Showing posts with label DART. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DART. Show all posts

Tuesday 19 February 2008

Seven Days In Dublin Again #1

Back in Dublin this January , with the knowledge to avoid awful pubs like Goggerty's in Temple bar.

We decided to try either end of the DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transport) line , well Howth at one end and Bray ate the other.

HOWTH

Howth is a small village with a marina that makes no attempts to pander to tourists. It's obviously just "take us as we are" , none of your normal seaside rubbish. Unfortunately this was the day I forgot my camera so had to rely on my mobile phone . However one place that caught my eye was a photographic studios. The pictures in the window were obviously someones pride and joy , but I thought it was more like the children of the damned!! Well maybe that's a bit harsh , but they were scary none the less.



The town centre is pleasant and there's one fish 'n' chip shop , but we lunched in the Abbey Tavern , where the Guinness was excellent , the fish and chips likewise , and the T-Shirts reasonable!!

BRAY


Bray was a different kettle of fish entirely , or so it seemed. Got off the train and were accosted by some drunk outside a Chinese takeaway . Didnt get much better and although the coastal scenery is breathtaking we couldnt find the town centre and when we did it looked like two steps down from Gateshead high street (that's not good), We took our chances in the first pub we came across , expecting the worst , but onece through the door the place was very pleasant , service and Guinness again absolutely excellent. We didnt have much time in Bray but will check it out properly next year.

Saturday 28 July 2007

Seven Days In Dublin #1


The real reason for setting up this blog was the mad things you tend to see when you're away from home on holiday.

In January 2007 I spent a week in Dublin , near a place called DĂșn Laoghaire.
It's pronounced Dun Leery !!

It was at the station there I saw a great example of the dual language type fun , not exactly Samuel L Jackson , but funny .

Dublin is an excellent place to go , but has become very cosmopolitan and wealthy over the past few years. If you're travelling a lot by public transport it's worth getting a DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transport) that does you for the buses & trains.

Going in one night I was on a bus surrounded by Italians and Poles , and remember thinking "Kinell , It's like I'm in a foreign country!!!" . I then remembered that I actually was . Doh!!!



We were in a hotel outside Dalkey which is a pleasant seaside village. In one of the pubs , I went to the loo and saw this, thinking that's an accident waiting to happen . Chewing Gum , Jelly Beans and Condoms in the same machine after ten pints. Though after ten pints the condoms wouldn't be much use to most blokes anyway.


There's a rather good pub called The Druid's Chair that serves excellent Guinness , and has some excellent views out over the Irish Sea. Like this:


In Dalkey itself , we found an excellent Italian restaurant called Benitos!! . The war pictures on the wall should have alerted us to the inspiration behind the name. The food and service were great , so it's well worth tracking down if you're in that nck of the woods.

Back in Dun Leery we went to a restaurant , and this was the menu. Fine but the cost of two courses separately was 2 Euros cheaper than buying them together. I asked the waitress about it but no explanation was forthcoming.


Another amazing site in Dublin the the 600 Foot (or is it metres) Spike in the main street. It's lit up at night and looks mental.



The name of this place tickled me, not that I'm likely to frequent such a place with my excellent taste in food. Though I think they're a chain as I started to see a lot more of them (It wasnt the Guinness, honest)

Another fun thing was this old French Beer advertisement , which I'm sure would go down well these days , well with most of the punters I know!


If you're drinking or looking for night life in Dublin , Temple Bar is the place to head for , However the main pub seems to be Gogerty's Bar ,and while if you're looking for "company" it's fine , but the Guinness was atrocious. We started a Musical Pub Crawl there and the band drank water . Subsequently they were on the Black Stuff , but obviously had the same opinion of Gogerty's that I did. The musical Pub Crawl was well worth doing, Apparently the do a literary one as well , but we didnt get a chance to sample that.

I'll add to this as I remember stuff . Comments welcome