Dublin
Although Dublin celebrated its millennium in 1988, it is quite certain that settlements existed throughout the region long before 988 AD. The first early Celtic habitation sat beside the River Liffey. Still nowadays, Dublin's Irish name of Baile Atha Cliath (the Town of the Hurdle Ford) refers to an ancient river crossing. That crossing that can still be pinpointed today. Despite the area's settlements, Dublin did not become a permanent fixture until the Vikings arrived. By the 9th century, the Irish had become used to the regular raids from the north. Some of the Danes settled in the region and intermarried with the Irish. They established a vigorous trading port at the place where the River Poddle converges with the Liffey in a black pool, or in Irish: dubh linn. The Vikings were defeated at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. The Irish, led by Brian Boru broke the military power of the Danes, but once again many of them chose to stay and married native Irish. They adopted Christianity and built churches.
After the Normans had consolidated control of England in 1066, they moved west to Ireland. During the 12th century, many of them merged with the Irish, rather than ruling over them. As a result, Dublin became the center of Anglo-Norman power.
Up until the reign of Elizabeth I (1558-1603), real English control over Ireland was restricted to the narrow eastern coastal strip of 'the Pale' that surrounded Dublin. Beyond the Pale, Ireland remained free and raids of the fierce Irish warriors from the Wicklow Mountains to the south constantly threatened the Anglo-Norman stronghold in Dublin.
In the 14th century, the Scots attempted to invade Ireland, but they failed. The Black Death devastated the region in 1348 though. Silken Thomas Fitzgerald failed in his revolt against Henry VIII in 1534, but during the event, large parts of Dublin's population were killed. Henry's dissolution of the monasteries in 1537 caused more havoc. The turnaround came in 1592, when Elizabeth I founded Trinity College and gave Dublin its educational tradition that it has maintained to date. Dublin, which had supported Charles I, was taken by Oliver Cromwell in 1649. He seized Ireland's best land and distributed it among his soldiers. In 1690 Ireland supported the losing side at the Battle of the Boyne, in which William of Orange defeated the Catholic James II. When James II fled to safety, most of his supporters were excluded from Parliament and stripped of their basic rights by the punitive anti-Catholic Penal Laws.
The period of the Protestant Ascendancy led Dublin into the 18th century. The city experienced rapid growth and it soon became the fifth-largest city in Europe, as well as the second-largest city of the British Empire, after London.
The nouveau riche started abandoning medieval Dublin in favor of a new Dublin of stately squares surrounded by fine Georgian mansions to the north. The magnificent 'Georgian Dublin' started booming after the establishment in 1757 of the 'Commission for Making Wide & Convenient Streets'. The slums of the poor Catholic masses reached Georgian Dublin not many years later and many of the rich returned to the south, where they built grand homes around Merrion Square, St Stephen's Green and Fitzwilliam Square. In 1745 James Fitzgerald, the earl of Kildare, started construction of Leinster House south of the Liffey River. The establishment mocked him for his 'foolish move' away from the city center into the wilds. 'Where I go society will follow', he confidently predicted and he was right, because nowadays, Leinster House is used as the Irish Parliament and it is right in the center of modern Dublin.
After the Georgian boom of the 18th century, a period of trouble and unrest started. It started with the abortive French-backed invasion by Wolfe Tone in 1796 and the equally unsuccessful rebellion of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, member of the United Irishmen, in 1798. Another revolt in 1803 was badly planned, ill conceived and failed. Robert Emmet, the ringleader, was executed outside St Catherine's Church in the Liberties. He joined the increasingly long list of eloquent Irish martyrs in the struggle against Britain. On 1 January 1801, the Act of Union came into effect. It created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and meant the end of the separate Irish Parliament. Its members moved to the British Parliament at Westminster. Dublin's dramatic growth came to a halt and the city fell into a steady decline. In 1823 Daniel O'Connell launched his campaign to recover basic rights for Ireland's Catholic population. For a while he made real progress. As a result he earned the nickname 'The Liberator'. However, he was only willing to agitate within the law, and in the 1840's his efforts and influence faded after he called off one of his 'monster meetings' at Clontarf after the British had objected to it.
