Now that we’re honorary Dubs, here are our Dublin favourites, the very best things about living in this grand city! It’s hard to pick, but here is what we’ll be missing as we pack our bags and move on.
- Irish literature, both the classics, like James Joyce and Oscar Wilde, and some new favourite Irish authors (stay tuned!)
- Making new friends: everyone is happy to have a chat, for a short while or all day long.
- Whiskey – we likes to drink it, we likes to visit where it is made: we likes it!
- Pub life: pubs are wonderful places to hang out and watch the world go by. Or to make new friends.
- Excellent restaurants, that take advantage of local food and treat it lovingly.
- So yes, the weather has not been brilliant, especially during the wettest July on record. But we’ve gotten used to it, and now rain doesn’t bother us at all!
- Hurling – no really. We may finally have found a sport we both like. Too bad it’s not played everywhere in the world. Though it should be.
- Orchard Thieves cider, especially the blood orange (summer) flavour.
- Day trips to Howth. Also to Bray, Malahide, the Poolbeg lighthouse – really, there are all kinds of beautiful coastal walks very close by.
- So many free museums!
- Kerrygold butter. ‘Nuff said.
- Our neighbourhood, the Liberties, which is (as usual) a little too cool for us.
- Learning to make soda bread with Guinness.
- The Chester Beatty Library. Yes we keep mentioning this place, because it really is spectacular.
- Fish soup. (You’ll remember from post on fish in Norway that we’re big chowderheads!)
- Dublin itself is a remarkably walkable city. And, at least in the summer, when it’s light a lot of the time, it feels very safe. Also, it’s easy to find your way, thanks to the remarkably straight river that runs east.
- During the summer at least, there are all kinds of outdoor gatherings and musical festivals, many of them in Smithfield square (right across the river from us).
- Potatoes! We always liked potatoes, but we have a new appreciation seeing them at every meal.
- Learning all about the complexities of Irish history (sort of – we’re still sorting out all the groups that splintered from Sinn Féin).
- Scones, both the ones we made with an Irish recipe, and the ones we found everywhere.
So those are our 20 Dublin favourites, the things we’ll be thinking about as we meander further.
