DUBLIN - A NEW LOOK
 If
you haven't been to Dublin for several years, there are plentiful reasons for taking
another look.
Reg Butler started his trip with a classic bus tour operated by rival brands of
Hop-on/Hop-off open-top double-decker buses that circulate every 15 minutes.
The full
circuit takes 80 minutes, with up to 25 stops along the way at sightseeing highlights. Get on,
or get off, whenever you like through the day. The cost is 15 euros.
Along that circuit, nothing has changed, including the drivers' Irish jokes that they've
hammed up several times a day over the past decade. During the circuit, they're guaranteed
to sing Dublin's national anthem - Molly Malone - in thickest possible Irish accent. It's
a fun tour, played for laughs
Travel Facts
Visit our holidays,
breaks and travel options pages
TRAVEL FACTS
Getting there: low-cost Ryanair flights from a dozen UK airports, bookable by internet or
phone.
Ask your travel agent about weekend packages by air or sea.
More information: Ireland Tourism, Nations House, 103 Wigmore Street, London
W1U 1QS. Tel: 0800 039
7000;
Best Buy is the Dublin Pass giving free entrance to the 30 leading
attractions, and discounts on shopping, restaurants and tours. Cost is
49 euros for 2 days, 59 euros for 3 days, 89 euros for 6 days.
Dublin Tourism Centre is located in the converted St Andrew's Church at Suffolk Street
near Trinity College. Very helpful for sightseeing advice and accommodation reservations.
Tel:(uk)
0800 039 7000
Website: www.visit
dublin.com
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En route, the most popular stop is the Guinness Storehouse which tells the 250-year story
of Ireland's best-known export. "I'm driving you all to drink," says the bus
driver, when most of his passengers alight.
The revamped Guinness Experience now rises up to Gravity - the roof-top bar with a superb
panoramic view over Dublin and a complimentary pint. But it costs 14 euros to enter,
unless you get a discount for being a Hop-off visitor, or enter free with a
Dublin Card.
On the ground floor is the company's flagship store with a
range of funky Guinness merchandise. You can buy a T-shirt and have the pleasure of
walking around advertising Guinness.
In total contrast, another stop-off point is Merrion Square for those interested in
Georgian architecture, art or an outside view of Ireland's Parliament.
The National Gallery has expanded with an award-winning Millennium Wing that adds another one-third space
to the original. Entrance free.
Merrion Square is Dublin's finest Georgian district, where every house keeps its external
style from when Ireland's most famous names lived here. Blue plaques give their names and
dates - from Oscar Wilde to Daniel O'Connell and W.B. Yeats, with the Duke of Wellington
around the corner.
Oscar Wilde's boyhood home has become the American College Dublin, while his memorial
statue reclines in languid pose beneath trees in the gardens opposite. Most of the
buildings are now occupied by professional offices.
Every year new hotels spring up throughout the capital. But I sampled something of the
Georgian life-style by staying in neighbouring Fitzwilliam Street, where a boutique hotel
called Longfields has been converted from the original aristocratic residence. My room
featured a four-poster and antique decorations. A tiny restaurant in the basement has a
gourmet rating.
Just along the street is Number Twenty Nine, a restored
middle-class house of the late 18th century. Visitors can capture the atmosphere of
Upstairs-Downstairs of 200 years ago, when servants were cheap.
Today that's all changed. Dublin is bursting with prosperity at all social levels. The
republic has been humming for years with stunning economic growth. More people of Irish
origin return to Eire than emigrate. As a result, Dublin is exposed to trendy ideas from
New York, Sydney or elsewhere.
 Dublin
today is a very cosmopolitan city, with coffee-bars and restaurants of every imaginable
national cuisine, from Thai and Chinese, to Mexican, Russian, Japanese and Indian. It's
hard to find any eating place serving a traditional Irish stew or "Cockles and
mussels alive, alive-oh." But no continental country can match the traditional full
Irish breakfast of bacon, black pudding, eggs and properly-made tea!
Much of the catering business is staffed by workers from everywhere in the world, from
China to the Philippines or the Baltic States. Younger hotel staff may come from France,
Germany or Thailand - all adding English-speaking experience to their CVs as they gain
work experience around the world.
Meanwhile, the famous pubs are crowded every night. You're not regarded as a wimp if you
order a glass of wine instead of a pint. But "the black stuff" still remains the
prime pub drink that triggers the wild conversation and laughter. It's one of the great
joys of Ireland.
Sooner or later most visitors migrate to the narrow cobbled streets of Temple Bar -
formerly an area of decrepit warehouses, due for demolition and rebirth in steel, concrete
and glass.
Instead, the district has matured as the Cultural Quarter, full of restaurants, pubs and
night clubs. Shops sell everything from old books and records to oddities of dress,
collectibles, and craft giftware. You can be tattooed in Zulu style.
From Temple Bar, pedestrians cross the River Liffey on the landmark Ha'penny Bridge, which
has now been refurbished with dazzling white railings, granite paving and new lighting.
The city also makes better use of the scenic Liffey waterfront wit h a Millennium Boardwalk for riverside relaxation.
Likewise O'Connell Street has been rejuvenated, with something called The Spire where
Nelson's Pillar used to stand, and a Plaza in front of the General Post Office where on Easter Sunday
1916 the uprising took place. The shrapnel holes are still preserved.
Read about these other areas of Ireland
BLARNEY -
enjoying the talk in Counties Cork and Kerry
DUBLIN - Pub-crawling for
literature
IRELAND WEST COAST -
Coach-touring the west
IRELAND - TRALEE TRA-LA to Dingle Bay
"Books to read - click on cover pictures" or
click on the links below"Festival of Irish
Music" - a two-disc collection of tracks by varied artists, including The
Dubliners. A good memento of evenings out in Dublin's favourite taverns.
"Lonely
Planet: Dublin" - a detailed guide to the city, including a good
selection of walking tours; and where to go for all the lively evening enjoyment.
"Literary
Guide to Dublin" by Vivien Igoe - describes the association of so many famed
writers with Dublin, from Jonathan Swift to modern times. Helpful in following
--their
literary trail around the city.
Dublin
by Edward Rutherford - A massive but very readable account, 1215 pages,
stretching back into history in great detail.
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