Let me bring back memories of my trip into Dublin. I was here first on business conference fo two days, and then came back the following week on a family two weeks vacation !. A typical run from me coming seeing and then bringing the family for an in depth look. I like to update this older post with fresh text and new links to serve as an introduction to our visit ,more of the history and a general overview of the best to see in my opinion of course.Hope you enjoy the post as I.
Dublin, is located near the central point of the eastern coast of the island of Ireland and in the center of Dublin County. The name “Dublin” is generally considered from the original Gaelic Dubh Linn (“The Black Pond”) which now means “bay “Smoke”, the name of a basin of a tributary of the Liffey, near which was erected the first stronghold of the Irish Vikings, or Gall Gàidheal. Of course, I came by plane direct from Nantes to Dublin international airport and then the airport bus to old city center from where did a lot of walking, great!
A bit of history I like, condense as it can be longer….
In the year 837, Thorgis returned there for the second time, accompanied this time by a fleet of one hundred and twenty Viking boats. Sixty of them go up the Boyne River, the other sixty the Liffey River. Unknown in his own country, all the tales relating to his conquests are found in Ireland and the British Isles. Upon their arrival in Dublin, his men took over this community of fishermen and farmers and erected a strong fort according to the Scandinavian construction methods, on the hill where is the present Castle of Dublin. King Brian Boru, nicknamed Boroimhe, Brian Mac Cenneidigh, born in the year 941 in the Thomond in Ireland, was buried in Dublin in the year 1014, at the age of 73 years. He tried to unify Ireland; He died at the Battle of Clontarf on April 23, 1014, in his tent, on a Good Friday.
After the invasion of Ireland by the Normans (1170/1171), Dublin replaced the hill of Tara as the capital of Ireland, the power settling at the Castle of Dublin until independence. After their victory at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, the Protestant troops of William of Orange, among them 3 000 French Huguenots, installed many of their men in Dublin, to stand out from the controversial Protestants who had colonized Ulster and Munster for a century. The 239 Huguenots of Dublin have a collective burial, Huguenot House in the small street of Mansion Row near the park of St Stephen Green, created in 1693 in the new Dublin, where are engraved the names of 239 of them, listed in alphabetical order.
Since the beginning of the English occupation in the 12C, the city has played the role of the Capital of the Irish Island, in all forms that political authority has taken: The Lordship of Ireland (1171-1541); The Kingdom of Ireland (1541-1800); The island as a member of the United Kingdom (1801-1922); and the Irish Republic (1919-1922). The Easter Uprising in 1916 placed Dublin in instability, and the Anglo-Irish War, while the Irish Civil War left the city in ruins, many of its most beautiful buildings having been destroyed. From 1922, following the partition of Ireland, Dublin is the capital of the Free State of Ireland (1922 – 1937) and then of the Republic of Ireland. After WWII (known as “the Emergency”) in reference to the state of emergency decreed from 1939 to 1946). Today, it is still the Republic of Ireland or Eire.
Things to see abound ,but my favorites are:
Of course, plenty of theater choices and good ones. The most famous theatres are the Abbey Theater, the Gate Theater, the Gaiety Theater and the Olympia. The Abbey Theater was founded in 1904 by a group of writers, including Yeats, in order to promote the literary talents of Irish authors. It allowed the discovery of works by authors such as Shaw, Synge, O’Casey, and at the same time to serve as a springboard for national and political revival of the early 20C. The Gate Theater was founded in 1928 to promote avant-garde European and American works. The Gaiety Theater specializes in musical productions: operas, musical comedies, ballets. The greatest theater is the Mahony Hall, and Ambassador theater is not bad at all!
Kells’s book is kept in the Trinity College library. The Chester Beatty Library has many manuscripts, drawings and other rare books whose oldest documents date back to 2700 B.C. The main museums are the National Gallery of Ireland, the Irish Museum of Modern Art, the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery and the National Museum of Ireland divided into three sites, archaeology in Kildare Street, decorative arts and history in Collins Barracks and Natural history in Merrion Street.
Trinity College, a university founded in 1592 by queen Elisabeth I of England and home to the book of Kells, a illuminated manuscript dating from about 800, making it one of the oldest books in the world. Christ Church Cathedral, some parts of which date back to the original Danish construction. St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Pro-St. Mary’s Cathedral, Dublin Catholic Cathedral; Dublin Castle, Dublin Writers Museum, and the Ha’penny Bridge, which owes its name to the price (half a penny) that had to pay any person to have the right to cross it and enter the city.
There is a vibrant nightlife in Dublin, indeed is true. Dublin is dotted with pubs, especially around Temple Bar, located on the south shore of the Liffey, is the attraction of a crowd from all over the city and many tourists who come to take the pubs by assault. This area was developed as a cultural district with art galleries, the National Film Center (Irish Film Institute), and photography studios. The streets around St Stephen Green,Harcourt Street, Camden Street, Wexford Street and Leeson Street, in particular, there are a lot of nightclubs. The brewery of St. James Gate , where the famous Guinness has been produced since 1759. O’Connell Street is one of the main avenues with many places and squares of Georgian architectural treasures such as St Stephen Green, Merrion Square, Ely Place, and Fitzwilliam Squares.
The Dublin tourist office: https://www.visitdublin.com/
The city of Dublin on things to do: https://dublin.ie/live/things-to-do/
The Ireland tourist board on Dublin: https://www.ireland.com/en-us/destinations/experiences/dublin/
There you go folks, a nice city to visit and we are looking forward for a repeat to Dublin eventually. This was nice to bring the family and enjoy it fully. Again, hope you enjoy the post as I.
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all
Paris1972-Versailles2003 