Showing 1-6 of 6 results
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Garden for the Blind
The centre of St Stephen's Green has a garden for the blind, complete with signs in Braille and plants that can be handled. There is also a statue of the Three Fates, presented to Dublin in 1956 by West Germany in gratitude for Irish aid after WWII. In the corner closest to the Shelbourne Hotel is a monument to Wolfe Tone, the leader of the abortive 1798 invasion; the vertical slabs serving as a backdrop to Wolfe Tone's statue have been dubbed 'Tonehenge'.
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Garden Of Remembrance
This rather austere little park was opened by President Eamon de Valera in 1966 for the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising. It is still known to some Dubs as the 'Garden of Mature Recollection', mocking the linguistic gymnastics employed by former favourite for president, Brian Lenihan, who was caught out lying in a minor political scandal and used the phrase to try and wiggle his way out of it.
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National Botanic Gardens
This 19.5-hectare treasure is a delightful blend of exoticism and tousled gentility. Although only established in 1795, the area was used as a garden long before it was christened so, and the area of Yew Walk (Addison's Walk) features trees dating back to the first half of the 18th century.
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Phoenix Park Visitor Centre
In the north of the park, near the Ashtown Gate, this visitor centre occupies what were the stables of the papal nunciature, and explores the wildlife and history of the park through film and two floors of exhibits. Visitors are also taken on a tour of the adjacent four-storey Ashtown Castle, a 17th-century tower-house that was concealed inside the later building of the papal nunciature and was only 'discovered' when the latter was demolished in 1986.
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St Stephen's Green
As you watch the assorted groups of friends, lovers and individuals escaping the confines of the office, splaying themselves across the nine elegantly landscaped hectares of St Stephen's Green and looking to catch a few rays of precious sun, consider that those same hectares once formed a common for public whippings, burnings and hanging. These days, the harshest treatment you'll get in Dublin's favourite lunchtime escape is the warden chucking you off the green for playing football or Frisbee.
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Strawberry Beds
Running alongside the northern banks of the Liffey between the villages of Chapelizod and Lucan, roughly along the western edge of the Phoenix Park, is the Strawberry Beds, so-called on account of the fruits once grown here and sold along the side of the road. Before the days of flight, it was a popular honeymoon destination for Dubliners; the Chapelizod end was Joyce's favourite spot for contemplating the Liffey.
Showing 1-6 of 6 results
