Citizens of the World: A Stoic Podcast for Curious Travelers - Traveling to Dublin: What to Do, Eat, Buy (and Drink!)

Episode Date: October 17, 2017

For years, Dublin’s Irish charm kept tempting back Italian freelance food journalist Veruska Anconitano. First she stayed for a few days, then a week, a month. Finally, in 2007 she and her husband left Rome permanently to live in Ireland’s vibrant capital city. In this episode of the Postcard Academy, we hear Veruska's top insider recommendations on what to do in Dublin, as well as where to eat, shop, and go out at night when you travel to Dublin.    Links to all of Veruska’s Irish favorites can be found on postcardacademy.co   You can follow Veruska on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and of course, on Veruska's food blog.    Subscribe to the Postcard Academy podcast for more insider travel tips and advice from adventurous souls living the dream.Do you ever go blank or start rambling when someone puts you on the spot? I created a free Conversation Cheat Sheet with simple formulas you can use so you can respond with clarity, whether you’re in a meeting or just talking with friends.Download it at sarahmikutel.com/blanknomore and start feeling more confident in your conversations today.

Welcome to the Postcard Academy. Each week on this travel show, I talk to people who've packed up everything to start a new adventure in another part of the world. You'll learn how they did it and get the inside scoop on finding the best food, nightlife, and cultural experiences in the most interesting places around the globe. I'm your host, Sarah Megatel, an American who spent the last seven years living and working abroad in Italy and the UK. This series is meant to help you get the most out of every vacation and to inspire. you to pack your bags and set off on the journey of a lifetime. Today I was speaking to Verusca Anconitano, who traded Italy's sunny skies for the charm of Ireland's vibrant capital city, Dublin.

She's a freelance journalist and marketing manager, who's partnered with brands on some pretty cool projects. And on this episode, she'll talk to us about how she got her start in Ireland and shares her best recommendations for Dublin, including a fantastic brunch place that tours don't know about yet, so don't tell anyone. I will link to all of her suggestions on postcardacademy.com, so don't worry about writing anything down. All right, let's jump to my conversation with Veruska. Thank you for being here. So tell me, how did all of this get started? How did you decide to move from Italy to Dublin and why? Actually, I always had a strong connection with Ireland.

I don't know why, but when I was young, one of the first holidays I did was alone. I was in Ireland and I was 14 years old. So long time ago. It's always been one of the places where I don't know, I have a special connection with this place. And when I met my husband, he felt the same. So we started to come here for holidays and I started with just three days, then one week, then two weeks, then almost a month. And then six, seven years ago, almost eight, we decided.

that why don't we go there just for a couple of months? Just instead of spending summer in Italy where it's too hot, let's move there so we can improve our English and blah, blah, blah. And yeah, suddenly we decided that I think the day before we had to come back to Italy or two days before, we just signed a lease for an apartment. And then it's almost eight years. So I don't know, actually, it was everything was pretty straightforward. So it started out. you wanted to learn English and then you just loved it too much to go back home. Yeah. Yeah, let's say yes. So tell me a little bit about how as an Italian you're able to live in work in Ireland. How does that work?

So being Italian means I own an European passport. So there's freedom of movement so I can work here without any problem. Basically, there's no limit, not bureaucracy here. That's one of the best thing of this place. You just do everything online. You don't even need it. If you don't, want, you don't need an accountant, you can do everything by yourself. So it's pretty straightforward as soon as you, of course, own European passport. Well, it sounds like it was quite easy for you to get started. So what are you doing over there? I'm a freelance journalist, travel and for journalists and a freelance online marketing manager. So basically I can work from whatever and whatever I want. And being freelance here is easy because The legislation helps you to manage everything in a simple way.

So no taxes, the taxes are very low. And you can manage your flow, working flow, very easily compared to Italy and compared to many other European countries. Basically, that's what I do. I travel the world. And I write about food and experiences. So I work with magazines, mostly Americans at the moment. And then I'm a consultant for different companies. Americans as well. So I work with a lot of Americans. Why? I don't know. Yeah. Do you have a favorite

campaign that you worked on this summer? It looks like you were doing a lot of traveling. Was that for work or mostly for pleasure? It's a mix every time. I think I don't recall in the last couple of years a proper holiday because every time I go there's an assignment some way or I find an angle so I can write something about or produce content. But this is a lot. But this is a lot of it. I find an assignment. I'm This summer I've worked actually on two things. One was the, I did this road trip in Romania, which is this not so famous country in Europe, in Eastern Europe, which is amazing. I didn't expect. I was in Bucharest, the capital in May, and was pretty unexpected.

So when they offered me to go and road trip the entire country, I just say, yeah, why not? It's just like, let's do this. And I didn't expect anything like that. The people, the culture, very similar to Italians. Food everywhere. Everywhere you can eat from morning till night. And everything revolves around the idea of being together and being happy. So this was really, really, really surprising.

