Experience Dublin, Ireland this Christmas

Christmas in Dublin provides visitors with an unrivaled holiday experience; combining the best aspects of traditional and modern Christmas events, ranging from holiday themed plays to high class shopping and special offers in Dublin luxury hotels, this city truly has something special to offer to everyone.

Each year Dublin kicks off their holiday celebrations in November with the traditional lighting of a Christmas tree by the town’s Mayor. 100,000 lights adorn the 50 foot tree and the city has taken a more eco-friendly approach by fitting the strings with low energy bulbs.

Ice skating is a big part of Dublin’s Christmas tradition and those looking to participate, or merely to observe, should head to the annual Smithfield Ice Rink. The area around the rink will play host this year to an igloo, Christmas concerts, crafts and Santa Claus, making this area a must visit location even for those who have no idea how to ice skate.

The Temple Bar is home to multiple Christmas markets throughout the season, including a designer market that showcases some of the best of the local Irish arts and crafts. Local farmers also participate in a market designated for traditional Christmas foods. Lastly, the Temple Bar hosts an annual book market which offers shoppers the opportunity to purchase Christmas themed books, ranging from classics to new releases.

The Temple Bar is not the only establishment to host Christmas markets throughout the season; Phoenix Park and the Dublin Docklands also participate. The Christmas market at the Docklands, which runs for 12 consecutive days, is especially popular and features over 80 local merchants and artists, along with Christmas carolers, carousel rides and another opportunity for the children in your group to provide Santa Claus with their Christmas wish list.

Aside from all of the specialized Christmas markets, the year-round local shops also pull out all of the stops. They extend their hours for the holidays and offer a wide mixture of common items and gifts that will only be found in Dublin. Those looking for a unique gift will not go home empty handed.

Several local theater troupes stage annual productions of holiday classics, such as A Christmas Carol. Those who prefer a more musical approach to the holiday will not be disappointed; Dublin is home annually to multiple Christmas concerts and sing-along’s, ranging from events at local libraries to concerts featuring world renowned recording artists.

So why not book one of the many luxury hotels in Dublin and come experience a celebration of Christmas unlike any other by enjoying it in the heart of the city.

My thanks for this sponsored post to The Doyle Collection of Luxury Hotels in Dublin and other locations

Photo credits: Zona Temple Bar by Jexweber.fotos, and Christmas market by timf

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Ibsens Hotel in Copenhagen – an affordable boutique hotel in Nansensgarde

When they renovated the Ibsens hotel in Copenhagen the bit they didn’t change was the iconic red neon Hotel sign and that just about sums it up; a little bit retro, a lot of modern design, a smattering of vintage and a big part of the neighbourhood.

The neighbourhood in question is Nansensgarde, just a stone’s throw from the string of Copenhagen lakes that are more like a broad river and a 5 minute walk from the Norreport station. A few blocks away you’ll find the Botanic Garden and Rosenborg castle and then there’s the enclosed park where you can buy local food in the market halls nearby and have a picnic by the lake. The street of Nansensgarde itself is narrow with lots of little artisan shops, cafes and restaurants – mostly with a quirky, individual feel such as the coffee bar on the corner just opposite, where you descend a few steps to find a haven of kitsch.

Right next to the hotel you have a couple of eateries that are associated with the hotel, but not quite part of it – La Rocca, an elegant Italian with white tablecloths and the more relaxed Pinxtos on the other side where they serve the Basque equivalent of Tapas. We didn’t eat in either of these, although they looked great, as my dearly beloved had spotted a little place that served Moules and Chips just down the road and so that’s where we went on one of our Copenhagen nights. After our bike + train excursion to the Karen Blixen Museum and a whirl around the Tivoli gardens, we were ready for simple, homely fare. We had 500 Swedish Krona in cash which doesn’t go far in Copenhagen, I can tell you, but we managed to have a slap up meal in the restaurant called Nice (and it was).

Anyhow, back to the 3 star, boutique style Ibsens Hotel where we spent 3 nights when we visited Copenhagen in the spring. Enter the door on the corner of the street and you’ll meet the counter which is part reception desk and part coffee bar where breakfast is served in the morning. Past the wooden painted tables and red leather banquettes where there are small bits of artwork for sale (apparently you can use Art-money) and you can sink into the comfy purple velvet sofa or a lime wool wing chair by the fire.

