Shopping in Ireland - Moore Street (Dublin)

If you are planning to visit something "typical Dublin" you cannot go wrong with Moore Street - from Monday to Saturday dozens of traders set up their stalls, many of them specializing in fruit, vegetables and flowers. Prices tend to be reasonable to low and the typical Dublin banter is free. The permanent shops next to the stalls range from Irish family butchers to German supermarket giants "Lidl", with dozens of small Asian and African shops filling the gaps. Get everything from bratwurst to sea cucumbers and poppadoms in one short street!

Moore Street is as much a tourist attraction and photo opportunity as it is a big, lively and international market. The street area with its market stalls has long been included in guidebooks on Ireland as an example of Dublin "in the rare auld times". And indeed some stalls (and stallholders) look like they have been transplanted here straight from Joyce's books. Mind you their language has a certain Joycean slant to it as well, stream-of-consciousness outpours with a thick Dublin accent are not unknown. Neither is the sharp-tongued wit of mostly female sellers.

Personnel in most of the street's shops will, however, greet you with a linguistic mix of Babylonian proportions - low rents and small units have made Moore Street into a haven for Asian and African entrepreneurs. Indian spices by the pound, African vegetables and frozen fish straight from the Yellow Sea - you name it, they sell it.

Moore Street can get very crowded, so pickpockets are a risk at times. Though you are more likely to come to harm when slipping on the cobblestones courtesy of a squashed orange. Though you might land soft and warm - morning deliveries are still made by horse and cart, "accidents" not always being cleared away immediately. And one last warning: Fresh produce offered at the stalls may be very near its sell-by-date and often not keep for more than a day or two. Buy for fairly immediate consumption only!