Panorama Photo

Nearly unknown today, Coliemore Harbour was the main port of Dublin in the Middle Ages, located as it is under steady rocks, and not threatened by the sands transported by the River Liffey. This is the reason underlying the nobility of the nearby suburb of Dalkey, so full of castles and of history. Just for information, now the main harbour of Dublin is Dun Laoghaire (read "dan liiri"), whose huge protecting barriers can be seen in N.17426 [Killiney Hill Obelisk, in der Umgebung].
Pictoresque is, in front of the port, the presence of the Dalkey island - the name Dalkey itself being Irish for "thorn island". Some care is needed to spot on it the ruins of the church of St Begnet. Much more evident is the presence of a Martello Tower, that is, one of the defence towers that were built throughout the British coast in the XVIII century. Curiously enough, the name Martello originates from a corruption of the Tour de Mortella, at Saint Florent in Corsica.
Famous is the next Martello tower north, namely, the one at Sandycove, because it was leased to a friend of Joyce, a certain Oliver Gogarty - if you want to have fun, just read his biography on Wikipedia. Mad as he was, already the sixth night that this host was at Sandycove, the fired a gun short above Joyce's head, such that the writer found it safe to abandon the place immediately, walking out in the darkness. The following morning is the one portrayed in the opening of Joyce's Ulysses.

11 HF, Canon G1X, 40 mm equiv, ISO 200, f/5.6, 1/125 sec.