Dublin, Ireland - - Painted on the streets of Dublin are warnings for pedestrians who aren't used to people driving on the left side: "Look left," they say, or "Look right," with an arrow pointing the way to look in case you don't get it. It's a small sign of how multicultural and visitor-oriented Ireland's capital city has become.
This is not the first thing tourists think about. Dublin is, after all, a city known for its 1,000 pubs, not its upscale restaurants or its museums.
Visitors who aren't interested in drinking a few pints of Guinness stout, the city's most famous product, or touring the Guinness Storehouse or the Old Jameson Distillery may write the city off, eager to get to the historical sites and spectacular countryside to the west. If you're one of those, consider this a nondrinker's guide to Dublin.
My husband and I aren't exactly nondrinkers. We like a glass of wine or a beer - but not enough to spend our limited time touring a brewery or drinking the night away in a pub. There are other ways to meet the residents. The Irish are among the friendliest people in the world, and you can strike up a conversation just as readily waiting in line, sitting on a bus or having a sandwich in a cafe.
We arrived in Dublin thinking it would be little more than a layover until we were sufficiently recovered from our flight to drive to the Dingle peninsula. We weren't very interested in a city with so many pubs, although we knew there were other attractions. We hadn't, in other words, done our homework, but it didn't take long for us to realize our mistake.
For those drawn by the emerald promise of Ireland, Dublin at first may seem a little run-down and dingy - especially if you're staying on the north side of the River Liffey, the city's major geographical dividing line. This was reinforced for us by an October sun that didn't come out until the very end of our two-day stay. The first day was chilly and gray, the second warmer and drizzly. (The rest of the week was sunny and in the 50s and 60s. Everyone told us you can't predict the Irish weather, and they were right.)
We were also struck by how crowded Dublin was, how terrible the traffic was, and how many smokers we saw in the streets and outside buildings. Smoking was banned inside public places just this year.
Energetic place
