Dubliners are fiercely proud of their city, and while
DUBLIN is the Republic of Ireland's capital it is quite
apart from, and can be dismissive of, the rest of the country - one
Dublin wag once remarked with characteristic caustic humour that
"the only culture outside Dublin is agriculture". Over the past
decade, as young people from rural Ireland and all over Europe,
gravitate toward the city to share in the wealth, not experienced
since Dublin's much celebrated Georgian heyday, this urban/rural
divide has started to wane. As a result Dublin exudes the style and
confidence of any cosmopolitan European capital - most apparent at
night when Dubliners party with a panache verging on the reckless.
Dublin's economic upturn is impacting on the city's rapidly
changing urban landscape too, with restaurants, cafés, bars and
clubs opening in abundance, and Dublin's famous pub scene is now
matched by an equally celebrated club scene. On the downside,
however, its reputation as one of the party capitals of Europe has
attracted droves of "alco-tourists" who arrive in the city for
booze-fuelled weekends; they have become such a problem that some
areas of the city, such as Temple Bar, have actually banned stag
and hen parties.
The spirit of Dublin is undergoing massive upheavals too, with
youthful enterprise set against a leaden traditionalism that harks
back nostalgically, as in the words of one popular folk song, to
"Dublin city in the rare old times". However, the collision of the
old order and the forward-looking younger generations is an
essential part of the appeal of this extrovert and dynamic
city.
If you approach Dublin by sea, you'll have an opportunity to
appreciate its magnificent physical setting, with the fine sweep of
Dublin Bay and the weird, conical silhouettes of the Wicklow
Mountains to the south providing an exhilarating backdrop. Central
Dublin is not big, and it's easy to find your way around. One
obvious axis is formed by the river, the Liffey , which runs
from west to east and acts not only as a physical, but also a
social and, at times, psychological dividing line.
The transformation to top of Europe's economic class has cast
the city economically and culturally into the heart of the
continent. This new-found cosmopolitan chic has its home in the
vibrant Temple Bar area, "Dublin's Left Bank", with its
numerous pubs, clubs, galleries and restaurants. However, for many
visitors, the city's heart lies around the best of what is left of
Georgian Dublin - the grand set pieces of Fitzwilliam and
Merrion squares, and their graceful red-brick houses with
ornate, fan-lighted doors and immaculately kept central gardens,
and the wide but strangely decorous open space of St Stephen's
Green. The elegant southside is also the setting for Dublin's
august seat of learning, Trinity College and its famous library
where you can see the exquisitely ornate Book of Kells ;
Grafton Street , the city's upmarket shopping area; and most
of the city's museums and art galleries.
North of the Liffey, the main thoroughfare is O'Connell
Street , on which stands the General Post Office , the
scene of violent fighting in the Easter Rising of 1916. Further
north, among Georgian squares older and seedier than the ones
you'll see on the southside, are the Dublin Writers' Museum
and the Hugh Lane Gallery . West again, and you come to
Dublin's biggest open space - indeed, one of the world's largest
city parks - Phoenix Park , home of both the President's
Residence and the zoo.
The urban sprawl quickly gives way to the genteel villages
which punctuate the curve of Dublin Bay, from the fishing port of
Howth in the north, to the southern suburbs of
Sandycove with its James Joyce connections, Dalkey ,
made famous by the comic writer Flann O'Brien, and salubrious
Killiney , now colonized by the rich and famous. Added to
this is the fact that Dublin must be one of the easiest capitals to
escape from, making it a good base for exploring the hills and
coastline of Wicklow to the south and the gentler scenery to the
north that leads up to the megalithic monuments of the verdant
Boyne Valley .