A NEW YORK travel writer has written a glowing post in the Huffington Post about Dublin, and it’s the city’s oft-maligned main artery that seems to have captured her heart.
Maddy Lederman was somewhat embarrassed that she’d never heard of the River Liffey, but after spending a weekend in the city she won’t forget it in a hurry.
“What’s the Liffey?”, she recalls querying. “Asking this question was the equivalent of going to Paris and wondering aloud: ‘What’s this Eiffel Tower everyone talks about?’”
The Gallic comparisons continued though, and we came off well:
As rivers go, the Liffey is like a hip version of the Seine to me, it delineates it’s city but it feels retro and mellow, and like it’s not taking itself nearly as seriously as it’s Parisian counterpart.
In fairness though, she seems to be fairly on the money when it comes to describing Dublin’s iconic bridges, old and new.
“From the old-world, cast-iron Ha’Penny Bridge to the Samuel Beckett, a majestic riff on the Celtic harp that sublimely connects the past to the future,” she writes.
Writing’s on the wall
It’s not just the bridges that caught her eye though, even toilet grafitti seems to have an old-world charm to curious travellers. “I found the bathroom graffiti in Dublin positively thought-provoking, elevating and spiritual,” she says.
Lederman cites a number of poetic quotes she saw on various toilet walls around the city, leading her to conclude that, “Dubliners are an educated citizenry that likes to flaunt its literary prowess.”
The writer/director did get lucky though. She was in Dublin on the day the marriage equality referendum was passed, and like any good travel writer she sniffed out a good party and made it to Dublin Castle.
Sometimes it’s all about timing, with a bit of Guinness and corned beef and cabbage thrown in.
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