IRELAND'S “DARK POOL”
Dublin, Ireland's Capital, is a city steeped in history, tragic and glorious, with haunting memories of great patriots, scientists and scholars. It is a city of spacious streets, fine buildings and friendly people; a city which combines the beauty of more leisured centuries with modern progressiveness.
Few capitals are so beautifully situated. Dublin Bay forms a sweeping crescent from the Hill of Howth to Dalkey: a salt wind blows into the heart of the city and the slopes of the Wicklow Hills seem to rise at the end of every street in the Southern Suburbs.
The name Dublin is derived from the Gaelic “Dublinn” (Dark Pool). In the eighth century, after fifty years of sporadic plundering, the Danes picked this place as a convenient naval base for their raids, and the little wooden town they built by the harbour grew \win importance as its trade with the rest of the Viking Empire increased. The Danes’ power was not finally broken until 1014, when they were defeated by the Irish at the Battle of Clontarf.
With the eighteenth century came the most colourful period of Dublin's history, and architecture and the other arts found ready encouragement from the brilliant and wealthy society of the metropolis. During this time the spacious Georgian streets, squares and fine public buildings that are so much a feature of present-day Dublin, sprang into being.
Like the residents of most large cities, the people of Dublin cherish their “local colour” - particularly in the form of street peddlers and musicians. Passengers on the Caronia North Cape Cruise who stroll down fashionable Grafton Street or Wicklow Street will undoubtedly see one of the Dubliners’ favourites - a quaint old lady in native costume sitting on a kerbside stool playing an Irish harp for the pleasure of shoppers and passers-by.
Few other cities provide such a variety of scene and enjoyment. There is a wealth of interest for the visitor in its lovely Georgian buildings, its fashionable shopping centres, its wide range of entertainment and sporting facilities. The beautiful surroundings of the City are also easily accessible, and a few miles journey brings one to the sea or into the trackless hills.
[Produced for the North Cape Cruise departing New York 01 July 1966]]