Anyone live/visit Ireland?

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Orla C

Well, if you want cheap, stay away from Dublin.

Head for the other cities, like Cork, Galway and Limerick - they are small but there's always lots going on. Cork and Galway are famous for landscapes - County Cork has West Cork which is gorgeous, and Count Galway has Connemara and the Aran Islands.

Lots of historical places throughout the West - from ancient forts and dolmens to more recent locations such as the last departing point of the ill-fated Titanic, from the town of Cobh in County Cork (it was known as Queenstown in 1912).

Culturally, the west of Ireland is a little wilder - there are still places in and around Galway where the people are not that comfortable speaking in English, they tend to use Irish. In the Dingle Pensinsula in County Kerry is where you'll find the nicest Irish spoken. Galway, Limerick and Cork are all hotbeds of the arts, with performance and other visual treats going on fairly regularly, check the local 'What's On' magazines which are usually distributed in pubs and restaurants for free. Most of the events are free too.

Nights out: Got to be trad music sessions in Galway. The Crane Bar is the best for this, the sessions are upstairs, get there early for a seat as it can get very very full. Nearby is Roisin Dubh, also a venue for rock and alternative bands. Limerick has Dolan's for trad music, and also the Saturday market at the Milk Market has live music. Cork has lots also, but I'm not so familiar with the live music scene there, but as a city with 3 third-level educational establishments, there is certainly plenty going on.

If you want to travel outside of the cities and into the countryside, you will need a car as the public transport system in Ireland is not the best. All of the places I've mentioned have at least one hostel, so cheap accommodation needn't be a problem, except for the high season (June to mid September) and if there is a festival on locally.

johnsredgloves

I'll be traveling to Ireland for the 4th time in about 2 weeks. I love it there! Dublin is probably the cheapest city to fly into (airline price-wise), but once there, it can be an expensive city to stay in. If you can, venture to the South. Cork is a beautiful city and there's plenty do do there or nearby. We stayed in a part of the city called the "South Mall." There were plenty of shops and restaurants. About 10-15 minutes from Cork is the little town of Blarney. The famous Blarney Castle is there. For about 5 Euros, you can walk through the rooms of the castle and the battlements. Once you've made it to the top, you can kiss the famous Blarney Stone (said to bestow the gift of eloquence to all that kiss it). Included in the price of touring the castle, you also can visit the adjacent Druid gardens. The gardens contain many mysterious items such as the "Witching steps" and "sacrifical alters" where an ancient civilation performed their rituals. It's kind of freaky, but interesting at the same time. A little further west is the small town of Dingle. There's plenty of inexpensive bed& breakfasts there. There's also a lot to do. There's an aquarium, lots of pubs with live music almost nightly, and even a resident dolphin. A wild dolphin inhabits the waters of the bay and for some reason refuses to leave. For a small price, you can take a boat out in the bay to see him. If he doesn't make an appearance, your money is refunded. Even if the dolphin doesn't make a show, the surrounding area is very impressive. The green hills nearby are full of sheep and the view of the harbor is really beautiful.
This time, I'll be traveling to the West Coast of Ireland and County Galway. We're going to take a tour of the Burren. This is a rocky limestone area that contains several archeological sites, stone forts, burial tombs, etc. There is also a large cavern (The Ailwee caves) with the remains of a long-extinct brown bear.

donnelly2008

the best historical sites are in the country altough the national history museam in Dublin has a section about the history between ireland and england english people all say long live the queen but their not educated in the history between ireland and england after english people visit the museam well if you have an interest in history well then all the english say they hate the royle family and that ireland should be united well they hate the royle familys dead relitives from the past english people always say it them selves ive heard them they're real suprised also trim castle is a good place its a castle the normans set up for invading ireland durring when ireland was ruled by the celts the only reason the celts lost was because they where stupid they thought wearing armour ment you where not a man and stuff the they just ambushed armys it was a bit stupid

steve.57343

Forget galleries and museums. Save that for a Dublin visit.
Go to Killarney National park, The Gap of Donloe, Ring of Kerry, Cliffs of Mohr, and the Aran Islands for castle ruins, fairy circles, holy wells and scenic inspiration and "Good Craic" with the locals. Go to Galway for a fun night out. In short when visiting the "auld sod" go west.

abarila221

If you want an amazing site, visit Giants Causeway.

Info about it:
http://www.northantrim.com/giantscauseway.htm

Pictures:
http://images.google.com/images?q=giants+causeway&hl=en&safe=off&rlz=1T4GWYG_en___US206&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=images&ct=title

It's awesome to see. If you go, make sure to bring a camera!

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