Liliana is a 17-year-old singer-songwriter – and outgoing student – from Lusk, North County Dublin.
She tells us about her favorite places to go out near her home, and tells us where to find the best pizzas in town.
The house is…
I grew up in Swords, but now live in Lusk with my mum and dog, Oscar – we moved just before the pandemic hit in late 2019.
I really like that. I get along very well with my neighbors. They’re really talkative and so am I, so I think it works out well. And they all like music so they don’t complain about me playing the piano at 3am. So all is well so far.
How I get around the city:
Honestly Dublin Bus is my only real lifesaver, I’m sure I use my Leap card 27 times a day. I love it, you can go wherever you want and it works well for me because the only place you can really go from Lusk is on the Dublin bus.
I’m going to take driving lessons at the moment, but I don’t have my full license yet and I’m a little scared to drive in Dublin. People are scary on the road!
(Image: Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
My favorite restaurant in Dublin:
Pi [on George’s Street] – it’s Italian wood-fired pizza, and oh my! Italian food, I literally would have it 24/7 so this is my favorite place to go.
I think they have a different mozzarella and from what I hear they import all of their ingredients. And they have wood fire – it’s not just your usual oven.
I love going on vacation to Italy – I have an aunt who lives there – and this is the closest I can find to Italian pizza. It’s incredible.
My favorite cafe or coffee shop:
I like the lean lot [in Lusk]. They make very good breakfasts. I am a vegetarian and they have a very good vegan and vegetarian menu. I love their pancakes.
Where I get my exercise:
There’s a gym in Swords that I’m a member of, but I have a small gym at home – my treadmill and some weights and resistance bands and stuff in a spare room – so I use it most of the time.
Around my area there are many cycle paths. I bought a bike recently, so I’ve been cycling a lot. And I had an Apple Watch, which I think inspired me to train now. I want to track everything I do, every step I take!
My favorite shops:
It’s a bit of a problem. I need to learn how to save money but most of my money probably goes to Zara because I feel like they have trendy clothes and it’s not very expensive .
I think there’s a person who keeps donating clothes [to St Vincent de Paul’s in Rush] which happens to be my size, and just tastes the best ever. Every week there are new things in my size and I’m like, “I don’t know how it’s going but I’m accepting it as a gift from above”. I really appreciate this person!
(Image: Getty Images)
My favorite place for a haircut:
I love getting facials and all that at Therapie clinic – the one I go to is in Malahide. It’s a great place to go whenever I’m really stressed and it shows in my skin.
I haven’t been to a real hairdresser in a while – I’m still like a three year old asking her mom to cut her hair, but she just knows how to do it right every time.
My favorite place in Dublin to get away:
One of the places near my home is Skerries Beach. I love this place, it’s so serene. You can see people there with their boats, but even just going there and sitting with a good book, it’s such a good place to forget about the world.
During lockdown, I kept going because it was an element of normality that I felt I could find.
(Image: Getty Images)
My favorite place to let off steam:
I don’t think I know how to party! Between the school leaving certificate and all the rest of my life, I’m not really a big party girl.
The only time I can really let my hair down is if I’m doing gigs, and after the gig all my friends and I have a good time and go out for a drink, ’cause then I’m done with nerves so I can just leave ample. But that’s pretty much the only clubbing I’ll be doing soon!
Last live event I went to:
It was the St. Patrick’s Day Festival at Collins Barracks – FM104 picked me as one of their artists to play so I had a little slot there and then watched the other artists as well , like Winnie Ama and Sophie Doyle Ryder.
It was really phenomenal, and it was probably the biggest set-up I had played in. So it was unreal.
Dublin’s best kept secret:
Right next to us there is a primary school and right next to it there is a path that descends into a large forest of nothing.
I like to go there with like my dog. It’s a good place to write because you’re a bit far from everything, although the signal isn’t too good so it’s probably not the best place to get lost!
I think it’s good to have little getaways close to home.
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