Dublin's greatest disaster came in 1840, when the food needs of the rural population that had become dependent on the easily grown potato, was disrupted by potato blight, which devastated the entire crop. Countless lives were lost not in least by the failure of the British government to assist the population. Even though Dublin escaped the worst effects of the Potato Famine between 1845 and 1851, its streets and squares were filled with refugees trying to escape from the countryside. As a result the city's decline accelerated and the call for Home Rule became louder.
When Charles Stewart Parnell (1846-1891) was elected to the British Parliament in Westminster in 1875, he started campaigning for a Dublin parliament, but despite his efforts, the Home Rule Bill was repeatedly defeated. Parnell was dubbed 'King of Ireland', but his popularity fell rapidly after his liaison with the married Kitty O'Shea was revealed. The Catholic Church found Parnell to be morally unfit as a leader and that is still one of the causes of the often bitter mistrust with which the Church, in its conservative mode, is still regarded by many Irish.
Resentment against the British grew more violent and by 1882 the British chief secretary was assassinated by a group known as The Invincibles. Further evidence of increasing anti-British resentment resulted in the formation of the republican political movement Sinn Fein, or We Ourselves, in 1905. In the meanwhile, in the northern Irish counties of Ulster, which were Protestant-dominated, agitation against Home Rule was on the increase. The British authorities turned a blind eye to arms shipments coming into Ireland for irregular Protestant forces. When the Asgard slipped into Howth harbor with a shipment of rifles for the Irish nationalist cause in 1914, its cargo was seized by the British. In the same year Home Rule was finally passed into law, but its implementation was suspended for the duration of WWI. Thousands of Irish volunteers joined the British in the war. They believed that their help would insure the British promise of Home Rule taking effect.
Opposition to British rule grew stronger all the time and by 1916 another ill-planned, poorly executed revolt, known as the Easter Rising failed. The General Post Office (GPO) on O'Connell St served as the headquarters of the rising. It was quickly taken by the rebels, as were other key points in the city. British troops in Dublin were taken completely by surprise, but they quickly moved into action and the Irish forces were soon defeated. After a week of fighting, large parts of Dublin were in ruins. The GPO and most of O'Connell St were a smoking shell. The leaders of the revolt were taken to jail and many locals, who didn't support the revolt, even openly jeered as they were taken away. It could have been the end of the matter, were it not for the British administration's overreaction. On 3 May 1916, only three days after the Easter Rising ended, three rebel leaders were executed by a firing squad, followed by four more the next day. On 5 May another one was executed, followed by four more on 8 May. In all, 77 death sentences were passed. By the time the 15th execution took place, the leaders of the Easter Rising had been transformed from public nuisances into national heroes and the British did not carry out any more executions.
In 1918 general elections were held and republican Sinn Fein candidates won nearly 75% of the seats in the Irish parliament. Instead of attending at Westminster, the newly elected parliament declared Ireland independent and formed the first Dail Eireann (Irish assembly). Around the same time, terrorist strikes against symbols of British control began. most attacks were carried out by the military wing of Sinn Fein, the Irish Republican Army (IRA).
The British introduced a tough auxiliary force known as the Black and Tans (because of the color of their uniforms), to counter the violence, but with little result. Their violent tactics only increased resentment against the British. On 11 November 1920, revolutionary leader Michael Collins organized the killing of 14 undercover British intelligence officers and the same afternoon the British, in reprisal, fired with machine guns on spectators at a football match. Twelve people, including one of the players were killed. Later that same night, two IRA men and a Sinn Fein supporter were murdered in Dublin Castle. The violence escalated and it was not until a truce was signed on 11 July 1921, before things cooled down a bit. The truce resulted in the Anglo-Irish Treaty, which created the Irish Free State on 6 December 1921. The six, mainly Protestant, Ulster counties that make up Northern Ireland opted out of the new state. The problems thus created still continue to fester.
Despite of the treaty, civil war broke out in June 1922. Collins was killed in an ambush on 22 August of that year and after that, the Dail passed a bill making the death sentence mandatory for any IRA member possessing a gun. By May 1923, 77 executions had taken place and the president of Sinn Fein ordered the IRA to drop their arms. The Civil War ground to a halt, but a wedge was driven between Sinn Fein as a political force and the IRA as a terrorist group. Without an armed struggle to pursue, the IRA was becoming a marginalized force in independent Ireland and Sinn Fein was falling apart. In 1932 former Sinn Fein leader de Valera won the election with his new party Fianna Fail (Warriors of Ireland). The victory was repeated in another election in 1933. Thus, the forces that lost the Civil War in 1922 had taken power through the ballot box 10 years later.
