A Walk Through Literary Dublin

Statue of Oscar Wilde
in Merrion Square, Dublin.

On this trip I travelled courtesy of Tourism Ireland and Aer Lingus. This story arose from my 2011 visit to Dublin but never went online, so here it is for your enjoyment...

“We call him ‘the prick with the stick’,” says tour guide Pat Liddy, cheekily referring to a statue of the writer James Joyce which stands proudly in busy O’Connell Street, Dublin.

It might seem disrespectful, but inventing such acid nicknames is a casual hobby to Dubliners, who’ve applied them to many statues in the Irish capital.

For example, a busty statue of Molly Malone, who sold “Cockles and mussels, alive, alive-oh” in the famous song, is commonly known as ‘the tart with the cart’.

It's all in good fun, says Liddy, smiling as he returns to his pint of Guinness in an atmospheric old pub which is, as it happens, an former haunt of Joyce’s.

It seems somehow fitting that we should be on a literary walk that’s immediately ended up at the pub, given the central role of such establishments in Ireland’s social and cultural life.

Pat Liddy outside Mulligan’s, Dublin.

Having left Trinity College, which contains the famous Book of Kells, we were assaulted by a driving rainstorm that appeared from nowhere, and have taken refuge in Mulligan’s until the weather eases.

It’s a classic Irish pub, with a dimly-lit back room where we sit around chipped old timber tables, a huge gilt mirror on the wall behind us.

Mulligan’s has a literary pedigree of its own, says Liddy, as a longtime hangout of Irish Times journalists and of Joyce, who mentioned the establishment in his landmark novel Ulysses.

The outside of the pub is even painted with the date of Bloomsday (June 16th, 1904), the day in which the novel’s story is set.

As we sip Ireland’s most famous beer, Liddy tells us about the wealth of writers that the city has produced. For a city of a million people, Dublin has a remarkable back catalogue of literary heroes, including Joyce, Oscar Wilde, Samuel Beckett, George Bernard Shaw and Jonathan Swift. And let's not forget Bram Stoker, whose popularisation of the vampire lives on to the present day.

Liddy is a great story-teller, and he’s easily diverted into amusing anecdotes from his life and tour work. He chats about his son’s train journeys through Asia and Russia, and tells us about having to explain Oscar Wilde to foreign visitors. There’s also a witty story about the time he had to sing Handel’s Messiah to a group of German visitors who’d never heard of it.

Oscar Wilde's birthplace, Dublin.

The beer and the craic are very diverting, but we have pavements to pound. The rain clears and we're off again, through the atmospheric historic streets south of the River Liffey.

We’re entering Oscar Wilde territory here; as we stroll, Liddy points out the former St Mark’s where the great playwright was baptised.

Then we arrive at 21 Westland Row, a respectable facade featuring a big blue door beneath a fanlight.

This is where Wilde was born, and an inscription within a stone wreath credits him as ‘Poet, Dramatist, Wit’. Those are words I’d be happy to have on my gravestone, I think, as we move on.

Our next stop is Sweny, an attractive small shopfront which was featured in Ulysses in its then role as a pharmacy. It was here that the book’s hero, Leopold Bloom, bought a cake of soap with a lemon scent. Remarkably, it remained a pharmacy right up to 2009, when it passed into the care of a group of volunteers who run it as a bookshop and an unofficial shrine to Joyce.

You don’t have to be a fan of Ulysses to appreciate the shop’s atmospheric interior, packed both with books and reminders of its apothecary days. There’s even a drawer full of old photos once developed here, to show visiting kids who may only be familiar with digital shots.

Wendy Conroy at Sweny, Dublin.

The remaining space is lined with new and second-hand copies of books by Irish writers of all eras.

It’s a great place for visitors to acquaint themselves with both the classics and the lesser-known gems of Irish lit, and to pick up some reading for their travels.

Behind the counter today is Wendy Conroy, a passionate fan of Joyce’s master work. “There are Conroys all the way though Ulysses,” she points out.

Not that Joyce was the only star of the written word to hang out in this neighbourhood. “Wilde and Yeats may well have stood where you’re standing,” she says.

From here it’s a short walk around the corner to Merrion Square. Opposite the park stands the house where the young Oscar grew up, and in the park itself is a wonderful surprise - a colourful statue of Wilde which was unveiled in 1997, over a century after being imprisoned for his homosexuality.

