. One tip book ahead, OR if you forget like we did, the morning of at 9:15 they release tickets for that day and you can get one of the open time slots then.
The original part of the prison known as the West Wing opened in 1796. This is where during the great famine people as young as 4 committed crimes just to go to jail to be given a meager meal.