The new rulers started changing the legislation. Amongst others, the oath to the British Crown and the British governor general went and by the start of WWII, Ireland had become a republic under the name of Eire. The Free State was declared a republic and Ireland left the British Commonwealth in 1949. In 1955 it became a member of the United Nations.
After Ireland joined the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1973, it prospered, but the 1980's brought economic difficulties. During the 1990's interest rates began to tumble and new businesses sprang up everywhere and foreign investment began to generate substantial benefits. Ireland was dubbed the 'Celtic Tiger' and it was seen as a role model for the rest of the EU. Dublin has had to share some of the benefits with smaller cities, such as Cork, which attracted numerous computer software companies, but confidence was up throughout the country.
Nowadays the only remaining, unsolved problem is that of Northern Ireland. Efforts are underway to curb the violence though and it seems that progress is slowly being made.
Dublin makes a fine introduction to Ireland. It is the country's largest and most cosmopolitan city. It is a colorful place, where you will find a tangible literary history and of course the famous Irish pubs. There are also many Georgian buildings in town. Some of the most striking buildings are the huge white expanse of the 1780s Custom House on the northern bank of the Liffey River and the Four Courts, which were built by the same architect, James Gandon. It was their shelling that sparked off the Civil War in 1922. From the upper rotunda of the central building, the views over Dublin are magnificent. The River Liffey bisects Dublin and the city is bounded to the north by the hills at Howth and to the south by the Dalkey headland. Most of the sights of interest are located south of the Liffey. The area north of the Liffey is more run down than the south, but it has more atmospheres. The river itself is a rural-looking stream with very clean waters.
The city lies on Ireland's eastern coast and greater Dublin sprawls around the arc of Dublin Bay. The County Dublin is bordered to the north and northwest by County Meath, to the southwest by County Kildare and to the south by County Wicklow. Postcodes are divided evenly between north and south of the river. All odd numbers are to the north, all even ones to the south. The postcodes for central Dublin are Dublin 1 immediately north of the river and Dublin 2 immediately south. The upmarket Ballsbridge area, which has some of the city's best B&Bs lies to the southeast of the center in Dublin 4.
When to Go
Most tourists visit Dublin during the summer. Especially when the weather is warmest, in July and August, prices soar and accommodation is hard to come by. Temperatures in July and August vary between 15-20°C (60-70°F), so it is wise to bring a warm sweater or a coat, even during the summer. There are about 18 hours of daylight in July and August and it only gets truly dark after about 11 PM. The Temple Bar Blues Festival is one of Dublin's largest musical events. It takes place in July.
In the months of June and September, the weather can be fine and it is not too crowded with tourists. Each year on 16 June, Bloomsday is celebrated. It commemorates writer James Joyce. The events of his novel Ulysses are set on this day and literary buffs can spend the day retracing the steps of Leopold Bloom, the book's protagonist. Sports fans can gather at Croke Park in September for the All Ireland finals of both Hurling and Gaelic Football.
January and February are the coldest months, with daily temperatures ranging from 4-8°C (40-47°F). Major snowfalls are rare, but during the winter there are no crowds and prices fall. The short, bleak and cold days don't make it very attractive to visit the city during that time though.
St Patrick's Day is celebrated every year on 17 March. It is Ireland's largest festivity and if you want to celebrate it with the locals, make sure you book accommodation well in advance, as it is very popular. St Patrick's Day is a celebration of traditional Irish culture highlighted by a parade through Dublin and a large céilidh on St Stephen's Green.
The rest of the year, the weather is mostly lousy. Despite being one of the driest parts of Ireland, Dublin gets rain on 150 days in a typical year and it often rains every day for weeks. There's much local terminology and humor about the rain, a 'soft day', for instance, is a damp one. Bring an umbrella when visiting Dublin. There are numerous musical, sporting and cultural events throughout the year. In March, the Dublin Film Festival is held, while October hosts the Dublin Theatre Festival. The Howth Jazz Festival is held on Easter Monday.
Places of interest
Trinity College
Trinity College is Ireland's prime university. It was founded in 1592 by Elizabeth I, who hoped its distance from the European continent would save its students from being 'infected with popery'. It is officially called the University of Dublin. It covers 16 hectares (40 acres) and it was the sole preserve of Protestants until 1793, although the Catholic Church forbade its youth from attending until 1970.
