Dublin City

DUBLIN  CITY GUIDE

A Town for our Times


As one of Europe’s fastest expanding economic centres, Dublin’s commercial and creative energy is matched by the vibrancy of its everyday life and hospitality. At its heart is an old town whose many meandering stories have interacted and combined to create today’s busy riverside and coastal metropolis. Through a wide variety of circumstances, it has become an entertaining place suited to the civilised enjoyment of life in the 21st Century. That said, there’s no doubting the edge there is to life in Dublin today, with the daily business news and movements in property values attracting as much popular interest as sport and politics.

Dubliners tend to wear their city’s history lightly, despite having in their environment so much of the past in the way of ancient monuments, historic buildings, gracious squares and fine old urban architecture that still manages to be gloriously alive. This if anything is emphasised by the city’s impressive modern developments, seen particularly in the area around the International Financial Services Centre and across the Liffey on George’s Quay and around the Grand Canal Harbour. Further regeneration is taking place along the Liffey towards the bay, while the city’s spirit is expressed dramatically in the Spire in O’Connell Street, and in the Gaelic Athletic Association’s national headquarters at Croke Park, the third largest stadium in Europe.

Dubliners may not quite take their city’s dynamic interaction of classic and modern for granted, but nevertheless they have to get on with life. Indeed, these days they’ve a vigorous appetite for it. So they’ll quickly deflate any visitor’s excessive enthusiasm about their city’s significance with a throwaway line of Dublin wit, or sweep aside highfalutin notions of some legendary figure of established cultural importance by recalling how their grandfathers had the measure of that same character when he was still no more than a pup making a nuisance of himself in the neighbourhood pub.

The origins of the city’s name are in keeping with this downbeat approach. From the ancient Irish there came something which derived from a makeshift solution to local inconvenience. Baile Atha Cliath -  the official name today - means nothing more exciting than “the townland of the hurdle ford”. Ancient Ireland being an open plan sort of place without towns, the future city was no more than a river crossing.

But where the Irish saw inconvenience, the Vikings saw an opportunity. When they brought their longships up the River Liffey, they found a sheltered berth in a place which the locals of the hurdle ford called Dubh Linn - “the black pool”. Although the name was to go through many mutations as the Vikings were succeeded by the Normans who in turn were in the business of becoming English, today’s name of Dublin is remarkably similar to the one which the Vikings came upon, although the old Irish would have pronounced it as something more like “doo-lin”.

The modern pre-eminence of that name makes sense, for it was thanks to the existence of the black pool that Dublin became the port and trading base which evolved as the country’s natural administrative centre. Thus your Dubliner may well think that the persistent official use of Baile Atha Cliath is an absurdity. But it most emphatically isn’t the business of any visitor to say so, for although Dublin came into existence almost by accident, it has now been around for a long time, and Dubliners have developed their own attitudes and their own way of doing things.

As for their seaport, it is still very much part of the city, and has never been busier – with forty major ship movements every day, sea and city are closely intertwined. That said, Dubliners’ perception of themselves is starkly defined by whether they live north or south of the Liffey – for a relatively narrow river, it is a remarkable divide.

Located by a wide bay with some extraordinarily handsome hills and mountains near at hand, the city has long had as an important part of its makeup the dictates of stylish living, and the need to cater efficiently for individual tastes and requirements. From time to time the facade has been maintained with difficulty through periods of impoverishment, but even in the earliest mediaeval period this was already a major centre of craftsmanship and innovative shop-keeping. Today, the Dublin craftsmen and shop-keepers and their assistants are characterful subjects worthy of respectful academic study. And in an age when “going shopping” has become the world’s favourite leisure activity, this old city has reinvented herself in the forefront of international trends.

For Dublin virtually shunned the Industrial Revolution, or at least its decision-makers took some care to ensure that it happened elsewhere. The city’s few large enterprises tended to be aimed at personal needs and the consumer market, rather than some aspiration towards heavy industry. Typical of them was Guinness’s Brewery, founded in 1759. Today, its work-force may be much slimmed in every sense, but it still creates the black nectar, and if a new mash is under way up at the brewery and the wind is coming damply across Ireland from the west, the aroma of Guinness in the making will be wafted right into the city centre, the moist evocative essence of Anna Livia herself, while the imaginatively renovated Guinness Storehouse - with its interactive museums, restaurants and bars - provides a visitor centre of international quality.

