Dublin, wonderful Dublin!!

-



Well, Dublin was everything we were hoping for. It is the friendliest capital in the world. A 40 minute flight and we were there, we caught Aircoach www.aircoach.ie into town and got dropped off at Trinity College. www.tcd.ie What a nice surprise we had there, our twin room turned out to be a spacious suite, kitchen/lounge/dining area, bathroom and two bedrooms. Great for a bit of self-catering too, and so cheap for the city centre location. Do stay here if you get the chance. Dublin was fully booked with the Fringe Festival and the Ryder Cup taking place and I understand the prices had been put up too, but Trinity got us in. Because we were on site we could also visit the Book of Kells early in the morning, before the crowds, and we had a really good look this time, its a beautiful manuscript.
What did we do? Well loads of things, shopped in the great stores in Grafton Street, Brown Thomas is amazing, just go and have a look at the Jo Malone stand! We took a coach trip to Malahide Castle and back along the coast, a trip on the DART railway to Dun Laoghaire (coffee, cakes and shopping). Visited the Guinness factory, fantastic view of Dublin from the 360 degree bar on the top floor, plus a free pint of Guinness! The Musical Pub Crawl was good fun and great value, book at the Tourist Office, www.visitdublin.ie . The musicians leading it were excellent, demonstrating the Irish instruments and singing their songs. We visited the theatre one night to see "Stones In His Pockets" a funny, virtuoso performance by two great Irish guys. www.ticketmaster.ie .
The food was terrific too, the best was a visit to O'Neills, www.oneillsdublin.com , near the tourist office. They do a great beef and Guinness stew, followed by live folk music, it was a good night out and highly recommended. Bewleys www.bewleys.com has changed quite a lot, (under new management) but the food is still nice. If you try the upstairs restaurant they cater for lots of different diets, the spelt bread with the soup was lovely, and you can have gluten free pasta.
There is still lots I want to do and see in Dublin and will definately be coming back (fingers crossed!). It's the people that make it special and I hope they never change.

Popular posts from this blog

British Holiday Websites

-
You can have excellent holidays at home too. We don't always go abroad, we love Britain, especially the South West. Come to our part of the world, check out: www.beautiful-devon.co.uk it's full of Devon tourist and travel information and has lots of lovely pictures. How could you resist us? www.classic.co.uk this is a West Country cottage specialist website representing over 450 self-catering properties in Cornwall, Somerset etc. It will even tell you how far the property is from the sea. www.corncott.com this site offers self-catering holiday accommodation throughout Cornwall at very affordable prices. Your Journey: Coming in the car? Plan your route using either the AA - www.theaa.com or the RAC - http://rp.rac.co.uk/routeplanner for free detailed plans. On the motorway and need a break? Check out www.5minutesaway.co.uk a directory of services and facilities available to motorists within 5 minutes of each motorway junction. Taking the train? Plan your journey and find...
Read more

Where are we going next? The Alhambra!

-
Our next holiday is in one weeks time, five of us are going to Spain, near Fuengirola for a week. We are staying here because one member belongs to Club La Costa, www.clublacosta.com and three of us are staying in her apartment and two in an hotel nearby. We are flying with Easyjet from Bristol again, www.easyjet.com . Tip: Sign up for their emailed newsletter, you will get first chance at their special offers and notified when the latest seats are released. Book as soon as you can for the cheapest prices, it gets dearer nearer to departure date. The main reason for the trip is to visit the Alhambra in Granada. (One of us decided she wants to see it before she dies!). www.alhambra.org . I have been emailing coach tour companies today, tying up the loose ends before departure. It looks like we shall be going on a day trip with Viajes Torreblanca, their website has lots of good coach trips on it: http://www.viajestorreblanca.com/ we will give a report of it when we get back. There ar...
Read more

Dublin's Fair City!

-
Image
Well, another wonderful trip to Dublin . We had the luck of the Irish, good weather, not a drop of rain. The Gresham hotel is still a grand old lady, friendly staff,a good breakfast, comfy beds. http://www.gresham-hotels.com/ . (A horrible view of the inner courtyard, pretty dire, but, as it turned out, a blessing in disguise. It meant that the room was very quiet, thank goodness, if we had been at the front of the hotel the traffic in O'Connell street would have kept us awake for sure.) We had a very busy four days. Apart from the usual trips to the shops, lunch on the green at Trinity , coffee at Bewleys etc. we went to the Gaiety theatre to see a performance of The Rat Pack. http://www.gaietytheatre.ie/ . They were all brilliant, especially "Frank Sinatra", he looked like him, had the mannerisms, and sang like him, great! Some of the women in the audience, who were old enough to know better, were in ecstasy, practically throwing their knickers, (personally, we ...
Read more