A symbol of his 21st century rehabilitation and popularity, the unconventional statue depicts Wilde lounging in a colourful jacket on a large rock, a smile on one side of his face and a grimace on the other. The mixed expression may be a reminder of his mixed fortunes, as perhaps are two smaller nearby statues of his wife Constance and an anonymous male torso.

The plinths of these statuettes are adorned with many of his famous sayings, one of which seems to sum up Wilde’s sensational life: “There is only one thing worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about”.

Davy Byrne’s, Dublin.

Heading back toward the bars and restaurants south of the Temple Bar district, we pass another pub mentioned in Ulysses: Davy Byrne’s, where Bloom ordered a gorgonzola sandwich and a glass of Burgundy.

Though the pub has been renovated in a swish modern style and now specialises in seafood, it’s still a meal you can order there today.

Then, finally, we finish at McDaid’s. It’s a popular pub which has retained its original character, furnished with bookshelves, tiled panels and a high timbered ceiling.

This was a haunt of postwar playwright and novelist Brendan Behan, says Liddy, at least until the one-time IRA member was barred. It was also, inevitably, frequented by Joyce and the other Irish writers who milled around this part of Dublin.

It’s been a great tour. Via Liddy's enthusiastic and colourful delivery, the city's great books and their writers have come to life - and even though I haven't read all of them, I go away with a hunger for their work and an understanding of how much Dublin loves its stories.

Pat Liddy’s Walking Tour of Literary Dublin is available on request. See www.walkingtours.ie for contact details and other scheduled tours.

Leprechauns of Dublin

On my visit to Dublin in 2011, I was delighted to discover a newly-opened museum devoted to Irish folklore. As the newspaper story I wrote about it never went online, here it is for your amusement...

“We make stuff up - that’s what we do. It makes for lousy husbands, but good storytellers.”

My guide at Dublin’s National Leprechaun Museum, Mark, is not boosting the marriage prospects of his fellow Irishmen.

He does, however, have a case regarding the Irish skill in storytelling, with supporting evidence in the exhibition he’s about to introduce me to.

Thanks to animators over the years, the leprechaun has become a well-known figure; we can all recall his buckled hat, beard, pipe, beguiling accent and pot of gold. “Everyone who comes in here gives the same description,” says Mark.

But he’s here to put me straight on the little people and their many other mythical colleagues. And that’s the key to this new attraction in the Irish capital - despite the name, it’s actually a museum devoted to all of the island nation’s rich folklore, covering creatures both famous and little-known.

Entering the exhibition, Mark leads me to a tunnel that tapers to make me feel like a giant, looking back to see his tiny silhouette at the opening. Then I’m on my own, encountering the first bit of fun: the Giants’ Room.

It’s decorated with an enormous chair, table and lamp, as if the gigantic householder might arrive home at any moment and settle in for a spot of reading.

Mark’s told me that people can do what they like in here, so visitors often clamber up onto the furniture for a giant’s-eye view.

Then it’s time for some high-tech content in the Map Room. A big circular table is illuminated with impressive projections, outlining mythical creatures of the night - banshees among them - with the aid of a large map of the Emerald Isle.

The Rain Room is next, hung with upside-down umbrellas which keep the trickling water off the visitors below; which leads to an impressive pot of gold on a central pillar. And here I’m met by a pleasant surprise - a real live storyteller, who weaves a cautionary tale involving leprechauns and the human greed for the precious metal.

She has more tales to tell in the succeeding room of burnished bronze walls, onto which are projected images of animals and fairies. Irish fairies are not built along the lines of Disney’s Tinkerbell, but are capricious and powerful creatures given to stealing baby boys, I’m told, among other scary activities.

The story teller also relates some outlandish tales of Finn McCool, a legendary warrior whose feats got bigger with each retelling.

After peering into a magical well, I end up in the cosy bookshop and cafe, having tea with museum founder Tom O’Rahilly.

“We don’t make a lot of stuff in Ireland, really, but we’re famous for telling stories,” he says, explaining how the museum came about. “So okay, I thought, let’s look at culture. The leprechaun thing kind of popped into my mind.

“I was out on the beer one night in London, got up the next morning, and then suddenly thought ‘If Irish people get so wound up about them, how come they’re still here? Where do they come from?’

“What’s important here is that it’s oral history. When it’s told to you, when someone’s there communicating with you and seeing the light in your eyes, that’s a powerful thing.”

The National Leprechaun Museum is open daily at 1 Jervis St, Dublin, Ireland. Find opening hours and entry fees at its website.

