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Martellos, museums and silk mercers: 7 locations from Ulysses you can visit this Bloomsday
Bloomsday is this Sunday, June 16.
THIS SUNDAY, JUNE 16, literature-lovers around the world will celebrate Bloomsday: the day which James Joyce’s famous novel Ulysses takes place on in 1904.
Multiple events are organised to take place as part of the festival (see the full programme of events here), but if you fancy taking matters into your own hands, we’ve lined up seven places mentioned in the novel to visit to pay tribute to Joyce..
1. Head to the Martello Tower in Sandycove, which is featured in the opening of the novel. Nowadays, it’s home to the James Joyce Tower and Museum.
2. Take a stroll along Sandymount Strand, which is featured twice in the book.
3. Stop by the James Joyce Centre at 35 North Great George’s St, where the original door of protagonist Leopold Bloom’s house (7 Eccles St) is, after the original building itself was demolished.
4. Take a trip to Glasnevin Cemetery, where the funeral procession of character Paddy Dignam takes place in Episode 6 of the novel.
5. A spot well-known for its appearance in Ulysses: Pay a visit to Sweny’s Chemist at Lincoln Place to buy a bar of lemon soap. Sweny’s is also said to be the place where Joyce himself was stood up by his love Nora Barnacle.
6. Stop by Davy Byrne’s on Duke St for a ‘gorgonzola sandwich and a glass of burgundy’, just like Bloom did.
7. Wander down Grafton St and admire the windows of Brown Thomas, just like Leopold B himself: “He passed, dallying, the windows of Brown Thomas, silk mercers. Cascades of ribbons. Flimsy China silks… Gleaming silks, petticoats on slim brass rails, rays of flat silk stockings.”
(If you’d like to see the original Brown Thomas site, as Joyce did, head to M&S across the road, as Brown Thomas was first located here.)
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