The Southside of the River Liffey.

Exploring Central Dublin.

22.07.2025 - 22.07.2025

We hadn't paid for breakfast in the hotel, so next day I went to Tesco's and got us sandwiches and pain au chocolate for breakfast.

We had agreed that I would go out on my own first then come back and take Peter out later, so after breakfast, I headed back up to Dame Street and went left, the opposite direction from yesterday. I was aiming for Trinity College, but before I got there I came across the Thomas Davis statue and memorial fountain. At the time I didn't realise it was a fountain as there was no water in it. Thomas Davis was a journalist, poet and politician. He was a powerful influence on those seeking an independent Ireland. His statue and fountain were created by Edward Delaney in 1966. Davis is looking towards Trinity College where he was a student. His fountain is made up of four figures blowing water out of trumpets. These represent the four provinces of Ireland.

Thomas Davis Statue.

Thomas Davis Memorial Fountain.

A little bit further on there's a statue of Henry Grattan, an Irish politician and important member of the Irish House of Commons who wanted Ireland to be able to make its own laws. This statue was also made by Edward Delaney.

Henry Grattan.

Slightly further on I came to a building that is now The Bank of Ireland, but which was originally built as The Irish Parliament House in 1729 and continued in this role until the Act of Union abolished the Irish Parliament. From that point on it was used as a bank. This building wasn't quite at its best as it was undergoing renovation.

Just beyond The Bank of Ireland Building is the entrance to Trinity College Dublin. On its north lawn just outside the entrance there are two statues: one is of Edmund Burke, an eighteenth-century Irish statesman, orator, and philosopher. The other is of Oliver Goldsmith, a prominent Irish novelist, playwright, and poet who graduated from Trinity College and wrote "The Vicar of Wakefield" and the play "She Stoops to Conquer". Both statues were created by one of Ireland's most famous sculptors, John Henry Foley.

The Bank of Ireland and the statue of Edmund Burke.

Oliver Goldsmith.

Trinity College from the outside.

I have been to Trinity College briefly once before, but this time I spent a lot of time here and visited it thoroughly. I didn't do any of the paid activities here. I just wanted to wander around the university campus and look at its buildings and grounds. If you do want to do a paid activity, you can visit The Book of Kells, which is supposed to be amazing.

Trinity College dates all the way back to 1592 when it was created by royal charter during the reign of Elizabeth I. It is located on the site of the former Priory of All Hallows, which was demolished during the reign of Henry VIII.

Once you pass through the university's entranceway, you are at Library Square. There's a beautiful Campanile bell tower straight in front of you.

Campanile.

Lawns, Campanile and Graduates Memorial Building.

There are statues on each side of the Campanile. One is of William Edward Hartpole Lecky, a notable Irish historian, essayist, and political theorist, who wrote an eight volume "History of England during the Eighteenth Century,". This statue was created by Sir Goscombe John.

William Edward Hartpole Lecky.

The other statue is of George Salmon, a distinguished Irish mathematician, Anglican theologian and one time provost of Trinity College. He is well known for his opposition to women entering Trinity College and said they would only ever get in over his dead body. In fact women were allowed to enter Trinity from 1904, shortly after Salmon's death, so I guess he was right.

George Salmon.

To the left of the Campanile is the Graduates Memorial Building.

Graduates Memorial Building.

To the right is The Old Library which houses the Book of Kells, the Brian Boru harp and a copy of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic. There's also a Reading Room designed by Thomas Deane which acts as a memorial to the college members who died in the First World War.

Old library Building.

Reading Room.

Postgraduate reading room.

I noticed two very modern sculptures on the lawns in Library Square. One is called Reclining Figure: Arch Leg and is by Henry Moore. The other is called "Cactus Provisoire," and is by Alexander Calder.

Reclining Figure: Arch Leg by Henry Moore.

"Cactus Provisoire," a sculpture by Alexander Calder.

Going further into the campus there is a beautiful museum building with a sculpture called "Sphere Within Sphere" created by Arnaldo Pomodoro.

Museum building.

Museum Building and sculpture.

Museum building from the other side.