Why I Travel (With Thanks to Ned Kelly)

This piece about my motivations for travel was commissioned by a magazine in 2014, but never published for space reasons. Here it is at last, for your enjoyment...

I travel to connect the dots.

I’ve always been fascinated by history – I even gained a degree in it from the University of Western Australia – but I don’t want to only learn about it through books.

There’s nothing I like more than actually visiting the place where a great historic event took place, something that people still talk about today.

Even better is to link together a number of places connected to a famous person or happening, and step in the footprints of those who were there at the time.

One of my favourite journeys was a retracing of the life of Ned Kelly, the notorious bushranger whose gang robbed banks and fought police in northeastern Victoria in the late 19th century.

Whether they think he’s a hero or a villain, everyone knows about Ned’s famous showdown at Glenrowan, when he confronted police in the dawn light in a home-made suit of armour.

But not many know about the green sash he was awarded at the age of 11 when he saved a drowning child from a river in Avenel. Exploits from his short but eventful life are scattered all along the signposted Ned Kelly Touring Route.

I went one better in 2011 when I visited the tiny town of Moyglass, two hours from Dublin, Ireland in County Tipperary. Nowadays the village is basically just a cemetery and a pub, but what a pub.

The Ned Kelly Village Inn is festooned with Kelly memorabilia, and for a very good reason. In 1840 Ned Kelly’s dad, John Kelly, was working as a farm labourer here and stole two pigs.

Caught, he was sentenced to transportation to Australia, thus starting the journey that would lead to Ned and his dramatic fate. I felt pleased and privileged to have been to both ends of the tale.

On other trips I’ve linked together such major events as the sinking of the SS Titanic, visiting the Belfast shipyards where it was built, and later the cemetery in Halifax, Canada where many of its tragic victims lie.

I’ve visited Roman ruins stretching from England to Egypt, via Italy and Hungary and, of course, Rome. I’ve wondered at strange architectural relics of Eastern Europe’s communist era, from Poland to Slovenia.

And I’ve been to all three corners of the so-called Polynesian Triangle, Hawaii, New Zealand and Easter Island, amazed at the ancient Polynesians' navigational skills.

Once I’ve been there, it’s not just dusty old history to me. It’s a story, of real people and their lives.

Why do you travel? Feel free to comment below.

Vampires of Literary Dublin

I've never really understood the appeal of unboxing videos, in which people film themselves unpacking a newly arrived smartphone or tablet and commenting on the experience.

However, I couldn't resist posting this pic to Twitter on the day my copy of Lonely Planet: Great Escapes arrived in the mail:

Where I was expecting a compact paperback, Great Escapes turned out to be a hefty hardback coffee table book with beautiful images on glossy paper.

It's full of travel "escapes" of various kinds, from cultural to adventurous.

My contribution is Dive into Literary Dublin, highlighting the Irish capital's literary history and associated attractions, from the ancient Book of Kells to literary pub tours.

Each article also contains a number of breakout boxes, looking at specific aspects of the escape. One I was particularly pleased with contained my potted history of Bram Stoker's inspiration for his hugely influential horror novel Dracula.

With kind permission of Lonely Planet, here it is:

Bram Stoker, Vampire Writer
When it was published in 1897, no-one could have guessed that Dracula would make Bram Stoker the most influential horror fiction novelist ever. Born in Dublin in 1847, Stoker had been a sickly child with plenty of time for reading. As an adult he became friends with Oscar Wilde and the actor Henry Irving. But it was possibly from his chance meeting with Hungarian historian and traveller Arminius Vambéry that Stoker learned of the legend of Vlad the Impaler, aka Dracula. Vambéry’s reward? As rumour has it, he was immortalised in the novel as Abraham Van Helsing, Dracula’s implacable foe.

(The above text is an extract from Lonely Planet’s Great Escapes, © Lonely Planet 2013. In stores now, A$49.99. Buy online here.)

In the drafting and redrafting of the escape, some content was jettisoned but is still of interest. So in the spirit of DVD extras, here's some additional Dublin-lit content from me:

Leprechauns!
North of the Liffey lies a museum devoted to the oldest type of Irish storytelling – folklore. Although the National Leprechaun Museum has an amusing name, this institution is devoted to all of Ireland’s ancient myths, covering creatures both famous and obscure. To thread its interior is entertaining in itself, passing through a giant’s living room and beneath upside-down umbrellas, and taking in a shifting map which outlines the creatures of this rich mythical world. But the best part is listening to a live storyteller, who weaves tales involving leprechauns, greedy men and the legendary outlandish warrior Finn McCool.