I hope you enjoy the video below about Ibsens Hotel in Copenhagen

If you can’t see the embedded video above, view it on my blog here

The neighbourhood concept extends to the way that bits and pieces from neighbourhood shops and artisans have been incorporated in the design. The brightly coloured textiles of local designer Krestine Kjærholm have been used to cover the chairs, with a vintage wood and glass coffee table from the auction house Lauritz.com and you can put a record on the gramophone from Würtz Radio along the road.

Ibsens Hotel, Copenhagen

Breakfast at Ibsens Hotel in Copenhagen

If the weather’s fine you could sit in the internal courtyard out the back, or have an impromptu meeting in the library where you’ll find a classical bust and plenty of  travel guides from Jess Jessen’s second hand bookshop nearby. Right by reception there’s a graffiti coloured metal cupboard, customised by artist Sunny Asemota, in case you need to leave your valuables when you go out and you’ll be given a room key on a leather fob by The Last Bag, who make classic leather satchels and have a local shop.

We took the lift to our 6th floor room overlooking the street at the front down a grey corridor that seemed permanently bathed in twilight and into our room under the eves which was decorated in battleship grey. The grey was lifted with bright and acid tones like the lime green chair by the window but there was only the small dormer window to let in light.

The room was compact and reminded me of a rather upmarket student hostel – especially the white tiled bathroom which had a shower that drained into the floor and a steel soap dispenser but no other giveaways in the way of toiletries. When you understand that the Ibsens hotel and the others in this family run group, aim to be CO2 neutral, some of these things start to make sense.

We arrived after dark but even when we awoke there was not a lot of light – with the main lighting being from two small bedside lamps and a desk lamp, the overall effect was pretty dark. There wasn’t room for a proper wardrobe but instead there was an area beside the bed where you could hang your clothes and the beds are designed so that you can fit your cases underneath them. Although the side street to the front was not especially busy with traffic, we found that the noise travelled up to roof level and there clatter of what sounded like building works, that woke us up early.

The next day we asked to be moved to a room at the back of the hotel, overlooking the internal courtyard which was much quieter. The room was slightly bigger than the last, but with even less lighting – a desk in the alcove had no light above it at all and the main lighting was a standing lamp beside the bed. The rooms were modern and perfectly comfortable with cosy duvets and bedcovers and we slept well, but I’d say that the room was best used as a base to come back to at the end of a long day’s sightseeing.

Descending from the twilight world upstairs, the breakfast was much more jolly, with a choice of all sorts of interesting leaf teas and coffee. There was a selection of pastries, a variety of small sandwiches laid out with delicious bread and healthy fillings, and then ‘breakfast in a glass’ with glasses of fruit compote, yogurts and muesli laid out on ice. It was all served on incongruous plastic trays that looked as if they’d been liberated from a student canteen – no doubt to reduce the amount of plates and cutlery that would have to be washed up as part of the CO2 reduction initiative.

We rented bikes at the hotel which made it really easy to go from the nearest station of Norregard and jump on the train to head out along the coast route to see the Karen Blixen House at Rungsted and then we cycled back along the coast road with glimpses of the sea between the lovely holiday houses.

We really enjoyed using the Ibsens Hotel as our base for our long weekend in Copenhagen and especially the way they have brought the neighbourhood into the design and the really tasty breakfasts. The rooms were comfortable and modern, if on the compact side, but perhaps needed a little bit more attention to detail in things such as lighting to improve the guest experience. Downstairs we were very happy to relax on those comfy sofas and wing chairs, put on a record and flick through a magazine or two.

We stayed as a guest of Ibsens Hotel and Wonderful Copenhagen but a quick check on the web showed me that rooms at Ibsens Hotelwill typically cost from £100 per night including breakfast for 2 sharing – if you book on a room only basis, the breakfast will cost 155DKK (£17) per person. As Copenhagen is known for being a somewhat expensive city, I think the hotel is excellent value.

