Things to do in Ireland
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Blue Note
This jazzy pub-cum-dance-bar has a great summer beer garden and usually no cover charge.
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Falls Road Republican Murals
The first republican murals appeared in 1981, when the hunger strike at the Maze prison saw the emergence of dozens of murals supporting the hunger strikers. In later years republican muralists broadened their scope to cover wider political issues, Irish legends and historical events. After the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, the murals came to demand police reform and the protection of nationalists from sectarian attacks.
Common images seen in republican murals include the phoenix rising from the flames (symbolising Ireland reborn from the flames of the 1916 Easter Rising), the face of hunger striker Bobby Sands, and scenes and figures from Irish mythology. Common slogan…
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Narosa Life
Offers surf lessons, yoga and fitness classes, as well as guided walks of Muckish Mountain and Horn Head.
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Guinness Storehouse
; St James's) The most popular visit in town is the beer-lover's Disneyland, a multimedia bells-and-whistles homage to the country's most famous export and the city's most enduring symbol. The old grain storehouse, the only part of the massive, 26-hectare St James's Gate Brewery open to the public, is a suitable cathedral in which to worship the black gold; shaped like a giant pint of Guinness, it rises seven impressive storeys high around a stunning central atrium. At the top is the head, represented by the Gravity Bar, with a panoramic view of Dublin.
From the time Arthur Guinness (1725–1803) founded the brewery in 1759, the operation has expanded down to the Liffey and …
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Sixty6
This swanky New York–style brasserie is one of the most popular party-dinner spots in town – the kind of place at which you’d want to celebrate your birthday with friends. It does a mean rotisserie chicken, four different ways at any given time. Besides its signature dish, the meat-heavy menu features things like lamb shank and a particularly good bit of liver. For that special occasion, there’s a whole roast pig, but you need to order seven days in advance and be in a group of eight.
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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 at Dublin’s favourite lunchtime escape is the warden chucking you off the green for playing football or Frisbee.
The buildings around the square date mainly from the mid-18th century, when the green was landscaped and became the centrepiece of Georgian Dublin. The northern side was k…
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Cave Hill
The best way to get a feel for Belfast's natural setting is to view it from above. In the absence of a private aircraft, head for Cave Hill (368m) which looms over the northern fringes of the city. The view from its summit takes in the whole sprawl of the city, the docks and the creeping fingers of urbanisation along the shores of Belfast Lough. On a clear day you can even spot Scotland lurking on the horizon.
The hill was originally called Ben Madigan, after the 9th-century Ulster king, Matudhain. Its distinctive, craggy profile, seen from the south, has been known to locals for two centuries as 'Napoleon's Nose' - it supposedly bears some resemblance to Bonaparte's hoot…
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Old Library
To the south of the square is the Old Library, built in a rather severe style by Thomas Burgh between 1712 and 1732. Despite Ireland’s independence, the Library Act of 1801 still entitles Trinity College Library, along with four libraries in Britain, to a free copy of every book published in the UK. Housing this bounty requires nearly another 1km of shelving every year and the collection amounts to around 4.5 million books. Of course, these cannot all be kept at the college library, so there are now additional library storage facilities dotted around Dublin.
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Café en Seine
A tidy jazz band for Sunday brunch and some Big Band Swing on Monday nights fill out the musical menu at one of Dublin’s biggest and most wildly extravagant bars. The Belle Epoque décor make it easy to imagine that you’re actually at one of F Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald’s decadent parties.
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Rock of Cashel
The Rock of Cashel is one of Ireland's most spectacular archaeological sites. The 'Rock' is a prominent green hill, banded with limestone outcrops. It rises from a grassy plain on the edge of the town and bristles with ancient fortifications – the word 'cashel' is an anglicised version of the Irish word caiseal, meaning 'fortress'. Sturdy walls circle an enclosure that contains a complete round tower, a 13th century Gothic cathedral and the finest 12th-century Romanesque chapel in Ireland. For more than 1000 years the Rock of Cashel was a symbol of power and the seat of kings and churchmen who ruled over the region. In the 4th century the Rock of Cashel was chosen as a …
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Gravediggers (aka Kavanagh’s)
The gravediggers from the adjacent Glasnevin Cemetery had a secret serving hatch so that they could drink on the job – hence the pub’s nickname. Founded in 1833 by one John Kavanagh and still in the family, this pub is one of the best in Ireland, virtually unchanged in 150 years. In summer time the green of the square is full of drinkers basking in the sun, while inside the hardened locals ensure that ne’er a hint of sunshine disturbs some of the best Guinness in town. An absolute classic.
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Yamamori Sushi
Sushi arrives on the northside and immediately proves successful, but that's hardly surprising considering that its southside sister has been doing the Japanese thang with great aplomb for a very long time. The menus in both are largely the same, but we prefer this newer location – right on the river – because it's just that little bit more airy and spacious. The bento boxes are a popular choice – especially at lunchtime – but we really just can't get enough of the Nami Moriawase (€25).
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Diep le Shaker
Diep le Shaker is a modern, light-filled space that is tucked down an alley off prestigious Pembroke St. It is popular with the local business crowd, establishment movers and shakers, and people generally consumed by their own self-importance. It’s the ugly side of the Celtic Tiger. The predominantly Thai grub is inventive and excellent, but you get the impression you’re paying for the company and it ain’t worth it.
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Kylemore Abbey
A few kilometres east of Letterfrack stands Kylemore Abbey. Magnificently situated on the shores of a lake, this crenulated 19th-century neo-Gothic fantasy was built for a wealthy English businessman, Mitchell Henry, who spent his honeymoon in Connemara. His wife died tragically young.
Admission also covers the abbey's Victorian walled gardens. You can stroll around the lake and surrounding woods for free.