(Read about my visit to the National Leprechaun Museum in my Kindle ebook, I Am a Bond Villain: A Travel Writer's Strange Affair With Britain & Ireland)

 

The Cheeky Statues
For a laugh and an insight into Dubliners’ surprisingly acid sense of humour, spend a day weaving between the city’s most prominent pieces of street art. When you reach each one, ask a local what they call it. Every piece has a nickname, including a statue of Molly Malone (‘The Tart with the Cart’), a statue of two shoppers (‘The Hags with the Bags’) and the needle-like Spire of Dublin (‘The Stiletto in the Ghetto’). In a park next to the Liffey is a water-drenched statue of Anna Livia, who represents the river; she’s ‘The Floozy in the Jacuzzi’.

(For more on Dubliners' irreverent naming of statues, with photos, read my previous post on the subject.) 

And finally, some extra reading in these books by Irish writers, intimately involving Dublin:

The Portable Virgin (Anne Enright) Collection of short stories by a prize-winning author, exploring the city and its people. [Buy here]
Winterland (Alan Glynn) A fast-paced crime novel which highlights the seamier side of 21st-century Dublin. [Buy here]

(And you can read my interview with Catherine Duffy from Dublin's City of Literature office here.)

 Enjoy! And keep reading that Irish lit.

I Am a Bond Villain (Nyah-ha-ha)

Yesterday I published my latest book for Kindle, with the unlikely title of I Am a Bond Villain: A Travel Writer's Strange Affair With Britain & Ireland.

It's a collection of my articles about the UK and Eire, which have appeared in newspapers, magazines and websites over the past decade.

It's also a director's cut of sorts, as many of the chapters contain additional material which weren't part of the original published pieces.

As I was putting the book together, I noticed how often I'd written travel articles about British and Irish culture, particularly concerning British fictional characters.

With that in mind, I'd like to share the Foreword, to give you some of the book's flavour and to outline my love for this part of the world...

---
Foreword

I’d travelled to Britain many times in my mind before I actually set foot there.

My childhood and early adult years were awash with fiction emanating from the United Kingdom.

As a young boy I marvelled at monsters invading the London streets and its Underground in black-and-white episodes of Doctor Who. As I got older, the first novels I read were the haunting science fiction stories of John Wyndham, including The Day of the Triffids.

I also enjoyed the Poirot mysteries of Agatha Christie, which often took me into the English countryside with its trademark stately homes and quaint villages (both concealing sinister secrets).

In a neat reversal in the 1980s, the excellent Sherlock Holmes television series starring Jeremy Brett led me to devour the original stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, still excellent after all these years.

Similarly, the 1990s Jeeves & Wooster TV series starring Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie introduced me to the marvellous (and plentiful) works of PG Wodehouse, which I’m still working my way through.

And later that decade I played Duncan in a production of Macbeth at the University of Western Australia, finally taking part in my favourite of Shakespeare’s plays.

Given this immersion in imagination, it seems only fitting that the first four chapters of this book focus on fictional characters.

When I first arrived in London in 1990, I was delighted to discover that the British capital was even more complex and layered than had been suggested by these creative folk; as was the land beyond.

Armed with a thick UK railway timetable and a Britrail pass, Narrelle Harris and I proceeded to explore this familiar/unfamiliar country, passing through the cities, towns and countryside of England, Wales and Scotland.

Much later, I was lucky enough to add Ireland – both north and south – to this tally. In both Northern Ireland and the Republic, I was glad to find connections to my own life and experiences, and to make the acquaintance of the warm, complex people of that island.

This book is a collection of my published travel articles about the UK and Ireland, which first appeared in newspapers, magazines and websites. It’s not intended to be a guidebook or travel memoir, rather a series of glimpses into aspects of these two nations.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed writing them, and that they provide inspiration for your next visit to Britain or Ireland.

Cheers!

Tim Richards

Melbourne, 2013

---
Here's the link again: I Am a Bond Villain: A Travel Writer's Strange Affair With Britain & Ireland.

If you buy the book, I hope you enjoy it. If so, please take a moment to review it on the Amazon website or via the Kindle link. Thanks!

The Unpublished 14: Swift vs Partridge

I recently wrote the following item as part of an article about the literary heritage of Dublin, Ireland. 

However, the editor requested a different approach and so the amusing tale of Jonathan Swift's astrological revenge ended up on the cutting room floor. Until now...

