Dublin - Smithfield to the Phoenix Park Travel Guides | Dublin | Sub Regions | Dublin - Smithfield to the Phoenix Park

Originally the site of a run-down fruit and vegetable market and a horse fair, Smithfield has in recent years become the centre of an ambitious urban redevelopment scheme, with riverside public housing, a flash hotel and a growing population of bars and restaurants surrounding a vast public space that is lit on Saturday nights by gigantic gas braziers. The horse fair has since vacated the new cobbled plaza and now takes place further up the road, but the fruit and vegetable market still struggles on, despite these incongruous surroundings. Between here and the city centre is the imposing Four Courts building, constructed by James Gandon in 1802, and ancient St Michan’s Church. Further west lies Collins Barracks, now an entertaining part of the National Museum, and the Phoenix Park, where you’ll find newly refurbished Dublin Zoo, the home of the Irish President and an ancient tower house.

Collins Barracks, Benburb St, T 01 677 7444, http://www.museum.ie Tue- Sat 1000-1700, Sun 1400-1700. Free. Guided tours E1.50. Bus 25, 66, 67, 90 (from Aston Quay).

These beautiful buildings were, for a long time, the largest military barracks in Europe, designed by Thomas Burgh in 1701 to house 5,000 men, and only finally decommissioned in 1969.

They now contain the National Museum’s collection of decorative arts, with a huge variety of exhibits laid out in innovative ways. The favourite pieces of the museum’s curator form one display, and another room is full of objects grouped together for their aesthetic value rather than to illustrate a piece of history. Drawers can be opened to reveal exquisite accoutrements, while a fascinating collection of rural furniture and crafts is accompanied by audio-visual material on traditional skills that are on the verge of dying out. This  exhibit provides a vivid contrast to displays of lavish costumes and costly furniture owned by Ireland’s upper classes.

On the top floor look out for the clock whose inner workings have been lowered to eye level so that visitors can watch the intricate whirrings. (Catch it on the hour when the clock chimes.) Also on the top floor is an exhibition of the work of Eileen Gray (1878-1976) , one of Ireland’s most famous 20th-century designers.

Bow St, Smithfield Village, T 01 807 2355. Daily 0900-1800. Closed 25 Dec, Good Friday. Last tour at 1730. E7. Bus 67, 68, 69, 79, 90.

Jameson is now owned by the Irish Distillery Company, which also owns the Power, Paddy and Bushmills brands, and most of its whiskey is produced at Middleton in County Cork. This Dublin site closed as a working distillery long ago, and the buildings are now a museum dedicated to the history of whiskey production. The guided tour starts with a short audio-visual show before visiting the grain store and continuing on through the malting, milling, mashing, distilling and bottling processes, taking in the old copper stills, fermentation vessels and all the other paraphernalia of whiskey manufacture.

There is a bar and a complimentary tipple at the end of the tour, but if you are keen to try more than one whiskey, then hurl yourself forward for the voluntary tasting session. This involves comparing the taste of four Irish whiskeys, a Scotch whisky and a Bourbon, before tottering away with a certificate to prove your connoisseurship. Additional drinks can be purchased at the distillery bar, including the very rare and expensive Middleton whiskey at E9.20 a shot.

Smithfield Village, T 01 817 3800, http://www.chiefoneills.com Mon-Sat 1000-1730, Sun 1100-1730. E5. Bus 25, 67 (from Middle Abbey St) 68, 69, 79 (from Aston Quay), 90 (from Connolly, Tara St or Heuston Stations).

The 185 ft (54 m) chimney of the former Jameson Distillery was built in 1895 and has now been converted into a viewing tower as part of the regeneration of Smithfield. A glass-walled lift takes you to the top from where you can gaze out over the city.

Church St, T 01 872 4154, http://www.stmichans@iol.ie Mar-Oct, Mon-Fri 1000-1230 and 1400-1630, Sat 1000-1245, Nov-Feb, Mon-Fri 1230- 1530, Sat 1000-1245. E3.50. Bus 25, 25A, 26, 37, 51, 66, 66A, 68, 69, 134.

St Michan’s was founded in 1095 by Viking settlers. None of the original building survives, although the grey limestone tower dates from the 15th century. The rest of the church has been rebuilt many times, in the 17th and 19th centuries, and again in the 1920s  following damage caused during the Civil War.

St Michan’s chief claim to fame is the display of centuries-old corpses in its vaults, which have been preserved for years by the magnesium salts in the limestone. Among the bodies are the two Sheares brothers, who were executed for taking part in the 1798 rebellion and really deserve a better fate than becoming part of a ghoulish tourist attraction. Above ground is the organ on which Handel practised for the first performance of his Messiah.

Visitor Centre, T 01 677 0095, http://www.heritageireland.ie Jan-Mar, daily 1000-1700, Apr-Sep, daily 1000-1800, Oct, daily 1000-1700, Nov and Dec, Sat and Sun 1000-1700. E2.75. Bus 37 (from Middle Abbey St).

It is easy to spend a whole day pottering between the sights of the Phoenix Park. This is the largest enclosed public park in Europe, and its 1,752 acres (710 ha) enclose Dublin Zoo, a police museum, a visitor centre, Ashtown Castle (a tiny 17th-century tower house), a Neolithic cromlech, the ruins of a magazine fort, monuments to assorted public figures (including a vast obelisk dedicated to Wellington and a cross marking a papal visit in 1979), the homes of both the Irish President (Áras an Uachtaráin) and the American ambassador, not to mention several lakes, ancient trees and herds of deer. Dubliners use the Phoenix Park for all sorts of activities  from practising their golf swings to flying model aeroplanes, playing hurling matches or just sitting about in the sunshine.

There’s not much to see in the visitor centre apart from stiff-looking waxwork figures, but admission includes a guided tour of Ashtown Castle. On Saturdays there are also hourly free tours of Áras an Uachtaráin. When you visit, look out for the plaque on the road outside, which marks the places where members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood assassinated Lord Cavendish, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and his under-secretary in May 1882.  If your legs get tired, a shuttle bus runs from the main gates to the visitor centre, stopping off at the zoo and the papal cross.

Built in 1735 the magazine fort in Phoenix Park seems to serve no useful purpose, nor ever did as this jingle by Jonathan Swift proclaims: “Behold!/ A proof of Irish sense;/ How Irish wit is seen!/ When nothing’s left/ That’s worth defence/ We build a magazine.”

Phoenix Park, T 01 474 8900, http://www.dublinzoo.ie Mar-Sept, Mon-Sat 0930-1800, Sun 1030-1800. Oct-Feb, Mon-Sat 0930-dusk, Sun 1030-dusk. Last admission 1 hr before closing. E10. Bus 10 (from O’Connell St), 25, 26 (from Wellington Quay). Train Heuston Station.

Established in 1830, Dublin Zoo has recently been enlarged and is now very child friendly. It occupies 66 acres and includes a city farm, an enclosure called the African Plains, a discovery centre and a zoo train. Several endangered species are represented here.

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