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{Travel}: A trip to Dun Laoghaire

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Visit Dun Laoghaire, just a 15 minute train trip from Dublin!

dun laoghaire

Rob and I are really enjoying taking time each weekend to explore our new city. Everything is new. How we get around, what we do, even our daily routine has changed. But we are fully acclimatizing to our new way of life and really jumping feet first and seeing all we can. We are making the most of our time here, and not taking anything for granted. So I thought what a great series for the blog! A series all about our #Irishlife. As part of this new series I will share places we visit, and the things we get up to, stuff that shows you what our life here in Ireland is really like. I hope you like it, and if you do like it, I hope you will share this far and wide so that others can like it too (read: small punt to grow my blog).

Before I get stuck in on all the things you can do in this little seaside town south of Dublin, I have one question to ask you all: How would you pronounce Dun Laoghaire?

You actually pronounce it as “Dun Leary”. Ha! Trust me, it is not how I thought it was pronounced. The same goes for a lot of the towns and suburbs here in Ireland. The spelling and how they are pronounced are really quite foreign to us (hehe, my jokes can be so lame).

Anyway, we have been to Dun Laoghaire twice now and I know we have not explored it entirely – but I had to share what we have done so far – there is so much you can do in this small town!

dun laoghaire promenade

Random facts about Dun Laoghaire:

  • The town in about 9km away from our house. Rob is keen to run there and then take the train back – or run there and back for a really good training run!
  • You can catch the Dart (Irish train) and it takes 15 minutes to get there – much quicker than running it!
  • The South African Ambassador lives here – crazy but true!

Things to do in Dun Laoghaire:

  • Walk along the east or west pier. Dun Laoghaire has a harbour with two piers that enclose around it. They have a board at the start of these two piers that tells you how far each pier is and average time it will take to walk it. It is a great way to get those Fitbit steps up!

dun laoghaire pier

  • The infamous Teddy’s ice cream – apparently the home of the 99 cone – established in 1950! I am mean can you even imagine how many ice creams that is?! We have had two cones so far: one with crushed oreo’s and the second one was with colored sprinkles. For me, sprinkles was the best! I suggest trying one of each just to be sure.

dun laoghaire teddy ice cream

  • James Joyce Tower and museum. Just a little walk down the promenade, it is in a Martello tower that has been converted into a museum. (Full disclosure, I didn’t know who James Joyce was! But he is a pretty big deal around these parts. He was a writer who wrote the play called Ulysses.) The museum is free to visit, and as museum’s go – its small. I mostly enjoyed getting to see what the inside of a Martello tower looks like. The British built 50 Martello towers along the Irish coastline as part of their defense against Napoleon. It is about as tall as two floors and has a tiny staircase inside that winds it’s way to the top. The view at the top of the tower is a real treat. On a clear day you can see Howth.

dun laoghaire james joyce

 

  • People’s Park Food Market which takes place every Sunday. When we first visited Dun Laoghaire, Rob was convinced he smelt a boerie roll being cooked – alas, we could not find one! But it is still a great food market, and one we regularly go to. They have a nice mix of affordable eats, and it is a great place to meet up with friends, plus we bring Jack along (he loves the nibbles on the ground!).

Things we still need to do in Dun Laoghaire:

  • The Purty Kitchen is one of the oldest pubs in Ireland. They have a Sunday menu of 2 courses for €20!
  • Take the ferry from Dun Laoghaire to Howth. A friend told me about this, and it sounds like such a great way to explore both places in one day!
  • Lastly,  for the brave (or the reckless), you can go for a swim at Forty Foot. People swim here all year long, it is a popular thing to do on Christmas Day (mid winter!). The day we walked along the promenade we saw a few people going for a dip. I was wearing hat, scarf and coat – and I was freezing just watching them!

Have you been to Dun Laoghaire? Is there anything else you can recommend we see or do there?  And seriously, trust me on the sprinkles:

dun laoghaire teddys

~ Meg ~

5 Things I am loving about Dublin

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We have lived here for a few months, these are things that I love about Dublin, Irelandlovin dublinHaving been living in Dublin, Ireland for a little over a month, I am well aware that I haven’t even scratched the surface in terms of what it has to offer! However, here are 5 things I am loving about Dublin right now (and in no particular order!):

1. All the Christmas Craic

Side note: Craic is a term the Irish use here for vibe/atmosphere/fun. For example, That pub was really good craic.

