June Bank Holiday

JUNE BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND 2023

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The population of Ireland is just 5 million but over 500,000 passed through Dublin airport this weekend so my policy is to avoid all the stress associated with holiday travel by exploring the city of Dublin. I like the canal areas especially the Grand Canal on the south side of the city.

Portobello is an area of Dublin in Ireland, in the south city centre, bounded to the south by the Grand Canal.

It came into existence as a small suburb south of the city in the 18th century, centred on Richmond Street. During the following century it was completely developed, transforming an area of private estates and farmland into solid Victorian red-bricked living quarters for the middle classes on the larger streets, and terraced housing bordering the canal for the working classes.

As a fast-expanding suburb during the 19th century Portobello attracted many upwardly-mobile families whose members went on to play important roles in politics, the arts and the sciences. Towards the end of the century came an influx of Jews, refugees from pogroms in Eastern Europe, which gave the name “Little Jerusalem” to the area.

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