Africa Day

I already briefly mentioned Africa Day on the blog but I wanted to give a bit more detail about it.  Despite being called Africa Day, there are actually events running all week, and not just in Dublin but throughout the country.

There is an impressive array of events on this weekend, mainly around the CHQ/George's Dock area of the city.  These include:

African Bazaar selling African made goods and food samples

Representatives from various embassies

Exhibitions (inside the CHQ - making great use of the vacant space)

Live music (running on two stages)

A number of charities and NGOs will be present showcasing the work they do in Africa

There's also an all day geographer's conference in the Royal Irish Academy tomorrow on Environment, Society and Space.

On Saturday night, the Clarence Hotel hosts a fashion show.  "From Africa with Love" will feature 5 different African designers' work, with live music.  Tickets are €10 for this event. 

Finally, I'll be speaking to Salome Mbugua on Artbeat later on this evening about Africa Day.

Docklands Christmas Market

I dropped by the Docklands Christmas Market on Saturday, which was a cold but dry day - in other words, perfect weather for a market.  Now in its 7th year, the market is on George's Dock beside the CHQ building - the same place as they hold Oktoberfest every year.  In some ways, it feels quite similar to Oktoberfest - there's lots of hot food stalls selling similar fair but otherwise, it's far more Christmas-y and family orientated.  There's not one but two carousels - one is big enough for adults and is an entirely reasonable €3 a go (no kids in my party so we decided to forgo the experience).  The big carousel has been restored and looks very impressive.  Down on the dock itself, there are stands with people selling a variety of weird and wonderful Christmas presents from books to toys to dodgy metallic healing jewellery!  There were charity carol singers on a stage in the afternoon adding a nice festive air to the, em, air.  I imagine it's getting lots of hungry IFSC workers on the weekday lunchtimes but it was reasonably quiet, and therefore quite relaxed and fun when I was there on Saturday.

The Docklands Christmas Market is open every day until 23rd December from noon on weekdays and 10:00 on weekends until 20:00.