Double Trouble Descends upon Ireland

Our excitement for Dublin was largely based around the fact that we would be staying with another single parent unit through 'couchsurfing'.

For those of you who don't know, this is an amazing worldwide community where you can host and/or surf with people from various backgrounds from all over the World (it is the way to travel, dahlings) see more at www.couchsurfing.org We discovered it just in time for our Latin American backpacking adventure, and have not looked back!

 Our hosts were lovely. I did not have any expectations about the Irish manner, but I think if I did, Deidre would have exceeded them. Deidre was an absolute Gem; her soft Irish accent made us feel all cosy inside, and when she smiled she reminded me of Anna Friel. On arrival she made us feel at home straight away and packed J off to bed with thick toast and hot chocolate.

Howth

 The next day myself and J, having made no particular plans, headed off to Howth, a small fishing village, with Deirde and her delightful four year old daughter Laine. Howth is a pretty little place, which has its very own natural attraction; a seal couple who can be spotted at the harbour, if you look closely. There are plenty of little coffee and ice cream shops, and of course, plenty of fresh seafood (I sampled the Calamari, but there was fresh fish and chips, and  a good few fishmongers too).

 

To get around Dublin, your options are really the tram, a bus, or the DART. Children over 5 have to pay.

 

 

That evening we had a fun Barbeque and the girls enjoyed each others company. We were the first couchsurfing family to stay with Deirdre, which felt quite special, and I could hear J imitating the Irish accent, which I found adorable!

 

On the Sunday, I took J into Dublin city to have a look around. In truth, there is not much specifically for children that we could not have done elsewhere (think zoos and parks), but we did walk around Temple street, and had a nice enough meal in a commercialised Irish pub (I proudly ordered my first ever Guinness).

 

 

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Although Dublin city is largely for shopping and drinking, it was fun to walk along the river, crossing the many bridges, and to see the castle. The castle has a fun modern twist, and may be really interesting to explore, but after our hours of traipsing around the city, we simply went there to sit on the grass and relax in the sun.

 

 

On our last day we were genuinely sad to be leaving Deidre and Laine; they had made us feel so at home, and Deidres Irish hospitality had not ceased; she made us a beautiful packed lunch to take away.

The night before, I had looked at options for our last day; we desperately wanted to see the irish countryside, but the buses did not fit in with our flights, and I realised I should have gone to do that the day before, and that perhaps in the future, as I have said many times before, I ought to plan these trips a little more! So, we decided to take the DART down to Greystones, where there was reportedly a nice beach. It was a lovely beach but it was painfully windy that day.

To our good fortune, we stumbled upon a local fete, and spoke with a few lovely locals.

Then we went to Bray, a couple of stops down, to look at another beach, and get some greasy salt and vinegary chips in paper. We stumbled across a quirky market there and I entertained the thought of getting off at each stop to see what else we could come across.

The journey from Dublin to Greystones on the DART really displays the beautiful coastline, and was particularly pretty as it was a gloriously sunshiny (but windy) day. I caught older local passengers reminiscences of when they used to visit the seaside as children, and the inevitable comments of how times have changed, and I reflected upon how often you get a real glimpse of history not from a museum, book or documentary, but from the people who lived that history. It is there that you see and feel the emotion of the time and the land, and you really know a place.

In short.... we loved Ireland and need a much longer visit soon to see the beautiful countryside!!