With such a long and distinguished history Trinity College has produced some very famous people. These include writers such as: Oscar Wilde, Jonathan Swift, Samuel Beckett, Bram Stoker and Oliver Goldsmith. Other graduates are philosophers George Berkeley and Edmund Burke and statesman Éamon de Valera. There have been many scientific breakthroughs and achievements here, too

Beyond the museum building, I came to a wide open green expanse of playing fields known as College Park. There are also rugby fields here, too.

College Park.

There were some lovely flowers here. I thought it was great to have such large green spaces on campus. I could happily have sat here for a while just enjoying the greenery and peacefulness.

Wasp on hedge bindweed.

Lily of the Nile.

Black eyed Susans.

Autumn Joy.

Stonecrop.

I rather liked the look of The School of Physics, too. The sculpture outside it is called Apples and Atoms and was created in 2013 to celebrate the life and work of Ernest T.S. Walton, a Nobel Laureate for Physics and a Professor at Trinity College. Ernest Walton and John Cockcroft successfully split an atom by artificial means in 1932.

School of Physics.

I took a few more photos and a selfie then left the university campus.

Trinity College

Selfie.

Trinity College leaving the university.

I was heading towards Merrion Square. I photographed any buildings that caught my attention on the way. These included the Morrison Chambers with their green dome and Lincoln's Inn, which is designed to look like the building of the same name in London.

Morrison Chambers.

Lincoln's Inn.

I also took a photo of The Davenport Hotel, another attractive looking building. This was originally built as a prayer hall for the open brethren in the seventeenth century. Nowadays it's a luxury boutique hotel.

The Davenport Hotel.

At one point I took a photo of a house that I thought looked interesting. I didn't go close to it and so didn't realise until later that this was actually the home of Oscar Wilde. He lived here for the first ten years of his life. Nowadays it is a four story high museum about his life.

Oscar Wilde House.

In fact it was because of Oscar Wilde that I had come to Merrion Square. I had discovered there was a statue of him in the park there. This is one of a group of twelve statues that have become part of a talking statue self guided tour. The idea of the statues is that when you reach them, you scan a QR code and then you will receive a phonecall 'from the statue' and it will tell you all about its life. I didn't actually do this, nor did I try to track the twelve statues down. Nonetheless, I reckon I encountered about ten of them just wandering around. The statue of George Salmon in Trinity College is also one of the talking statues.

The statue of Oscar Wilde is inside Merrion Gardens, but not far from his old house. He is depicted sprawling back on a rock. The sculptor, Danny Osborne, has depicted him smiling on one side of his face and sneering on the other. The smiling side represents the quick wit Wilde was famous for. The sneering side shows him worn down and broken having been imprisoned for homosexuality. I read all this later. When I was looking at the statue, I just thought Oscar Wilde had been depicted drunk. I thought that was why he appeared to have fallen back on a rock, too. There are two other statues that form part of this statue group. One is a naked male torso and the other is the nude image of Wilde's pregnant wife, Constance Lloyd. Wilde is looking at the naked male torso, rather than at his wife, which is another reference to his homosexuality. I also didn't notice any of this but to be fair to me, the statues were simply covered everywhere in tourists taking selfies and I couldn't get away from them fast enough.

Oscar Wilde.

Constance Lloyd.

I quickly left the statue behind and set off to explore the gardens at the centre of Merrion Square This was much more interesting. I found the far away end of the gardens to be the prettiest, because these were filled with lots of colourful flowers.

Merrion Square Gardens.

Sea holly.

Peruvian lilies.

There were sculptures everywhere in these gardens. I photographed all the ones that I found.

One sculpture depicted a woman with a harp to personify Ireland itself. This is called the Eire Memorial and was designed by Jerome Connor.

The Éire Memorial.

Another statue depicts Michael Collins, a key figure in Ireland's struggle for independence.

Michael Collins.

There's also Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme a Chilean independence leader of Spanish and Irish ancestry, known for freeing Chile from Spanish rule during the Chilean War of Independence.

Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme.

The Right Honourable Henry Grattan, Irish politician, was depicted here, too. He was also outside Trinity College.

The Right Hon. Henry Grattan.

There was also a bust of George William Russell, a prominent Irish writer, poet and artist.

George William Russell.

Then there was Tribute Head II by Dame Elisabeth Frink. This is one of four heads created to honour victims of state persecution and torture.

"Tribute Head II."