Oscar Wilde is the most famous of Dublin’s roll-call of great writers, and a man who could coin a devastating put-down at a moment’s notice.

When a poet complained that his latest book was being ignored in a “conspiracy of silence” and asked Wilde what to do, the rapid reply was “Join it.”

Wilde, however, would be no match in the cunning plan department for his stellar predecessor Jonathan Swift, masterful satirist and the author of Gulliver’s Travels.

Swift, who would later become Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral, objected in 1708 to slighting remarks about the Church written by English shoemaker-turned-astrologer John Partridge.

Swift’s revenge was both subtle and spectacular. Drawing on Partridge’s history of inaccurately forecasting famous individuals’ deaths in annual almanacs, he predicted under a false name that Partridge would die on 29 March that year.

The efficient writer then sealed the hoax by issuing a letter under another pseudonym on the fatal date, announcing the astrologer’s death. Swift thoughtfully accompanied this declaration with a eulogy, which began “Here five foot deep lies on his back; A cobbler, starmonger, and quack.”

Partridge, though very much alive, never fully recovered from the inconvenience caused by the public’s enduring belief that he’d passed on.

As Swift and Wilde demonstrate, there’s nothing dull about the writers of Dublin. Over the centuries a cavalcade of literary stars has inhabited the institutions, streets, pubs and cafes of the city, creating great books, plays and poems.

Beyond Swift and Wilde, Dublin’s remarkable back catalogue of literary heroes includes James Joyce, WB Yeats, Samuel Beckett and George Bernard Shaw. And there’s no forgetting Bram Stoker, whose popularisation of the vampire myth has undergone a great resurgence in the 21st century.

With this in mind, it’s no surprise to discover that the Irish capital is a UNESCO City of Literature.

A great place to delve into the fascinating worlds summoned up by wordsmiths, Dublin offers many ways of diving into literature, including pubs with storytellers, grand libraries, ancient manuscripts, and tours exploring this city of words.

The Unpublished is a random series of my never-published travel articles. For previous instalments, click on the The Unpublished Topic tag below, then scroll down.
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On the Trail of Red Kelly (Part 2)

In the previous post, I described my 2011 journey to the tiny Irish village of Moyglass, courtesy of Tourism Ireland. Moyglass was once the home of John "Red" Kelly, father of bushranger Ned Kelly, before Red was transported to Australia in 1841.

Arriving at the closed Ned Kelly Village Inn, we were pleasantly surprised to encounter the pub's owner. He ushered us inside to have a look, and this is what we saw...

First up, a fine snug. For those unfamiliar with the term, a snug is a separate space within a pub which allows a certain amount of privacy. This one looked very comfortable - and, as you can see, was plastered with information about Ned Kelly and his dramatic life:

Here's a closer view of one wall, with part of the Kelly Gang's story and a facsimile of the reward notice for their capture:

On another wall was a framed photo of Kelly's armour:

And nearby was this little gem - a Ned Kelly Moyglass clock. Lucky I'm not kleptomaniacally inclined, that's all I can say:

Moving on, Terry guided us to the green paddock where Red Kelly's humble house once stood. Beyond it, he pointed out the gently sloping Slievenamon, "Mountain of the Women". According to Terry, in legend this was where warrior Fionn Mac Cumhaill (known in English as Finn McCool) decided he would marry the fastest woman to run to its peak:

Another legend was remembered by this sign at the edge of the field:

After this Terry took us to other places which were part of John Kelly's life, including the police station where he was charged. Meandering along the narrow lanes, it was interesting to notice how often the more familiar sounding English locations were mispronunciations of the original Irish placenames:

Finally, we arrived at the Ballysheehan house where John Kelly stole the inauspicious pigs which led to his involuntary Australian residence:

Perched above a broad modern motorway, it's amazing this place survives. But that's Ireland for you - littered with fascinating fragments of the past.

(If you're planning to visit Ireland and are interested in following the Kelly trail, Terry Cunningham's tour is available by prior arrangement, fee negotiable; email him at terry@foodinseason.ie)

This post was sponsored by AFerry.co.uk.

On the Trail of Red Kelly (Part 1)

When I researched the Ned Kelly Touring Route over four years ago here in Victoria, Australia, I became aware of another significant location related to the story of the infamous bushranger who was hanged in Melbourne in 1880.

The village of Moyglass in County Tipperary, Ireland, was a place that Ned never visited, born as he was in Australia. But in 1840 his father, a poor casual labourer named John "Red" Kelly, lived there.

