Dublin is the kind of city that has more layers than it lets on. Vikings, Georgians, novelists, rebellions, and a brewery you have probably heard of. A few things most visitors do not know:
1. Dublin was founded by Vikings
The first settlement was a Viking longphort built in 841 AD, where the river Poddle meets the Liffey. The Vikings stayed for about three hundred years and the street plan around Wood Quay still follows the lines they laid down.
2. The Guinness brewery has a 9,000 year lease
In 1759 Arthur Guinness signed a lease at St James's Gate for nine thousand years at 45 pounds a year. The brewery is still there. Guinness has long since outgrown the original lease and bought up much of the surrounding land.
3. The Long Room is the oldest still-working library room in Ireland
The Long Room at Trinity College was built in 1712. It still holds the original Book of Kells, which is around 1,200 years old. Tickets sell out in summer and you should book ahead.
4. There are more pubs than churches
Within the M50 ring road there are over seven hundred licensed pubs and well under two hundred churches. The Brazen Head, on Bridge Street, has been pulling pints since 1198, which makes it one of the oldest pubs in Europe.
5. The Liffey is the boundary that splits the city
Dubliners refer to themselves as northsiders or southsiders, and the rivalry is half-joking but real. The river splits the city in two and there are 24 bridges between Heuston and the sea.
6. The Phoenix Park is one of the largest urban parks in Europe
Phoenix Park covers 707 hectares, which makes it nearly twice the size of New York's Central Park. It contains the residences of the Irish President and the US Ambassador, plus a herd of fallow deer that have lived there since 1662.
7. James Joyce wrote a book you can walk
Bloomsday, every June 16th, is when fans retrace the route Leopold Bloom walks through Ulysses. The whole thing is doable in a long day with a few pub stops.
8. The GPO has bullet holes from 1916
The columns of the General Post Office on O'Connell Street still bear the marks of the Easter Rising. The building was the rebel headquarters and the Proclamation of the Irish Republic was read from its steps.
9. The 'Spire' is taller than the Eiffel Tower's first floor
The Spire on O'Connell Street, officially the Monument of Light, is 120 metres tall. Locals call it the Stiletto in the Ghetto, the Stiffy on the Liffey, and a few other names that are funnier in person.
10. Croke Park is the third-largest stadium in Europe
Croker holds 82,300 people. Only the Camp Nou in Barcelona and Wembley in London are bigger. It hosts the All-Ireland football and hurling finals every September, and you should go to one of those before you die.