Going to Ireland for Christmas.

[ransombass]

My wife, two sons and I are going to Ireland for a week during Christmastime. What should we expect as far as weather and accommodations? Also, what is the music scene like in Dublin and Galway?

We're very excited about this trip. My great-father and his entire family moved to America in the 1850's from Galway and never made it back.

I would love to meet up with some Irish bass brothers and sisters.

Any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated.

[RTL]

Paging DarkStrike...

[KJung]

My wife and I spent a week in Dublin a couple of years ago. WONDERFUL city, although I guess the bottom has dropped out of the economy since we were there. Wonderful pubs, a suprising number of high end restaurants with wonderful wine lists (again, not sure if they all made it given the big crash over there), and all the pubs were just wonderful.

And, Dublin is a completely 'walkable' city. Not sure about the weather this time of year, but the people are wonderful and the whole scene is just great... it was a big party when we were there. At 52 years old, I felt like the oldest guy in the whole city.

[fitzy73]

the weather will be wet or cold . Galway is always good for music and pubs . try Cork City and surrounding towns .

[KJung]

Also.... if you want to get a quick overview of Irish history (which is VERY interesting), the best 'one volume paperback read' I found is:

A History of Ireland but Mike Cronin. Just enough detail to really give you a feel for the country and history.

Also, the Eyewitness Travel Guides (Dublin, and also Ireland) are a must buy.

And... make sure to see the Book of Kells in the Trinity College Library. Amazing!

And of course, Phil Lynott's statue in front of his favorite pub, complete with PBass!

[bassybill]

Go West, young man...

I love the West Coast of Ireland, but Dublin is not my favourite place, I have to say.

It has the historical aspects and the tourist stuff, but socially it's exactly like Blackpool is these days. Just chock full of mainly English chavs* and their abhorrent women on stag and hen nights (with or without their dreadful kids). Their definition of an enjoyable night out seems to be based on extreme violence involving Guiness glasses or perhaps Olympic standard projectile vomiting.

Maybe it's economic reasons, as Ken said. Or I could have just been there at a bad time on my last visit.




*Think about New Jersey guidos and you'll pretty much get it.

[dj150888]

Don't go near Dublin, its not even close to an Irish city any more, go to Cork for a bit, maybe visit Kerry, Galway and, if you fancy a trip further north, the coastlines of Donegal and Antrim are both fantastic.

[KJung]

Originally Posted by dj150888

Don't go near Dublin, its not even close to an Irish city any more, go to Cork for a bit, maybe visit Kerry, Galway and, if you fancy a trip further north, the coastlines of Donegal and Antrim are both fantastic.

That's what really surprised me about Dublin. It was much more of an 'international' big city than I would have thought. As you point out, that can be a good or bad thing depending on what you are looking for. I totally enjoyed it though. We were there on business, and only got a little ways out of town, but it got prettier and prettier as you went along. Beautiful country!

[KJung]

Originally Posted by bassybill

Go West, young man...

I love the West Coast of Ireland, but Dublin is not my favourite place, I have to say.

It has the historical aspects and the tourist stuff, but socially it's exactly like Blackpool is these days. Just chock full of mainly English chavs* and their abhorrent women on stag and hen nights (with or without their dreadful kids). Their definition of an enjoyable night out seems to be based on extreme violence involving Guiness glasses or perhaps Olympic standard projectile vomiting.

Maybe it's economic reasons, as Ken said. Or I could have just been there at a bad time on my last visit.




*Think about New Jersey guidos and you'll pretty much get it.

That brings up a question I meant to ask.

What does it mean when a young woman says:

Git out 'a me way, ya' fooookin' git'

[cgordonfreeman]

The weather will most likely be very wet, cold and windy at christmas but sometimes we can be lucky and it'll just be cold which is easy to get over, just dress appropriately.


I was never a fan of dublin but there are certainly a good number of nice bars to check out. And a number of overpriced music stores.

Galway is a lovely small city with good lively music venues and some great places to eat. Reasonably priced too and with the recession there are more and more bargains to be found. I found Galway to be a friendly city to go out in and the fact that Irish is, as a language, alive and well there means you'd find a good bit of traditional music there.

Cork could be worth a look too although as I live there (but i'm not from there) i've become a bit jaded with the music scene and a good few bars have stopped or cut back on entertainment.

Any more questions? Just ask.

Cheers,
John.

