We arrived late into Dublin airport and enjoyed a short and stress free transfer into the city, on the Aircoach http://www.aircoach.ie/
Our accommodation was a smart, comfortable apartment on Townsend Street which we booked through Air B&B, more privacy and space than a hotel room and bags more character. If you've not heard of Air B&B yet, where ya been? https://www.airbnb.co.uk/
Here's some of what we got up to:
Day 1
We took the DART train out of Dublin to the tiny harbour of Howth, rich pickings for fantastic seafood. We opted for somewhere pretty informal for lunch, Octopussy's seafood tapas bar http://octopussys.ie/ boasts fresh as feck seafood, great service and fantastic views of the harbour.
We gorged on a selection of warm tapas, including small but succulent scallops with chorizo, Dublin bay prawns and crab sliders,whilst guzzling a ridiculously good bottle of Prosecco and watching seals cavort in the harbour.
We gorged on a selection of warm tapas, including small but succulent scallops with chorizo, Dublin bay prawns and crab sliders,whilst guzzling a ridiculously good bottle of Prosecco and watching seals cavort in the harbour.
After a big lunch we didn't want to sit down for dinner and decided to pursue a mainly liquid repast back in Dublin proper. We started with some fine pints of the black stuff in Mulligans on Poolbeg Street, http://www.mulligans.ie/ a brilliant little pub with a great atmosphere which is on the edge of the Temple Bar area, but isn't too touristy.
After warming our cockles here we sought out some more serious alcohol at the Vintage Cocktail Club, http://vintagecocktailclub.com/ It isn't easy to find; you enter via an unmarked black door in a side street. We were really lucky to get a table without booking. The cocktails are amazing and the atmosphere is truly louche. The cocktails are described as 'magical creations' and the menu is a hefty tome spanning centuries of heavy drinking history. My favourite was a simple but very effective Bittered Sling.
The food looked really good too but we didn't partake, having decided to round off our night with a kebab at Zaytoon's http://www.zaytoon.ie/. Something of a Dublin institution, the large premises was seething with Dubliners and tourists in varying stages of inebriation, all good humoured and waiting their turn at the end of the scarily efficient kebab conveyor belt. Zaytoon's donor was on a par with Berlin kebabs, nuff said.
Day 2
Having escaped without too bad a hangover, we braved the rainy streets and an uninspiring buffet breakfast, before whiling away a few enjoyable hours in the writer's museum and the cinema.
Dinner tonight was on my folks who purchased us a generous gift voucher for the Winding Stair Restaurant just across the Liffey over the Ha'Penny bridge http://winding-stair.com/
This is an atmospheric, efficiently run little place, historically somewhere Dublin writers, artists and creative types met. There is a cracking bookshop downstairs. Food came quickly and portions were generous, we really enjoyed our meal here, thanks folks.
Day 3
We took a walk through Temple Bar and along the Liffey (past the imposing Guiness factory) to check out the Irish Museum of Modern Art. http://www.imma.ie/en/index.htm It is worth visiting for the building and grounds alone; housed in a former hospital for convalescing soldiers, an atmosphere of calm pervades the place. We made the trek to see a specific exhibition, 'What we call love, from surrealism to now'. I've seen some excellent exhibitions this year (Bacon and the Masters in the Norwich Sainsbury Centre was a highlight) but this was outstanding. Including works from masters of surrealism such as Dali, Picasso, Man Ray, photography by Nan Goldin, a Damien Hurst sculpture, and a mind blowing installation from Rebecca Horn this is truly worth seeing if you get the chance (on until 7 February 2016).
Day two and three it goes without saying we ended up in Mulligans! We were sad to leave this gem of a pub. The aircoach shuttled us back to the airport at an ungodly time on Monday morning leaving us feeling we'd only scratched the surface of what Dublin has to offer. We'll definitely be back.
Day 2
Having escaped without too bad a hangover, we braved the rainy streets and an uninspiring buffet breakfast, before whiling away a few enjoyable hours in the writer's museum and the cinema.
Dinner tonight was on my folks who purchased us a generous gift voucher for the Winding Stair Restaurant just across the Liffey over the Ha'Penny bridge http://winding-stair.com/
This is an atmospheric, efficiently run little place, historically somewhere Dublin writers, artists and creative types met. There is a cracking bookshop downstairs. Food came quickly and portions were generous, we really enjoyed our meal here, thanks folks.
Day 3
We took a walk through Temple Bar and along the Liffey (past the imposing Guiness factory) to check out the Irish Museum of Modern Art. http://www.imma.ie/en/index.htm It is worth visiting for the building and grounds alone; housed in a former hospital for convalescing soldiers, an atmosphere of calm pervades the place. We made the trek to see a specific exhibition, 'What we call love, from surrealism to now'. I've seen some excellent exhibitions this year (Bacon and the Masters in the Norwich Sainsbury Centre was a highlight) but this was outstanding. Including works from masters of surrealism such as Dali, Picasso, Man Ray, photography by Nan Goldin, a Damien Hurst sculpture, and a mind blowing installation from Rebecca Horn this is truly worth seeing if you get the chance (on until 7 February 2016).
Day two and three it goes without saying we ended up in Mulligans! We were sad to leave this gem of a pub. The aircoach shuttled us back to the airport at an ungodly time on Monday morning leaving us feeling we'd only scratched the surface of what Dublin has to offer. We'll definitely be back.
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