My favourite sculpture here was the 'Joker's Chair', also known as the Dermot Morgan Memorial Sculpture. Dermot Morgan was an actor and comedian best known for playing the role of Father Ted. This sculpture was designed by Catherine Greene and symbolizes the jester's ability to speak the truth to those in power. There is an eye beneath the seat to show that the person sitting on this seat sees exactly what is going on. The balls on the backrest resemble those on a jester's hat. This is an interactive sculpture so it is ok to sit on it.

The Joker's chair.

There were some children's playgrounds in these gardens, too, which seemed very popular and well-used.

Playground.

How happy we are here.

At the entrance to Merrion Square Gardens stands the Rutland Fountain. This was erected in 1792 in memory of Charles Manners, Duke of Rutland, who died while serving as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. It was designed by Francis Sandys.

The Rutland Fountain.

Across the road from the fountain is The National Gallery of Ireland and Leinster House, the Irish parliament building. There's a statue outside The National Gallery depicting William Dargan. He was a well-known engineer often dubbed the 'father of Irish railways.' He helped build Ireland's first railway line between Dublin and Dún Laoghaire. The National Gallery is free to enter, but I didn't go in on this occasion. Leinster House dates back to the eighteenth century and was originally the residence of the Duke of Leinster. Through the rails of Leinster House I saw a statue of Robert Prescott Stewart, an Irish composer, organist, conductor, and teacher.

The National Gallery of Ireland.

The National Gallery of Ireland and the William Dargan Memorial.

Leinster House.

Robert Prescott Stewart.

I walked back to the city centre via some of Dublin's best shopping streets and found the statue of Sweet Molly Malone. She is another of the talking statues. Molly Malone is of course the character in the famous song who pushes her cart around Dublin selling cockles and mussels, before she sucumbs to a fever and dies. This statue was designed by sculptor Jeanne Rynhart. According to A.I. this statue is nicknamed 'the tart with the cart'. Personally I think A.I. is just having a laugh at human expense. Since I wrote that the statue on Victoria Square, Birmingham was nicknamed 'the floozy in the jacuzzi' I've seen that description on almost any statue that contains water. I don't like the current habit people have of grabbing or rubbing parts of a statue for luck. It results in them always having shiny breasts or groins or testicles or something. Surely it causes a lot of damage to a work of art. I photographed Molly in between horny men attaching themselves to her boobs.

Grafton Street for shopping.

Grafton Street.

Molly Malone.

I said goodbye to Sweet Molly Malone and headed back to Dame Street. I liked the constant reminders that there is such a thing as Guinness in the world. I love Guinness. I liked the look of the Dublin Citi Hotel and I liked the mosaic outside The Stag's Head Pub. I was heading to Dublin Castle.

Guinness.

Dublin Citi Hotel on Dame Street..

The Stag's Head.

The earliest version of Dublin Castle was constructed on the site of a former Viking settlement during the reign of King John in England. This was a medieval fortress consisting of four corner towers linked together by strong defensive curtain walls and built around a central courtyard. However, this fortress was very badly damaged in a fire in 1684 and was subsequently rebuilt in Georgian style as a palace with suites of grand reception rooms. In the early nineteenth century the Chapel Royal was added to the Lower Castle Yard.

Map of Dublin Castle.

Dublin Castle was the seat of first English, then British rule, in Ireland for more than seven hundred years. Then on the 16th of January 1922, the final British Viceroy of Ireland handed Dublin Castle over to Michael Collins and the government of the newly-independent Irish state. Nowadays the castle is still used for ceremonial events such as the inauguration of Irish presidents in Saint Patrick's Hall, the grandest of all the palace suites.

Famous people who have been guests in Dublin Castle include: Benjamin Franklin in 1771, The Duke of Wellington in 1807 and Daniel O'Connell in 1841. Queen Victoria stayed here on four separate occasions. Charles Dickens stayed here in 1864, Princess Grace of Monaco in 1961, John F Kennedy in 1963, Charles de Gaulle in 1969, Nelson Mandela in 1990 and Queen Elizabeth II in 2011. Bram Stoker, the author of 'Dracula' worked here from 1866 to 1878.

There are several different entrances to Dublin Castle. I entered from Dame Street into the Lower Castle Yard where I could see the Record Tower and the Chapel Royal. The Record Tower was undergoing some renovation.

Entrance and cafe.

The Record Tower.

The Record Tower and The Chapel Royal.

