Smithfield

So I find myself in Dublin again. A different hotel offers much more of an opportunity to take some pictures than the last time I was here, and so after dinner this evening I went for a stroll. The light wasn’t great but I managed to get a couple of shots worth posting.

I’m staying in an area of the city called Smithfield. This is an old area on the north side that used to house a massive set of farmer’s markets, but has now been rejuvenated into an area of trendy apartments and bars. The area is dominated by a public square now called Smithfield plaza. Some may recognise the location as it was used extensively in the Richard Burton film The Spy Who Came in from the Cold.

This is the old Jameson Whiskey Distillery with the observation deck at the top of the chimney. I can recommend the tour for the lovers of the uisce beatha.


The west side of the plaza is dominated by twelve 26m gas lighting masts, each with a 2m flame that were sadly not lit this evening. You may be able make out some of the 400,000 one hundred and twenty-year-old cobblestones, that were lifted, cleaned by hand and re-laid as part of the rejuvenation plan.


I continued my walk down the Liffey and took these pictures. The first faces west and features the law courts in the foreground. If you look carefully you can just about make out the Wellington Memorial, which resides in the Phoenix Park, on the skyline to the left of several construction cranes. The second faces east toward the Irish Sea.