Literary Pub Crawl of Dublin

Visiting the pubs alongside actors who perform bits of Swift and Joyce and distribute writerly factoids along the way

One of the most fun ways to visit the Dublin of books is to take the Dublin Literary Pub Crawl, a popular guided walking tour on which a pair of actors and literary buffs leads you to four pubs (plus Trinity College), pointing out sights with literary connections along the way and acting out snippets from great works by Sam Becket, James Joyce, Jonathan Swift, and other giants of Irish literature. It's great fun, truly inforamtive, and it comes with beer.

The tour meets at The Duke pub (www.thedukedublin.com) on Duke Street at 7:30pm on Sundays year round and daily at 7:30pm May through September (also at 3pm June through August). You can just show up, but I've noticed it frequently sells out and they turn folks away at the door, so I'd book in advance (which, for some reason, often costs a bit less, too).

Anotehr option: the James Joyce Dublin Walking Tour, a special treat you must book in advance through the James Joyce Centre, because it is run by the Centre's curator—and Joyce's nephew—Ken Monaghan.