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A literary lover's tour of Dublin
The city has a well-deserved reputation as the home of great writing talent. Combine an exploration of literary sights with romantic arcana from the writers' lives
A great and affordable way to explore Dublin is through the stories of love surrounding its great writing talent. Behind every great Irish man of letters, there is a woman or two (with, perhaps, the possible exception of Oscar Wilde). Robert Vance, a historian and author of Secret Sights: Unknown Celtic Ireland and Secret Sights II: Unknown Medieval Ireland, showed us around and suggested a few offbeat stops that will appeal to the romantic-minded without turning into English lit.
Appreciators of James Joyce can stroll by the old Finn's Hotel, where his lover and wife Nora Barnacle worked as a chambermaid. You can't check in - the building stands empty - but it still has Finn's Hotel painted on the side. Look for it next to 1-2 Leinster Street South, above the Bagel and Juice Depot. Barnacle is considered by some to be the model for Molly Bloom in Ulysses, with her famous soliloquy.
'and how he kissed me under the Moorish wall and I thought well as well him as another and then I asked him with my eyes to ask again yes and then he asked me would I say yes my mountain flower and I put my arms around him yes and drew him down to me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yes and his heart was a going mad and yes I said yes I will yes.'
Joyceans celebrate Bloomsday here on 16 June - the day that Leopold Bloom wanders through the city and also purportedly the date of Joyce and Barnacle's first date.
The Dublin Writers' Museum - a small but fascinating stop north of the river - is the place for booklovers' to learn more about the women who motivated writers such as romantic poet WB Yeats (spurned for years by his beloved Maud Gonne...and her daughter) - and of course about the writers themselves. An engaging audio tour is included in the price and the museum is located on Parnell Square, a showpiece of Georgian architecture. Adults €6.50
If you prefer the darker side of love, stroll down Molesworth Street in Dublin's fashionable shopping area and ruminate on the sad fate of Lord Molesworth's daughter. The 18th-century dandy married her off to the cruel Viscount Belfield. Belfield believed his wife was having an affair with his brother. At his house in the country he constructed a wall between his house and his brother's and imprisoned his wife in his own home for decades, allowing her only the company of mute servants. (Stop at the chic Bleu Bistro Moderne around the corner for lunch, next to the Lord Mayor's mansion.)
Or wander through Trinity College, the oldest college in Ireland, where Robert Emmett, the Irish patriot and revolutionary studied. Sarah Curran, the daughter of a wealthy barrister, became his lover. After Emmett's execution, Curran married but died only two years' later. Her grief and love for Emmett is commemorated in a famous song:
'She is far from the land where her young hero sleeps And lovers around her are sighing But sadly she turns from their glances and weeps For her heart in his grave is now lying'
The college's sights include the Book of Kells, a famous illustrated book of the Gospels; walking tours of the campus; and the Samuel Beckett Centre theatre.
Discover more of Dublin with our romantic guide to the city
Address book
Dublin Writers' Museum
18 Parnell Square
Dublin 1
+353 1 872-2077
www.writersmuseum.com/
Bleu Bistro Modern
Joshua House, Dawson St
Dublin 2
+353 1 676-7015
Trinity College
www.tcd.ie/
Details and prices are correct at time of publication
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Created: 10/02/2005 Updated: 09/08/2006
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