|
Dublin
can claim to be one of the most beautifully situated of
the world's capitals, located in the wide plain overlooked
by the legendary Wicklow Mountains and facing a broad
sweeping bay that leads into the Irish Sea. The city has
a population of a million people which is about a third
of the total population of the country. Dublin is the
centre of government, commerce and industry and it is
also to seaport at the moment of the River Liffey. The
original small settlement was named Ath Cliath, which
means a "ford of hurdles" or the "Hurdle ford" and was
located near the mouth of the River Poddle on piles of
stones. at the point where the Poddle met the Liffey a
black pool (or "dubh-linn") emerged. It was with the coming
of the Vikings in 841 that Dublin had start as a town.
Dublin is a city for walkers, talkers and a city where
the people are as worth watching as the architecture.
Moore Street is a thriving street market off Henry Street.
The women here with their prams and battered baby carriages
filled high with a variety of fruit, toys or bric-a-brac,
are descendants of the infamous Molly Malone, a streeet
trader of the 18th Century. The street traders today,
as then, are renowned for the food humour, loud voices
and sharp whited banter.
Music is never too far away in Dublin. The streets are
full of talented buskers and Grafton Street on a Saturday
afternoon is virtually impassable for the crowds surrounding
the young musicians. One of the most attractive features
of Dublin nightlife is the music and singing pubs. Visitors
will find that Dublin is a place of great cultural
and historical interest. As the birthplace of Jonathan
Swift, Oscar Wilde, W.B. Yeats, James Joyce, George Bernard
Shaw, Samuel Beckett and many other renowned writers,
Dublin often featured in their books. However no city
has been more criticised by her writers. Jonathan Swift
felt himself " dropped in wretched Dublin" and George
Bernard Shaw complained of " a certain flippant, futile
derision and belittlement peculiar to Dublin". It was
called "the blind and ignorant town" by W.B. Yeats, and
James Joyce seems to have agreed. Yet, despite all the
abuse, number of truly great writers became part of Dublin's
heritage.
|
|
|