Because, you know, if you know a little bit of history about Eastern Europe, You always think they are sad, they are poor, and they basically are like we were in the 80s or in the 70s. But no, they are absolutely on a different level. They probably enjoy life much more because they care about basic stuff. I think those are the best holidays when they really surprise you. When you go in kind of with not any expectations or even low expectations, and then I love when that happens. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. It was a great experience, yes.

So you mentioned great food there. Obviously, good food is important for Italian people. You've got a food blog. Can you tell me a little bit more about that? Is that like a way to stay connected to your Italian roots? Actually, it started like that. It started exactly two months after I moved to Ireland. So a Sunday, I was just alone, home.

husband was sleeping. So I said blogging was very, very, at the very beginning, seven, eight years old, eight years ago. So I just said, I should open like a diary where I put all my Italian recipes and all the recipes. I will learn this few months. I'll be in Ireland. And it started pretty much like a fun game. And then it evolved. Now it's actually my job, part of my job. And it started just in Italian and then I decided I started to get many requests in English from English people because basically my life is in English even if you cannot easily understand. It's not my mother. It's not my first language. I also saw a post on 10 ways that eating is different in Italy than in other places. So could you tell me a little bit about like how is eating in Ireland different? than eating in Italy. We pay a lot of attention.

If we eat carbohydrates, for example, we don't eat pasta and bread. You know better than me. Here they eat pasta with bread. Otherwise, it's not considered a proper meal. And this thing makes me crazy because every time I say, no, guys, you cannot eat. You need to do something to change your habit. And are they putting, like, I think it's also typical in places like America, the UK, Ireland to have salad or different like sides along with your pasta. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Whereas in Italy, I know it's always one dish and then another and another. Yes. Not together, not mixed in the same place. Yeah. Probably these are the main differences. And then the fact that there's Guinness involved pretty much every time and everywhere, which is good. So before the meal, during the meal and after the meal, is that what you mean? Yeah, everywhere. Everywhere. Everywhere. If I'm Guinness everywhere. Yeah, Ireland is definitely famous for its Guinness. Do they have any other drinks there that people enjoy or is it pretty much Guinness all the time?

So, Guinness is the most famous and to be honest, it's also the most touristic one. So if you consider the Guinness Storouse, the Guinness, yeah, the Guinness Storouse is the most visited place in Ireland and one of the most visited in the entire Europe. So it's a big business. But then there are many, many, many other breweries, artisanal and also other brands like there's Mithics, for example, which is a red from the close to Dublin, Kilkenny area, which is very famous, not like Guinness, but it's famous. Then there's a big market with cider. Bulmer's is the most famous. I think you guys have the American version, which is called Magmner's or something like that.

Yeah. These are the main two. Then there's this big trend with the artisanal breweries and microbreweries. So many, many, many local breweries. Like Guinness itself just launched a year ago launched a new brand, a new small brewery, artisanal brewery. And they just experiment with beers. So this is the big trend. So we have Guinness, which is the most famous, the most touristic. The beer that every one, one drinks Irish for first. But then there's many more to be discovered. The gene is big here. Gene is huge. There are many, many gin factories. I don't know. I have no idea why, but it's very, very, very, it's a big thing. So what are your favorite restaurants in Dublin? My favorite restaurant is called Herb Street. And it's, you probably have seen in my Instagram because I feature them very often. It's basically my favorite place. in Dublin. It's far from the most famous places, so no tourists allowed. And they only serve local dishes with local produce. So is this a picture I saw a brunch the other day? Yes,

that looks, yeah, that did look pretty amazing. Yeah, so you can find every single product, the user, they serve is traceable, so you know who is the farmer, where it comes from, when it's been if it's for example eggs you know when they have been taken from the chicken or whatever so that's and it's very considering the prices in dublin are quite high it's also affordable for a family it's family friendly so kids friendly dogs and animal friendly it's it's like heaven and that sounds like yeah that's my that's my definitely my place to go great local place Yes, small, cozy, nice, overlooking the water. Perfect.

I'm making a reservation right now. Where do you live in Dublin? What are the neighborhoods like? Is it quite big? No, Dublin is like, I always describe Dublin as a mix of small towns, like a union of different small towns. because every neighborhood looks like a small town. So you have very old-style neighbors,

neighborhoods like with the traditional small red houses, the post office, the pub, of course, every neighborhood has at least one pub. But on the other side, you have this new Dublin, which is the Dublin of the companies. So you have these skyscrapers, or new style buildings and you get this

duplicity of the city but most of the city is still traditional so you still have a sense of big community like every neighborhood is a community so for example in my neighborhood which is very close both to the financial

neighborhood and the city center I have pretty much at my step door the post office, the mini market, the bar, the pub, everything. It's just, and if I walk around, I can recognize people and they can recognize me. So it's a small, small town. How did you, when you first moved to Ireland, was it easy to make friends? How did you make friends in a totally new country?

