Dublin is situated at the mouth of River Liffey and divided into two parts by the river. This Irish capital is a mixture of medieval Viking culture and urbanized cosmopolitan. The medieval churches, museums, galleries, Georgian streets have always attracted writers, authors, painter, artists and obviously many tourist too. Having had the Viking as well as the Georgian era, Dublin has the best of both these diverse cultures.
1. Guinness Storehouse
Guinness and Ireland has to go in sync. You shouldn’t be leaving the city without a trip to Guinness. Guinness is the popular and magnificent beer brand going strong since years world wide. The storehouse will show you the history of Guinness and let you discover what goes into making each and every pint of this incredible brand. You can also enjoy tasting samples of the most popular variants here. This seven floor amazing building will also give you a full 360° view of the city. The level five has restaurants and cafes with some of the best Irish cuisines.
2. Phoenix Park
The largest urban park of Dublin is spread over some 707 hectares. There are large areas of grassland, tree lined avenues, monuments and it also encloses the Dublin Zoo, Papal Cross, People’s Garden, Deerfield residence and Magazine fort. Dublin zoo is one of the oldest zoos in the world and is a home to 400 animals and around 100 species. The Deerfield residence is a home to the American Ambassador of USA to Ireland. You can surely spend an entire day here exploring all the sites at the Phoenix park without getting board.
3. St Patrick’s Cathedral
The Cathedral is a part of Ireland since 800 years. It is the tallest and the largest church of Ireland. The Cathedral was built in the memory of Ireland’s patron saint (the protecting or guiding saint of a person or place) Saint Patrick. The place treats the visitors with compelling cultural beauty. There are number of national ceremonies held at the cathedral every year. The cathedral has medieval Dublin architecture for site-seeing.
4. National Gallery Of Ireland
The gallery houses the national collection of Irish and European art. It has more than 15000 works by some of the notable artists. There are free guided tours of the permanent collections every weekend. You can also borrow the audio guides of selected collections if you wish to tour alone or on weekdays. Apart from touring and exploring, there are free lectures and workshops too for those who wish take a gist of artistry. There is a huge shop in the Millennium wing with wide range of books related to various aspects of art.
5. Grafton Street
After the site seeing time for some shopping at Ireland’s most famous shopping street. You will find the most varied choices of street fashion at affordable prices. Grafton street lets you explore some of the best Irish and International delights, both for fashion and crafts ware. There are many retail stores, cafes, restaurants, antique jewellery stores, ceramics and many more high street shopping options. Grafton street is pedestrianized since 1971. There is Dublin tourist center too offering a range of traditional books, clothes and crafts.
6. Dublin Castle
Today it is the major Irish government complex which was until 1922 the seat of the UK government’s administration in Ireland. It is used for official occasions such as the state dinners and inauguration of Ireland’s President. It is very popular among the tourist and is open on all days. It is located on the ridge at the junction of River Liffey and its tributary The Puddle. There are state apartments in the southern range, then there is St Patrick’s hall, throne room, state drawing room and many other places for tourist viewing.
