THREE DAYS IN DUBLIN

In the middle of a disappointing summer filled with devastating news of financial crisis, the increasing number of war casualities and cases of swine flu, we needed a short break from it all. We were looking for a weekend away that would be easy to organise, quick to get to, but also new and exciting and Dublin quickly topped our list. OK – not the cheapest option and not the sunniest, but definitely the simplest solution in more than one way. First of all, the capital of Guinness and Baileys is also the native soil of the king of cheap flying “Ryanair” (let’s ignore the extra costs for the moment) and there are many flights a day that connect Stansted to Dublin for a reasonable price. We paid £177 for two return tickets including all extras. As we didn’t want to lose too much of our precious and tight holiday allowance, we opted for an outbound flight late on Thursday (9.45pm) that brought us to Dublin shortly after 11pm. Secondly, Dublin is so close to London, the language is the same and the customs very similar and you don’t need to prepare yourself for a cultural shock of any kind.
Reaching our hotel Clifden House (www.clifdenhouse.com) was pretty easy, bus number 41 to Purnell Square east (€2.20) and five minutes walk from there. The guesthouse was reasonably pleasant, but the ensuite bathroom was so undersized that it was almost impossible to turn around and the television was a non-remote-control black and white small screen at the top of the wardrobe. Then again, it was very central and very cheap - €203 for three nights, excluding breakfast – and fitted the bill for our quick city break.



Friday, 31 July 2009



Dublin is greeting us with drizzling rain and freezing temperatures (max 15 degrees Celsius – and this should be the heights of summer). I’ve layered all the clothes I brought with me and am still shivering. This is definitely not going to be a day for outdoor exploring.
We walk down O’Connell Street looking for a place for a coffee and a morning bite. In café Kylemore, which is apparently run by a major bakery, we have our breakfast; two thick pancakes with butter and jam, scrambled eggs and toast and two coffees for €12. The place is jam-packed with backpackers, international students and older travellers; as well as the excitement of exploring a new city.
We walk over the Liffey river and stroll along a peaceful Temple Bar that is sleeping before another weekend of partying. It’s still drizzling unpleasantly and we look for shelter.




The Christ Church Cathedral is just in front of us and we don’t think twice about investigating its sacred interior. Strolling down the nave and aisles we are impressed by its history and style. Viking Dublin’s first cathedral was built on this site around 1030 and it has witnessed a thousand years of Christianity in Ireland. Today this is the cathedral of the Church of Ireland, part of the worldwide Anglican Church. The medieval stone carvings of human faces, “griffons” and musicians are particularly striking. So is the crypt that dates from the eleventh century. It is one of the largest crypts in Britain and Ireland and it stretches under the complete area of the upper church. Like a maze.






After this sacred visit we head for a little bit more profane entertainment – the Guinness Storehouse, a new building raised on the site of the original St James’s Gate Brewery where Arthur Guinness started brewing his world famous stout two centuries ago. The entry fee of €15 takes you into a dynamic and interactive world of brewing and tasting as well as the history of the brewery and the cutting edge advertising Guinness has always been famous for. In the ingredient section you can touch, feel and hear what is being used to produce the famous black booze; barley, hops, yeast and water. The water used to make Guinness comes from the Wicklow Mountains and not the river Liffey. The next few exhibition rooms show the process of turning water, hops, yeast and barley into Guinness. It is a noisy and slow process that ends with tasting the product in the most popular place in the building – the Tasting Laboratory.

Worn out from this educational trip into the past and present of the brewing industry in Dublin, we opt for a lunch in the Guinness restaurant. There is nothing else we could possibly choose but the Guinness and beef stew (approx €35 for 2) – an enormous plate of dark and rich “goulash” with plenty of meat and a few pieces of celery and carrots, scattered with rosemary and topped with a scoop of mash potatoes. We also order an extra basket of the authentic Soda bread (oh no, we did not need it!). The stew is exhaustingly rich with a heavy consistency and a lingering taste. Half a plate later I’m done. That’s it – I will not need to eat anything else for the next three days. Included in the €15 entry fee is a free pint of Guinness. We take our one in the Gravity bar on the seventh floor of the brewery offering breathtaking views. This is the only high-rise in a field of small houses and Dublin is visible like in the palm of your hand. Pity I don’t like Guinness. I slowly sip my half-pint detecting its flavours (mainly the roasted barley that gives it such a distinctive taste and colour). I love barley, but Guinness is just not going down well. After each sip I hope I will suddenly acquire a taste for it and start liking its bitter and thick taste. It doesn’t happen and I decide to stick to another proven taste of Ireland – that of the Baileys liqueur.