That's a good question. It's not easy. well I didn't find very easy so the main gathering for social life is the pub but this means you have to drink and you meet loads tons of people and you can make many many friends but the thing is that when we moved here we were like average yeah okay you drink but just like with moderation nothing very special so we got to adapt to this situation, but it wasn't easy. So you have these two things. You can meet friends at work if you work on a company or a pub. Or if, like me, for example, I work, I have my office at

home. So I usually meet new people during events. I do for my work or during the gym. or I tend to be parts to many things like if there's a cultural event I try to go just because that's the way I can meet new people and stay in contact with other people of course now after eight years I have many friends

but the main if you think that the main gathering is the pub you can get the feeling that can be very hard if you are not a hard drinker yeah you mentioned cultural events. What's Ireland most famous for? What is it culturally known for, aside from Guinness? Music. Definitely music. Music is everywhere and it's really, really part of the cultural behavior,

cultural life, basically. Music, music everywhere. Everything revolve around music, even if it's not traditional, but music on the street, pubs, events, everywhere. Where is your favorite place to see live music? It's called the Willands, and it's, I think, I haven't seen something, probably, I don't know. If you have ever seen the movie, P.S. I Love You, which was pretty famous, was filmed in Ireland. It's the main place that was featured there. But apart from this, it's a great place. They have two stages, so they have a normal pub, and then on the back, there's this live music place.

and they offer actually they feature very, very new bands, but also famous bands. For example, I think at Shiran made one of his first appearances there, the U-2, the stripes. So many, many now famous people pass by there. And it's called The Wheelhouse, is that way? The Wheelands. The Wheelens. Okay. Yeah, the Williams.

What else do you like to do at night? Where else do you like to go? Personally, I love going to the cinema, to the movie. And not very, in Ireland, there are a few places in Dublin where you can go. But actually, since the weather here, it's pretty strange. So you can really have days of days of rain when the weather allows, I love just to walk, walk, walk. And like, discover or just go outside, just walk around the rain, the nature. there are many, many places here, very close to the city center.

You can go by feet and just be in the middle of nowhere, just you and the sea. That's my favorite activity for sure. Give us one of those tips. Pullback lighthouse. Okay. Definitely. Yes. That's my place.

It's basically this very old, I think it was built in 18th century, kind of, this red lighthouse. That's really, really huge, and you can see from everywhere in Dublin. And it lays in the middle of the sea. So there is this big, big, big path, very long. It's like eight kilometers and you are surrounded by the sea. So when the weather is so bad, when the weather is Irish, basically, when you have the Irish weather, you cannot even breathe because the wind is so strong that you really struggle to move as well,

and sometimes the sea also cover the entire lighthouse. But when the day is good, there's the good weather, there's a little bit of sun, or just a little bit, it's a little bit windy, it's the perfect place. It's just outstanding, it's stunning. There's this guy, this is a funny story. He decided a few years ago. He noticed that there were people going there,

and there was nothing. So you have these eight kilometers plus eight, and then you have to walk around a natural park for I think other four or five kilometers before going back to people to normal life, basically. So it just said, okay, I'm going to open a small kiosk here and I'll only serve coffee. Now it's like the man.

Everyone knows him. If he's not there, people just say, where is the kiosk with the coffee where is the kiosk? So he's making lots of money but it's more like tradition. You go there and you have to go get a coffee from this guy. That sounds like a magical day. Drinking coffee overlooking like the clips of Ireland. So if I'm coming to visit you for a weekend, what are my absolute must-sees?

What are we seeing this weekend? It depends. if you are a nature lover, well, with me you probably will see the entire Dublin because when I tour around with people, I make them see pretty much everything. But unmissable for sure, the Trinity College, where you can see the Book of Kels basically, which is one of the oldest sacred book. We have in Europe, I think, in the entire world, but I'm not sure, so don't take this for grant. and then St Stephen Green

which is a big park in the middle of the city which is pretty strange because it's in an unusual location right in the middle of the city center and people go there to relax sometimes you can find band playing music

people doing yoga events festival or just laying down looking at the lake and one of the place I really, really, really love in Dublin is the Liberties. It's basically the old Dublin. It's lays very close to the Guinness storehouse where the actual Guinness is. And it's a very old brick style neighborhood with this red houses, old people hanging around,

asking and looking at you and asking, who are you, why you are here? there's a I think it's still ongoing I'm not sure but kind of sure there's a horse market every Sunday still these days in the middle of the neighborhood

so you're just working and there are horses everywhere because there is the market and there are traditional shops pretty much not tourists around because it's a very kind of dodgy if you can pass me

term, it's not perceived like a safe place, even if it is. But, you know, tourists sometimes they don't get that if something is not perfect, it's still acceptable and it's safe. So you would say that it's safe, but it looks a little dodgy, but it's still a good, fun place to go. Yeah, it's an amazing place. And the neighborhood's called the Liberties. Yes. And you mentioned cute little chefs. I love a good cute little shop when I'm visiting a place. Is there any shop in particular that you would recommend? And then also, if I wanted to bring home a gift for somebody, what would be a good keepsake from Ireland? One of the shops I love, love, love. And if you're a woman, you love for sure. It's called