There is something to be said about winter and Christmas, they just go together. Growing up my mum used to always tell us that Christmas wasn’t Christmas without snow. I guess it wasn’t Christmas for her when we were lounging in a pool and having a braai outside. Granted I grew up in Durban, and most Christmases were overcast and grey back home. But, it was never cold!

37 dawson streetSince I have arrived in Dublin, the atmosphere around this holiday is just electric. Christmas music playing, homes heavily decorated, families going out and picking fresh, live Christmas trees. It really feels like Christmas should be, and I am loving it. Best of all, I think it has turned Rob from a proper grinch to someone who wears matching Christmas sweaters and wears his Rudolph beanie out in public on any random day.

2. The Sunsets

If you follow me on Instagram you will know that I post a lot of pics of my view on our walks and travels around Dublin so far. The sunsets here can definitely compete to the ones in Joburg. I used to think nothing could beat a Jozi sunset, but I am starting to feel like maybe, just maybe, Dublin can.

A photo posted by Meg (@getfithappy) on
Note: this is unedited, #nofilter, pure Dublin sunset (perhaps the only downside is that this was taken at 4pm).

3. Recycling

Recycling is a BIG thing over here. Our street is too narrow to have big wheelie bins, so we have to leave our garbage out in colour-coded bags. The bags have very clear instructions on what can and cannot be put inside them (for example – no glass in the recycling bag, you have to take it to a glass depot, located in your town. The closest one to us is about 1 km away near the stadium). The one big shock to both of us was you have to buy these special branded garbage bags – you have to use them – or they won’t take our rubbish away. Not sure if that is because we don’t have the wheelie bins, but I think this is standard practice regardless. The yellow bags cost about €3 a bag (that’s R 50!). The clear bags with green writing are for recycling (paper, plastic, tins etc – just not glass). The recycling bags are a bit cheaper, around R 30 a bag.

It is so great that we can recycle quite easily – back home our specific neighbourhood didn’t have an option for recycling pick up, so it made it hard to do. Although having said that, now I walk to recycle. I am beginning to think I was actually quite lazy back in SA. Anyways, we are getting use to recycling now and it is really one of the things I most enjoy about being here.

4. Public Transport

Ok, so I am sure you knew I was going to say this. But let me surprise you – the buses here are not great. In fact, they do not always run on time. The app is super frustrating and unless you know exactly where you want to go, its difficult to navigate. The train is wonderful, but two swans can delay the trains (seriously, that happened a few weeks ago). The tram is great – it has two lines – problem is, the two do not connect, so you have to walk in between. *update: as of December 2017 the tram lines now connect and the green line has been extended further north – hooray!

The one thing Dublin has gotten right is their bike system. It is AMAZING. And that is why it is on my list on things I am loving about Dublin lately. You pay €20 a year to subscribe to the use the bikes (you need a thing card a leap card – which is like a Gautrain card expect you can use it on trains, buses, trams and bikes). There are bike stations all over the city, and one thankfully very close to us. You swipe your card at the bike station, select your bike, and viola! The best part is that if you return the bike to any one of the bike stations around town within 30 minutes – its FREE! Thereafter its like 50c for an additional half hour. Its super cheap for commuting to places and Rob uses this as his main mode of transport to and from work.

dublin bike

5. Tesco’s

I am my mother’s daughter and Dublin has certainly unleashed this bargain queen! I love a good bargain. Since we are on a bit of a tight-ish budget with my salary coming in as Rands, it works out to be about 10 euros (ha! slight exaggeration for effect). So I am always watching the specials and finding bargains. Our firm Friday fave is to buy 99c Tesco double pepperoni pizza – seriously that is under R 16 for a full pizza – ridicoulous!

tesco

I. must. buy. all. the. pizza. (now you know the reason why I NEED to run!)

One of the things Rob and I promised we would NEVER do was compare or make SA sound worse than Dublin. It is not. It never will be. The two just can’t compare. South Africa is where our hearts will always be, but we have big hearts, and I think there may be a little space in there for Dublin too.

WHAT IS THE BEST THING THAT YOU LOVE ABOUT THE CITY YOU LIVE IN?

Live Simply & Travel Slow,

~Meg~

p.s. If social media is your thing (snap! It’s my fave too!), you should totally follow me on Instagram.

p.p.s. I try post varied content once or twice a month, to be sure you don’t miss out on the new post you should sign up and get all the news straight in your inbox – Sign up now!

