Saint Valentine, the 3rd century Italian martyr whose feast day is celebrated on the 14th of February is not commonly associated with Dublin, yet his remains are housed in a reliquary shrine in the Irish capital.

How did this come about you might well ask, he was unlikely to have visited Ireland in his lifetime.

Dublin's Forty Foot is a famous swimming location, perhaps one of the most famous in the world, attracting the likes of Loudon Wainwright III when he visits Ireland and thousands of locals on Christmas Day each year.

Despite the name, the Forty Foot is not home to waves forty feet high, nor is the water forty feet deep. The Forty Foot was home to the British Army's 40th Regiment of Foot, hence the name Forty Foot or 40 Foot.

Anyway if it was forty feet deep we would have to rename it to "The 12.2 Metre" or "The Twelve Metre".

Here is one of my videos made at the Forty Foot on Christmas Day 2018, when thousands of people turn out to swim in the cold Irish Sea, many for charity and good causes but also for a challenge and some fun.

It's almost Christmas, the end of another year and another decade; here at Panoramic Ireland we have been busy photographing Dublin as always.

2019 has reached December and, for the second year, more than a dozen of Dublin's buildings and streets have been illuminated to give the city a more welcoming feel.

Dublin's Winter Lights have illuminated some of the city's famous buildings for the second year. Created by Dublin City Council the lights switch on at sunset every night in December and stay on until 02:00.

There are 14 buildings and areas in total, including Trinity College, Hugh Lane Gallery and Christchurch.

As well as the buildings there are a few streets and Dublin's Millennium Bridge pictured above. This bridge has in recent times become known as the Rainbow Bridge and is back for winter 2024.

Trinity College is most famously associated with the Book of Kells, a national treasure, and the Long Room Library in which it is housed.

But the campus of Ireland's oldest university, founded in 1592, is a peaceful haven away from the busy streets of the Irish capital.

A landmark in the university grounds, and indeed in Dublin itself, the campanile stands at 100ft or just over 30 metres and is one of the city's most photographed structures.

Dublin's Ha'penny Bridge is well known to locals and visitors alike, built in 1816 to span the River Liffey it has carried pedestrians for over 200 years.

See it above in Panoramic Ireland's 360-degree panoramic or photosphere.

Dublin's Samuel Beckett Bridge was installed in 2009, it celebrates 10 years this year of spanning the River Liffey and is dedicated to the Nobel Prize for Literature winning writer and playwright, Samuel Beckett.

Interestingly the architect of the Samuel Beckett Bridge Santiago Calatrava has already designed a bridge for Dublin dedicated to another of the city's famous writers, James Joyce.

They liken Killiney Bay to the Bay of Naples. The coastal area south of Dublin is a very scenic place but I can't see the resemblance, I've been to Naples and climbed Vesuvius.

Yet Killiney Bay is a beauty, accessible by DART (commuter train) from Dublin and with fine walks and views it offers the visitor a flavour of the real Ireland without travelling too far.

Street photography can through up some unusual situations and give rise to interesting photographs.

Here, a visiting bishop arrives, Saint Patrick maybe, with his travel case on the cobbled alleys of Dublin and stops to talk with, or perhaps berate, the street vendors with their sandwich boards advertising Thai massages in Dublin.

Dublin is home to many fine parks, the best known being St. Stephen's Green and Phoenix Park.

But there are many of these fine green spaces in the city, some with more colour than just the lush green grass such as here at Saint Patrick's Cathedral on a sunny day.