We have been lucky to secure an apartment in a very nice part of north Dublin. Pip had looked at a few places before I arrived and the viewing time for this one was about 30 minutes after I arrived in Dublin from my NZ – Singapore – UK flights over the previous 2 days. There were at least 7 interested parties attending the viewing – competition for places in this part of town is intense, so we pushed all our advantages at the landlord: university lecturer and hanger-on, owned our own home, non-smokers, no pets, no children, exotic origins (NZ) and so on. We were rewarded with a phone call later that evening to say we were the preferred tenants but “another applicant was prepared to offer an extra 100 Euros a month” – if we matched it, it was ours. Didn’t like that approach much, but we had no real option, so accepted it. Apart from that dubious practice, our landlord has actually turned out to be a really nice easygoing guy, so we take some comfort from that.
St Alphonsus Rd
We are in a gated community called Chapelgate on St Alphonsus Rd in the suburb of Drumcondra. It’s just off the main road so is quiet but only 5 mins walk from shops, restaurants, buses and trains – excellently located. It’s about a 40 min walk to work for Pip but the bus gets her there in 10 or so. There are several blocks of apartments in the development but the grounds are quite park-like and well maintained. It was previously the site of a convent. We are on the ground floor, so no views, but so far it has been very quiet and I think the majority are owner-occupied. We have a little patio which gets the afternoon sun but the apartment itself is only about 70 sq m (about average for apartments here), consisting of 2 bedrooms, two bathrooms, a small kitchen and a combined living-dining area, all on one level.
Chapelgate
The first photo shows the street outside and part of the original convent wall (no nuns escaping from this one, I’m sure) and the second one shows our building. The more we reflect on it, the more we appreciate what we’ve got here so we think it’s quite likely that we will stay here for the duration of our time in Dublin.
The third photo shows our actual location in the building.
Our apartment
Wow, love the mode of transport parked out the front … travelling in style!!
If I had taken the shot a little further round, you would have seen not only the Range Rover but also the Jaguar XJ. They both belong to the penthouse apartment in our block.
When you look down our street outside Chapelgate, your first thought is “Coronation St” but then you realise that almost 1 in 3 cars parked on the road is a Mercedes, BMW, Jaguar or Audi – we’re definitely the poor relations here.