Carousel. So it's this Irish designer girl, she decided to invest when there was the big crisis here and she opened this shop and she made homemade and craft dresses so tailored dresses using let's say everything Irish so she used cotton or silk everything is from Ireland every piece is unique and it's right in the middle of the city center so you can get an original and authentic and unique piece of clothes right in the Dublin. Carousel. That sounds fantastic. Carousel. I love it. I love it. Love, love. Well, I usually classify gifts, touristic gifts into ways. So if you're a pure tourist, then you have to buy something in Carrels, which is the gift shop, the Irish gift shop,

where you can find Guinness, Macs, everything, like the Lucky Charms or the what's called the key ring with the shamrock, you know, island shamrock. So everything, a classical tourist would buy when visiting. So everything. If you are a much more sophisticated or a little bit more niche tourist, go for food. Buy salmon, for sure. by Guinness-based or beer-based biscuits, butter, butter, Irish butter is just another level.

It's absolutely amazing. So if you come home with a piece of Irish bread, soda bread, some Irish salmon, and some butter, you'll be the happiest, and you'll make your friend, family, very, very happy. What makes the butter so special? I don't know. I think the sheep, I have no idea. but it's so good. Now you've got this dress on my mind.

And I love supporting local people. And I love a good food market, but also a good market with local designers. Do you, does Dublin have anything like that? There are many, many, many. Every weekend, there's, well, there's an ongoing market designer market called George's Arcade. And basically, it's very, very old English style. you can find jewelry, clothes, everything Irish and traditional. And it's actually in the design neighborhood.

So there are also prints, pictures, everything. Every now and then, I think every month or so, there's a designer market in the north part of Dublin, where people just go and sell their stuff like jewelry, jewelry, again, clothes, everything, but everything has to be Irish-based and Irish-made. So no Chinese things, no imported things. Like, I cannot go and sell, for example, Italian cookies, just Irish things. Are there any other cultural offerings like theater? Is theater big in Ireland or museums? What do you guys have going on over there? Well, there are lots of collateral events and very underground events.

So underground theater, not many museums, but there is something, I wouldn't say, it's massive, much more underground theater, underground or like dance, or like, for example, now on Friday we have the cultural night. So the entire city becomes a cultural hub. So there are musicals, music or theaters, everything on the street for free. So it's just at this time of year? Yeah. Tell me more about this underground theater. Do you go to any of these? Yeah, there's a theater called Abbey Theater, and they do all this, how do you say? Weird? Not weird. Avant-Guardia. Yeah, let's call it like that. Replic of famous show, like James Joyce's show or traditional classical shows, classical pieces. Revisited, reviewed, revisited in a modern way. So, like, for example, example, feminism, with a feminism touch or with a LGBT touch, everything is basically

revisited in a different way. And it can be surprising. Of course, you have to be into this kind of theater, this kind of experience, also in terms of music, people. But if you are, it's an experience, definitely an experience. Something different. Something different to check out. Well, that is perfect. I think we could wrap it up here. I really appreciate your time. and sharing all these great Irish tips with us. Where can people find out more about you? I'm pretty much everywhere online. So I have a blog called LCSKitchen.com,

and there you'll find all my contact, my social media profiles, everything. And I'm on Instagram, but my account is too hard to pronounce. It's a veru. Dooddy. traveler. So if you go on LCSkitchen.com, you'll find all the link on the menu. And I will do all of this from the podcast and then also from the show notes. So don't worry about that.

Thank you very much again. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for listening. You'll find a blog post with all these great Dublin tips on postcardacademy.co. I've also included all the links to connect with Furuska on social. If you like this episode, please consider giving it a nice little review on iTunes. This will help people discover the show. On the next episode, one of my favorite travel experts, Crystal Dyer, will share all of her favorite travel hacks to spend less and see more of the world. So if you want to learn how to score the best travel deals, make sure you subscribe to this podcast. If you have a question, story idea, or just know somebody who should be featured on the show, send me a message on Instagram at Postcard Academy.

That's up for now. Talk to you soon. Have a beautiful week wherever you are. blank or start rambling when someone puts you on the spot. I created a free conversation cheat sheet with simple formulas that you can use so you can respond with clarity, whether you're in a meeting or just talking with friends. Download it at sarahmicatel.com slash blank no more.