For those of you that like discovering new exotic travel destinations, here are a few random images from my Serbia and Montenegro flickr sets:

Ten years have passed since my last visit to Spain. At that time I was a student on a very low budget, enjoyed wondering the streets of Madrid, Barcelona, Zaragoza, Valencia and San Sebastián, living mainly on tapas and cañas, listening to rumba and, overall admiring the Spanish way of life and trying to “blend in”. In the following years, I made a few great Spanish friends (Hola!), developed a high appreciation for their beautiful wines, ate a bunch of imported Spanish jamón and chorrizo, practiced my paella making, listened to their few alternative bands, on ocassions smoked Ducados. The time came to visit again…

So, we gave ourselves a treat and went on a holiday to Barcelona and a “small fishing village” of Santa Pola, south of Alicante, to visit a dear friend of mine. Powered by years of dreams and a much stronger budget than the first time, we explored Barcelona the way ten years ago I promised myself I would do. We ate on average 5 times a day (not counting smaller “refreshment” tapas ), drank some nice wines, wondered around the city, looked for Manu Chao, took it easy and enjoyed the atmosphere. Again, admired the Spanish (OK, Catalan) way of life.

Over the next few days I will write a few posts related to this trip. In the meantime, you can take a look at some of the Barcelona photos in my public gallery.

I know many Dubliners will disagree since the Porterhouse is not a classic Irish pub and is located in the touristy Temple Bar area, but it is one of the few places I keep going back to over and over again (the Mezz and Mulligans being my other two all-time Dublin favourites).

Porterhouse is actually a pub-micorbrewery (they brew their own beer) and is one of the very rare pubs in Ireland that doesn’t serve Guinness drought. They compensate this with their excellent brewed-in-house stout called simply “Plain Porter”, a “classic modern stout” as they describe it. For ale lovers there’s the “Red Porter” which is somewhat similar to London Pride, but much better . For the more courageous there’s the “Brain Blasta”, a strong beer with a magnificent taste (needless to say, it’s my favourite). For the adventureous there’s the “Oyster Stout”, brewed with fresh oysters, and for the common beer drinker there’s the “Temple Brau”, a pilsner. The Porterhouse is also one of the rare Irish pubs with a considerable selection of bottled foreign beers - Belgian, German, Czech, English, even Ukrainian, Indian and Kenyan. Once they get the “Nik” they will be perfect! Although I have to admit, they do have an empty bottle on one of the shelves on their walls.

Apart from having the best selection of beer in town, the pub features an eclectic combination of international cuisine. The restaurant sports a full menu of tasty food with a Caribbean, South American and African flavour. During late hours, after you’ve drank more than you should have, there’s a good fast food Persian restaurant just across the street (the famous Zaytoon) to absorb the excess alcohol. There is live music seven nights a week in the Porterhouse, usually blues or rock, and there are traditional Irish music sessions on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

Even though the pub stretches over 4 floors, it gets very packed on weekend nights. The crowd is mostly composed of foreigners, with Spanish people being dominant, or at least the loudest (”Te digo, Españoles son los mejores!”). However, the afternoons are very relaxing and it is a great spot to have a nice chat with your buddies while enjoying a few quality pints.

So, the next time you’re in Dublin don’t miss it. Slàinte!

Tags: Porterhouse, Dublin, Pubs

I’ve spent a couple of days in Brussels last week and was most amazed by the wonderful beers they have over there. I’ve always been a descent beer drinker (or so I like to think), a great fan of Budwar, Erdinger, Guinness, Smithwicks and have enjoyed a bunch of Irish and British ales, but I have never tried a Belgian beer before apart from Stella Artois and was most impressed by the fine Belgian beers I tasted in Brussels.

We went to a place called A la Mort Subite (In the Sudden Death) which specializes in beers brewed in small breweries which are rarely exported (understandable, I would keep those to myself too). I was lucky that we had some Belgian friends to recommend the drinks throughout the night, otherwise it would be a hard time choosing the right items from the lengthy menu. Here are the best of the beers I tried:

Apart from these, I didn’t miss to check out the more famous ones such as Hoegaarden and Leffe, both very interesting and with a rich taste.

So, the next time you’re in Brussels and like exploring beers, don’t miss a visit to the Sudden Death. And, in case you are not an expert, take a note of these few beers, it might help when selecting from a lengthy menu!