Dublin is a small capital has a big personality. The perfectly landscaped parks and elegant Georgian architecture will make your head turn, but the biggest draw of the city is the locals themselves. Dubliners are great hosts with infectious and compelling souls. Charismatic and social, the locals will happily lead you to their favorite pubs, tell the colorful history of their heritage and engage in witty banter over a pint of Guinness. Spend time getting to know the city's people and history, and your trip to Dublin will certainly be memorable.
If there is one thing Dubliners are more passionate about than their heritage, it's gaelic football. To rub elbows with faithful fans and get a real glimpse of local life, snag a bar stool at a pub in the Ballybough neighborhood on game day. Get there early and don a sky-blue top to look like a local as you sip on a pint.
The Irish are also proud of their literary history, and there is no better place to explore it than Trinity College. Samuel Beckett, Oscar Wilde and Bram Stoker are among the alumni of the renowned university, which also holds the 1200-year old Book of Kells. The manuscript, handmade by monks, shows the four New Testament gospels in awe-inspiring artistic intricacy.
Continue your literary history tour at the James Joyce Museum, which celebrates the life and work of one of the 20th century's greatest authors. The first scene of “Ulysses” actually takes place in the tower that holds the museum, and visitors can take a dip in the Forty Foot-- the swimming hole featured in the controversial novel.
Literary pub crawls take visitors further into the lives of Joyce and other celebrated scribes who called Dublin home. Tours are packed with history and humor, taking visitors through landmarks dedicated to Joyce, Yeats, Wilde, Beckett, Shaw and others.
The Irish love their music as much as their writers, and the pubs of Dublin often feature foot-stomping sessions with gravelly-voiced locals and fiddles firing off traditional jigs. Nothing else really compares to the cheerful atmosphere of a live session, and some of the best are held at the pubs in the hip Temple Bar area. There, you can expect a decent pint, lively set-dancing and plenty of whistling, yelping and singing. Don't be afraid to let your guard down and clap along.
While in the Temple Bar area, snag gourmet delights like smoked mackerel, venison sausages and rum breakfast cake. Don't leave without sampling a thick slice of made-from-scratch soda bread. If you are still craving more Irish cuisine, feast on homemade cabbage soup, creamy blue cheese tarts, to-die-for black pudding and locally made Irish whiskey.
The Irish are famous for their rich legends and myths, and the capital is steeped with them. Dublin castle, an 18th-century fortress, is rumored to be haunted by the spirits of decapitated would-be invaders. The crypt at St. Michan's Church is filled with the remains of bodies up to 800 years old. Visitors often report hearing voices and whispers throughout the stone church. The ghost of a Newfoundland dog haunts the Glasnevin Cemetery but occasionally creeps around St. Patrick's Cathedral, startling visitors with its harrowing howl. This is just a small sampling of the souls who apparently never want to leave the city. Visit Dublin for yourself and you will see why!