The last post was an epic, annotated list on the best sights & visits in Dublin. At the end is appended a few of my favorite coastal walks outside the city. Today, just a bit more detail on my favorite South side walk, from Dun Laoghaire to the end of Killiney beach, specifically the best route, via Sandycove, the 40 Foot,… Read More From the Granite to the Pebbles | Arran’s best 3- harbour walk.
This post is for all visitors and was inspired by my students. They often tell me they find it hard to get reliable information on the most interesting places to see here. This sounds a bit unlikely at first? With Ireland’s long-established tourism, you’d imagine we’re bursting at the seams with reliable, objective lists and maps,… Read More Arran’s Top Dublin Sights & Visits.
On of the best walks near Dublin is the circumnavigation of the Howth peninsula. I love to do the entire 360 circuit, and prefer it anti-clockwise, if you like, as you begin on the south-facing side and so catch more sun. Just leave the car at and start walking somehwere between the modern church near Sutton cross and Sutton dinghy… Read More from Sea to shining Sea, a picture walk, on Howth head.
This is the companion photo essay to the recent Pearse St post. https://arranqhenderson.com/2013/02/20/autumn-when-dublin-comes-to-life-a-little-picture-essay-of-pearse-st/ This walk took place on the same Open House weekend. And our little gathering of arcitectural and social history afficianados were led by the same guide, the excellent Lisa Cassidy. We started just behind the Four Courts, at Chancellery House, (above), designed by Herbert Simms, commemorated in… Read More a shorter photo essay- Four Courts to Green St & around.
Every autumn, there are two wonderful events in Dublin. The first, in September is called “Culture Night” which is pretty self-explanatory but covers all the arts. The second event is called “Open House”. It aims to interest and engage and to give people direct access to architecture, from old medieval and Georgian buildings, to the latest bits of… Read More Autumn, when Dublin comes to Life. a little picture essay of Pearse St.
The Natural History Museum was founded in 1856, It was constructed to accommodate the large collections of bird, animal and geological specimens belonging to the Royal Dublin Society, the RDS. For overseas readers, the RDS by the way, is a venerable and prestigious institution dedicated to the promotion of learning industry, agriculture, arts and scholarship,… Read More The Dead Zoo
I was about to abandon the little memoir of my recent Paris jaunt, and blog instead about other things. Time- after all- marches on. Tempus fugit and all that. But then I looked at some photos saved on the computer, of statues, saints and angels, one of Mary Magdalene even. Inevitably, thoughts turned to Paris… Read More Another day in Paris-dise (or Hell for the unlucky)
In a series of three seperate earlier posts, we’ve looked at the history of Dublin’s cathedral of Saint Patrick’s, from the early Christaina era, in one post, to the Viking ear in another, and finally to the Anglo-Normans, and “the story of the two cathedrals”. It’s all a long, immense, complex web of religious and… Read More Saint Patrick’s History, 4: Richard Boyle, earl of Cork, power, politics and intrigue in Elizabethan & Stuart Ireland.
Part ii- Dublin to Concarneau and Carnac; a sailing voyage on the coasts of Brittany. Getting there: (Part Two) Day zero + 1. North Wales to Plymouth. We leave mid-morning to catch the train, first leg Bangor to Birmingham. Despite the continuing grey weather, the first part of this journey is quite nice, with the… Read More Part ii- Dublin to Concarneau and Carnac; a sailing voyage on the coasts of Brittany.
Following on from Saint Brendan in our previous post; another stone carving, from another church. This time from the lovely and medieval St Nicholas of Myra church, right in the centre of Galway city. As you see, this stone carving above shows an angel. But this particular angel is unique, for reasons shortly to… Read More Answer Picture 3… Saint Nicholas Church Galway.
Arran Q Henderson 