h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

At a meandering 1800 acres Phoenix Park is the biggest city park in Europe. Easily accessible from the city centre either by bus or, if you're feeling energetic, foot and provides a welcome little bit of the country in the middle of all that brick and granite. The Park plays host to all sorts of amenities and amusements, from public football pitches to meandering walks around a myriad of monuments including the staggeringly dull Papal Cross - erected to commemorate the one and only Papal visit to Ireland in 1979. Also worth taking a peep at (you can hardly miss it) is the Memorial to that reluctant Irishman the Duke of Wellington ('Just because one is born in a stable does not make one a horse') in the base of which, prior to completion, a massive banquet was held from which every guest, bar one, exited unscathed.
The Park is also home to a variety of flora and fauna - there's a large herd of deer and signposts that diligently warn motorists of the fact that they do, on occassion, perform feats of immense stupidity such as trying unsuccessfully to play chicken with the average family hatchback. Among the more threatening wildlife to be seen is the President of Ireland and the United States Ambassador to Ireland - both of whom have large and rigidly secured residences within the confines of the park.
Finally the Park is also home to the National Zoological Gardens (the zoo) which is desparately trying to shrug off its jaded image (previously the most exciting bit about the zoo was Pets Corner - and then only because they had swings and slides) in favour of a more upbeat 'hey aren't animals cool!' image. The wide open spaces also provide the perfect setting for occassional free concerts - at which one, or all, of U2 are always rumoured to be playing (despite the fact that they never do). Whatever your reasons for going, no trip to Dublin is quite complete without a trip to the Park to chill out, trip out or just walk about

A much smaller inner city park, this land was left to the Church to build a Cathedral. Recognising that there already was a cathedral just up the way, the main man at the time gave the land over to the citizens of Dublin as a park.
The flowers are very beautiful and on most weekends in tourist season (which seems to be all year long in Dublin ) the outer railings are used by struggling local artists to display their wares for sale - which gives you a free gallery .