[cossie]

Speaking as someone who isn't a big fan of Dublin City at all - I lived abroad for several years and it used to make me cringe coming back to Dublin (dirty streets, terrible bus services, over-priced). I've grown to like the place a bit.

There's loads of literary and military history to check out. I only found out recently that there's a church (St. Audin's IIRC in Stoneybatter) I go by on my way to work that Handel practiced The Messiah in before he premiered it to the World.

My personal favourite is Galway City and I recommend it to all my foreign friends who want to come to Ireland. It's just a lot better craic, it's a big place but without the "big city attitude" if you know what I mean?

The weather will be pretty bad over Christmas, usually very cold and wet - it's never just cold and dry which would be a lot easier to handle!

Music wise it depends, Galway has some great live music spots like roisin dubh but all the night spots can get so busy that it can be a pain trying to go anywhere. And Dublin has some great places too - the academy, crawdaddy, the button factory, the foggy dew (loads of visiting rock stars drink there) and far too many other places to mention.

[KAHUNA801]

I've been to Galway on tour a few times, and have become an honorary Galwegian. Galway has a nice music scene. Monroe's for traditional, although if you search a bit you will find some fine players bunched around a table upstairs in any random pub. For some great rock and blues, you can try Sally Long's or The "Roishin' Dubh" ( 'hope I'm spelling it right' ). The weather in December will probably be cold and rainy, but not too cold, maybe in the 40's. I'm going there myself in 2 weeks. I'll actually get to see the sights this time, strictly vacation. Enjoy!

[ransombass]

Thank you for all of the responses. I very much look forward to the food and music and most especially the beer and whiskey. We plan to make our way around the island with stops in at least Galway and Knock. I will look into Cork as well.

[Darkstrike]

Originally Posted by RTL

Paging DarkStrike...

Late to the party, as usual....


But yeah, I agree with everything, espcially the Dublin stuff, only go there for concerts and the better guitar shops these days....

[pigsonthewing]

Originally Posted by bassybill

*Think about New Jersey guidos and you'll pretty much get it.

[boglej2]

currently playing in a cover band travelling round ireland every weekend, personally i think killarney(co. kerry) is a must for tourist and musician alike(hasn't been mentioned before, Galway city obviously would be just as good with any amount of pubs and live music. The two best spot in those ton for live music full on bands would be Galway: The Quays, and in Killarney: The Grand, two great venues that tourists always seem to love. Dublin is a must see i suppose but Galway has more charm about it and Keery is probably the prettiest county in the country, all this coming from someone who lives half an hour from Dublin and gets to see the rest of the country every weekend.

[adammazza]

Originally Posted by bassybill

Go West, young man...

I love the West Coast of Ireland, but Dublin is not my favourite place, I have to say.

It has the historical aspects and the tourist stuff, but socially it's exactly like Blackpool is these days. Just chock full of mainly English chavs* and their abhorrent women on stag and hen nights (with or without their dreadful kids). Their definition of an enjoyable night out seems to be based on extreme violence involving Guiness glasses or perhaps Olympic standard projectile vomiting.

Maybe it's economic reasons, as Ken said. Or I could have just been there at a bad time on my last visit.




*Think about New Jersey guidos and you'll pretty much get it.

I did 13 days in Ireland in 2001, and basically had the same strategy. Landed in Shannon to avoid the traffic of Dublin, and proceeded southwest. The Dingle Peninsula is amazing, we basically worked our way south, started east until we go to around Waterford, skipped that, then spend 2 days in Dublin before heading back across to Galway.

Adam

[ZoomBoy]

If you get the chance the drive through the Wicklow Mtns on the Military Road is pretty cool. I really didn't enjoy Dublin much but YMMV. We mostly have travelled around Co. Waterford since my wife's family came from there. I like Cork. Cool city but I prefer the country.

Jeff

[Jereth]

Man if you really wanted to see some music stuff you should come over in the first week of October(I think I'm right with my dates) for the Guiness Jazz Festival in Cork City. The place is electric during that time, and not just with jazz, lots of trad sessions tend to appear during that time as well.
Not a great fan of Dublin either, but I hear Galway is good for the 'craic'(pronounced 'crack', means fun in Irish)
Also being from Cork I have the Corkmans superiority complex and believe Cork just happens to be the best place ever, but you'll just have to discover that for yourself

Anyways, best of luck in your travels.

[ZoomBoy]

Jereth. Question: Guinness or Beamish?