We walk back via Heuston station and the shopping centres of Henry Street. The street is lined with shops like Wallis, Marks & Spencer’s, Mango’s, Clarks, Debenhams etc – it doesn’t feel like being abroad!
Later in the evening it gets even colder, rainier and windier and the town is buzzing. Irish girls are braver than me – they don’t give a damn about the temperature and are proudly showing off naked shoulders and pale legs… All the pubs of Temple Bar are overcrowded with merry party people and stag and hen night weekenders in silly outfits. Every pub has its own live musicians and Dirty Old Town seems to be in every repertoire. In Cassidy’s pub just outside the Temple Bar we enjoy observing tipsy, friendly and entertaining Irish people.


Saturday, 2 August 2009


On Friday it looked like we were in for three days of rain, but on Saturday morning the sun came out. After buying the Guardian in Londis we have coffees and pastries in Candy Café, a charming place at the end of our road.

James Joyce is without doubt one of the most famous sons of Dublin. Even though I hold a degree in literature, the motivations of his innovative writing were always a mystery for me and I never managed to sail through Ulysses. He also lived in Pula in Istra and Trieste in Italy, both places close to my Croatian hometown, so a visit to the James Joyce Cultural Centre just around the corner from the Purnell Square was on top of my list. We are ten minutes too early and start chatting to a young American literature student and an Italian medical student, both fascinated with James Joyce. The famous writer lived more in other European destinations than his home town, but used Dublin as the setting for his most important works such as Ulysses, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Dubliners. The main attraction of the Centre is an exhibition with biographies of characters from Ulysses.

Dublin is a beautifully walkable town and we stroll down to the Connolly train station and take a train to the coast and the picturesque fishing town of Howth (day return ticket - €4.20). This used to be the main port for Dublin and today it looks more like a posh coastal resort for rich city types.
We embark on an exhausting walk around the cliffs; the views are breathtaking and vertiginous. After an hour we reach the lighthouse and opt for a bus ride from the summit to the village instead of going back on foot. Restaurant Quay West next to the station offers a welcome refuge for our exhausted legs and empty stomachs. Two impressively large plates of fish & chips set us back only €30. Howth is a charming fishing village with plenty of fishmongers and fish eateries offering delicious locally caught and smoked salmon, crabs and other sea delicacies.


Back in Dublin, we walk down to the busy Grafton street and visit well known drinking establishments. After International House we settle down in Davy Byrne’s, a pub that was featured in Ulysses. A pint of lager and a Bailey’s cost just over €10… Hm, is it me, or does Dublin seem more expensive than London!?



Sunday, 3 August 2009

On the windy morning of our last day in Dublin, we have a breakfast again in “our local” Candy’s Café with friendly and chatty waitresses and tasty croissants and make the plan for the next few hours. I quickly scribble a word or two of greetings on postcards and drop them in the green post box outside the café. Call me old fashioned, but I still love sending (and receiving) postcards!

We walk around the grounds of Trinity College, the prestigious educational institution founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth where the Nobel prize winner Samuel Beckett (Waiting for Godot) studied. With its green squares and cobbled paths, it looks like a world on its own away from the hustle and bustle of the rest of the city.
Temple Bar seems so quiet and tamed on Sunday morning. Tourists are strolling around taking photographs of well-known drinking institutions in the daylight. We have a coffee in the post-modern café-gift shop-delicatessen Avoca Café (how very Upper Street-esque!) and then lunch in the traditional O’Neill’s pub, both in Suffolk Street. It wouldn’t be appropriate to leave Dublin without tasting an authentic Irish stew in an authentic Irish pub and O’Neill’s has been recommended by our DK guide. The restaurant is located in the darkest side of the pub, it’s a self-service-ish concept where you take your trail and choose between 3-4 pre-prepared meals. We have an enormous plate of the Irish stew topped with mashed potatoes and carrots, a beer and a mineral water (just over €30). The Irish can definitely drink and eat! I guess you need to keep warm in the harsh Northern conditions.
With a few unoriginal souvenirs in the form of shamrock and black sheep fridge magnets and Guinness beer glasses from the Carroll’s souvenir shop, we head to the airport for our 5.25 flight back to London.
A weekend in Dublin? Piece of cake… Just do not expect a bargain.