The luck of the Irish

A long weekend in Dublin is just the ticket to escape the monotony of London. Who am I kidding? London isn't monotonous but Dublin is very very cool.

From the moment we arrived at the airport the seducing power of the irish accent had us eternally sucked in. Every time someone (anyone!) spoke we were like "oh my god, that's so cool!"

Dublin city is quite easy to get around so we managed to see a lot before the rain came. We had been warned about rain in Dublin but it put a real dampener on the afternoon..haha get it?

There were lots of fun shops to look around and we dined in a traditional irish restaurant in the Temple bar which was very cool and a fabulous bar in a converted church. We stayed in a sweet apartment that was riverside and all the bridges along it looked very pretty at night.

We also did the Guiness tour and admired the view from the rooftop bar. I even tried a sip of the black stuff but was thankful for just a coke at the top. Short and sweet trip but back to work Monday.

Dublin is a charismatic little city with tons of personality, a buzzing night-life, and a world famous beer called Guinness.

With Dublin being my Grandma’s hometown, I was bound to have a bit of a soft spot for the place, so I am pleased that it not only lived up to my expectations but exceeded them. Perfect for a weekend getaway, Dublin was compact enough to get around on foot without any hassle.

A mish-mash of the old and the new, Dublin had a modern cosmopolitan vibe that we weren’t expecting. Apparently Dublin has thrived since embracing the Euro, and it really showed in the busy city centre and shopping district. It wasn’t a cheap city, either – Dublin was almost as expensive as Paris!

The Temple Bar was more like what we were expecting, with cobbled streets and a multitude of traditional Irish pubs. A great place to eat and drink, I felt Dublin was best enjoyed inside a cosy Irish pub with a Guinness.

I know it’s cliché but I have to agree that Guinness really does taste better in Ireland – I didn’t drink anything else. There’s just something really special about having a Guinness in Ireland with a bunch of Irish accents in the background. You have got to love those accents! Every time someone talked to us or we overheard Irish people talking, we couldn’t help grinning.

A highlight of the trip was having a meal and a few drinks in a place called The Church, which actually used to be a church. Drinking and having a meal inside the former St Mary’s Church of Ireland was almost like having a meal inside the Christchurch Cathedral. It was a beautiful place for a meal, and I had the best cod this side of Akaroa.

To top it all off, we visited the Guinness Storehouse on our last day in town. It was my kind of museum, with beer tastings and a free pint on the seventh floor overlooking the city. The brewery itself has been producing Guinness in Dublin for 250 years! It was a great end to a great weekend.

Click here to see pics of Si drinking various pints of Guinness and other Dublin pics