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Christmas in Dublin: Good Cheer and Great Deals DEC. 9, 2014
Grafton Street in Dublin. Credit Ratha Tep
Frugal Traveler By RATHA TEP
During a recent production of “The Watchman” at Bewley’s, a historic Dublin cafe that offers
lunchtime theater above Grafton Street, a character noted that entering a Dublin pub on a
winter’s night — fireplace blazing and sleet lashing off the window — was like walking into a
Christmas card. It’s not much of a stretch to say that, with its ivy-swathed Georgian buildings,
winding cobblestones side streets and amiable spirit, the entirety of the city can feel that way too.
Having moved to Dublin in August, this is my first holiday season, so it seemed fitting to devote
a few days marveling at what it had to offer, all while sneaking in some culture and terrific food
and drink along the way — and with a budget in mind. What I found was a newly energized city
rich not only with jovial cheer, but also an abundance of artisan offerings and a creative, literary
spirit. Better yet, much of it can been enjoyed frugally, all in the city’s compact, eminently
walkable center.
I started at St. Stephen’s Green, which covers 22 acres in the heart of the city with immaculately
manicured lawns and flower beds, a meandering duck pond and a William Butler Yeats Garden.
This season, the park is hosting its first Christmas market, with 60 vendors in wooden chalets
installed along its northern edge. On a visit a few weeks ago, throngs of revelers sipped warm
brandy-spiked punch out of plastic flutes (4 euros, about $4.84 at $1.21 to the euro) and feasted
on soft baps (bread rolls) filled with tender roast suckling pork, stuffing and sweet apple sauce
(6.95 euros), while Louis Armstrong’s gravelly voice bellowed from outdoor speakers.
From there, I could spot the dazzling rows of white chandelier-style Christmas lights of Grafton
Street, a pedestrianized shopping avenue set over newly installed granite slabs quarried from the
nearby Dublin and Wicklow Mountains. The repaving is part of a 4 million euro face-lift
initiated by the Dublin City Councils completed in October and representing the most significant
refurbishment project undertaken by the city in nearly a decade.
But it’s the street’s numerous buskers who charge the air with energy. Come Christmas Eve, that
energy might be positively electric as the crowd awaits the most recognizable busker of all, the
hometown rock star Bono. The U2 lead singer has given a free performance near Fusilier’s Arch
each year since 2009 — though it is still anyone’s guess whether the streak will continue,
particularly given his recent biking accident in New York.
“It’s something that happens organically and it’s not organized through us,” said Annmarie
Brennan, a spokeswoman for Dublin Simon Community, the homeless organization to which
Bono donates his busking proceeds. Indeed, footage from past years shows refreshingly
unpretentious events: no soundstage, microphones or speakers — just Bono and friends like Glen
Hansard, the musician and star of “Once, “energetically belting songs like Slade’s “Merry
Christmas Everybody” with the crowd joining along.
Grafton Street is also noted for its shopping, and the fantastical window displays at the high-end
department store Brown Thomas — including one with a bright red single propeller airplane
bursting through the wall — were particularly entrancing. For shopping elsewhere, I headed to
Makers & Brothers & Others, a seven-week pop-up that runs through Christmas Eve and bills
itself as the city’s “tiny department store.” I found beautiful gift ideas — some more frugal than
others — including egg holders (they look like rings, really) made from Connemara marble (12
euros), colorful lamb's wool baby blankets produced in a family-run mill in County Kilkenny (25
euros) and stylish editions of classic novels, including Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian
Gray,” with covers by the local graphic design studio Conor & David (12.50 euros).
Nestled among the pubs and vintage clothing shops of nearby Temple Bar lies the weekly
Temple Bar Food Market. It was bustling with stalls selling raw sheep’s milk cheeses, apple
ciders and syrups, and, perfect for the holiday season, single origin chocolate bars from Bean and
Goose, a 10-month-old operation by Karen and Natalie Keane, two sisters from County
Wexford. I watched Natalie whisk their handmade chocolate with Madagascar vanilla bean
paste, Irish Sea salt and a bay leaf in a small pot warming on an electric burner before handing
me a cup of intensely chocolaty hot cocoa (4 euros).
The next morning, I explored another kind of brew that is having its moment here: coffee. The
first annual Dublin Coffee & Tea Festival was held in September, and the city is hosting the
World Barista Championship in 2016. So I set about trying to find the best, most centrally
located version, using the flat white — espresso topped with steamed milk, the Dublin coffee
geek’s current cup of choice — as my standard order.
Nearby is the Winding Stair, located on the top two floors of a landmark bookshop. Co-owned
by Elaine Murphy, it’s perhaps the most beloved restaurant in the city. But it’s not one of its
cheapest, so I headed next door to Ms. Murphy’s six-month-old Woollen Mills, a vast eating
house spread over a former knitting emporium where James Joyce once worked (who knew?).
Since entree prices hovered in the midteens, I decided to share the communal table in its deli
section and its pleasantly wintry selection: Surrounded by thick-crusted loaves of bread and
pillowy-looking cinnamon-apple buns, I ate a messily delicious braised pork shoulder sandwich
laced with red cabbage and beetroot slaw, along with a generously portioned butterbean and
pumpkin salad dressed in a rich pesto (sandwich and soup combination, 10.95 euros).
Afterward, I enjoyed the original Winding Stair experience — a browse through the ground floor
bookshop, one of the oldest independent bookstores remaining in the city. It was pouring rain, so
I grabbed a seat at one of two tiny tables by the front window, ordered a pot of tea (2 euros) and
soaked in the decidedly singular smell of a roomful of books and the calming creak of old
wooden floorboards.
After visits to a charming exhibit at the National Gallery of Ireland, in which famed Irish writers
took on the role of curator, and a dance performance at the Project Arts Centre, I was able to take
in one of Dublin’s most popular theater traditions. For 8 euros, I sat down for a lunchtime play at
Bewley’s Café Theatre — a one-act performance along with a set “light lunch,” which on the
afternoon I visited consisted of a big bowl of spicy, coconut-y broccoli soup and two slices of
hearty brown bread. The packed 14-table venue was intimate and inviting; its tall windows,
covered with thick red curtains, shut out the Grafton Street bustle below.
After the show ended, I headed back out into the Christmas card that is Dublin.
Ratha Tep is a writer in Dublin. She is among the writers who will contribute to this column
while Seth Kugel turns his attention to writing a book and working on a video series.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/09/travel/christmas-in-dublin-good-cheer-and-great-deals.html