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ADVENTURES IN IRELAND

dublin's temple bar
THE HIPPEST STREET IN TOWN
 

        Dublin, it can be argued, is everything the rest of Ireland isn’t. It’s urban, congested, chaotic, trendy, dirty, youthful, international, scholarly, artistic, loud, and sleepless. It’s the one place in Ireland where you cannot easily see the sky Dublin is more manmade than natural.
        Don’t the Irish know it! Fully one-quarter of Ireland’s citizenry lives within Dublin’s confines. Of course the nation’s government clusters here. Much of its international commerce congregates here, too, more and

Temple Bar. Photo © Home At First.
DUBLIN'S TEMPLE BAR

more in new high-tech corporate parks ringing the city. Ireland’s great university, Trinity College, has attracted Ireland’s best and brightest minds for centuries. Perhaps something of a surprise, the artists of Ireland — best known for representing Ireland’s rural soul — rise more frequently from Dublin’s significant art/writing/music scene than from the hinterlands.

Dublin Buskers. Photo © Home At First.
STREET BUSKERS

         Visitors on holiday want to explore Dublin’s historic sites, many tied to the nation’s epic struggle to overcome outside domination—whether from Vikings, Normans, Cromwellians, or more recent incursions. Others look forward to crawling from pub to pub in a city where such a pub-crawl can become a lifelong journey. Surely the music draws traditional Irish (Celtic) music, dynamic Irish dance, classical performances, and major and minor league poppers and rockers.
        So where do you go to find Dublin at its core? One can suggest several districts O’Connell Street, Trinity College,

and Drury Street come to mind. But, for most people, Dublin in a nutshell might best be found in the cobblestone lanes of Temple Bar.
         Temple Bar has been there for a while. Invading Vikings founded the city 1,000 years ago at this spot they called it Dubh Linn on the River Liffey. The rest of Dublin grew up around the Temple Bar, which, though across from the elegant north side of the Liffey, continued to be a lively presence in the city. It’s but a short walk across the arched Ha’Penny Bridge from the broad avenues of Neo-Classical Dublin to this village within the city. It’s just as easy to walk from the gates of Trinity College, Temple Bar’s neighbor to the east.
        Entering through an arched passage too narrow for cars tells you instantly you have arrived at Temple Bar. Excited laughter mixes with all kinds of music and a smorgasbord of

Temple Bar Gate. Photo © Home At First.
ENTRANCE TO
TEMPLE BAR

smells from cuisines both recognizable and mysterious. Pedestrians are kings and queens here. And jesters. And street musicians. And fashion martyrs.

Temple Bar Fashion. Photo © Home At First.
SHOPPING CAN
BE RECKLESS
IN TEMPLE BAR

         Shops, pubs, and restaurants line the alleyways, competing, often outlandishly, for your attention. The youth culture is strong here these streets appeal to youth of every age. Just as the crazy colors and crazy fashions of the shops grab at your eyes, the din of voices in packed bars claws at your ears. There’s the smell of Guinness in the air, fresh from their hop store a few blocks away. When it’s time to eat, the choosing is hard. What’ll it be: traditional Irish, Italian, Greek, Spanish, Mexican, American?
       
And to quench a thirst or accomplish a youthful travel goal take a pub-crawl — there are dozens of pubs in the quarter.
         Looking for traditional Irish music in a lively Irish pub? There are many small pub venues with occasional music, but music happens daily at Fitzsimon’s on the outside of Temple Bar by the Ha’Penny footbridge along the River Liffy and Oliver St John Gogarty’s on Fleet Street near the center of Temple Bar. At either location you’ll get Irish music, song and dance afternoons and evenings daily, and a lively crowd almost always. Fitzsimon’s features a carvery lunch from 12:30-3PM and suppers from 6-11PM in its second-floor riverside restaurant. Gogarty’s second-floor restaurant features traditional Irish food from land and sea with good quality and moderately high prices.

Gogarty's Restaurant, Temple Bar. Photo © Home At First.
OLIVER ST. JOHN
GOGARTY'S IN
TEMPLE BAR

        Temple Bar was threatened with urban renewal twenty years ago when a cadre of enterprising property owners took on the town fathers and won. They did so by uniting to turn their eclectic district into the Left Bank of Dublin. Their entrepreneurial spirit of those times continues to this day, as do their unified promotions. At any of the district's merchants, ask for the guide to the pubs, clubs and cafιs of Temple Bar, the hippest street in town.

Learn more about travel with HOME AT FIRST to CENTRAL IRELAND.