Discovering Dublin is not that difficult, it’s not that big. The main area’s in the city are situated round the Liffey, the river that crosses the city. So you either visit the north part or south part, depending on which site of the river you are.
It’s a very vivid and lively city, live music in every pub, even starting from midday on. A typical Irish folk sound is what you’ll hear in every speaker in every pub. The typical drink in Dublin would be the Guinness, a dark ale.
Tasteful, a bit bitter and rather heavy on the stomach after a few of them 😉
I discovered some Belgian beers as well, some pubs have some Belgian drafts to sell. Stella Artois for instance is a beer that’s easily found. Locals call it ‘the wife-beater’, because of its high percentage of alcohol. 5,1%, a regular ale in England would be 3,5% to 4%. 
And….. finally got to do some dancing…YES!
For those who don’t know me well; I’ve always been passionate about music. I like almost every style of music as long as it is good, as long as they’ve put some effort in the song 😉 So, a couple of years ago I wanted to start dancing and so I started looking around to see what options there were. Like this I discovered the ‘Lindy Hop’. It’s a partner dance that has roots in the african american dances from the early 1900’s. I’m not going to go into details about it’s history and stuff but I just add some links so feel free to explore them.
I might as well add a few names of the music so you’ll get an idea what it’s like.
Please note in the above list are just a few examples of the music that is danced to. There are hundreds of other bands, even new ones that are out there to leave you wet in the sweat 😉
While in Oxford there was not much going on dancing wise so all my bets are on Dublin 😉 I got in contact with the DubLindy scene via the FB group and found out about the social dance on wednesday and a picnic dance on saturday in ST.Stephen’s Green, a lovely park in the city centre of Dublin.
First of, the social on wednesday, held in The Turks Head. TTH is a pub situated in the busy part of Dublin, the Temple Bar area. The social dance was a success, lovely people, great dancers. I even got to DJ there on the social dance, thanks guys, it was fun 😉
After the social I’ve had a pint with my host Wim at Doyle’s, nice bar and after a few ales I found myself in contact with the dj playing at Doyle’s. Great guy, Carlos Irie. We agreed to do a back to back the day after, after all I had my laptop and music with me 😉 What a great night thursday was at Doyle’s. Thanks to Mr. Carlos Irie for the great music and hospitality 😉
Finally, saturday…. After buying some drinks and food for the pic-nic it’s off to St.Stephen’s Green. If possible take care to avoid the OVER crowded Grafton street. A lot of young musicians/dancers/entertainers are situated in Grafton to show their skills to a real audience. It’s a very busy shopping area as well.
Some funny peeps to be seen there as well 😉
Some funny guy at Grafton Str.
I’ll add some pictures of the pic-nic, it’s kinda difficult to explain what it feels like to dance in a park 😉
Of course I can’t keep away from lovely places with excellent drinks so here’s another treat for you and highly recommended when in Dublin. The Vintage Cocktail Club. VCC. Rather difficult to find but I think that’s part of the whole ‘Speakeasy‘ concept.
A LITTLE NOTE: PLEASE FEEL FREE TO ADD SOME MORE INFO OR RELATED STUFF AS I’M WILLING TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS STUFF 🙂
And we’re off, back to Belgium for the 10 day festival in Ghent, the ‘Gentse Feesten’
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