I’m going to Ireland this May for 10 days with one of my friends. Has anyone ever been there? I’ll be staying in Dublin for the majority of the time but plan on going to Cork for a day or two and some other day trips. If anyone has ever been there I’d love some tips/places to see/stories/whatever.
Pack your drinking shoes
You’ll have a great time. I’d hop around the B&B’s so you can get a full view of the country. You won’t be able to understand a damn thing they say, but it’s worth it.
Make a quick trip up into Belfast. You’ll see a depressed and conquered people.
Free North Ireland.
mike
[quote]Irish Pride wrote:
I’m going to Ireland this May for 10 days with one of my friends. Has anyone ever been there? I’ll be staying in Dublin for the majority of the time but plan on going to Cork for a day or two and some other day trips. If anyone has ever been there I’d love some tips/places to see/stories/whatever.[/quote]
Tips: the MacDonald’s in the centre, by the river - there’s an old man there who slaps you if you lie about your age. He’s about 70. Claims he worked for the Gestapo. When told that he’s too young to have worked for the Nazis, he replies “I didn’t say I wasn’t reincarnated, did I?” He’s perpetually drunk, but then so is the rest of Ireland.
Watch out for the guy who roams the bridges and squaks (yes, just squaks) at people. Squak back. You’ll build rapport.
And finally … don’t try and punch any policemen.
You’ll have a great time.
I’m from Cork myself.I wouldn’t recommend staying in Dublin for too long,it’s just another metropolitan centre at the end of the day,you won’t find much culture there.You will find a lot of heroin addicts.And promise me you won’t even set foot into those god awful Irish souvenir shops which are ridiculously overpriced.
Cork is a nice,small city,friendly people,but at the end of the day the city itself is just another city.As much as I hate the place,I’d recommend visiting the west of Ireland to get more of a cultural experience if that’s what you’re after.Kerry is a very nice spot,Killarney and Tralee in particular.Dingle is also worth a visit,it’s pretty authentic even in this day and age.
You should enjoy Ireland,but make sure you travel around a bit because genuinely,one side of the country is nothing like the other.I’d also agree with the poster above who said to go to Belfast.The segregation that still exists is something really worth seeing.There’s so much histoyr there,even if it is bad history.
I’m a little jealous… Ireland happens to hit the top of my foreign country travel list…
I went there for St. Patty’s in March 2003. Unfortunately I was there while we started bombing Iraq which the Irish people were vehemently against so we caught some bad vibes due to this. Regardless it was an awesome trip. In about 10-14 days I saw a bunch of awesome shit and partied like an animal. There’s no way I’d recommend staying in Dublin for more than a couple days in a row.
Consider this if your flying into Dublin:
- Party in Dublin a couple days, drink shots at the Jameson Factory/brewery whatever and sight-see.
- Drive west across the country to Galway. Fuck around over there. Lots of pubs. Check out cliffs of Moher(sp) and other shit.
- Proceed south and check out Ring of Kerry and stay in Cork. I liked the night clubs there better than most in Dublin. I think we stayed in Dingle as well. Look that up.
- Drive back northeast to Dublin and party some more.
It’ll be a nice loop and the drive is scenic and awesome. There was a bunch of small towns we stopped at and cool stuff we saw along the way but I forgot it all from drinking everyday. I loved this trip. They had to hold the flight for us Monday morning because we ended up going to a heavy metal club, made friends, smoked grass in there and woke up in a random girls house 3 hours before our 8am flight. The club was on Grafton Street.
[quote]Mikeyali wrote:
You’ll have a great time. I’d hop around the B&B’s so you can get a full view of the country. You won’t be able to understand a damn thing they say, but it’s worth it.
Make a quick trip up into Belfast. You’ll see a depressed and conquered people.
Free North Ireland.
mike[/quote]
? its belfast not iraq, yeah well worth goin up to, if you do get a taxi driver to bring you around the murals peace line etc.
dublins not as bad as the previous poster said, only in some areas like where I used to live, generally stay on the south side of the river its pretty nice on that side. also check out croke park, kinda a big deal in irish culture/recent history etc. take in a gaelic football or hurling match if you can too.
Everyone i know loves cork and also galway, In between the 2 cites is the cliffs of moher, theyre some of the highest sea cliffs in europe, theyre pretty impressive even on google images.
also check out glendalough just south of the city.
little tip, the skinny guys in tracksuits arent athletes so dont aproach for directions etc.
[quote]deadlybuzz wrote:
little tip, the skinny guys in tracksuits arent athletes so dont aproach for directions etc.
[/quote]
Yeah,they’ll probably rob you or hit you for no reason,you’ll know when you see them though,usually very blatantly inbred.
youre painting a lovely picture there wigsa. anyway in most city centres theres not alot to worry about generally.
sam-sneed, that metal club, was it bruxelles?
[quote]deadlybuzz wrote:
youre painting a lovely picture there wigsa. anyway in most city centres theres not alot to worry about generally.
sam-sneed, that metal club, was it bruxelles? [/quote]
Honestly, I don’t remember. I do remember the place was decent sized and I think I recall going down stairs when I heard them playing Slayer Angel of Death. We got away with smoking grass inside with some locals not sure if that’s common in that neighborhood. The rest of the night was a blur. Wish I did remember because I’d love to go back. I’m 100% sure it was Grafton Street though.
yeah thats prob bruxelles so. brilliant song to have playing as you walked in! It was the 1st bar i made my regular after moving to dublin. im surprised you got away with smoking grass, generally that gets you barred instantly cos a bar can get shut down if the cops come across it
Appreciate it guys. As of right now, I don’t want to make a strict schedule before going but for a rough idea, we’re going to spend the first couple days in Dublin and hopefully couch surf ( http://www.couchsurfing.org ) then go out west and see the countryside and. I’d much rather see the countryside and experience real culture then sit in Dublin and get drunk every night.
Cliffs of Moher look amazing and I really want to see Killarney and Cork (my great-grandparents lived in Cork). Then the last day or two I want to go back to Dublin (basically sam_sneed’s suggestion, so thanks dude).
We won’t have a car (both 19) so should we have any problems traveling by train?
[quote]Irish Pride wrote:
Appreciate it guys. As of right now, I don’t want to make a strict schedule before going but for a rough idea, we’re going to spend the first couple days in Dublin and hopefully couch surf (http://www.couchsurfing.org) then go out west and see the countryside and. I’d much rather see the countryside and experience real culture then sit in Dublin and get drunk every night. Cliffs of Moher look amazing and I really want to see Killarney and Cork (my great-grandparents lived in Cork). Then the last day or two I want to go back to Dublin (basically sam_sneed’s suggestion, so thanks dude).
We won’t have a car (both 19) so should we have any problems traveling by train?[/quote]
I’d rent a car no matter how much it costs. Is the problem you don’t have licenses? Driving along the country side and through the mountains was awesome. You get to dodge sheep, go up winding roads that only fit a single car, and have the freedom to hit the small towns if you want.
Make sure you say “Top of the Mornin” all the time. Also “Cheers” I guess. Oh and make sure you do a little Jig here and there.
V
omg omg omg omg omg red heads everywhere!!!
yeah rent a car if you can. the train to corks really good and fast so maybe look into renting it from there as youll have no need for it in dublin. once you have a car can get off the tourist trail and see what small town ireland is like. I was down on the edge of kerry before and I honestly was unsure if some people were speaking english or irish their accent was so thick(turned out it was english!)
or learn this and really impress them!!
Too young to rent a car
not to worry-the train systems pretty good down that way so gettin around the towns and cites will be ok-look up tours for the likes of cliffs of moher and you wont miss out