DUBLIN WAS HANDED a global travel award at the weekend, being named the favourite city of tourists from around the world.
But we don’t need that to appreciate it. At its best, Dublin is a wonderful place.
1. The view across the bay at sunset
2. The warm and somehow welcoming fug in Grogans on a winter afternoon
3. The smell as you pass the donut stand on O’Connell Street
4. The young deer in the Phoenix Park at fawning season
5. The razor-sharp local wit
6. The fact that the most beautiful architecture turns up in the most unexpected places
Like dingy Henrietta Street: off a four-lane traffic artery on the northside, falling apart, stunning.
7. The few old shops still left in the Liberties
See also: Jas Fagan, Communion Tailor.*
8. The party in the chipper queue after closing time
Everyone is equal when it comes to curry cheese chips.
9. The smell of the sea off the Liffey when the tide comes in
Kinda manky. But… kinda nice.
10. The occasional moment of glorious community on Dublin Bus
11. That feeling when you open the door to the Stag’s Head snug, and there’s nobody in there
12. The sunshine on Dun Laoghaire pier with a 99
13. The traces of the past you don’t see until you look up
14. The tourists making a hames of the backward bicycle in Temple Bar
15. The way the old, reliable Christmas lights might make you feel
16. The insistence on having rhyming names for EVERYTHING
17. The smell of the brewery, of course
18. The wonderful Lady of the Northside
19. The Forklift Gauntlet around the fruit markets in the early morning
20. The Poolbeg towers as you land in the plane
21. And the way a single sunny day can turn the whole city upside down
*Update: Sadly, Larkin’s has now closed down too :(
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