Although some of the vitality of the city faded in the periods when the focus of power had been moved elsewhere, today Dublin thrives as one of Europe’s more entertaining capitals, and as a global centre of the computer, communications and financial services industries. While it may be trite to suggest that her history has been a fortuitous preparation for the needs of modern urban life in all its variety of work and relaxation, there is no denying Dublin’s remarkable capacity to provide the ideal circumstances for fast-moving people-orientated modern industries, even if those same people find at times that their movement within the city is hampered by weight of traffic. Nevertheless it’s a civilised city where the importance of education is a central theme of the strong family ethos, this high level of education making it a place of potent attraction in the age of information technology.   
  
Such a city naturally has much of interest for historians of all kinds, and a vibrant cultural life is available for visitors and Dubliners alike. You can immerse yourself in it all as much or as little as you prefer, for today’s Dublin is a city for all times and all tastes, and if you’re someone who hopes to enjoy Dublin as we know Dubliners enjoy it, we know you’ll find much of value here. And don’t forget that there’s enjoyment in Dublin well hidden from the familiar tourist trails.

When Dublin was starting to expand to its present size during the mid-20th Century, with people flocking in from all over Ireland to work in the city, it was said that the only “real Dub” was someone who didn’t go home to the country for the weekend. Today, with Dublin so popular with visitors, the more cynical citizens might well comment that the surest test of a real Dub is someone who avoids
Temple Bar...

But it is rather unfair of any Dubliner to dismiss that bustling riverside hotbed of musical pubs, contemporary cafes, ethnic restaurants, cultural events and nightclubs as being no more than a tourist ghetto.  After all, in addition to its many places of entertainment and hospitality, Temple Bar is also home to at least 1,300 people, their needs being served locally by useful happenings such as the Natural Food Fair, held every Saturday (10am to 6pm) in Cow’s Lane, with organic foods and the freshest of produce from land and sea matching the gourmet quality of the exotic products sold through the Specialist Market in Meeting House Square.  
 
So there’s real life here too. And at the very least, it is Temple Bar which maintains the Dubliner’s international reputation as a round-the-clock party animal. Now that the area has settled down and achieved a certain mellowness in its new role, you will definitely meet “real Dubs” here, though in today’s very cosmopolitan city, just how we’d define a “real Dub” is a moot point.

Nevertheless, come nightfall and your discerning Dubliner is more likely to be found in a pleasant pub or restaurant in one of the city’s many urban villages, delightfully named places such as Ranelagh or Rathmines or Templeogue or Stoneybatter or Phibsborough or Donnybrook or Glasnevin or Ringsend or Dundrum or Clontarf or Drumcondra or Chapelizod, to name only a few. And then there are places like Stepaside or Howth or Glasthule or Foxrock or Dalkey which are at sufficient distance as scarcely to think of themselves as being part of Dublin at all. Yet that’s where you’ll find today’s real Dubs enjoying their fair city every bit as much as city centre folk. Happy is the visitor who is able to savour it all, in and around this town for our times.  


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Local Attractions & Information