You can explore the grounds of Trinity College on your own, but tours are organized too. The highlight of a visit to the university is the famous Book of Kells. The magnificent illustrated manuscript dates from around 800 AD, making it one of the oldest books in the world. Around 500,000 people come to see the book every year, so expect extremely long queues in the peak tourist season. The book is behind glass and usually opened to an illustrated page and a page of text. Other interesting sights on the university grounds include the Library Long Room, the Reading Room and a 45-minute audiovisual display called The Dublin Experience. Trinity College is located south of the River Liffey, not far from Pearse Station.
Temple Bar
The Temple Bar area is officially regarded as Dublin's cultural center. The district contains a huge congregation of pubs and bars that turn the area into a party zone practically every night of the year. The term 'bar' does not refer to the drinking establishments in the area, but it is actually the historical term for a riverside walkway.
Before you have too many drinks, go to the western perimeter of Temple Bar and have a walk down Dublin's oldest thoroughfare, Fishamble Street. Fishamble was originally a Viking enclave and dwellings from this time were dug up in 1980. The mosaic that outlines the results of the excavation can be found by following the symbols in the pavement. At Parliament Street No. 4 you can find Read's Cutlers, which claims to be the oldest shop in Dublin. It has been in operation since the 1750's. In Eustace Street are several historic buildings, including the Presbyterian Meeting House, which dates from 1715. The maze of streets comprising Temple Bar lies between Dame Street and the river, west of College Green and the Bank of Ireland.
Phoenix Park
Phoenix Park measures a massive 700 hectares (1750 acres), making it twice as large as New York's central park for example. It contains a zoo, a castle, several sports pitches, various lakes and beautiful gardens. The park is of historical importance, as it was the site of the murder of the British chief secretary for Ireland, Lord Cavendish, by the Irish nationalist group of The Invincibles in 1882.
The park is home to the Dublin Zoo, which has a significant lion-breeding program and a well-regarded exhibit on African reptiles. The four-storey, 7th-century tower-house of Ashtown Castle is in the northwestern corner of the park, not far from the visitors' center. Between the castle and the zoo is the Aras an Uachtarain, the official residence of the Irish president. The sights in the park can be reached by bus No 10 from O'Connell Street, or bus No 25 or 26 from Abbey Street Middle.
Dublin Castle
Dublin Castle is on Cork Hill, next to Temple Bar in the center of the city. In was originally built on the orders of King John in 1204. Nowadays it is in use for government conferences and the only part of the original construction that survives is the Record Tower. The castle has been under siege in 1534 and at the end of the 16th century it was used as a prison. A fire nearly destroyed it in 1684.
The most interesting parts of the castle include the Portrait Gallery, the Wedgewood Room and the Royal Chapel with its beautiful Gothic interior. Dublin Castle is also home to the Chester Beatty Library, where you can see a large collection of Middle Eastern and Asian books. The castle is located behind the City Hall on Dame Street.
Guinness Hop Store
Tours of the St James's Gate Guinness Brewery are available in Dublin, but the public is not allowed into the brewery proper. The Guinness Hop Store, where the brewery has traditionally stored its hop supplies, is included in the tour. You can also visit a museum, which has an exhibition of Guinness items.
When visiting Irish pub; you'll indivertibly join conversations on what constitutes the perfect pint. Remember that the pint must be poured in Ireland, as close as possible to the St James's Gate brewery. It must be poured by an expert bartender who has mastered the technique for pulling the brew and, after half the Guinness has been consumed, there must be a residue of thick white foam in rings on the inside of the glass. You can check at the Guinness Hop Store how perfect the pints are there. Bus No 21A, 78 or 78A from Fleet Street all take you to the brewery.
Casino at Marino
Northeast of Dublin's city center, in the district of Marino, is the grand 18th-century 'summer home' of an eccentric earl, who tried to pretend he was still living in Italy. There are a dozen Tuscan columns in front of the building and its interior consists of a maze of rooms cluttered with fanciful architectural touches. The casino is located just off Malahide Road, north of the junction with Howth Road, but it's only casino in name and there's no gambling going on.
