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Taken from Home At First’s "Ireland Activity Guide" |
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Photos © Home At First |
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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 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. |
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Visitors on holiday want to explore Dublin’s historic sites, |
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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. |
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Bar. |
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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. |
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and queens here. And jesters. And street musicians. And fashion |
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martyrs. |
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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? |
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are many small pub venues with occasional music, but music |
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happens daily at Fitzsimon’s on the outside of Temple Bar by the |
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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. |
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any of the district's merchants, ask for the guide to the pubs, clubs and cafés of Temple Bar, the hippest street in town. |
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This article is taken from
HOME AT
FIRST’s 100+ page comprehensive You can explore the mysteries of western County Clare
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YOUR DREAM TRIP BEGINS BY CONTACTING |