Kylemore's tranquillity is shattered in high summer with the arrival of dozens of tour coaches per day, each one followed through the gates by an average of 50 cars (yes, over 2500 cars a day).
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Kilmainham Gaol
If you have any desire to understand Irish history – especially the juicy bits about resistance to English rule – then a visit to this former prison is an absolute must. This threatening grey building, built between 1792 and 1795, has played a role in virtually every act of Ireland's painful path to independence.
The uprisings of 1798, 1803, 1848, 1867 and 1916 ended with the leaders' confinement here. Robert Emmet, Thomas Francis Meagher, Charles Stewart Parnell and the 1916 Easter Rising leaders were all visitors, but it was the executions in 1916 that most deeply etched the jail's name into the Irish consciousness. Of the 15 executions that took place between 3 May …
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Blarney Castle
Dating from 1446, Blarney Castle is a tower house built on solid limestone in wonderful grounds that are ideal for a picnic. Someone will soon talk you into kissing the Blarney Stone, a custom invented fairly recently, though Blarney's association with the gift of the gab goes back a long time.
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Winding Stair
This Dublin institution has simple décor and warm atmosphere along with an excellent wine list and wonderful Irish menu – creamy fish pie, bacon and organic cabbage, steamed mussels or Irish farmyard cheeses – all prepared with much TLC.
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Monroe’s Tavern
Often photographed for its classic, world-weary facade, Monroe’s delivers traditional music and ballads, plus it remains the only pub in the city with regular Irish dancing. A pizza joint buried within turns out good pies.
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Newgrange
From the surface, Newgrange is a somewhat disappointing flattened, grass-covered mound, about 80m in diameter and 13m high. Underneath, however, lies the finest Stone Age passage tomb in Ireland and one of the most remarkable prehistoric sites in Europe. It dates from around 3200 BC, predating the great pyramids of Egypt by some six centuries. The purpose for which it was constructed remains uncertain. It may have been a burial place for kings or a centre for ritual – although the alignment with the sun at the time of the winter solstice also suggests it was designed to act as a calendar. The name Newgrange derives from ‘new granary’ (the tomb did in fact serve as a re…
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Bloody Sunday Memorial
A simple granite obelisk that commemorates the 14 civilians who were shot dead by the British Army on 30 January 1972. Bloody Sunday tragically echoed Dublin's Bloody Sunday of November 1920. Derry's Bloody Sunday was a turning point in the history of the Troubles. On Sunday 30 January 1972, the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association organised a peaceful march through Derry in protest against internment without trial, which had been introduced by the British government the previous year.
Some 15,000 people marched from Creggan through the Bogside towards the Guildhall, but were stopped by British Army barricades at the junction of William and Rossville Sts. The main ma…
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National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts & History
Known colloquially as Collins Barracks, the decorative arts and history annexe of the National Museum of Ireland is housed in one of the most beautiful buildings in the whole city, built in 1704 on the orders of Queen Anne and at one time the largest military barracks in the world. At its heart is the huge central square surrounded by arcaded colonnades and blocks linked by walking bridges. While wandering about the plaza, imagine it holding up to six regiments in formation. The whole shebang is the work of Thomas Burgh (1670–1730), who also designed the Old Library in Trinity College and St Michan's Church.
Inside the imposing exterior lies a treasure trove of artefacts…
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Peace Line
There are steel gates that mark the beginning of the so-called Peace Line, the 6m-high wall of corrugated steel, concrete and chain link that has divided the Protestant and Catholic communities of West Belfast for almost 40 years. Begun in 1970 as a 'temporary measure', it has now outlasted the Berlin Wall, and zigzags for some 4km from the Westlink to the lower slopes of Black Mountain. These days the gates in the wall remain open during the day, but most are still closed from 17:00 to 08:00.
There are now more than 20 such barriers in Belfast, and a total of more than 40 throughout Northern Ireland, the most visible sign of the divisions that have scarred the province f…
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National 1798 Rebellion Centre
A visit here before climbing Vinegar Hill greatly enhances its impact. The centre's exhibits cover the French and American revolutions that sparked Wexford's abortive uprising against British rule in Ireland, before chronicling what was one of the most bloodthirsty battles of the 1798 Rebellion, and a turning point in the struggle. A month later, English troops attacked and forced the rebels to retreat, massacring hundreds of women and children in the 'follow-up' operation. Interactive displays include a chessboard with pieces representing key figures in the Rising, and a multiscreen recreation of the finale atop a virtual Vinegar Hill. From Abbey Sq walk out of town alon…
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Original Belfast Black Taxi Tours
Black-taxi tours of West Belfast's murals - known locally as the 'bombs and bullets' or 'doom and gloom' tours - are being offered by an increasing number of taxi companies and local cabbies. These can vary in quality and content, but in general they're an intimate and entertaining way to see the sights and can be customised to suit your own interests. There are also historical taxi tours of the city centre.
For a one-hour tour expect to pay around £25 total for one or two people, and around £8 per person for three to six. Call and they will pick you up anywhere in the city centre. A recommended company is Original Belfast Black Taxi Tours.
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Tea Rooms
Designed to resemble a church, the Clarence’s Tea Rooms are spacious with a soaring ceiling and double-height windows, flooding the room with natural light. Appropriately, Mathieu Melin’s innovative menu commands respect, with an ambitious marriage of classic French cuisine and typically Irish produce. How about traditional Cork city crubeens (pig’s trotters), soft quail eggs and potato salad topped with mustard dressing followed by chartreuse of red leg partridge, smoked sausage, savoy cabbage and carrot, and juniper flavoured jus? The three-course Market Menu, available before 8pm Monday to Thursday, is excellent value at €39.
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