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My next stops are nothing short of impressive. The Spencerdock project, adjacent to the IFSC sector, consists of some 6.5 million square feet of office buildings and ultra-luxury apartments, two and a half acres of park space and the National Conference Centre, which can host up to 2,000 visitors and is set to include a five-star hotel. Spencerdock is expected to be ready for next year. The nearly 330-foot-tall U2 Landmark Tower will be built on the south shore of the river – part of the Grand Canal Dock Area. The tower will consist of a recording studio for the famous Irish band, as well as shops, restaurants and apartments. On the same shore, in Grand Canal Square, construction has begun on the Grand Canal Theatre, which was designed by renowned architect Daniel Libeskind and should open in 2008. The area also will be outfitted with luxury apartments, office buildings, parks, pedestrian streets and bridges. The dock area development should be more or less complete by 2015. According to the Dublin Dockland Development Authority, the organization in charge of monitoring the undertaking, 165 and a half million euros already have been invested, with the figure expected to increase to more than 300 million between now and 2010. Wow. A lot of money is being spent on Dublin’s modern makeover, one that is only visible in fragments thus far. It’s worthwhile to take a boat ride on the Liffey Voyage, along a three-mile stretch that will feature a riverside path when the construction is finished, to get an idea of the enormity of the renovations currently underway. Leaving the cranes in the distance, I continued on to Smithfield, another area in the process of being modernized. I don’t know if it was due to the time (two in the afternoon on a Saturday), but the area seemed quite empty. Silence and solitude in an area that touts itself as the new Temple Bar, the city’s traditional bar district. The Smithfield Chimney – an old factory chimney now equipped with a viewing gallery at its top – offers a panoramic view of Dublin, with countless church steeples and abundant parks. Crossing the river near Christ Church, I had a stroke of luck and found a party with electronic and hip-hop music and skateboarding. Taking advantage of the rays of sunshine peeking through the clouds that day, these laidback Dubliners danced, lay in the grass, juggled and somersaulted (with varying degrees of success), against the backdrop of the aforementioned medieval cathedral. Here, modernity and tradition struck a perfect balance. The essence of Dublin is there to be found, if you are willing to look for it.• LAN flights: To Madrid every day from Santiago (Chile) and five times a week from Lima and Guayaquil. Connections to London and Dublin. |
