Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few days you will have heard of Dublin’s newest tourist attraction – the Cherry Tomato Bridge.
An unassuming stone bridge crossing on the Royal Canal at Drumcondra Road has taken the internet by storm after some loose cherry tomatoes appeared on the bridge following last week’s cold snap.
During the week, a number of people posted online about the tomatoes and how they had been there for some time.
This spiked peoples’ interest in seeing the cherry tomatoes for themselves and more and more people began posting on social media about their weekend pilgrimage to the bridge which has become somewhat of a shrine to tomatoes, with visitors adding packets of ketchup and framed photos to the mix.
Some videos of the phenomenon have racked up thousands of views as people continue to rattle their brains as to how all of this first came about.
A video posted by Sarah Griff following her discovery of the cherry tomatoes on the bridge reached 1.1 million views on TikTok and 14.5k views on Instagram.
Founder of The Smooth Stick Aine Kennedy also shared a video on TikTok declaring the Cherry Tomato Bridge as ‘a must do’ activity in the capital, while makeup artist Ciara Ryan posted her blind reaction to seeing Dublin’s most recent attraction.
Those who visit the bridge have also been leaving more cherry tomatoes as offerings in an attempt to keep the tourist attraction alive.
The famous cherry tomatoes are located at 4 Richmond Rd, Drumcondra, Dublin 3 and have even become a named location on Google Maps under ‘Shrine of the Sacred Cherry Tomatoes of Drumcondra’.
5-star reviews are being left by visitors on Google who have described the tomato shrine as an “unbelievable experience”, “a touching monument” and “majestic and heavenly”.
A Reddit page dedicated to the mystery behind the cherry tomatoes has questioned how the cherry tomatoes of Drumcondra phenomenon began and explored ways in which the shrine can be enhanced for tourism purposes.
“I thought someone had put their shopping bag down and dropped a couple of tomatoes. I’m still not entirely sure what’s going on,” one Reddit user posted.
Speaking about the need for “more random stuff like this” in a world where negativity is too often to the fore, other users began exploring how best to keep the interest in the cherry tomatoes alive.
“Do we need to think about setting up a visitors centre before the tourist season kicks off again for Paddy’s day,” another user posted.
