Pur sendo uma metrópole, o que chama a atenção em Dublin, capital da Irlanda, é a vida cotidiana ordenada, embora movimentada, que se respira lá: apesar de contar com mais de um milhão de habitantes incluindo a região metropolitana, Dublin dá a impressão de ser um lugar acolhedor e pouco caótico.
The busiest area, especially on the weekend, is Temple Bar, a historic and famous district of Dublin rich in pubs and various venues. Every Friday the party explodes here with lots of music bands everywhere and plenty of beer.
A few steps from these lively streets stands the Dublin Castle, the city’s old castle which, despite being in the very center, seems to confine the outside noises beyond its walls. Visitors are welcomed by a very green garden that leads to the actual entrance. Various rooms of the Castle can be visited, depending however on the institutional commitments planned that might require the closure of various wings of the structure. You cannot leave before admiring the rich exhibition of the Chester Beatty Library, always inside the fortress.
When it comes to museums, Dublin holds its own remarkably well with the Irish Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery, the National Museum, the Writer’s Museum, or the Natural History Museum. To get an overview of Dublin’s history, on Dame Street there is the City Hall, an example of Georgian architecture and a place where the city’s history is told through permanent exhibitions.
Not far from here is the Trinity College, Dublin’s university where you can visit the ancient library and the Book of Kells, a finely illuminated manuscript decorated by Irish monks, containing the Latin translation of the four Gospels.
A stop in the Trinity College gardens and then you can visit the statue of Molly Malone to begin a walk along Grafton Street, the shopping street of Dublin.
Also worth admiring are the churches, two of which are particularly important: the Christchurch Cathedral, Anglican, is the oldest building in Dublin; just a few hundred meters more and you find yourself in front of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, also Protestant, even larger and surrounded by gardens and flowers.
Continuing towards this urban area, you can easily reach the Guinness Storehouse, the factory that produces the famous dark beer. Visitors can tour the six floors that make up the route, at the end of which they can enjoy a pint in the Gravity Bar, the venue surrounded by windows that crowns the Guinness tower and offers a breathtaking 360° view of Dublin.
You can also visit what remains of the historic distillery of Jameson, the company that produces the famous whiskey. It’s time to return to Temple Bar, guided by the light in the sky from the Spire on O’Connell Street, the largest street in Dublin. From here you can head to the banks of the River Liffey which divides the city into north and south sides; the most characteristic bridge connecting the two areas is the Ha’penny bridge: on one side is Temple Bar, on the other the lively neighborhood rich in small shops selling music, clothing, food from every culture, and very picturesque and characteristic fruit and flower markets.
For nature lovers, the Phoenix Park is wonderful, a huge park within which is the Dublin Zoo and lots of greenery, all to be experienced. Very special and at times poetic is the Dublin Bay, about which James Joyce also wrote extensively, whose statue is visible along O’Connell Street.
Even the Docks, the port area that is changing face in favor of brand new modern buildings, offers characteristic glimpses… who knows for how much longer, considering the speed at which the construction is happening!
