Dublin

Dublin has been a lovely stay.

The first few days were a bit tiring as we were doing the dealer’s table at Eurocon, and it might have been a bit ambitious to commit to two in two weekends – plus there’s always a bit of “Con Lurgy” that goes around! Nevertheless, we had a reasonably successful weekend, and it meant we had such a good excuse to visit Dublin!

R didn’t have much time after the con to explore, so we did a few things on his list on Monday, like the Jameson distillery. The queue for the tours was 40 minutes long, so we repaired to the bar and did a “family tasting” of Jameson whiskeys. I had a teeny sip of each one and left them to R, who enjoyed it quite a lot! He’d tried a couple of the Jameson “family” at the hotel bar (the Redbreast and the Midleton Very Rare apparently) so he found it useful to compare with others. I didn’t get too much from the tastings, apart from being able to tell that some were more aged and thus more smooth than others, but that’s about it! I did pick up some Jameson choccies which might make it to Christmas pressies.

We also braved the crowds at the Trinity College Library, where the Book of Kells is housed. Fabulous manuscript, but a *lot* of other tourists crowding around. The Long Room upstairs is a fabulous gallery of many, many, many books. It had that wonderful musty “old book” smell, contrasting with huge prints of very modern artwork from “Cartoon Saloon” based on the story of Brian Boru and the Battle of Clontarf.

After sending R off home, I did a lot more wandering around the town, exploring. I found not one, but *two* gluten free fish’n’chips places, so I was able to try this local delicacy. The Beshoff Restaurant in the main drag wasn’t bad, but the batter was a little undercooked and gluey.

The second one I tried the next day, Beshoff Bros on Mespil Rd, was much more well-cooked, but the batter was very thin and crispy, not as I’d expected. The chips were better here, too. Nevertheless, both were pretty good to try if you’re a GFer wanting fried fish! I haven’t worked out how the two different Beshoffs are related, but presumably they’d have to be, being the same (presumably unusual) name and both being in the fish’n’chip industry.

Other good eats we did included The Farm, an organic-inspired place conveniently located around the corner from the hotel. We went here a couple of times, as they had tasty, local, traditional Irish food, and they understood GF! I had the fish pie one night, and the cottage pie the other occasion. I can definitely recommend the fish pie! And the cheese/charcuterie platter was pretty amazing too. They had a few local beers and ciders, so I tried the Honeyed Medieval cider, which was nice, but very sweet as the name suggests.

Because of the convention, we ate at the hotel bar a couple of times. If you’re at the Doubletree, it’s worth trying. The seafood chowder is reasonably priced and tasty, and the steak was nicely prepared. We had issues with incredibly long waits for the first few times we ate there, but once we mentioned it to reception, the next time was much better.

The exec lounge in the Doubletree was nice – generally welcoming and relaxing, apart from the couple of occasions we were joined by a large group of male Brits who enjoyed the self-pour Guinness station a lot. The third flatulence joke at the top of their voices and we left them to it. R did appreciate that self-pour station, especially with the how-to video that accompanied it!

Once I was wandering around on my own, I did quite a bit of shopping… strangely! There are quite a few big department stores that I had a look at, with some luck in Clerys with a British brand called East, who do Indian-inspired natural fibre clothing like tunics, linen pants, and a lovely henna-coloured silk/cotton sarong-sized scarf that I snapped up. I also found a pair of heavy-duty sandals to replace my favourite Keens that had given up the ghost before this trip.

It’s not all shopping and food though, I promise! I did visit some of the obligatory sights, like Dublin Castle, which is now mainly a bureaucratic office building apart from the sections kept as museum. The Dubh Linn Garden was gorgeous, with vibrant perennial borders and the backdrop of The Coach House.

I also spent time at St Stephen’s Green, the huge park in the middle of the city. Lots of people go and have their lunch there, so it’s pretty crowded at lunchtimes, but it’s very pretty and very green nevertheless!

There are quite a number of churches around the city, with beautiful grounds. Christchurch Cathedral is a big attraction, with ruins of a small chapter house in the grounds. You can also have an icecream or afternoon tea here, from a neighbouring cafe who has set up a little stand right next to the church! Apparently a lot of The Tudors was filmed here, and there’s an exhibition of the costumes from the show, which of course I didn’t realise until after I’d done a nice wander through the gardens and didn’t bother going inside!

The St Patrick’s Cathedral is nearby, and huge with a lot of garden surrounding it. I walked around it rather than through it, but apparently this is the biggest church in Ireland, which is certainly a claim to fame.

It’s certainly been nice to have a long length of time in one place (8 nights in the one hotel!) but it will be wonderful to move on to Istanbul tomorrow and meet up with the gals! 🙂 🙂 🙂