Portobello & Little Jerusalem: the canal-side quarter
The locks and lifting bridges, the old Jewish streets, and the coloured houses along the water. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. La Touche Bridge and Portobello Harbour
Start where the Luas crosses the canal. The wide basin here was Portobello Harbour, the city terminus of the Grand Canal, where the passenger boats tied up. Stand on the bridge and read the water before you walk it.

2. The canal locks at Portobello
Follow the towpath east past the working locks — the great black timber gates, the drop between levels. Sit on the grass bank that everyone treats as a beach the moment the sun appears. The coloured doors face you across the water.

3. Lennox Street and the old Jewish quarter
Turn inland into the grid the early-1900s called Little Jerusalem, when Lithuanian Jewish families settled these terraces. Look for the doorways and the quiet plaques; the synagogue is gone, but the streets keep the shape of the community that filled them.

4. Irish Jewish Museum, Walworth Road
A converted terraced synagogue, kept as it was. Small, volunteer-run, opening hours that suit it rather than you — check before you bank on it. Whether or not you get in, the building itself tells the street's whole story.

5. Bloomfield Avenue and the brick terraces
Wander the coloured-door terraces between Clanbrassil Street and the canal — flat-fronted red brick, each door a different gloss. This was Leopold Bloom's quarter in spirit; Joyce put the fictional Bloom's birth nearby. Walk slowly and look up.

6. Camden Street and the Harcourt locks
Finish back toward the canal's northern arm and up toward Harcourt — the locks giving way to the bars and food of Camden Street. Pick somewhere for a pint; the Luas at Harcourt takes you back into town from the door.

Portobello & Little Jerusalem: the canal-side quarter