Temple Bar

Wanna know where all the tourists hang out in Dublin? Just head down to Temple Bar and you'll find them. It's all about entertainment here. Filled with restaurants, clubs, pubs, and a whole lot more, anyone who visits Dublin should spend at least a little time here in this interesting little part of the city, located on the south bank of the River Liffey. There are some really great pubs here, I can attest for that, I've visited a few or them!

The streets have maintained their same crooked, narrow, cobbled-stone ways, dating all the way back to the medieval times. About 3,000 people call this area home. Origins of the community's name are a little vague, apparently the Temple Family lived in these parts during the 17th century; Sir William Temple, provost of Trinity College Dublin in 1609 had a house here. Perhaps that is where the name comes from. The "bar" portion of the name refers to the shore of the River Liffey. Now that makes sense because the River Liffey is just a stone's throw away. Unlike what many tourists may believe, Temple Bar is not named after the famous Temple Bar pub. That pub or bar was build a while after the community was established.




From the 19th to 20th centuries Temple Bar lost popularity and descended into urban decay, many of the buildings fell into very poor condition. However, their poor state was their saving grace, in the 1960 developers largely ignored the community as a candidate for development, instead focused their efforts on replacing (or destroying) a fair portion of the city's historic architecture in other areas.

A bus terminal was proposed for Temple Bar in the 1980s, raze everything and start with a fresh, clean slate was the plan. Developers bought out the area, and while planning the mammoth project, they leased out the buildings at low rents. During this time small shops and art galleries opened, the area started to flourish. The popular community grew a strong voice in the process, protests by the new residents eventually led to the cancellation of the bus terminal. Such is the evolution of Temple Bar.




Drunken craziness has gotten out of hand here in the past, in 1999 bachelor and bachelorette parties (called "Stag" and "Hen" parties in Ireland) were banned. I think they've been lax in enforcing the restriction, I've seen at least one, a hen party. A hen party, that's funny. I'm think maybe American girls might be offended by this term. But, things are a little different here in Iteland.

Case in point. I'm just walking down the street one day when I notice a young Irish girl (a little heavy) walks in front of a car that's pulling into a parking garage. She has the right-of-way. As she crosses in front of the car, the driver, a young Irish lad, shouts "Get moving along you fat cow!". I'm shocked! The girl says nothing and just keeps walking. Wow! I can't say I've ever seen such blatant rudeness in the States.

Ireland, this place never ceases to amaze me, for good and for bad, mostly for the good!