The best of Dublin on a budget(2)
The word “carvery” on a pub’s chalkboard sign typically means lunch includes beef, ham, turkey and stuffing, with salmon and pasta options, plus spuds and other vegetables - drowned in gravy, if you like.
Beat the lunchtime crush - and enjoy the freshest grub - by arriving at 12.30pm sharp when the food is unveiled.
Two of the best are Nancy Hands on Parkgate Street outside a main entrance to Phoenix Park, and Fagan’s on the main Drumcondra Road to the airport.
Fagan’s is best known as the favourite pit stop for former Prime Minister Bertie Ahern. You might bump into him; his office is across the road. Fagan’s walls are also covered with pictures of Bill and Hillary Clinton’s visit in 2000.
Or opt for one of Dublin’s “superpubs” - cathedrals to Ireland’s modern fusion of hops and hubris. The most impressive are the Odeon Bar and Grill, a converted train station south of St Stephen’s Green; the Bank, a converted bank just west of Trinity College; and the Cathedral, a converted church still replete with organ pipes, stained glass and headstones on the premier Henry Street shopping thoroughfare.
Most proper restaurants are overpriced and particularly scalp you for wine. Stick to a pint of beer or cider; if you find a pint for less than 4 euro you’re doing well.
The place to get a coffee and watch the world go by - if you can stand the wait for an upper-window seat - is Bewley’s Cafe on Grafton Street.
Its food and service have greatly improved under the ownership of Cafe Bar Deli, which also runs a vegetarian-friendly restaurant on a parallel street, www.cafebardeli.ie/.
But two pre-Celtic Tiger restaurants remain most worth the money: Elephant and Castle in the heart of Temple Bar, and 101 Talbot Street, tucked away on the more stubbly faced end of Dublin’s biggest shopping thoroughfare. Both restaurants are usually packed to the rafters.
Talbot makes a perfect pit stop before an evening performance at the nearby Abbey or Gate theatres.
The best burger for your euro? The jaw-popping Double Take for 8 euro at the US ’50s diner-style Eddie Rockets chain.
> Dublin Pass: Dublin Pass offers entry to more than 30 attractions, restaurant discounts and a free city guidebook for a flat fee. The website - www.dublinpass.ie/dublinpass/buynow2/default.asp?refID—stpatricks - has 20 per cent discounts tied to St Patrick’s Day.
> Must-See: Guinness brewery tours - www.guinness-storehouse.com/en/Index.aspx - are 15 euro, or 10 per cent less if you book online. It’s worth it for no other reason than to enjoy your tour-ending pint of the black stuff from the brewery’s panoramic rooftop bar, which offers the best view of Dublin.
Trinity College has student-run tours - www.tcd.ie/Library/heritage/tours.php - for 10 euro, which get you insight into Ireland’s oldest academic institution, an incredible view of the Long Library (yes, it did inspire the design of the Jedi library), and a gander at Ireland’s most famous book, the painstakingly illustrated Book of Kells. Or wander through the pretty, compact campus on your own for free.
Catch the choirs’ evensong performances in St Patrick’s Cathedral - www.stpatrickscathedral.ie/, entry is 5 euro - or Christ Church Cathedral - www.cccdub.ie/ for 6 euro. Christ Church also has magnificent bell-ringings.
> Should-see: The National Museum of Ireland - www.museum.ie/en/homepage.aspx - has two Dublin branches, both free. Ditto the National Gallery - www.nationalgallery.ie/ - which features the impressionistic works of Jack Yeats, less-famous brother of the Nobel laureate poet William Butler Yeats. The excellent James Joyce Centre - www.jamesjoyce.ie/ - charges 5 euro.
The Dublin Writers Museum - www.writersmuseum.com/ - costs 7.5 euro and offers a two-for-one deal if you download a coupon from the website. Next door, the free Hugh Lane Gallery - www.hughlane.ie/ - hosts an oddball collection of artworks and the reconstructed chaos of Francis Bacon’s art studio.
> Great strolls: Walking the paved towpaths and restored locks of the Grand Canal is an easy calorie-burner (unless you stop at pubs on every corner). More temptations await in the cobblestoned, riverside Temple Bar district.
Phoenix Park is the biggest urban park in Europe, home to Ireland’s president, the US ambassador, and a delightful but pricey zoo. Free attractions include informal cricket and polo matches.
The must-do walk is through St Stephen’s Green, particularly on crisp spring days as the bulbed flowers burst into bloom. Head to nearby Fitzwilliam Square to take in the smallest, finest Georgian square in Ireland.
> Greater hikes: Bring a waterproof windbreaker and mud-loving boots and you’re set for a proper Dublin hike.
To the south, a (safe but occasionally vertigo-inducing) cliffside trail runs from Bray to Greystones - both towns have DART stations - and takes 2.5 hours, offering breathtaking views of the Irish Sea. Bray also features old-time arcades, amusement park rides and a rocky seafront.
To the north, one DART line ends in the sleepy marina suburb of Howth on its own peninsula. The northern end of a four-hour trail around the peninsula starts at the east end of town.
It usually works better to be dropped by taxi on the south trailhead overlooking Dublin Bay and finish in town, where there are cheapish eats in a few pubs, a fish and chips place, and ice cream parlour.