Other sights
There are many more interesting sights in Dublin. Some of the most important ones include the imposing Bank of Ireland, which was originally built to house the Irish Parliament and the Christ Church Cathedral, parts of which date back to the 11th century, when a wooden Danish church stood there. St Patrick's Cathedral is said to have been built on the site where St Patrick baptized his converts. According to different opinions it dates from 1190 or 1225.
For a good view of Dublin's fine Georgian buildings, you should go to the nine-hectare expanse of St Stephen's Green. The greenery sits right at the heart of the city. Other notable vantage points for spotting Georgian architecture include Merrion Square, Ely Place and Fitzwilliam Square.
Museum
The National Museum houses an enviable collection of treasures dating from the Bronze Age onwards. The National Gallery has particularly fine collections of Italian art and the Heraldic Museum is a good place to go if you are interested in tracing your Irish roots. The Dublin Civic Museum is also worth a visit.
Around Dublin
The scenic cathedral and market town of Kildare is about 45 km (28 miles) southwest of Dublin in County Kildare.
The town of Glendalough sits between two dark lakes in the marvelous Wicklow Mountains, some 25 km southwest of Dublin.
Other Activities
Dublin is a beautiful, ancient and compact city that can easily be explored on foot. As a result, there are many walking tours available. The city's wonderful parks, history-rich suburbs and the best Georgian architecture in the world, provide visitors with some of the best city walks in the world. There are many sport facilities in town as well. Some of the most important Irish sports are Hurling, a kind of aerial hockey and Gaelic Football. Most of Ireland's waters are very clean, so fishing is important throughout the country. The coastal areas of Howth and Dun Laoghaire are great sea-fishing spots. The River Liffey, which runs right through Dublin, has fair salmon fishing, while trout-fishers should head for Clane, 20km (12 miles) from the city center.
Many indoor activities are available as well, so you don't have to be bored on rainy days. There are countless art galleries, theatres and musical venues throughout the city, as well as libraries where you can enjoy Irish literature. During the night, many traditional pubs turn into seisiáns, where live music can be enjoyed.
Transportation
Dublin is home to Ireland's main international airport and countless international carriers, as well as the country's national airline of Aer Lingus, serve routes to most European cities and the United States. The connection London-Dublin is one of the busiest international air routes in the world. Domestic flights are available to Cork, Donegal, Galway, Kerry, Shannon and Sligo. Most flights within Ireland take between 30 and 40 minutes. The two main companies operating domestic routes are Aer Lingus and Ryanair.
Dublin Airport is 10 km (6 miles) north of the city center. Buses and taxis run between the two. The Airlink Express Coach is operated by the Dublin Bus company and runs to/from Busaras (the central bus station) every 20-30 minutes. The trip takes about half an hour. Buses 41 and 41A also ply the route. They are cheaper, but also much slower and the journey can take up to an hour.
Taxis are quite expensive, as they charge all sorts of extra costs, including baggage, extra passenger and 'unsocial hours' taxes. Make sure the meter is switched on, as some Dublin taxi drivers might try to rip you off.
Several Irish ports, including Dun Laoghaire, on the southern side of Dublin Bay, are served by ferries from Britain and France. Dun Laoghaire can be reached by DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transport) or bus. It is about 3 km (1.8 miles) walking from the city center.
Ireland's national bus line is Bus Eireann. The company serves most larger towns, including the ones in Northern Ireland. Bus tickets are generally cheaper than train fares. There are several railway stations in Dublin. Connolly station has trains going to Belfast, Derry, Sligo, Wexford and other places in the north of the country. Heuston station is the departure point for services to Cork, Galway, Killarney, Limerick, Waterford and other places to the west, south and southwest. Distances are fairly short in Ireland, but train fares are relatively high.
Dublin is best explored on foot, but a car is convenient if you want to explore towns around the city. Cars can be rented at many places throughout the city. Bicycles can be hired too, but you should be careful, as there are not many good biking lanes in Dublin. There are numerous guided and map-led walking tours in Dublin.
The DART connects the suburbs north and south of the city center.
Accommodation and food
Southeast of the city center is the upmarket Ballsbridge area, where many of Dublin's B&Bs are located. Other accommodation is scattered over the city, although there is a congregation of hostels around O'Connell Street, north of the Liffey River. Generally the neater, cleaner and more expensive places are south of the river. Keep in mind that in July and August, prices soar and accommodation is hard to come by. During the summer it's best to book ahead. The area just north of the river is packed with restaurants of all types.