Ibsens Hotel, Vendersgade 23, DK-1363 Copenhagen K,  e-mail hotel@ibsenshotel.dk, Nearest station Norreport

More stories from Copenhagen

In search of the perfect Smørrebrød – in Copenhagen
Out of Africa and other Danish stories – at the Karen Blixen Museum near Copenhagen
Modern Thai food with Danish style from Kiin Kiin in Copenhagen

Resources for visiting Copenhagen

• You’ll find plenty of information about places to eat and things to see on the Visit Copenhagen website
• There is a free Visit Copenhagen Mobile phone app available for iPhone, Android and other smartphones
• If you plan to do a lot of sightseeing then check out the Copenhagen Card for free entry to 65 museums and attractions as well as free public transport around the city

Thanks to Wonderful Copenhagen for sponsoring our weekend in Copenhagen.

www.flickr.com heatheronhertravels’ Copenhagen – Ibsens Hotel photoset

 

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com – Read more travel articles at Travel Blog Home

You’ll also find our sister blog with tips on how to build a successful travel blog at My Blogging Journey

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Religious art from before the earthquake at Zakynthos Museum – Greece

In 1953 a terrible earthquake struck the Greek island of Zakynthos and reduced the island capital, Zante town to rubble. Across the island churches were left in ruins and many of the important devotional artworks that were recovered were brought to be re-housed in the Zakynthos Museum on Solomos Square.

The square is named after the famous Zakynthian poet, Dionysios Solomos, who wrote the words of the Greek National Anthem and is situated at one end of the harbour. On three sides of the square are buildings, one of which is the long frontage of the Museum. It’s an anonymous looking place that could pass for a government office and I’d never been inside because I suppose I was too busy doing what most tourists do on Zakynthos; enjoying my favourite beaches and spotting turtles.

However, on my visit last year I had hired a car and driven with my husband to the northern end of the island to see the Monastery of St Dennis, the patron saint of the island. I suppose this spurred me on to take a look inside the Zakynthos Museum where there are a multitude of beautiful religious paintings.

The ‘Museum’ description could cover a multitude of different things, but here you’ll find two floors of religious art from the 17th and 18th centuries. There are entire altar screens from the front of a church as well as many panel paintings and icons of different saints, angels, Madonnas and other religious figures, all in glowing colours and gold backgrounds. It was like walking into a room full of life sized religious Christmas cards, the type that I send to members of my family who prefer to celebrate Christmas as the birth of Christ and not a commercial fiesta of robbins, reindeer and rosy cheeked Santa Claus.

There was also a beautiful room of 17th Century frescos that had been recovered from the Saint Andrea’s Monastery in Volimes on the north of the island that was brought to the museum after the earthquake. Throughout the museum there were many photographs of the devastation of the 1953 earthquake and how things looked before and after the earthquake. I know from visiting the Romas Mansion on the other side of Solomos square that the town was rebuilt on the rubble and so the level of the new town that emerged as about 1 metre higher, and that the coast road that skirts the harbour was extended after the earthquake, where previously many houses had gardens that stretched to the waterfront.

Unfortunately all of the information accompanying the earthquake photos was in Greek and I wished that there was an English translation so I could understand more about this fascinating aspect of Zakynthos history. In the entrance hall of the museum you can see a model of Zante town as it was before the earthquake where you can trace some of the changes that have taken place.

The Zakynthos Museum is mainly a place for lovers of religious art works but if, like me, you have a family who would rather sit in a café with a frappé or an ice cream, then there are any number of elegant cafes just off the Solomos Square nearby to leave them while you have a look around.

Zakynthos Museum, Solomos Square, Zante town, Greece 

More things to enjoy on Zakynthos

Sunday Morning Greek Coffee and Glika in Zakynthos
Wine tasting at Oenolpi Winery on Zakynthos – video
The Venetian Fort at Bohali on Zakynthos

www.flickr.com heatheronhertravels’ Zakynthos – Zakynthos Museum photoset

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com – Read more travel articles at Travel Blog Home

You’ll also find our sister blog with tips on how to build a successful travel blog at My Blogging Journey

Don’t miss out – subscribe to Heather on her travels

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