Yielding to impulse and stealing two pigs from a house in nearby Ballysheehan, Red's fate was sealed - convicted of the theft, he was sentenced to transportation as a convict to Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania).

Freed in 1848, he settled north of Melbourne and fathered seven children - including Ned. The famous saga of the Kelly Gang had begun.

I love piecing together fragments of history in person, so I was delighted to be able to visit Moyglass last year courtesy of Tourism Ireland and my cheerful driver for the day, Frank Moore.

From Dublin we headed to Fethard, an attractive town founded around 1200 in King John's reign, and still in possession of its medieval walls and church:

Here we met up with our guide for the day, local history guru and guide Terry Cunningham:

The old pub we rendezvoused at, McCarthy's, offered a surprisingly broad range of services, as you'll note from the sign...

... and yes, the publican did later assure me they're licensed to act as undertakers should the need arise. I was also interested to notice that, by odd coincidence, the pub was opened the same year that Red nicked those fateful pigs.

Driving through beautiful green countryside of fields bordered by low stone walls, we soon pitched up at Moyglass. Don't get carried away with anticipation of its cosmopolitan bustle, though - it was basically a cemetery and this pub:

But what a pub. The Ned Kelly Village Inn was clearly a shrine to the village's most famous descendant, with Kelly signage all over its exterior.

Here's the pub's rather stylish sign, with Kelly and horse rampant:

And Ned in full armour:

The bushranger's famous last words:

And finally, to dispel any doubts about the Kelly connections with Moyglass, Red's family tree:

Unfortunately the pub was closed at that time of day, so we regretfully had to pass on seeing the interior. Or so we thought. We were just about to get back in the car and move on to our next Kelly location, when the pub's owner showed up to do a bit of maintenance.

"Would you like to look inside?" he asked. Would we? We were in like Flynn, er, Kelly within seconds. And what did we see there? I'll save that for the next instalment... [read it here]

This post was sponsored by AFerry.co.uk.

Pubs of Belfast 2

Last week I shared images of three fine old laneway pubs I visited on my trip last year to Belfast, Northern Ireland (hosted by Aer Lingus and Tourism Ireland). Here are three more to make up the set...

1. Duke of York (11 Commercial Ct). This pub was situated in the most attractive entry (the Northern Ireland term for alley) which I'd seen so far, dominating the space with planter boxes, colourful signage and outdoor seating.

Although I'd been endlessly warned about the Belfast weather, it was actually well behaved during my visit and I sat outside the pub for a while when the sun came out:

2. The Journos' Hangout. According to the Belfast chapter within Lonely Planet's Ireland country guide, the Duke of York used to be the pub of choice for print workers and journalists, and Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams once worked behind the bar here.

Nowadays it seems to attract a broad clientele, fitting with the Cathedral Quarter's recent reawakening as a cool nightlife zone:

3. Red Hand. Both the pub's interior and exterior are decked out with signage from now-defunct whisky and beer brands. This variant of Guinness, Red Hand, caught my eye as this legendary hand is a symbol of Northern Ireland and appears on its flag.

The legend of the Red Hand of Ulster claims that during an ancient absence on the throne of Ulster (a northern kingdom), whoever's hand first touched the shore at the end of a boat race would become king. In a grisly display of lateral thinking, one of the potential kings allegedly cut off his hand and threw it onto the shore in order to win the crown:

4. Kelly’s Cellars (1 Bank St). Not in an alleyway, this 1720 pub is located behind a stretch of modern buildings and therefore stands out like a beacon with its intact old-fashioned look:

5. Stew... or stew. I was here around lunchtime, so I asked the barmaid if the pub offered food. Turned out there was just one dish - Irish stew. Damn good though, and cheap - the stew and a half-pint of Guinness was only £5.30 all up:

6. Crown Liquor Saloon (46 Great Victoria St). My final memorable pub dramatically departed from the humble look of the likes of Kelly's.

The Crown Liquor Saloon was refurbished in insanely over-the-top Victorian decor in 1885 in order to attract the beautiful people attending the opera house down the road. The result is a riot of tiled surfaces, gleaming brass and decorative windows:

... and on top of that, it must be one of the few National Trust properties in the UK where you can order a pint, pulled from a tap. I like that.

This post was sponsored by AFerry.co.uk.

Pubs of Belfast 1

A year ago I spent a few days in Belfast, Northern Ireland (hosted by Aer Lingus and Tourism Ireland), and discovered some marvellous pubs.

