2 Best Sights in Dublin, Ireland

This Victorian covered market fills the block between Drury Street and South Great George's Street. Around two dozen stalls sell books, prints, clothing (new and secondhand), local foodstuffs, and trinkets.

Bordered on the east by Church Street, on the west by Blackhall Place, to the north by King Street, and to the south by the Liffey, Smithfield is Dublin's old market area where flowers, fruit, vegetables, and even horses have been sold for generations. Chosen as a flagship for north inner-city renovation during the boom, the area saw a major face-lift—with mixed reactions from the locals. Some of the beautiful cobblestones of its streets have been taken up, refinished, and replaced, and giant masts topped with gaslights used to send 6-foot-high flames over Smithfield Square. Unfortunately, they don't light the gas anymore, and there's the air of a white elephant about the whole thing. But the area is still worth a visit, especially in the early morning, as the wholesale fruit and vegetable sellers still ply their trade in the wonderful 19th-century covered market. It's also home to the Lighthouse cinema and a twice-yearly horse-trading market.