Oddities and facts about Dublin

On today's post you will read a few oddities about Dublin. Did you know all of them???

Did you know that 50% of Dublin’s residents are under-25 years of age. No wonder it’s such a party town!

There are twelve Dublin in the United States and six in Australia.

Dublin was originally called Dubh Linn, meaning Black Pool. The pool to which the name referred is the oldest known natural treacle lake in Northern Europe and is believed to have been where the Dublin Castle gardens are nowadays.

Dublin is Europe’s most popular destination with travelling stag and hen parties. There is an estimated six hundred pre wedding parties every weekend in the capital.

There are forty six rivers In Dublin City: the river flowing through Rathmines is called the River Swan (beside the Swan Centre). The Poddle was once known as the ‘Tiber’ and was also known as the River Salach (dirty river), which is the origin of the children’s song “Down by the river Saile”. It is also the river whose peaty, mountain water causes the Black Pool mentioned above.

Dublin is the IT Call Centre capital of Europe with over 100,000 people employed in the industry. Many large tech companies have operational bases in Dublin, including multinationals like Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Twitter, Dell, Hostelworld, Amazon and Instagram!

In Celtic times there were four national roads called Slighe (ways or roads) that converged at a Ford on the river Liffey. The ford was known as Ath Cliath, which translates as Hurdle Ford, so Baile Ath Cliath (Irish name for Dublin) is the Town of the Hurdle Ford. 

The first vikings that arrived to Ireland settled on the south side between the Hurdle Ford and the Black pool. Dubh linn was the viking settlement on the south side. The vikings founded Dublin in 988. Before that settlement, there was Baile Atha Cliath,  named after a fording point in the river Liffey, as explained earlier. 

Dublin is home to the relics of St. Valentine! Their arrival came about when an Irish Carmelite named John Spratt visited Rome in 1835. A gifted preacher, Spratt was also setting up a church on Dublin’s Whitefriar Street. So successful was his sermon in Rome, he was gifted with the remains of St. Valentine by Pope Gregory XVI. The following year, they arrived here, and astonishingly, went into storage until the 1950s! At that point, they were given a place of prominence with a special altar and shrine constructed in the Carmelite church on Whitefriar Street. Traditionally, couples visit the church and ask Valentine to watch over them in their lives together.

There are over 1,000 pubs in Dublin to drink in and 10 million glasses of Guinness are produced daily

Dublin's O'Connell Bridge is the only bridge in Europe which is as wide as it is long

The Phoenix park is the largest urban park in Europe

The prestigious "Oscar" statuette used at the Academy Awards was designed by Cedric Gibbons, who was born in Dublin in 1823

Bram Stoker who wrote the famous novel Dracula, was born in Clontarf the title is said to come from the Irish words "Droch Ola"which means bad blood

Did you know the Camino de Santiago  first stop is in Dublin? It’s thought that in Medieval times, the figure of St. James appealed to the Irish society, although only members of the aristocracy got to experience it. Today, the Camino Society at St. James Church issues the Pilgrim Passport. You’ll get your first stamps there. Look out for the Camino’s symbol – the scallop shell – on the wall of the church.

Dublin has more gyms and sports clubs than almost every other European city.