This is purely a personal view. See last week’s blogpost for our general impressions. I have not given any details of locations, etc; it’s all easy enough to find.
St Michan’s Church The church itself is rather dour, but pay the money and take the tour of the crypt. It’s informative and entertaining- and there are mummies.
Along the River Liffey Four Courts features attractive architecture but is probably not worth a detour to see; however the Custom House is well worth a look, especially from the river.
Christ Church Cathedral (Entrance fee) This Anglican church is interesting if you like churches (we do). There is a mummified cat chasing a mouse in the crypt. Really. But see comments about St Patrick’s.
Civic Hall Don’t miss this. It’s got a most beautiful dome inside, and it’s free. There is an exhibition which we didn’t see.
Immaculate Heart of Mary Church Only people like us would go to see this…. It’s quiet and unassuming. A little refuge of peace.
Post Office This is famous, a big centre of modern history. We of course didn’t see the exhibition, but looked inside (free) at the lovely Post Office counters and ceilings.
Remembrance Memorial This is to commemorate all those killed in the 1916 Easter Rising. It’s another little oasis in a busy city.
Dublin City Gallery- The Hugh Lane It’s free; it’s got nice rooms; it’s not too huge. Best of all, at the moment it’s got the wonderful Renoir ‘Les Parapluies’ among other very pleasant things. The café wasn’t really us; it felt a bit upmarket, or would like to be.
National Archaeological Museum (Free) This is great: one of our top places to visit. It’s got fascinating finds from Ireland and further afield; shoes, clothes, gold and so on and so on. It’s in a beautiful galleried hall, faintly reminiscent of the Pitt Rivers in Oxford.
National Gallery (Free) This was also a favourite. It’s large, with high, clean modern galleries and also a lovely older part, with fantastic decorated ceilings. It has a very good collection, with some lovely work by Irish artists unnown to us, and a good representation of female artists. To cap it all is a nice little Monet.
Trinity College We are reliably informed that the library and the Book of Kells are unmissable. We missed them, because of cost and because we had Miss O. with us. The grounds are undeniably pretty.
St Patrick’s Cathedral This is another very popular attraction. Attraction? Well, the spiritualism of the place is largely lost during the tourist visiting times. It’s a worthwhile visit for the lovely architecture, Dean Swift’s pulpit…. actually that’s not very lovely, but it’s just that the famously satirical author stood and preached there. For hours, apparently. There’s also a great monument to the family of Robert Boyle, the great scientist. Well, I’ve heard of him.
St Stephen’s Green An attractive space, with some lovely Georgian terraces to the South. Even further South is the Grand Canal (and the statue of Patrick Kavanagh if you’re interested). It’s all well worth a wander. St Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre is also an amazing building.
Powerscourt Townhouse Shopping Centre is amazing: an old Georgian townhouse, with lovely ceilings and spaces, converted into a rather upmarket shopping centre. Nearby the St George’s Arcade is worth a wander through.
We really liked the Gallery of Photography (free) in Meeting House Square.
Briefly we also liked:
St Aodan’s Church, the centre of the Polish Catholic community;
The outside of Richard’s Hospital;
Merrion Square, which is a pleasant green square, with a strange statue of Oscar Wilde.
There is also, amazingly, a statue of Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy which is strangely moving, with odd flowers from the nearby stalls and plectrums tucked under the strings of his bass.
As well as the aforementioned Custom House the docks feature some brutal modern architecture with no regard to the buildings around, old or modern. Whoops. A tram ride to the end of the line shows these well.
There’s loads more to see, and looking at the guide book we missed things I would have been interested in. For example Kilmainham Gaol This was the one that got away; it was fully booked. We are assured it’s worth a visit by no less than my brother. Book online. Guinness and Jameson’s? If you must.
The open top bus tours, as I said last week, are a great way of orienting yourself.
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