 | By Mike Gerrard
| By day or by night, Dublin's Temple Bar buzzes. Its narrow streets on the right bank of the River Liffey are packed with restaurants, galleries, design studios, a museum, a cinema centre, music venues, fashionable apartments, nightclubs and pubs. As Mike Gerrard reports, Sir William Temple bought this land in the 17th century. After flourishing as a red-light district and, later, as an area for small businesses, it was run-down by the 1960s. There were plans to flatten it and turn it into a bus station. Thankfully it was preserved, and today is the most fashionable and funky district in the city. |
| Start at O'Connell Bridge.
Named for Daniel O'Connell, the Irish freedom fighter and hero, this bridge across the Liffey is the hub of central Dublin.
Walk west along Aston Quay, on the south side of the river, until you reach Ha'penny Bridge.
Built in 1816, the graceful cast-iron Ha'penny Bridge takes its name from the toll that was once charged to cross it: half of an old penny.
Turn left here under Merchant's Arch into Temple Bar itself.
The 'Bar' in Temple Bar doesn't refer to a pub, or anything to do with the law: it's an old Irish word for a riverside path.
Turn right into Temple Bar Square and walk diagonally across. |
| Temple Bar Square is a place to hang out, with buskers to entertain shoppers and tourists who pause to rest...
Walk down Fownes Street Lower, from the Square's southwest corner. Turn right on Cecilia Street, then left and then right down Curved Street.
On your right, is Temple Bar Music Centre, a performing venue and recording studio where you usually see teenagers waiting outside, queuing for concerts, hoping for a glimpse of the latest 'boy bands', or just lazing around.
At the end of Curved Street is Eustace Street.
To your right is the Ark, a children's arts center where there are always fun activities going on, though you normally need to book in advance. To the left is the Irish Film Centre, with a café and bookshop, as well as an independent movie house. |
| Walk straight on, down the narrow street beside the Ark into Meeting House Square.
Meeting House Square is the heart of Temple Bar. Named after a Quaker Meeting House, it is still very much a meeting place today. In summer, the back wall of the Ark becomes a movie screen for open-air shows, or a small stage for all kinds of live performances. There's a Saturday organic food market, a couple of restaurants, the Gallery of Photography and the National Photographic Archive.
Walk past the National Photographic Archive on the north side of the square, and turn left along Essex Street East.
On your right is the DESIGNyard, a wonderful showcase for contemporary Irish crafts. Keep walking and further along on the right is an entrance to the Clarence Hotel. Bought by U2 in 1992 and refurbished into a deluxe hotel, visiting rock stars and other celebrities stay here (see our article).
Turn right on Parliament Street and return to the quays along the Liffey. |
| |
|
