Dublin’s got the craic

UBLIN’S FUNKY nightlife, the Irish craic (fun), its special brew — Guinness — its literary heritage and its dividing Liffey river can now be enjoyed during a Glatt kosher nine-day tour.

There are plenty of superb places to visit, including the synagogue, Jewish museum, the Parliament building, Dublin Castle and Trinity College. The latter, with its superb long room, is a legal deposit library with 4.5 million volumes and the ancient Book of Kells.

The metropolis is blessed with the largest enclosed public park in Europe (760 acres). It’s home to Dublin Zoo, the oldest in Europe, and contains the President of Ireland’s residence and the American Embassy. This is also a haven of fabulous gardens and wilder- ness where wild fallow deer have been roaming since the 17th century.

North of the city is the village of Malahide and its castle. Inside this 800-yearold fortress is a collection of sensational furniture and Irish artworks donated by the National Gallery.

Just beyond the city limits are the rolling, green hills of the Irish countryside and the mystical Boyne Valley. The Newgrange prehistoric site within the valley has megaliths, and a passage to several tombs. Over the entrance there is a roofbox and on the winter solstice the sun shines through it, travels through the passage, lighting the burial chamber for around 17 minutes, and illuminating the carvings in its wake. The rest of the time it is swathed in darkness.

The southern coastline leads to the town of Wicklow and its undulating countryside. The town curves around the harbour and within the surrounding hills is the 18th-century house and gardens of Powerscourt Estate.

Beyond the mountains is Glendalough, with its 10th-century Round Tower and 6th-century monastic ruins. The mountain route leads to the Meeting of the Waters where the Avonmore and Beg rivers join to form the Avoca river. This is where Thomas Moore penned his famous Irish melody Meeting of the Waters, which rhapsodises about the area.

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