Set on the banks of the River Liffey,Â
Dublin is a splendidlyÂ
monumentalcity with a cosmopolitan feel and an internationally renowned nightlife.
A shore excursion on your MSCÂ
Northern Europe & cruises from UK cruise can be the opportunity to discoverÂ
Dublin's elegance and essentiallyÂ
Georgianarchitecture, hailing from when the Anglo-Irish gentry invested their income in new townhouses.
Dublin's fashionableÂ
Southside is home to the city's trendy bars, restaurants and shops - especially in the cobbled alleys ofÂ
Temple Bar leading down to the River Liffey - and most of its historic monuments, centred onÂ
Trinity College, Grafton Street andÂ
St Stephen's Green. But theÂ
Northside, with its long-standing working-class neighbourhoods and inner-city communities, is the realÂ
heart of the city.
Across the bridges from Temple Bar are theÂ
shopping districts aroundÂ
O'Connell Street, where you'll find a flavour of theÂ
old Dublin. Here, you'll also come across a fair amount of gracefulÂ
residential streets andÂ
squares, with plenty of interest in theÂ
museums andÂ
cultural hotspots around the elegantÂ
ParnellSquare.
The Vikings sited their assembly and burial ground near what is now College Green, a three-sided square where Trinity College is the most famous landmark. Founded in 1592, Trinity College played a major role in the development of a Protestant Anglo-Irish tradition: right up to 1966, Catholics had to obtain a special dispensation to study here, though now they make up the majority of the students.
The stern grey and mellow red-brick buildings are ranged around cobbled quadrangles in a larger version of the quads at Oxford and Cambridge. The Old Library owns numerous Irish manuscripts; pride of place goes to the illustrated ninth-century Book of Kells, which contains the four Gospels written in Latin on vellum, the script adorned with patterns and fantastic animals intertwined with the text's capital letters.
