Our favourite spots to have a cup of coffee in and around Dublin

It is true - I can confirm it: the streets of Dublin have become the perfect stage for a wave of fantastic new actors looking to come in first in the ongoing contest "WHO SERVES THE BEST CUP OF COFFEE IN TOWN?"

National Botanic Gardens (Glasnevin)

I have to agree this time with the popular quote "Best things in life are free", because the National Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin are at the top of my list of best free attractions in Dublin (actually they are also at the top of my list of best Dublin attractions in general!)

Ten years in Ireland... already???

Cannot believe it's been ten years since we moved to Ireland! Time flies....

I wanted to write a special post to celebrate this anniversary, which is very important for us: it has been in Ireland where we have created our family and we have absolutely fallen in love with this island: its countryside, its towns, its coastline and  its traditions but most of all the amazing Irish people, so warm and friendly who have made these ten years so easy to live.

Short but refreshing walk in Dalkey - Killiney Hill

It's New Year! We were all eating, drinking, and partying a lot during Christmas... too much maybe? And then we all made very hard to accomplish new year resolutions, didn't we?

...mmmm, let me see: I am going to eat healthier this year, I'll quit smoking, I'll quit chocolate!, will go running every morning no matter the weather (????), we will not waste our weekends at home watching TV, we will enjoy our family time, we will go for nice Sunday morning walks and enjoy nature together!!!!

Irish National War Memorial Gardens (Islandbridge): not to miss!!!!

As you may have noticed, I normally only write about places we've been and we've liked: places we would visit again.

Amongst all the places we like and write about (restaurants, parks, towns...) we of course have our favourites.

Deer Park , Mount Merrion - Dublin 14. Nice area to visit with the kids

Back from holidays... what can I say? Coming back is not being easy (it never is!). So now what are we going to do????

First of all, let's put on a cardigan :-), then take a map, a ball, some water bottles and go out to discover Dublin. We do not want to waste time. Some post-summer amazing places in and around Dublin are waiting out there!

Our first one:

Last weekend we visited Deer Park in Mount Merrion, Dublin 14. A very nice medium sized park located right here:

We had seen the park many times (every time we go to Dundrum town center) and we always used to say: "we have to visit this park one day; it looks very nice, and the views must be amazing". Well... we were right.

We arrived and parked beside the Mt Anville Road entrance.

First thing we liked: paved broad paths (perfect for pushing a buggy) with great views of the city. 

What the kids saw and looooved: a football pitch! Let me explain that for the last year every time we go out -anywhere- we have to take the ball with us, because playing soccer at least once or twice a day has become the first item in our to-do list no matter the place we're visiting. This park looked super promising now!

For the joggers, there is fitness equipment to work out beside the path - definitely for adults! One of the kids wanted to use one and Dad had to lift him to be able to reach the parallel bars.

We took a walk along the path for approx 10 minutes (kids playing with the ball beside us).... 

and found the lovely playground: really worth exploring!:

Seesaws, swings, slides webs... it has all of that. 

And then it has some others, not easy to identify (am I getting too old???) but you know kids: the weirder the artifact gets, the more interesting

is that a cage? tied to the ground? what is it supposed to do? never mind- the kid liked it!

After a good half an hour playing around in the playground we continued our walk up to see the whole park. Came accross ther Deer Park Tennis Club and a lot of happy kids playing Federer and Nadal and then our more than mandatory stop to play soccer in the pitch.

Believe me, if we had let the kids do what they wanted we would still be there, playing soccer, but thank God (really really: thank you God!) after 20 or 30 minutes it started raining and we had to rush back to the car.

It was already lunch time, so instead of going home, we decided to go down Mt Anville Road and try The Goat, literally 5 mins away from the park. Perfect end of a perfect morning: good lunch while we watched... yes soccer! for a good price

Herbert Park (Dublin 4) - great option to spend a lazy afternoon

Herbert Park is a gorgeous park (of course) in Dublin 4, right between US Embassy and the RDS.

We know it well, as is not far from home -close enough to get there with our bikes/scooters- so we visit it very often throughout the year. I like it very much but I have to say that during this Spring/Summer months the park is most enjoyable.

Skerries + Ardgillan Castle (North Co. Dublin)

What a lovely summer we're having!

The weather is perfect for long days out: a couple of sandwiches, lots of fresh water and a ball are all you need for the perfect day outdoors with the kids. And you do not have to go very far...

Co. Dublin has lots of beautiful places to choose from! I'm sure you know by now.

Celebrating our anniversary in St Anne´s Park (Clontarf)

Today it´s a very special day for us: exactly 6 years ago, we arrived in Dublin to start a new life. We didn't have an idea of how long we would stay or if we would like it here. Now, six years later, we feel like at home - our family has grown, and we are not planning to leave any time soon.

The new member of the Avoca family @ Malahide Castle

I love the Avoca stores - all the ones I've visited! They're decorated with such a good taste, you can see that even the tiniest details have been taken care of. I also love the Avoca cafés because they're... very pleasant (and I think that is the best compliment for a café/restaurant)

Christmas has arrived @ Farmleigh House

I know, I know - I also watch TV from time to time, and the commercials are all very "Christmas oriented". I walk on the streets and all I see is Santa everywhere, Christmas trees and lights, and the lovely Christmas music... but I have to say that till this morning I wasn't on a Christmas mood yet - not at all!

Sunny Saturday in Marlay Park (Dublin 16)

So many nice parks in Dublin... and the weekends are soooo short! Sometimes it´s difficult to choose where to go.

A couple of weeks ago we had a sunny and warm weekend (probably one of the last ones of the year) and we chose to go to Marlay Park in Rathfarnham (address and map in this link)

Cabinteely Park (Dublin 18)

Among the things we absolutely love about Dublin is the number of fantastic parks and playgrounds there are everywhere inside the city, close to the city and also further away but still within the limits of Co Dublin.

The park I'm going to talk about is in Cabinteely, in Dublin South; in fact its name is Cabinteely Park (easy to remember!) and it's located just outside the city (Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown City Council).