Take a look at what a home in Dublin looks like

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Take a look at what a home in Dublin looks like - expat life - living abroad - living in Ireland

Take a look at what a home in Dublin looks like - expat life - living abroad - living in Ireland
Dia dhaoibh*, friends from a chilly Dublin, Ireland!

[* This is a gaelic term for hello to more than one person; the direct translation is ‘God be with you’]

It has been one week since I arrived and I am really feeling like I am home. I thought that once I got here it would feel like a bit of a holiday – not permanent, and just for fun. In true Rob and Meg fashion we have jumped in head first and we are loving every minute of it. Last week alone I walked over 67 540 steps; a total of 49,4KM. I am super chuffed I bought a fitbit. It drives everyone around me crazy because I sync and update them regularly but I love seeing how active I am and I am really hoping that once I start running again too, I can finally lose all this weight I have gained over the last few months. Yes, I am in fat mode. Yes, its because I got injured, and I got stressed and moving countries is hard work. But it kills me looking at pictures of how fat I have actually gotten. But I have a plan – watch this space.

I thought today I would share a few pictures of our new home, and what I love/don’t love about it.

For starters, this is our little house:

dublin house

We live on a small but busy street, within walking distance of two parks, and even the beach! We are also walking distance from the Lansdown stadium (where all the rugby happens); this also means we have some pretty great pubs close by (but that’s a given for any true Irish town).

We live in a suburb called Irishtown. It is right on all the main bus routes, so travelling into the city and out is pretty easy. Rob works in the city, he leaves for work at 8:20am (starts at 9am!) which means we get to get up early and walk Jack together, have breakfast together. I am the good wife who packs his bag for him and sends him on his way before I settle down to work myself.

Here is a pic of my little home office:

dublin home office

I work in the lounge/dining room area of our house. The house has two fireplaces: one in the lounge and one in our bedroom. It is an old house, like very old. Rob has termed it the rusty bucket. I like to think of it as a quaint elf cottage. It is not suited for tall people.

dublin lounge

Our house has the lounge area, kitchen and courtyard on the ground floor, then a staircase as you come into the front door that takes you up to the bathroom and two bedrooms.

dublin kitchen

The kitchen has a low ceiling, and its small. The appliances are very old – atleast 50 years old but they work, so we can’t complain.

dublin bathroomThe bathroom has a gas shower in the bathtub. Thankfully the water is always hot and the pressure is pretty good. But we have to bend our heads while showering, as the skylight and ceiling are pretty low (hence my thinking it’s better suited for elves).

The bedrooms are full of natural light, which is actually beautiful. Here is a pic of our bedroom (Jack’s fave place is on the bed with the sun coming in):

dublin bedroom

The house also comes with a lot of storage space and plenty of cupboards – this is unlike most places here, so we are pretty thankful for the extra space. Our bedroom is my fave place, it is so airy and light.

The house came with all the furniture, it is not the best stuff, but it has saved us a lot of money not having to buy anything just yet. It even came with cutlery and plates etc – so we have all the basics and can get by while we wait for our 3 boxes to arrive. I am told the boxes could be anytime in December… but I am not holding my breath. We decided against buying a TV. We are currently watched series off the computer, because the one thing I love about our house is the uncapped wifi – how we did life before high speed internet is beyond me.

Most people in Ireland don’t really have that homely vibe like people in SA. Here, you generally try to get out of the house and visit people at pubs or parks – not like in SA where you are always going over to a friend’s place for a braai. I think Rob and I will be the same in that the house is small, and we will go crazy if we don’t get out when we can.

Another great plus to having a small house is that this is less of it to clean! So you would think it wouldn’t take too long to clean – you would be wrong. We learnt quite quickly that our view on cleanliness is VERY different to here. I am not sure if it is how Rob and I were raised, but our mother’s would have heart failure at the thick layer of grime and dirt that has just built up all over this house over lack of cleaning. We got stuck in and literally cleaned the house all of Sunday, and I still feel as though its not clean enough. It will take a lot of days of deep cleaning to get it looking and feeling the way I want it to look. I feel like I may be classified as an extreme cleaner – but I would rather be called that then live in filth.

So that is our little Irish house, and the start of many great adventures to come.

What do you love about your house? Are you a neat freak or a secret slob at home?

Unlock the simple life,

~Meg~

p.s. If social media is your thing (snap! It’s my fave too!), you should totally follow me on Instagram.

p.p.s. I try post varied content once or twice a month, to be sure you don’t miss out on the new post you should sign up and get all the news straight in your inbox – Sign up now!