I recently survived my first aeroplane flight would you believe, and luckily it was just a short hop to Dublin for a few days. I couldn’t help but watch the ever-changing wing shape with intensity throughout the flight. After a quick pop above the clouds we touched down at Dublin International Airport.
First impression of the city, lying in the sweep of Dublin Bay, was the wide River Liffey dividing it into a north and south half. It struck me how architecturally minded Dublin is with its huge Georgian-style buildings from the 18th and 19th Century – all very elegant. Brightly painted front doors are also an institution over there with the majority of the streets sporting a full spectrum of door colours.
The quickest and best way to be introduced to the city was to have a hurl on the open-top city bus tour. Thirteen stops later and you’ve seen and heard about many of the historical and cultural landmarks - the National Gallery, Dublin Castle and the Guinness Storehouse wonderfully commentated on by friendly singing Irish bus drivers.
A browse up Grafton Street – the principal street of shopping - is recommended. A street full of atmosphere especially when there is a busker playing a talented rendition of a Joe Satriani song (‘Tears In the Rain’ for any fans out there). I really wanted to jump up and down to make people appreciate the quality of music in the street.
I experienced another Dublin institution – namely snacking in the large, old-fashioned Oriental Café, Bewley’s, pretending to be upper class which I’m clearly not!! At the top end of Grafton Street is the St. Stephen’s Green Powerscourt Shopping Centre, which is a 3-storey collection of stylish shops in one of the old Townhouses. But hidden away on the top floor lies a shop called ‘Asha’. It is filled with all things rock – from badges, patches, hooded tops and reduced t-shirts of the likes of Linkin Park, Deftones, Pearl Jam, Pumpkins etc etc. If only I’d had lots of Irish punts!!! It certainly had a bigger and better range than anything I’ve seen back home.
To escape away from the city bustle for a while, St. Stephen Green is a 20-acre park at the end of the street with ponds and plenty more monuments adding to Dublin’s collection of figures.
Walking into the Temple Bar area takes you into the cobbled intricate network of streets between the bank and the river quays. There are lots of studios, galleries, tiny book, clothes and music stores and cultural centres and craft shops. It is known as the “buzz” area of Dublin full of browsers and buskers.
I made it my mission to take a replica photo of the Pearl Jam ‘Yield’ album cover using Ireland’s Yield roadsigns, seeing as we only have the ‘Give Way’ signs in Britain. Other differences include the amount of green used everywhere for letterboxes, buses, buildings, you name it.
Dublin has plenty of attractions to entice all age ranges for a visit whether it be any of the bus tours (the Dublin GhostBus Tour is another) or historical and cultural sites.
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Would like to have heard more about your accomodation and the restaurants you visited.
Jege 27.04.2004 12:15
Hey, I liked your bit, but "St. Stephen’s Green Powerscourt Shopping Centre"
is not an actual shopping center....
there are two of them out there actually:
the stephens green shopping center
and
the powerscourt one, which is just tiny
good review, still ;-)
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Apr 3rd, 2001
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