I'd arrived in the city mid-morning on a weekday, having just endured the 23-hour flight from Melbourne to London before flying the short hop across the Irish Sea.

I've always believed the best way to forestall jetlag when flying west is to stay up until the local equivalent of one's usual bedtime, so what was I to do for the rest of the day before a dinner appointment?

A flick through the Lonely Planet chapter covering Belfast gave me the answer - check out its numerous attractive old pubs, many located in alleyways the Northern Irelanders call "entries".

Given the city's maritime history, these were probably once rough-and-tumble joints full of boozed-up sailors and dock workers, so it'd be interesting to see what they were like in these more refined times.

My course was set; first port of call...

1.  Bittle’s Bar (103 Victoria St). Just down the street from my hotel, this corner pub decorated with a big shamrock stood out because it couldn't be much more of a corner pub without completely disappearing into its own acute angle:

2. The Champ of Lunches. Inside I found a narrow but cosy triangular space with a big portrait on one wall of Oscar Wilde and other Irish writers serving pints of beer. For lunch I ordered what I was soon to jokingly call the national dish of Northern Ireland - pork and leek sausages with "champ", a mixture of spring onions and mashed potato:

3. Pottinger's Entry. This was my first Belfast alley, named after a prominent local family who supplied Sir Henry Pottinger, first Governor of Hong Kong:

4. Morning Star (17 Pottinger’s Entry). This pub dates from 1810, when it was one of the termini for the Belfast to Dublin mail coach. It has some interesting architectural features on the outside:

 ... and a fairly shiny interior:

5. Winecellar Entry. By this point, of course, I'd realised that I couldn't order a pint of Guinness in every single pub... especially not in my befuddled post-flight state. So it was down to half-pints (well, one had to be civil). Here's my next alley, though less visually exciting:

6. Whites (1 Winecellar Entry). Here I found what's claimed to be Belfast's oldest tavern, dating from 1630. This is a good point at which to pay tribute to the friendliness of the locals - while I was taking photos in the alley a young guy who was passing stopped to have a chat and tell me more about the pubs, before heading off about his business:

... and here's the interior. Although there's been a tavern here since 1630, like so many of these places it's been completely remodelled from time to time. I found out later that Whites was rebuilt in 1790 and more recently refurbished in the 1990s after a fire. Here's what the interior looks like now - dim, cosy and atmospheric:

Next week: Three more Belfast pubs - one full of colourful signage, another humble but with special stew, and one spectacularly overdecorated for the Victorian gentry...

This post was sponsored by AFerry.co.uk.

Written in Dublin

As part of my trip to Ireland last year (hosted by Aer Lingus and Tourism Ireland), I investigated the famous literary heritage of Dublin.

Though it's not a huge city, over the centuries it's produced many towering figures in English literature, including the likes of James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, Samuel Beckett, George Bernard Shaw, Jonathan Swift and Bram Stoker.

But how do you engage with these geniuses in the 21st century city? I spoke to an expert to get the literary lowdown on Dublin. Catherine Duffy works for the city's City of Literature office; like Melbourne, Dublin is a recognised UNESCO City of Literature.

Tim: How important to the city is its literary identity?

Catherine: I think it’s of great importance, it’s a huge sense of pride and identity. Everyone would know the main writers, both the contemporary and classical writers. They would know some of their major works and what parts of the city they’re from. So it’s strong, writers and artists in general are looked up to in Dublin. It’s a cool thing to be.

Even children, they love meeting writers and they think it’s really trendy. A lot of them say "I want to be a writer". So, there is a sense of pride in it, and we do identify with it. I think because we know what we’re good at. Horse racing and writing are two things that we know we’re good at.

Tim: There's that picture of the literary type at the cafe and the pub, a kind of sexy image from the past - Oscar Wilde with his absinthe.

Catherine: Although many would believe that the classic Dublin writers weren’t very la-de-dah or nerdy, they were hellraisers really. They did things that would provoke society and they were trendmakers, they did quirky things. Oscar Wilde was in prison. WB Yeats, some of the things he wrote about angered and provoked society. Another writer was Brendan Behan, an alcoholic but a very colourful man.

They were all very different, and unique personalities and characters. They were bookish but they also had strong character traits that were kind of reckless, and probably self destroying in a way. They didn’t really care what effect it would have on their reputation. All they cared about was producing good work and producing what they wanted to produce.

Tim: What are the top literary highlights of the city for visitors?

