Out and About
The best way to see Ireland is by car, though various package deals or bus tours exist as an alternative. You can see a good deal of the country using public transport, although apart from the main routes, the bus schedules are designed more for locals than tourists.
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Dublinâs Samuel Beckett Bridge
This book covers the highlights of the Republic and Northern Ireland, starting in Dublin and proceeding clockwise. We cannot describe all the sights â or all the counties â but wherever you go, youâll enjoy Ireland best at an unhurried Irish pace.
Dublin
The Republic of Irelandâs capital (circa 1.4 million) is the birthplace and muse of many great authors, and an elegant European city with many outstanding examples of eighteenth-century architecture. From its noble avenues and intimate side streets to chic shopping and traditional pubs, Dublin 1 [map] is characterised by contrasting moods; a melting pot of old and new where traditional lace still masks modern windows. Amid all the historic monuments, lie museums, colleges, and sporting venues.
OâConnell Street to St Stephenâs Green
The main avenue in Dublin is OâConnell Street. Measuring 46m (150ft) across, it has several monuments to Irish history lined along the middle. The Millennium Spire, a 395-foot high stainless-steel monument, replaced the nineteenth-century Nelsonâs Pillar blown up by anti-British rebels in 1966.
Whatâs in a name?
The cityâs name comes from the Irish âDubh Linnâ, meaning âa dark poolâ. The alternative Gaelic name, âBaile Ătha Cliathâ, means âthe town of the hurdle fordâ.
OâConnell Streetâs most famous landmark is the General Post Office (GPO). The GPO served as the insurgentsâ headquarters during the 1916 Easter Rising and was badly damaged in the fighting. A plaque on the front of the building commemorates the event. The onsite museum, GPO Museum Witness History, documents the 1916 Rising and its aftermath.
Just opposite OâConnell Bridge is the imposing monument honouring âThe Liberatorâ, Daniel OâConnell (1775â1847, for more information, click here), after whom both the street and bridge are named.
From the bridge, wider than it is long, you can look along the embankments of the River Liffey. To the east rises the copper dome of the eighteenth-century Custom House. Like many buildings along the Liffey, it was badly damaged in the Irish War of Independence (1919â21) and subsequent Civil War (1922â23). Further east lies the shiny new IFSC (Irish Financial Services Centre), gateway to the high-rise Docklands area, with modern apartments and the 2,000-seat Grand Canal Theatre. To the west is the Haâpenny Bridge, so-called because thatâs what it originally cost to cross.
Gareth Byrne Photography
The General Post Office
The imposing white building facing College Green on the south side of the River Liffey is a branch of the Bank of Ireland, originally home of the Irish parliament in the eighteenth century. The bank moved in when parliament was abolished by the Act of Union in 1801 (for more information, click here).
Behind the railings at the entrance to Trinity College A [map] are the statues of two famous alumni â philosopher Edmund Burke and playwright Oliver Goldsmith. Founded by Queen Elizabeth I in 1592, Trinity is a timeless enclave of calm and scholarship in the middle of this bustling city. Until 1793 it was an exclusively Protestant institution, and the Catholic Church forbade Catholics to attend Trinity âunder pain of mortal sinâ right up until the late 1960s. Today, TCD, as it is called, is integrated. Students lead informative college tours from a desk at the front porch (JuneâSept daily, every 30-40 minutes from 9.45am; OctâMay Fri, Sat, Sun & Mon).
The campus forms a beautiful monument to academia and architecture, and visitors enjoy cobbled walks among trimmed lawns, fine old trees, statues, and stone buildings. You can also enjoy art exhibitions at the Douglas Hyde Gallery, (www.douglashydegallery.com) and the child-friendly Science Gallery (https://dublin.sciencegallery.com ).
The greatest treasures are in the vaulted Long Room in the Old Library (JuneâSept Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri & Sat 9amâ6pm, Sun 9.30amâ6pm; OctâMay Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri & Sat 9.30amâ5pm, Sun noonâ4.30pm; www.tcd.ie), where double-decker shelving holds thousands of books published prior to 1800, and priceless early manuscripts are displayed in glass cases. In the adjacent Colonnades Gallery, queues of tourists reverently wait for a look at the Book of Kells. This 340-page parchment wonder, handwritten and illustrated by monks during the ninth century, contains a Latin version of the New Testament. The beauty of the script â the illumination (the decoration of initial letters and words) â and the bright abstract designs make this the most wonderful treasure to survive from Irelandâs Golden Age. The vellum leaves are turned every day to protect them from light and to give visitors a chance to come back for more.
Corrie Wingate/Apa Publications
Fellows Square and the Old Library at Trinity College
A left turn on leaving Trinity by the main gate brings you to the entrance of Grafton Street B [map] , the main shopping and social artery of the cityâs southside. More than anywhere else, Grafton Street demonstrates Dublinâs knack for seeming to bustle and dawdle at the same time. Buskers entertain passers-by on their way to Brown Thomas, the cityâs famous high-end department store, and other shopping emporiums, such as the stunning Powerscourt Townhouse Centre, and the Stephenâs Green Shopping Centre at the south end.
Examples of Europeâs finest Georgian houses can be seen facing Merrion Square. The discreet, smart brick houses have Georgian doorways flanked by tall columns and topped by fanlights. No two are alike. In a complex of formal buildings on the west side of the square stands the cityâs largest eighteenth-century mansion, Leinster House, once home to the dukes of Leinster. Today, Leinster House is the seat of the Irish parliament, which consists of the Senate (Seanad Ăireann) and the Chamber of Deputies (the DĂĄil, pronounced âdoyleâ). Just north of here, on Merrion Square West, is the National Gallery.
At the entrance to the National Gallery of Ireland C [map] (Mon 11amâ5.30pm, Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri & Sat 9.45amâ5.30pm, Sun 11.30amâ5.30pm; permanent collection free, charge for some exhibitions; www.nationalgallery.ie) you will see a statue of George Bernard Shaw, the famous and respected Dubliner known locally as a benefactor of the institution. The gallery has a collection of over 16,300 artworks. Irish artists receive priority, but other nationalities are well represented, such as Dutch, English, Flemish, French, Italian, and Spanish masters, including Fra Angelico, Rubens, Rembrandt, Canaletto, Gainsborough, Goya, Van Gogh, and Renoir.
The main entrance to the National Museum of Ireland D [map] (Tues, Wed, Thurs & Fri 10amâ5pm, Sun & Mon 1â5pm; free; www.museum.ie), a Dublin institution showcasing the countryâs archaeology and history, is reached from Kildare Street. Its collection of antiquities holds several surprises, from Irish bog bo...