Birthplace of James Joyce, W. B. Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, and Samuel Beckett, Dublin has more literary landmarks than most cities. Some serve double-duty: The Duke is an 1822 bar and the starting point for the Literary Pub Crawl (www.dublinpubcrawl.com), a walking tour of historic, author friendly pubs. In 2010, UNESCO named Dublin to its list of Cities of Literature—of which contemporary author Joseph O’Connor commented, “To describe Dublin as a City of Literature would be like saying rain sometimes falls in Ireland.”
DUBLIN WRITERS MUSEUM
Letters, rare editions, portraits, and other memorabilia from the likes of Jonathan Swift, Oscar Wilde, Shaw, Yeats, Joyce, and Beckett fill this 18th-century mansion. The Michelin-starred restaurant Chapter One occupies its basement level. (writersmuseum.com)
JAMES JOYCE CENTRE
Far from a stuffy memorial to the literary cult figure, the centre hosts weekly Joyce-themed walks, spearheads the annual Bloomsday festival, and welcomes guest readers as starry as Stephen Fry. (jamesjoyce.ie)
TRINITY COLLEGE
Take a student-guided walking tour around this prestigious 16th-century university, home to the largest library in Ireland and the illuminated ninth-century Gospel manuscript, the Book of Kells. (tcd.ie/ visitors/book-of-kells)
SWENY’S PHARMACY
Daily Joyce readings take place at this former pharmacy where Ulysses’ Leopold Bloom famously buys lemon-scented soap. (sweny.ie)
NATIONAL LIBRARY OF IRELAND
Its holdings include the largest collection of W. B. Yeats manuscripts in the world, donated by the Yeats family. (www.nli.ie)