Catherine: There are two bike companies that run tours of the city and they have a strong background on literary Dublin and they will tell you the tales. They’ll go to the different statues and the different birthplaces of the writers and they will tell you about them, they’re quite knowledgeable on it.

You’ve also got the Literary Pub Crawl. You don’t really drink on it, but a lot of the writers congregated there and exchanged their work, and so a literary pub crawl tells you about the writers that frequented them. It’s actors who do it, so it’s quite entertaining. It’s a good evening.

Another experience, especially if you’re interested in the old oral tradition, is an evening in the oldest pub in Dublin. It’s this guy, Johnny Daly, he’s an historian, and he tells you about the folklore and the fairies of literary Dublin.

Another thing which is quite quirky is Archbishop Marsh’s Library. It was the first public library in Ireland, it opened in 1701. The keeper there can bring you round and show it to you, the books are chained to the wall.

Another thing to go to is the Chester Beatty Library which is right beside Dublin Castle. It’s quite beautiful and it has a lot of Islamic manuscripts. And of course there's our National Library.

Tim: What’s your personal favourite?

Catherine: Probably the Book of Kells and the Long Room at Trinity College, but that’s because every time I walk into there I gasp. That’s not an exaggeration. It’s such a thing that you’d really miss out if you didn’t walk through there. It’s stunning.  It shocks me, actually. It’s amazing.

This post was sponsored by Octopus.com. Check out its site for deals on Dublin hotels.

Dublin: A Site With Bite

On my last full day in Dublin in May (hosted by Aer Lingus and Tourism Ireland), I had some time to kill so I jumped aboard one of those "hop on, hop off" double decker tour buses you find in cities around the world.

I don't usually think much of these tours, compared with the close-up advantages of seeing a place on foot. However, but they can give a good orientation to a city and allow you to (briefly) see some areas you otherwise wouldn't get to.

The bonus that day was the driver of my particular bus, who had a witty turn of phrase that livened up the standard tour commentary.

He particularly delighted in telling us the nicknames that Dubliners have given the various statues and monuments dotted around the Irish capital. What makes them particularly funny is that they're not at all fond and whimsical. Instead, they're rapier-sharp phrases with an acid bite, usually couched in the pattern "The X with/in the Y".

For example, an underwater clock that once sat beneath the River Liffey was known as "The Chime in the Slime",  while a set of statuary featuring two shoppers near the Halfpenny Bridge is called "The Hags with the Bags". Not gentle, certainly, but funny all the same.

Here are a few other Dublin statues and their nicknames.

1. This statue of famous author James Joyce holding a cane in O'Connell Street seems universally known as "The Prick with the Stick":

(Image courtesy of Tourism Ireland, photographer Dublin Tourism)

2. Not far from Joyce is this soaring monument erected in 2003, the needle-like Spire of Dublin. This has attracted an enormous number of nicknames, including:

• The Stiletto in the Ghetto
• The Stiffy by the Liffey
• The Skewer in the Sewer
• The Spire in the Mire
• The Erection in the Intersection
• The Rod to God

(Image courtesy of Tourism Ireland, photographer Holger Leue 2005) 

3. This statue features Molly Malone, from the famous song which had her selling "Cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh!" in Dublin's streets. As Molly is depicted wearing a particularly low-cut dress, it's attracted more than its fair share of ribald nicknames:

• The Tart with the Cart
• The Dish with the Fish
• The Dolly with the Trolley
• The Flirt in the Skirt
• The Trollop with the Scallops

(Image courtesy of Tourism Ireland, photographer Holger Leue 2003)

4. This statue of Phil Lynott, frontman of Irish band Thin Lizzy in the 1970s and '80s, was erected in 2005. It hasn't attracted a lasting Dublin nickname yet, demonstrating that it's not that easy to form one that follows the formula and is also funny.

A commenter in an online forum on the topic suggested "The Ace with the Bass", though that's too positive to really fit the acid style.

 

(Image courtesy of Tourism Ireland, photographer Tony Pleavin)

5. Finally, this monument features Anna Livia, personification of the River Liffey. It was erected in O'Connell Street in 1988, but was removed in 2001 to make space for the Spire of Dublin. In early 2011 it was re-erected in a park next to the Liffey.

Given her watery setting, Anna Livia has attracted lots of irreverent nicknames. The best, however, must be the unforgettable "The Floozy in the Jacuzzi".

 

(Photographer Piolinfax, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license)

And that's all from me - The Jotter with the Totter. 

This post was sponsored by AFerry.co.uk.