The Chapel Royal.

I passed through a gateway into the Upper Castle Yard where I could see some of the suites of reception rooms and the Bedford Tower. There were sculptures on each side of Bedford Tower. One showed Lady Justice the other is called Fortitude and depicts a warrior and a lion.

The Bedford Hall and Bedford Tower.

Bedford Tower through the archway.

Lady Justice.

Fortitude.

The Suites.

The Suites through the archway.

Gateway.

It is possible to buy an entry ticket for twelve Euros and tour the inside of the reception suites, but I didn't do this. Instead I went back to the Lower Castle Courtyard and continued round The Chapel Royal towards the Palace Gardens. I passed some small courtyards and saw that the lower side of the castle was painted in several different bright colours. It reminded me a bit of the castle in Sintra, Portugal.

Dublin Castle.

Courtyard.

Dublin Castle courtyard with Irish flag.

Colourful castle.

The castle gardens were my favourite part of the castle. There were good views of the castle from them.

Gardens and towers.

Castle from the garden.

Castle across the garden.

I also discovered a rather weird pink sculpture of David and Goliath. This was created by James Sutton and was originally part of the On A Pedestal exhibition which took place in 2018. Apparently this is a 3-d printed sculpture.

"David and Goliath" by Jam Sutton.

David and Goliath.

The castle gardens had lush green lawns and lots of colourful flowers.

A pleasant place to sit.

Sculpture in the garden.

Flowers in the garden.

On the far side of the garden is The Chester Beatty Library. I decided to have a quick look inside this free entry museum, though to be honest I was tiring by this stage and didn't do it full justice.

The Chester Beatty Library is a museum housing the art and artefacts collected by Sir Alfred Chester Beatty. He was an American mining engineer, collector and philanthropist. Chester Beatty worked in the mining industry in Zambia and the Belgian Congo. His passion was to collect manuscripts, rare books and other treasures from different cultures. He bequeathed his large collection to the people of Ireland.

The Chester Beauty Library.

Sculpture outside The Chester Beatty commemorating The Dublin 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games.

Sir Alfred Chester Beatty.

On the first floor was an exhibition called 'Arts of the Book. Exploring the richness of East Asian, Islamic and Western manuscript and printing traditions.'

Exhibit

Scenes from the life of Jesus.

The baptism of Christ.

Exhibit.

On the second floor there was an exhibition called 'Exploring Sacred Traditions from across the East Asian, Islamic and Western regions'.

Decorated door of Chinese cabinet.

Chinese painting.

Chinese door god.

Japanese Samurai armour.

Persian Miniature painting.

Persian miniature painting.

Madonna and child.

I took a couple of shots of the views over Dublin Castle Gardens from the second floor. I had expected good views from the rooftop garden, but there weren't. The rooftop garden is a pleasant place to sit. Sometimes yoga workshops take place here.

View from the library.

Roof garden.

After visiting The Chester Beatty Library, I left Dublin Castle and returned to the hotel.

Leaving the castle.

After a light lunch I took Peter out. We passed some statues outside a pub and a horse and carriage.

Gogarty and Joyce. Good taste in hats.

Horse and carriage.

We had a look at Icon Alley again, but this time I found a different part of it that I hadn't seen before. It had lots of sports stars, actors and actresses, musicians and writers, plus lots of street art.

Icon Alley.

Peter in Icon Alley.

Peter with Luke Kelly.

Peter at The Wall of Irish Sport.

Peter with four Irish sporting legends.

Famous Irish films.

George Bernard Shaw and Edna O'Brien.

Irish humour.

A Parting Glass.

Street art.

Then I took Peter to the River Liffey. I pushed him along in one direction then he walked back along the other. We watched some people kayaking along the waters.

Peter with O'Connell Bridge.

Peter at O'Connell Bridge.

Peter by the river.

City Kayaking.

Kayaking on the river.

Peter at Ha'penny Bridge.

Me at Ha'penny Bridge.

Ha'penny Bridge.

I then took Peter up past Trinity College and onto Dame Street where we found a place to have dinner. We chose Trinity Bar and Venue Grill. I had a pint of Guinness and beef and Guinness casserole, because you can never have too much Guinness. Peter wasn't all that hungry so just had a sausage roll. He had two different kinds of cider and especially liked the Orchard Thieves.

Me at dinner.