Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
SIGHTS
Facing each other on Castle St are the 15th-century Archibold's Castle and Goat Castle.
Overlooking Bullock Harbour are the remains of Bulloch Castle, built by the monks of St
Mary's Abbey in Dublin around 1150.
To the south there are good views from the small park at Sorrento Point as well as from
Killiney Hill. Dalkey Quarry is a popular site for rock climbers, and originally provided
most of the granite for the gigantic piers at Dun Laoghaire Harbour. A number of rocky
swimming pools are also found along the Dalkey coast.
DALKEY CASTLE & HERITAGE CENTRE
( 01-285 8366;
www.dalkeycastle.com
; Castle St, Dalkey; adult/child €7.95/5.95; 10am-6pm Mon-Fri, from
11am Sat-Sun Jun-Aug; closed Tue Sep-May)
Spread across Goat Castle and St Begnet's Church, this
heritage centre has models, displays and exhibitions on Dalkey's history; a
Living History tour
in the format of a theatre performance; and a
Writers' Gallery
on the town's rich literary herit-
age - from Samuel Beckett (who was born here) to Joseph O'Connor (who lives here). The
centre also organises
walking tours
(€7;
HERITAGE CENTRE
11am & noon Wed & Fri Jun-Aug)
.
ST BEGNET'S HOLY WELL
(admission free, boat from Coliemore Harbour per hr €25 )
A few hundred metres offshore is Dalkey Is-
land, home to
St Begnet's Holy Well
, the most important of Dalkey's so-called holy wells. This
one is reputed to cure rheumatism, making the island a popular destination for tourists and
the faithful alike. The island is easily accessible by boat from Coliemore Harbour; you
can't book a boat, so just show up.
CHRISTIAN SITE
JAMES JOYCE MUSEUM
Dalkey is Sandycove, with a pretty little beach and the
Martello Tower
, built by British forces
to keep an eye out for a Napoleonic invasion and now home to the James Joyce Museum.
This is where the action begins in James Joyce's epic novel
Ulysses
. The museum was
opened in 1962 by Sylvia Beach, the Paris-based publisher who first dared to put
Ulysses
into print, and has photographs, letters, documents, various editions of Joyce's work and
two death masks of Joyce on display.
MUSEUM
FORTY FOOT POOL
(Sandycove)
Below the Martello Tower is the Forty Foot Pool, an open-air sea-water bathing
pool that took its name from the army regiment, the Fortieth Foot, that was stationed at the
POOL
