Spring has sprung and our thoughts have turned to staycations we can accomplish in a weekend. While we adore traveling internationally (as I’m sure you, dear reader, will have realised by now!) there are so many amazing places in the UK and Ireland to explore. #TeamCoco will be bringing you whistlestop tours of the amazing places we visit, all only a short journey away!
For our first trip Anna Willatt shares some tips on what to get up to in the fair city of Dublin.
Friday:
14:00: We were busy faffing around in London on our Friday morning so booked to fly into Dublin late in the day. The plan was to meet friends for dinner as it’s such a short flight….
17:00: Flight is 90 minutes delayed so we treat ourselves to a couple of G&Ts in the airport.
21:00: We dashed through security and jumped into a cab (c. 15 euros) which took us to a proper Irish boozer on Baggot Street where we met with rather merry friends who had been watching the rugby. Nightcap dinner at Eddy Rockets. Not a massively Irish dinner, but a damn good hotdog all the same.
23:00: We were staying with friends in Ireland but there’s no shortage of Air BnBs to suit you right in the city centre.
Saturday:
09:00: We were early to rise to drive a short way out of Dublin City to walk up Kiliney Hill for a dramatic view of the stunning Kiliney Bay.
11:00: We’d recommend you walk around a monument you’ll find which looks like a primitive pyramid, shelf by shelf clockwise and make a wish at the top. (Disclaimer: this may be folkloric or this may be something our friend made up.)
11:10: We, of course, took daft pictures somewhere high up with the bay below pretending we were “On top of the World”.
12:00: We took a short drive to the unbelievably adorable Monkstown Village. Before brunch we popped into the fantastic multi-brand shop Seagreen for an amazing selection of clothing, perfumes and lifestyle accessories. When you go check conversion rates if you are a pound user as you may get a bargain. We snapped up some Bella Freud perfume and a Melissa Odabash bikini in their sale. Score!
13:00: Be ready to be blown away by the Salt Cafe by Avoca (make sure you book in advance). If you don’t know the Avoca chain, get to know them as you will probably love them – think Anthropologie for clothes and homeware with amazing healthy hedonist styled food. We were torn between egg dishes, seeded salads and sandwiches for breakfast but opted for delicious sweet potato falafels with numerous dips and bread.
14:00: We weren’t rushed at all during our brunch so made space for dessert and coffee which was every bit as awesome as our savoury.
15:00: Stuffed from our epic brunch we chilled with our friends dog and went for a walk down by the sea. So rock and roll!
Sunday:
07:00: The joy of a chilled evening is energy the morning after so we made out to maximise our remaining hours before a 2pm flight home. Up bright and early we set out to wander Dublin city which we had so far ignored on our trip. After a quick hashtag search on Instagram (#TeamCoco secret weapon when planning for a trip!) we found a couple of places to pop by and headed out.
08:00: Fueled by a coffee from Insomnia we wandered through Trinity College, taking daft selfies in the mirrored sculptures.
08:30: In our earlier Instagram hunt we’d found out that there was an exhibition of all of the March Hares that had previously been dotted around the city at The CHQ Building and had a nose around, choosing our favourites.
9:00: We then wandered Temple Bar onto South William Street and grabbed some bargaintastic French Toast and tea at Lemon Co.
10:00: From here, we headed onto the main shopping streets and fell in love with everything in BT2, Brown Thomas’ contemporary fashion diffusion store. We popped upstairs for a delicious raw juice from Alchemy.
10:30: For souvenirs we headed to Powerscourt Townhouse and stock up on Irish made craft items, cards and notebooks at Article.
11:00: Our final stop was another Avoca on Suffolk Street (see, we told you you’d love it!) to pick up some sale bargains and pop down to the food court to grab Irish roasted coffee, a doorstep sandwich and healthy nibbles to sustain us on the flight home.
12:00: We grabbed an Uber and headed back to the airport, waving the city goodbye as we went! We loved finding another side to Dublin, which involved no Guinness and even less Jameson!
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