Close your eyes and picture Dublin in your mind.  What do you see?

What if we told you that right on Dublin’s doorstep, only a short drive or bus trip away from the city centre, you could find yourself bouldering over large outcrops slap bang in the middle of the fantastic Dublin Mountains  or out  discovering Dublin’s coastal beauty on a 54-foot ocean-going yacht?

Dublin is a city that is famous the world over for its distinct history, literature, heritage, tradition and vibrant contemporary cultural life.  It is a culture vulture’s paradise, bursting with a cool café culture, inspiring libraries, fascinating museums, beautiful galleries, historic buildings, thriving theatres and cultural centres.

The year of The Gathering kicked off on January 1st, 2013, and it’s been a whirlwind ever since, as people in Ireland sent out the invitation to friends, family, and even strangers overseas to come visit. Some were invited to attend intimate family reunions, while others were called to large, international festivals promising to be bigger and better than ever before.

“I can resist anything but temptation” said Irish writer and wit, Oscar Wilde. How many of us haven’t yielded to it on at least one journey we’ve made?

So you want to get into the open. You want to ditch the desk, kick the city and treat yourself to a game-changing, cobweb-blasting, mind-blowing reboot? You’ve come to the right place, says Pól Ó Conghaile

TBEX couldn’t have picked a better time to come to Dublin.

Revitalising after a spell of recession, the Irish capital has hit a purple patch. There’s excitement in the air, as if a whole new brand of electricity has been tapped and zapped around the city streets, energising everything and everybody. It’s Dublin 2.0, and its time is now.