Today I take you to visit three parks in Dublin which, in my opinion, are to be included among the things to visit during a trip to discover the Irish capital and its infinite beauties. Yes, I know that a walk to the park is somewhat obvious advice, which I could also avoid, but I promise that I will not just tell you “visit this park”!
For each of the three Dublin parks that I will talk about, I will also try to give you some historical and more exciting information about the obviousness. Start from the Phoenix Park, the farthest from the centre of Dublin and one of the largest in the world (it is more extensive than both Central Park in New York and Hyde Park in London). Here there are several landmarks and monuments worthy of note: from the zoo to the Phoenix monument, through the presidential residence and the American Embassy which was once the Deerfield Residence (home of the Chief Secretary for Ireland, the second office of the ‘Ireland after the Lord
Lieutenant). Always inside the park, there is also the Wellington monument, an obelisk erected to remember Wellington (both for his victories and defeats) that for size is second only to the monolith of the White House. Near the Visitor Center is Ashtown Castle, a medieval guard complex from the 17th century. At the visitor centre, you can sit down and eat and drink something hot. As I said the park is gigantic, so I suggest you keep at least half a day to go to the discovery of this park (half is just the minimum, in my opinion). Chesterfield Avenue, the big road that starts from the main entrance, is the road to the sports fields. Inside the park, there are athletes, cyclists (eye not to invade the cycle paths), families who walk happily and dogs that run even happier than their owners.
Reaching the park is not at all problematic: many buses come from the centre to here, and the stops are along the roads that border the walls of the park itself (Conyngham Road and Infirmary Road are the two central). I suggest you get off at one of the stops near the main entrance so enjoy it from the beginning! As an alternative to “normal” buses, you could also use the city sightseeing buses, which stop at the zoo (and then inside the park). The next park I take you to discover (and I suggest you visit) is St. Stephen Green, the most extensive park in central Dublin.
It is located in the centre of a square of the Georgian era (which still preserves the buildings of the time) and is surrounded by four streets that were once the main arteries of the city centre.
Once, the park area was an area dedicated to public flogging, fires and hangings. In 1814, with the approval of an annual access tax (of a guinea), it was fenced with gates and gates; it became a public park thanks to Sir Arthur Edward Guinness in 1877 (he was also to finance the realisation of the gardens and the pond projects).
Always here there are several points of interest to note, as the monument to Wolfe Tone, commander of the failed invasion of 1798 (north-west corner) and the bow celebrating the Irish dead of the war against the Boers in South Africa in 1901 (on the intersection with Grafton Street). In the middle of the park, there is a bust of Constance Markiewicz, one of the heroines of the Easter uprising in 1916. Also worthy of note are the statue of Arthur Guinness (southeastern corner) and the Huguenot cemetery dating back to 1692 (it is not possible to visit it, but you can also see it from outside).
I conclude by taking you to the Merrion Square’s garden, now considered one of the most beautiful Georgian squares in Dublin. We are talking about a square that has specific historical importance because, during the famine caused by the potato disease, soup kitchens were set up for the poor who flowed into the city to escape hunger and death.
From the literary point of view, however, several prominent personalities lived here for at least a short period of their lives: Oscar Wilde (at number 1 from 1855 to 1876), William Butler Yeats (lived at number 82) and Daniel O’Connell (at number 58). In fact, here is the famous statue of Oscar Wilde, located inside the park precisely in front of his home.
The park, located in the centre of the square, should be a private garden born for those who live in the buildings that surround it, but in reality, the gates are always open, and the passage is allowed to everyone! In September, the famous Fringe Festival takes place right in the garden (yes, it has the same name as the festival of the same name held in Edinburgh): music and shows are the masters for almost a month of entertainment. The dates may vary from year to year, of course, and for this, I refer you to the official website.