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Dublin your fun

Thursday, 13 November 2008

The Republic Of Ireland’s charming capital offers attractions both cultural and culinary, writes Robert La Bua.

One of the friendliest countries in the world, Ireland welcomes gay and lesbian visitors with open arms.

Gay life is vibrant, and the many special events throughout the year provide great excuses to get out and party. Not so unusual, except that many of these celebrations revolve around the cerebral rather than the sexual – though often the two do cross. Each May, for example, Dublin hosts the International Gay Theatre Festival, the only festival of its kind in the world.

The Irish are famed for their way with words: appropriate, given that not many countries have a book as their single most famous tourist attraction, although for some, the little one can view of the Book of Kells may be disappointing. Go see it anyway, then make your way upstairs to the magnificent Long Library at Trinity College, which has long been the centre of intellectual life in Dublin.

Not to be missed is the superb collection at the Chester Beatty Library, which displays literary masterpieces from across the world. The Dublin Writers’ Museum near the excellent Dublin City Gallery on Parnell Square also makes for an enlightening experience.

Trinity College is the physical centre of a city where education and literature are revered as valuable national assets. Ireland, a country of four million people, has produced no less than four winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature, and though gifted writers William Butler Yeats, James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, and Seamus Heaney have their fans, it’s undoubtedly gay icon Oscar Wilde who best embodies the wit and charm of the Irish people. Monuments honour him around the country.

Another of Dublin’s main attractions, Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, also has literary ties. Jonathan Swift, who was a dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral for 32 years, wrote a remarkable satire of England’s oppression of the Irish people; although somehow the sophistication of Gulliver’s Travels has been consigned to bedtime storytelling for the pre-tween set.

Not all Ireland’s culture is found between pages; some of it is between sheets of a different sort. The sophisticated Number 31 guesthouse, for example. Once the private home of modernist architect Sam Stevenson, Number 31, built in the 1960s in a timeless style, was the party house of Dublin, and hosted a galaxy of luminaries, from politicians to film stars. It’s now a home to guests who return again and again to enjoy the excellent accommodation and full Irish breakfasts for which this establishment is justly famed. You can just imagine the goings-on of the 1970s Jet Set in the all-white sunken conversation pit while Kissinger and Twiggy sat around the welcoming fireplace! Number 31 offers ultra-chic rooms and suites at a fraction of the price of larger hotels in the city. To top it all off, the staff are exceptionally attentive.

It would take pages to reveal all the sights of Dublin in a single article, but standouts include Kilmainham Gaol, former home of many of the country’s liberation fighters and now a museum showcasing the upheavals of Irish independence; and the National Museum of Archaeology, which houses a collection of bog men, ancient human sacrifices to the Iron Age gods, their bodies preserved in their peat graves until discovered in the modern era.

The Dublin Pass is an excellent assistant to seeing all these sights and more, providing as it does free entry to 27 major attractions, discounts and special offers, for just €15 (AUS $29) a day.

Just a few blocks from Number 31 is one of the country’s most awarded restaurants. Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud is the North Star in the bright constellation of fine Irish dining, pleasing the palates of locals and visitors alike. Despite his French origins, Guilbaud has long been regarded as the doyen of Irish cuisine, utilising his Gallic charms to coax the nuances of flavour from Ireland’s abundant farm-fresh ingredients.

From the outside, Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud looks rather intimidating, yet once inside there’s nothing but gracious hospitality and a level of service one expects in a fine restaurant. Instead of being escorted directly to the table, guests are received in a semi-formal drawing room replete with quirky artworks to complement the traditional furnishings – a harbinger of good things to come. The menu is presented amidst this relaxed ambience, and once selections and sips of aperitifs have been made, guests are taken to their tables in the unexpectedly large, airy, and modern dining room, splendidly appointed in contemporary style.

Good Food Ireland is an organisation established specifically to ensure quality in food tourism. Their website is a treasure trove of information for the culinary traveller, offering information about the country’s outstanding food producers, a near-endless array of food-related events, and even sample itineraries around the country to help you best enjoy Ireland’s bounty.

You can start the gourmet experience even before arriving in Ireland. Passengers flying to Dublin with Etihad Airways in Diamond Zone First Class are offered the exceptional services of an in-flight Food and Beverage Manager, who advises guests on the day’s food and wine selections. By enticing food and beverage managers from the world’s top hotels and restaurants to join the airline, Etihad has broken new ground with this addition to in-flight service.

Etihad is introducing flights from Melbourne in early 2009, making the trip possible with only one transfer instead of two; and providing a welcome alternative to the nightmare of Heathrow, which is the usual transfer point for travellers to Ireland, despite the fact that the connection to Irish flights requires facing the queues at British Immigration and departure from a different terminal.