Tucked away: The Sweetest Thing in Dublin, Ireland

In addition to talking about (almost) everything I get the chance to do abroad, I also want to highlight little places that took me by surprise and stood out to me. I'm calling these places "tucked away" not for their location, but for the fact that they might not come up first on TripAdvisor or be in the middle of tourist central. 

I ordered their famous hot chocolate. It was creamy and oh-so-delicious.

In Dublin, my "tucked away" moment was a chocolatey lunchsnack (Merriam-Webster, it's about time this is an actual word) at the Sweetest Thing chocolate cafe. The cafe was mentioned briefly in my roundup about my weekend in Dublin, but now it deserves its own post.

The cafe isn't hard to find, if you're looking. It's located right along the River Liffey on the North Side on Bachelor's Walk and if you sit at the tables right outside the door like we did, you get beautiful views of the river.

The inside of the shop is adorable. Black and white checkered tile, red walls and brick accents, you know you've found the Mom-n-Pop store you wanted. We even ran into a couple enjoy their chocolate snacks that said they've been coming every Sunday afternoon for a long time*.

Plus, all the Coca-Cola decorations give it a homey feeling. 

Overwhelmed with a long mouthwatering menu of chocolatey possibilities, we finally settled. Lauren started eating hers before I could get a picture to truly capture its brilliance. She ordered a hot chocolate brownie - there was hot fudge seeping out of the porous cake (think Chili's molten lava cake x 10). Andrea chose a banana split which trumped all banana splits I'd seen before. I settled with their famous hot chocolate but, since I was nodding off from a long weekend, talked the barista into adding a shot of expresso for free.

Before & after, from left to right: hot chocolate brownie, hot chocolate & banana split. 

We don't like chocolate. At all. Can you tell?

If you have a sweet tooth as big as mine and are in Dublin, don't miss this little gem. The Sweetest Thing might be a little bit 'tucked away' but their chocolate is something great.

Also, if you didn't catch on, the cafe is named after U2's hit "The Sweetest Thing." I told you the Irish love to incorporate their rockstars whenever possible!

*Meredith's memory is slowly getting worse and therefore she loses details easily like this one.

Bonjour! Bonsoir! Je suis une femme!

Hello! Good evening! I am a woman!

I've just taught you all the French I know. Except for le pomme est rouge and le chat noir (which mean "the apple is red" and "the black cat" and are pretty useless unless you're describing things to a child). I also know how to say crepe, baguette, macaroon, brie and croissant quite well. Getting the food vocabulary secured was my first priority.

Carousel in Arle, France. I think my edited Instagram picture looks much more magical. 

Last weekend, we went on an excursion to the South of France with ISA. Since traveling to Paris in 2010, I fell in love with France and was excited to explore smaller towns with a different feel than the big city.

We spent two nights in Montpellier and spent our days visiting Arles, Aigues Mortes and Collioure. 

Vincent Van Gogh spent a lot of his life and was artisically-inspired by many things in Arles, France. During our walking tour, we got the chance to see a couple of the locations that inspired Van Gogh.

After the tour, we stumbled upon Arles' Saturday morning market and, of course, I left with a couple treats. 

I went for a blackberry macaroon. 

Next stop: Aigues Mortes. This medieval town is still enclosed and has a very...quaint feel to it. It was quiet and not much was going on (except the unbearable heat).

We bought a baguette because the bread is delicious and it seemed like a very french thing to do.

This stop was my favorite. A GIANT chocolate store! 

Exhausted from a long day of sight-seeing in the sun, we spent another night in Montpellier before heading to Collioure, France.

Collioure is a beautiful coastal town with views of the mountains and the sea. The views were so surreal.

At lunch, I ordered what I thought would be a safe, mediterranean salad with some olives and grilled shrimp. Well.

Yes, those are shrimp with their heads fully on. I wasn't prepared and I have no idea how to take the heads off the shrimp (I tried, and some red goo started coming out that told me to just set that one to the side). The toast is topped in caviar - and is surprisingly bland. My favorite part was the pieces of smoked salmon.

So, of course, since I got a salad for lunch I just had to treat myself to a crepe before leaving France.

Yes. Chocolate and banana. 

The towns we visited were way different from Paris, but I still loved them. France has yet to disappoint me! Next on my list to explore in France? Bordeaux, Nice and the countryside. 

Top o' the Morning (or, night) to Dublin, Ireland!

On July 4, 2013 we did the most Americanly (Google says no spelling suggestions, but just go with it) patriotic thing possible and booked a trip to yet another European city. While we couldn't be in the States, we still made sure to celebrate big time with a weekend in Dublin, Ireland.

The weekend began with frantic rushing to the airport. We left on a Thursday, directly after class and only had 3 hours until our plane departed.

My roommate and I decided to take the train to the airport to save the 6 euros it would cost us for the Aerobus. We took the metro to the train, couldn't find the train station (HOW), got on the wrong train, had to ask a passenger for directions, jumped off at the nearest stop and hailed a cab to the airport. We did not end up saving the 6 euros.

