Bray Head is a hill between towns of Bray n Greystones and it has a beautiful hiking trail along the coast and has wonderful landscape and great views of Dublin City from the Cross on hill top. We did a hike there yesterday, it was quite surprising weather. As we arrived there (nice n sunny from city center), there was thick mist n fog all over the place and freezing wind.

But we can still see the clear blue skies above, so headed towards the hill and its just crazy over the top - nice, warm, sunny, less windy, gorgeous views of town n Dublin Chimneys rising from the mist.

Dublin Twin Chimneys n Houth - Over the Mist

If you around Dublin and the weather is good, take the DART line to Bray and enjoy the beautiful settings, beach n hike of Bray Head.

Today is St. Stephen’s Day here in Ireland, which is also known as Boxing Day in the UK and December 26 to us normal folk from America. The thing that frustrates me about spending the holidays in Ireland is the lack of what I like to call “comfort space”.Comfort space is a state of mind, more than a place, reserved for the holidays. It’s the feeling you get when you’ve watched two DVD’s and you’re about to choose a third, and there’s no pressure to be doing something else. It’s when you can sit around a messy dinner table and talk and laugh and not worry about how or when the dishes need to be cleared, and the most pressing issue on your mind is where you’re going to lay your stuffed, weak body for a long, undisturbed nap. (more…)

In the 18 degree weather, where the sun was shining down on me, I was roasting and eating ice cream..which brought me to this idea…..

Has anyone ever been to Dingle? One of my best friends went to Dingle during easter break and had the best-ice cream in the world. (Or so I claim).. She had it fresh. Scooped straight out of the cooler, just like ice cream is meant to be served.

In Fallon & Byrne, the posh, hip (Read: semi-expensive as well), and Trader Joe’s type, Dean and Deluca’s type marketplace, they sell Murphy’s Ice-Cream in the small tubs and big tubs. I started from Vanilla, and worked my way into Rum Raisin and Chocolate. Apparently they also have wonderful flavors like Kahlua and Cappucino… :)

I just found out that the owner of Murphy’s ice-cream has a blog!!

ICE CREAM IRELAND!!

Check it out, it’ll make you drool!

Enjoy the summer GUYS!!

The discovery of a major prehistoric site where experts believe an open-air royal temple once stood has stalled construction of a controversial four-lane highway in Ireland.

via National Geographic

Old story… but just heard (i.e. read online) it…

The Irish government is planning to run a highway through the hill of Tara

via Metafilter

If you have a spare afternoon on a lazy weekend, do what I did and head out to the coastal towns of Malahide and Howth, easily accessible from the DART lines at Connolly and Tara Street stations. After a half-hour’s ride, you step out to the peaceful, picturesque villages, so different from Dublin’s constant bustle. It was a relief in a way to go there, a way to relax yourself from the metal buzz you’re constantly veiled in, when you live in a city.

Howth also has a lovely farmer’s market on Sundays, though I don’t know how much longer into the cooler weather it will last. Malahide has a long stretch of park-beach that the whole town seems to congregate it, and you can spend a pleasant few hours watching the clouds pass by and the dogs chase the waves. I highly reccomend this, especially before the weather turns.