Abbey & Peacock Theatres Lower Abbey Street +353 (0)1 878 7222

Andrew's Lane Theatre off Exchequer Street +353 (0)1 679 5720

The Ark Arts Centre Eustace St., Temple Bar D2 +353 (0)1 670 7788

Bank of Ireland (historic) College Green +353 (0)1 661 5933

Botanic Gardens Glasnevin, D 9 +353 (0)1 837 4388

Ceol - Irish Traditional Music Centre Smithfield +353 (0)1 817 3820

Christchurch Cathedral Christchurch Place, D8 +353 (0)1 677 8099

City Arts Centre 23-25 Moss St., D2 +353 (0)1 677 0643

Croke Park GAA Stadium and Museum D3 +353 (0)1 855 8176

Drimnagh Castle (moat, formal 17c gardens) Longmile Rd +353 (0)1 450 2530

Dublin Airport +353 (0)1 814 4222

Dublin Castle Dame Street +353 (0)1 677 7129

Dublin Film Festival (February) +353 (0)1 679 2937

Dublin Garden Festival RDS (March) +353 (0)1 490 0600

Dublin International Horse Show, RDS, (August) +353 (0)1 668 0866

Dublin International Organ & Choral Fest. (June) +353 (0)1 677 3066

Dublin Theatre Festival (October) +353 (0)1 677 8439

Dublin Tourism Centre (restored church) Suffolk St. 1850 23 0330

Dublin Writer's Museum Parnell Square +353 (0)1 872 2077

Dublin Zoo Phoenix Park +353 (0)1 677 1425

Dublinia (living history) Christchurch +353 (0)1 475 8137

Farmleigh House, Phoenix Park +353 (0)1 815 5900

Farmleigh House Boathouse Restaurant +353 (0)1 815 7255 / 815 7250

Gaiety Theatre South King Street +353 (0)1 677 1717

Gate Theatre Cavendish Row +353 (0)1 874 4045

Guinness Brewery St Jame's Gate +353 (0)1 453 6700 ext 5155

Guinness Storehouse +353 (0)1 408 4800

Helix DCU Performing Arts Centre, Collins Avenue, D9 +353 (0)1 700 7000

Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery Parnell Square +353 (0)1 874 1903

Irish Antique Dealers Fair, RDS (October) +353 (0)1 285 9294

Irish Film Centre Eustace Street +353 (0)1 679 3477

IFSC Farm Market (Mayor Sq., Wed 10.30am-4pm) +353 (0)87 611 5016

Irish Museum of Modern Art/Royal Hospital Kilmainham +353 (0)1 671 8666

Irish Music Hall of Fame Middle Abbey Street +353 (0)1 878 3345

Irish Tourist Board/Failte Ireland Baggot St Bridge +353 (0)1 602 4000

Iveagh Gardens Earlsfort Terrace +353 (0)1 475 7816

Jameson Distillery Smithfield, Dublin 7 +353 (0)1 807 2355

Kilmainham Gaol Kilmainham +353 (0)1 453 5984

Lansdowne Road Rugby Ground Ballsbridge +353 (0)1 668 4601

Mother Redcaps Market nr St Patricks/Christchurch Fri-Sun 10am-5.30pm

National Botanic Gardens Glasnevin +353 (0)1 837 7596

National Concert Hall Earlsfort Terrace +353 (0)1 671 1888

National Gallery of Ireland Merrion Square West +353 (0)1 661 5133

National Museum of Ireland Kildare Street +353 (0)1 677 7444

National Museum of Ireland Collins Barracks +353 (0)1 677 7444

Natural History Museum     Merrion Street +353 (0)1 661 881

Newman House St Stephen's Green +353 (0)1 475 7255

Northern Ireland Tourist Board Nassau Street +353 (0)1 679 1977

Number 29 (18c House) Lower Fitzwilliam Street +353 (0)1 702 6155

Old Jameson Distillery Smithfield, Dublin 7 +353 (0)1 807 2355

Olympia Theatre Dame Street +353 (0)1 677 7744

Pearse St Market (St Andrew’s Cntr.) Sats 9am-3pm +353 (0)1 873 0451

Point Depot (Concerts & Exhibitions) North Wall Quay +353 (0)1 836  6000

Powerscourt Townhouse South William Street +353 (0)1 679 4144

Pro Cathedral Marlborough Street +353 (0)1 287 4292

Project Arts Centre 39 East Sussex St, D2 +353 (0)1 679 6622

RDS (Royal Dublin Society) Ballsbridge +353 (0)1 668 0866

Royal Hospital Kilmainham +353 (0)1 679 8666

St Michans Church (mummified remains) Dublin 7 +353 (0)1 872 4154

St Patrick's Cathedral Patrick's Close +353 (0)1 453 9472

Shaw birthplace 33 Synge St., D 8 +353 (0)1 475 0854

Shelbourne Park Greyhound Stadium +353 (0)1 668 3502

Temple Bar Foodmarket Sat morning +353 (0)1 677 2255

The Dillon Garden 45 Sandford Rd, Ranelagh, D6 +353 (0)1 497 1308

Tivoli Theatre Francis Street +353 (0)1 454 4472

Trinity College (Book of Kells & Dublin Experience) +353 (0)1 608 2308

Viking Adventure Essex St W, Temple Bar, +353 (0)1 679 6040

Viking Splash (Amphibious Tours) +353 (0)1 453 9185

War Memorial Gardens (Sir Edwin Lutyens) Islandbridge +353 (0)1 677 0236

Zoological Gardens Phoenix Park +353 (0)1 677 1425

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