Even though I arrived in Dublin with some trepidation about what I was going to do for three weeks, It has been nice to take a step back from doing all the things. To relax in our comfortable apartment, have long slow mornings in bed drinking coffee. and going where the spirit leads me. It has provided a great opportunity to remind myself, wherever we are, to save something for next time. To go with the flow. It has been a welcomed recharge.
We have been here for two weeks and I am excited about all the things that I have been able to do for the first time. They are:
On August 3rd we were able to visit our old backyard neighbors who moved to Dublin 12 years ago. They bought land and built a house in Naul which is about 40 minutes outside of Dublin. It was lovely to see their passion project first hand and get to spend some extra quality time with them. We had a pint at Killian’s in town and had our first Mexican food of our trip at La Cocina Cuevas and it was spectacularly delicious! That Saturday, before we went to visit our friends, we walked up to the National Botanical Garden and explored and then visited the Gravediggers Pub for one of the best pints of Guinness.
The next day we went and visited the town of Malahide which is on the coast. We walked the beach and saw the castle and then met up with Dave’s aunt and uncle for a coffee before we caught the train to Howth. It was a bank holiday weekend so Howth was very busy. We had oysters, walked the pier, saw the lighthouse and cliffs and even caught an impromptu penny whistle concert. The weekend was a fun adventure.
Last weekend we stayed around Dublin which was nice. Friday we ate delicious pizza at Bo-Co and then wandered around and listened to live music at the Cobblestone and Ned O’Sheas. Saturday we went to Sophie’s at the Dean Hotel for brunch and took in the beautiful rooftop view. From there we walked around Iveagh Gardens, St. Stephen’s Green and Trinity College before we met up with a childhood friend and her husband for dinner at Bull and Castle. . They had been living in Luxembourg for several years and then moved to Dubai last summer. Her husband is Irish so typically they alternate between visiting the US and Ireland in the summers and we got lucky enough to have our time overlap while they were here. I will say I don’t eat a ton of red meat but the steak at Bull and Castle was delicious!
Sunday we went to the Pearse Lyons Distillery. It is a really cool place located inside an old church with a rich history, much like many places in Dublin. You can read more about it here if you are interested. https://pearselyonsdistillery.com/about-us/ After that we walked around Temple Bar and I checked out Lucy Lounge which is a super cool vintage store that is only open on weekends. Their tagline is “fighting bland since 1982.” I met a man named Rudy there who was working on his own creations while people were shopping and it was fun to chat with him and even buy one of his unique pieces. There are actually several cool vintage shops in the Temple Bar area that are worth checking out if you’re into that kind of thing.
With one week left I’m thinking about what else I’d like to do. Today there was a welcome back street party for the Irish Olympic Athletes near the General Post Office that I did end up attending. The Paris Olympics was the most successful one for Ireland since they joined the Olympics 100 years ago with seven medals. Four gold and three bronze.
When we were walking around Trinity College on Saturday I remembered how much I loved seeing the inside of the historic library there, which you can only see if you book the Book of Kells tour, so I will do that again even though I’ve seen it before. I was thinking about visiting the Dublin Zoo in Phoenix park. I enjoyed walking around Phoenix Park last week and I’ve heard good things about the zoo which was established in 1830! We still need to go inside Christ Church Cathedral (more formally the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity) for the first time, hopefully tomorrow. And I also still need to try the fish and chips at Leo Burdock’s which I’m told is the best in Dublin. If the weather stays as nice as it has been I’ll probably revisit the National Botanical Garden as well and then try the famous Coddle at Gravediggers Pub. Chef Ciaran Kavanagh served Anthony Bourdain this dish when he was in Dublin while filming No Reservations back in 2006. Coddle is “an Irish dish which is often made to use up leftovers. It most commonly consists of layers of roughly sliced pork sausages and rashers with chunky potatoes, sliced onion, salt, pepper, and herbs.” I have never tried it and to eat one so special would be a real treat!
That’s my update from Dublin. We’re only 12 days from being on this adventure for one year which is kind of mind blowing! We’ll be in Dungarvan Ireland celebrating that milestone. I hope that everyone is doing well. As always, I am sending you love wherever you are!
