Lit in Dublin

When I thought of the title, I had to post about our Dublin trip. 

Pubs. Poets. Music. Chat. History. Architecture. Street Art. Lots of Walking. But mostly pubs and poets. Lit.

Dublin grew on me slowly over our four-day visit. It started slow, with some trepidation and worries of being let down. My expectations were probably sky-high. But gradually, she works her magic on you, with her quiet, unpretentious charm.

Our hotel was in what I would call a transitional area. I imagine a lot of Dublin often feels transitional. It's fortunes seem to always be either peaking or plunging. It's currently on a downward slide and the economy seems strained. Everything is expensive, but the town is shabby in many places.  Tourists and (seemingly downtrodden) townies rub shoulders in both fancy and grubby neighbourhoods. It's not a clean city like some in Europe, but then there are blocks of gleaming glass office blocks.

Low-key is the phrase that I think best describes ALL the people I saw on our visit. No one was dressed to the nines, even in the evening. I remember hearing about the Irish habit of taking the piss out of anyone who dared to change up their dress, usually with a nickname that could stick for a lifetime!

 

 

Pubs

The Palace Bar (twice), Cobblestones (trad music), Davy Byrnes (lunch), Meaghers at O'Connell Bridge (lunch). 

So many pubs I wanted to visit but didn't have the time - there was too much to do to be completely pissed the whole time. Next time...

I did make it to the Liberty Belle for a drink and a sit and to soak up the feel of the place in this Liberty neighbourhood pub made infamous by Fontaines DC.

 

 

 

 

 

Poets

...and playwrights and novelists.

I visited many sites tied to WB Yeats and Seamus Heaney, but I also saw places associated with Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, Bram Stoker and Sheridan Le Fanu. And of course, nods to the importance of James Joyce are all around. 

Scores of literary and musical (and political) figures are commemorated by bridges and statues and the like: Samuel Beckett, Jonathan Swift and Joyce, Brendan Behan, Patrick Kavanagh, Luke Kelly of the Dubliners, Phil Lynott and many, many more.

Music

Ireland has music running through its DNA. From the traditional music spilling out of its pubs on the daily, to its outsized contribution to popular music. 

My main goal on visiting Dublin was to experience live trad music in a pub and it was glorious. I chose The Cobblestone in Smithfield to break my cherry and it was so impressed by the music, the people and the atmosphere. 

I've also been a big fan of Fontaines DC since first seeing them live in late 2018, prior to the release of their solo album. I always check out openers and did so when I was due to see Shame. I loved the singles I heard so much, my friend and I got to the show early enough to catch them as the 1st opener, with a handful of other lucky souls. I saw them a couple more times as headliners before Covid shut show-going down. I'm thrilled for their well-deserved success, but may not see them again as the venues they now command are bigger and less intimate than I like. Their first album, Dogrel, is completely immersed in Dublin, and includes many references to locations around town. I couldn't resist following these musical steps from The Liberty Belle to The Lotts and Moore Street. The album was my soundtrack as I walked the city solo on Day 4 of our trip, while my partner was at work.

"Dublin in the rain is mine" even coincided with a brief shower I was caught in. 

Chat

Dublin was much friendlier than I anticipated. The bartenders are world-class, almost to a one. I haven't had such admiration for my own former trade since visiting Cuba. 

History - from the Famine to Easter 1916 

Many buildings, parks and sculptures throughout Dublin can be stumbled upon or sought out, covering its often dramatic and tumultuous history. 

From the Easter Rising locations to plaques on famous literary and cultural homes to famine statues and museum.

The bullet holes on the Post Office building on O'Connell Street are worth looking for to really bring home the reality of  Dublin during April,1916.

 

  

 Architecture

I had high hopes for the Georgian neighbourhoods when I saw them on the map. But they are beyond understated, compared to Bath, the place that springs to mind when I think of Georgian houses. There are some mostly intact streets and squares of Georgian townhouses in Dublin, but they are red brick and plain, boasting only colourful and showy doors and with their pilasters and fanlights. Perhaps the doors are so renowned because very little in Dublin is showy, including the people.

My favourite anecdote about the doors: when Queen Victoria was about to visit Dublin, the city asked all residents to paint their doors black, out of respect for the queen's mourning of Prince Albert. And what greeted the old queen upon her arrival? A city with many newly painted doors in bright blue, green, yellow and red. This is only one of many, probably apocryphal, explanations in circulation, but I love it.

 

Street Art

Dublin has embraced street art in many forms, but predominantly murals.

Traffic light junction boxes. Over 750 formerly grey traffic light junction boxes have been painted under a scheme run by Dublin's councils, transforming a drab necessity into a small moment of joy when you spy another one.

Subset is an artist collective responsible for many city murals. Horseboy:

Sinead O'Connor:

 James Joyce quote from 'Finnegan's Wake':