At City Language School Dublin we like to let our students know what we think are the best things to see and do around Dublin in their free time. After a busy week of learning English, we know it is important to wind down and relax. So here are our Three on a Thursday – three recommendations for this weekend. This week we are staying on the north side of the city and we are going to hang around Stoneybatter.
Visit of the Weekend – National Museum, Collins’ Barracks (Eileen Gray Exhibition)
Irish woman Eileen Gray was one of the leading members of the modern design movement. She was famous in France during the early decades of the 20th Century as a designer before she moved into experimenting with architectural forms in the late 1920s.
Many Irish people have no idea of her existence and her importance in the design world is probably not fully understood or appreciated here. In 2009 one of Gray’s chairs sold for $22m at auction. A colourful character, she learnt to fly, drove ambulances during the First World War, owned a pet panther and smoked like a trooper right up until her death aged 98.
Pub of the Weekend – The Cobblestone, Smithfield
When it comes to pubs, up around here, you are spoilt for choice. There is the great American dive bar, The Dice Bar. Just around the corner is the equally trendy, L.Mulligan Grocer (great food), in Stoneybatter. But if you want to hear traditional live music and enjoy a couple of pints, then The Cobblestone off Smithfield Square is the place to go. It’s old, a little scruffy in places but it’s fun and does a cracking good pint of Guinness.
Walk of the Weekend – Phoenix Park
An obvious choice but because of its vast size, a trip to the Phoenix Park is never dull. If you are not in the mood for the zoo, you should seek out the deer that roam the park freely. There are several football pitches, a cricket pitch and the monument to commemorate the visit of Pope John Paul is really worth a look. Lots to do just don’t get lost.