Flights are cheaper through RyanAir, so that was our airline of choice. Because they're so cheap, they're also more strict on bag size restrictions and have a complicated process to check passports and boarding passes before going through security. Hurdle #2.

Hurdle #3 was passing the long line of impatient Europeans to get our passports stamped in the EU only line so we'd have enough time to run to our gate. (The guards checking Passports were exchanging donuts and talking to children. Not a lie.)

Despite all the struggles, we made our way onto the plane and to Ireland!

Landing and getting to our Hostel was a breeze. We stayed at Skybackpackers on Dublin's north side, and were within 5-10 minutes walking distance to everything we wanted to see. The building was an old recording studio where U2 and Van Morrison (among others) once recorded. They play up the whole music theme and, let me tell you, the Irish LOVE to drop U2 into any conversation.

It was such a great location and while it felt like I slept on a sheet of slate, I recommend it to any young person visiting Dublin.

We checked in, dropped off our bags and immediately headed straight to the Old Storehouse in Dublin's Temple Bar for some traditional Irish food.

Smithwick's, Harp, Bulmer's - Ireland's drinks of choice. 

Beef and Guinness casserole with champ! Cleaned the plate, no doubt. 

 Don't think I let the day pass without showing my patriotism to the USA. Of course, I wore red white and blue.

In front of the River Liffey

We spent the night celebrating the Fourth at Bad Bob's and woke up the next morning for a walking tour of the city.

In 18 cities across Europe, you can find SANDEMANs New Europe tour guides. They're usually daily tours that leave at 11 & 1 and cover the main history and attractions of the city. We got to see and learn so much about Dublin that wouldn't have known just wandering around by ourselves. Oh yeah, they're also free.

Courtyard outside the Dublin Castle. 

Trinity College.

Trinity College.

Bank of Ireland

Grafton Street

Taking it back to some Irish folklore, we also got the chance to see what Leprechauns are really like, hear their history and channel our imagination at the National Leprechaun Museum. We really acted like big kids making our way through the Giant's Causeway, climbing on the furniture in the "giant's house," learning about faeries and becoming Leprechauns ourselves.

Our hostelmate, Jo Hannes! He's from Germany, learning English and we hung out with him all weekend. 

"Errbody dat see a Leprechaun say yeeeaaa!"

After resurfacing our inner children, we made our way to a more mature, adult attraction - THE GUINNESS STOREHOUSE! I loved Guinness before traveling to Dublin, so it was interesting and exciting to see how it's made. 

The storehouse was six stories of Guinness history.

Stand in front of each decade-decorated television and you can see old Guinness commercials. So cool to see how ad styles have changed over the years.

When in doubt, pinky out. 

A huge screen with the world's social media reactions to Guinness & the Storehouse. Love it.  

At the top is the Gravity Bar, with a 360 degree panoramic view of the city.

Ben and Jo Hannes

Plus, when you finish the tour, you get a free pint!

Mi amiga, Andrea!

We ended the trip with a night out with our new German friends, a chocolate-filled lunch at The Sweetest Thing cafe (U2 reference) and a painless trip back to our 'home' in Barcelona.

PS - Yes, I did have to think of the most stereotypical thing possible to name this post. 

You can find more pictures from my trip to Dublin on my Flickr account. 

Exploring Dali's favorite towns: Figueres and Cadaques

Just a few hours north of Barcelona, and right below the Spain-France border, are two towns that were very dear to Salvador Dali.

 

Figueres is home to the Dali Theatre & Museum. When asked why he chose this specific location, Dali replied: 

"Where, if not in my own town, should the most extravagant and solid of my work endure, where if not here? The Municipal Theatre, or what remained of it, struck me as very appropriate, and for three reasons: first, because I am an eminently theatrical painter; second, because the theatre stands right opposite the church where I was baptised; and third, because it was precisely in the hall of the vestibule of the theatre where I gave my first exhibition of painting."

And "eminently theatrical painter" is quite the understatement. It wasn't just paintings. Dali worked with so many different media - from shadows, to sculptures, full courtyards of figures and so much more.

I wandered through this museum without a real sense of direction, as Dali's intention was to let the visitor make the self-guided tour a part of the experience. It was overwhelming, jaw-dropping, puzzling, intriguing and...random. I'm glad I got to have a little peek inside Dali's brain, but would not revisit this collection of eccentric art.

After our museum visit, we headed to a town called L'Escalas and spent the afternoon on the beach.

This town is known for their anchovies. I didn't try them, but someone in our group did.

THIS was my lunch. Classic. 

We spent the night in Roses, an empty town past 8 o'clock because it's full of elderly travelers. Not joking. So, we did our best to have some fun and got up early for a boat ride to the beautiful coastal town of Cadaques.

Picasso and Dali were both drawn to Cadaques for its unmistakable beauty. It's known for its white buildings, slow pace of life and delicious seafood.

Cadaques was one of my favorite stops thus far! It was so gorgeous and a great trip overall. Highly recommended.

You can find more pictures from Figueres and Cadaques on my Flickr account.