My 10 Favourite Destinations: Number 8

I really should have pointed this out in my first blog post, in terms of travelling there are so many exciting places I have never been. I've never had the opportunity to go to Asia, Africa or America and I'm certain that if I had, I would be listing a few of them in my favourite destinations. So most of my favourite destinations are locations in Europe.

So my number 8 is.............

Ireland!

There are far too many wonderful places to single out just one of them, think of it as a bumper pack. So here are my recommendations for Cork, Lake Connemara, Dublin and Belfast. Then I will list at the bottom places I still want to go to.

Cork

Cork is a quaint little town in southern Ireland which makes it pretty cold most of the time. My friends and I started our Irish journey here in January 2007 and it was baltic! Cork has fantastic shopping areas, including the wonderful Irish souvenir shops where you can spend hours and a fortune! Another main feature of Cork are the pubs and bars full of friendly Irish people, pints of Guiness and Irish folk songs. It's a great place to just soak up the atmosphere. Cork city itself does not have many attractions, essentially you need a car to get to the best bits of Cork County.

We were only in Cork for 2/3 days so the second day we went to Cobh, a seaside village about an hour from Cork by train. I would say Cobh was the best part of my visit to Southern Ireland. There are a few attractions to visit such as the St Colman's Cathedral as well as the Lusitania Memorial. However the reason I loved Cobh was because of the magnificent views, see here for yourself:

This image was taken a 5 minute walk up a hill from the train station, isn't it beautiful? You would think it was a summers day but this was in January. And it's a lovely walk back down past the Cathedral too. You do need to regain your breath at the bottom though as it is steeper than you think!
The day after we travelled by bus from Cork to Galway which was only a couple of hours by bus. We only did an overnight stay in Galway so don't have anything to report on that.

Lake Connemara

Every time I have mentioned this place to Irish people, they never to seem to know about it which I am astounded by. We took a bus tour from Galway around this wonderful area. I'm pretty sure it was just a day thing but totally worthwhile. Along the way we stopped off at different points to take photos of the scenery and we stopped off in Leenane at a pub called Gaynors for some lunch which I would definitely recommend. Next we went on to Kylemore Abbey, a stunning Castle built in wonderful grounds. You can't help but feel awe when you approach this Castle and it is even more stunning close up. This is it here:

 

 

 

 

It is the home to Benedictine nuns and is used as an international school as well. We paid to do the tour as it includes a look around the grounds and the Gothic Church which the owner built for his wife after she had died.

 

 

 

Dublin

 

Dublin is the place to come to if you want to experience a proper city with lots of great attractions, shops and culture. There is so much to do here I can't even begin to list it all but here is what I did:

 

1. Stroll along the River Liffey.

2. Visit the Guiness beer factory, fantastic views from the top. A good experience even if you hate the taste of Guiness, like me!

3. Visit Trinity College and see the Book of Kells.

4. Walk along Dame Street to see Dublin Castle.

5. Have a few drinks in Temple Bar ( or any other bar of your fancy in the area)

6. Visit the Molly Malone statue and get a cheeky photo next to it whilst singing "In Dublin's fair city, where the girls are so pretty I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone..."

 

 

 

 

 

Belfast

 

This is possibly my most favourite part of Ireland so far. I went here in 2013 for a hen do and the inside of bars was not all we saw. The hen had decided we were to dress as sailors (what with Belfast being a big port) but we made some classy sailors! Whilst here we:

 

- Did a tour of the city by bus, we got to see the Falls Road (this was our least favourite part but interesting all the same). Our favourite part was seeing where the Titanic was built. Apart from these 2 places nothing else springs to mind but a tour bus doesn't always let you discover the best sights.

 

- Hired a party boat for 2 hours to take us up and down the river.

 

- Went to 21 social for a meal and then went to it's exclusive nightclub in the evening. the food was really good but the drinks were so pricey. One of my friends even got charged for a glass of water in here!

 

I definitely want to return here and explore the city more. My only issue with Belfast was the maps for the buses weren't very clear and people couldn't give us directions to the Main Bus Station so we missed our bus to the airport, hence having to pay 30 euros in a taxi so we wouldn't miss our plane!

 

 

Places in Ireland I still need to visit

 

• Giants Causeway
• Derry Londonderry: supposed to be very popular with tourists now
• Have heard good things about Malahide
• Go back to Cork and explore more of the county.

 

Sorry for the very long blog post, it was great reminding myself of all the great things I did on my visits here. I always think a trip is made by who you go with and since I went with friends on both occasions I had a blast :)

 

Nikki