Visiting the Kilmainham Gaol Museum was one of the hardest tickets to get on our trip. Tammy had to be online at the exact right time before they sold out for each session. Kilmainham Gaol was a prison that opened in 1796 and held thousands of inmates over the history. The most notable part of the tour is the political prisoners that were held here during its last phase of operation in the early 1900’s. It was an interesting and sobering tour — you are standing in the very spots where many people were executed over the years. During the famine the prison held over 5 times the capacity of people it was supposed to.

Interior of a historic prison with multiple cell-block tiers, a central metal staircase, and visitors walking across the stone floor beneath a glass roof. Interior courtyard of a historic prison showing multiple tiers of barred cell windows, wire-mesh walkways, and a spiral staircase in warm sunlight. Narrow vaulted stone corridor with peeling walls covered in scratched graffiti, arched windows on one side, two visitors walking toward a lit exit Heavily deteriorated prison cell door with peeling paint and rust, set in crumbling walls covered in scratched graffiti names Chapel interior with a wooden altar beneath an arched alcove, flanked by tall arched windows with warm lighting on white and red walls. Four people taking a selfie inside a whitewashed prison cell with a small barred window above them Curved granite exterior wall of a historic prison rising several stories with small barred windows against a blue sky