Grand Canal
The Grand Canal, built in the mid-18th century to link Dublin port to the Shannon, makes a great curved sweep through Dublin 2, just as the later Royal Canal does through north Dublin. There is a Waterways Visitor Centre by the Grand Canal Dock by Hanover and Charlotte Quays. However the best canal-side walk is between Mount St and Leeson St. There are park benches and pleasant pubs (The Barge, The Portobello, The Lower Deck, An Beal Bocht/The Poor Mouth) near or along the grassy tree-linthreeed banks and even a statue of Patrick Kavanagh (‘On Raglan Road’) sitting on one of the benches.

Guinness Brewery
St James’s Gate, Crane St. Tel: (01) 453 6700.
Founded 1759, once the world’s largest brewery, its history is on display in the Guinness Hop Store.

Ha’penny Bridge
Historians propose that the bridge, once called the Metal Bridge, originally a toll bridge with a half-penny fee, was first erected (in 1821) to save Dubliners the foggy ferry crossing when they headed for the Crow Street Theatre.

Leinster House – The Dail
Kildare St. The upper (Seanad) and the lower (Dail) houses of the Irish Parliament, the Oireachtas na hÉireann, meet in this 1745-48 one time town house of the Earl of Kildare, Duke of Leinster designed by Richard Castle. The Merrion Square frontage is less formal and gardens retain a statue to Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s consort. Mansion House. Dawson St. Built 1710, bought for the city’s Lord Mayors 5 years later. Rarely open to visitors, the same goes for the Royal Irish Academy, next door.

Merrion Square
Dating from 1762, lined by Georgian houses on three sides, the National Gallery to its west, this is the Dublin square, rich in elegant doors below more elegant fanlights, graced by tall windows held by slim glazing bars. Its famous residents were legend. Scene of soup kitchens during the Famine Leinster Lawn has fountain and statue. Merrion Row’s Huguenot Cemetery has been recently restored.

National Print Museum
Beggars Bush, Haddington Road, Dublin 4.
Tel: (01) 660 3770. Preserving Ireland's printing heritage, the museum houses a unique collection of implements, artefacts and machines from all sectors of the printing industry in Ireland.