Maybe you happen to have about 10 days of holiday you’re looking to fill? Or perhaps you’re stuck in a lecture/at work looking for somewhere to wander off to? Well, look no further! Ireland and its northern British neighbour have a lot to offer on everything from drinks to culture and history. Here is my very much subjective, non-comprehensive guide to Ireland.
THE CITIES
While the Irish island, with both Ireland and Northern Ireland, have a lot to offer, you can only see so much within 10 days. This is the selection of cities we made this time.
We flew from Oslo to Dublin, where we spent 3 nights. We spent one of the days on a day trip to the old Celtic heritage Brú na Bóinne (Newgrange). Then we spent a night in Cashel, where the main attraction is Rock of Cashel, an old castle on the hill (queue Ed Sheeran’s Castle On The Hill). Not having seen enough castles we stopped in Cahir on our way to Galway, to see another one, which by the way was my favourite. Moving west on the map and down on Ed Sheeran’s album Divide, we spent 3 nights in Galway. From there we took a day trip to the Aran Islands. Lastly, we moved north, almost behind the wall, to the land of Game of Thrones. Belfast, where we stayed 2 nights, has so much more to offer than a really successful HBO show. However the main priority this time around, was the world of Jon Snow.
Like with all holiday-accommodation you win some, and you lose some. The standouts, worth writing home about from this trip where the student accommodation in Galway and the Airbnb in Belfast. The National University of Ireland, Galway rents out its accommodation to lucky tourists over the summer holiday. It was nothing like the horror stories of dodgy student accommodation, and I wish I could bring it back with me to London! In Belfast, we rented this super cute and cosy little house of Airbnb. It looked newly refurbished and modern, yet homely, in its colour scheme. Also a place I’d like to bring with me to London!
Link to the student accommodation in Galway
Link to the Belfast Airbnb
Locally in Dublin and Galway bus is the best way to move long distances. In good weather or for shorter distances it’s always nice to walk and explore the city by foot. On the Aran Islands renting a bike is the perfect way to travel about. Just after you’ve stepped off the ferry, there are two rental shops with a great range of bikes from the ladylike to the sporty type. In Belfast, it’s almost as cheap and just as easy to take a taxi. You can order one with the fonaCAB Belfast app.
Dublin could have been a whole blog post in itself, but I’ll try to keep it short with a few of my favourites. Dublin is a UNESCO City of Literature, and Ireland and the Celtic have a long and proud tradition of written language which you can see in the famous library of Trinity College. Other important Irish contributors to literature are James Joyce and Oscar Wilde, both of whom you can find statues of in Dublin. Some would argue that whiskey and literature go well together, and Dublin has you sorted. In the old distillery of Jameson Irish Whiskey, you can go for a tour, whiskey tasting and cocktail making. There is a fair chance you’ll walk out of there with a new favourite whiskey! Another pride of Dublin and Ireland is the Guinness brewery, which is a must see and do even for non-beer lovers! Other arenas to enjoy a Guinness is in the pubs, where you can listen to joyful, Irish inspired live music. Last, but not least, I have made a new vintage favourite in Dublin Vintage Factory where they sell by the kilo. I made an absolute barging on the most fabulous leather jacket there!
Historic sites
The Celtic civilisation is older than the Roman one, and in Newgrange, we are lucky enough to still be able to see remains of the Celtic culture. Brú na Bóinne, an incredible human-built formation of stone with a grass roof was used in Celtic rituals. The historians are not sure exactly what type of ritual it was used for, but what we do know is that the light enters the formation in a unique way on winter solstice, which they will demonstrate for you on the guided tour. The only way to access this site is through a guided tour. This is to make sure the site won’t get further damaged by tourists. On the inside of the formation, you can see engravings from tourists who visited the site during the late 19th century!
Ireland has plenty of castles in different shapes and conditions. We chose to visit Rock of Cashel, which started out as a castle before a monastery took over it. Today it is more of a tourist site since the roof is no longer intact. The best way to see the whole castle is to go down to Hore Abbey, which in itself is a lovely ruin to see. Substantially more intact is the castle in Cahir (above), where you can see Excalibur stuck in the stone. Maybe you are the right person to draw the sword out of the stone?
Nature
Other than following in the footsteps of Ed Sheeran’s Galway Girl music video, I can recommend walking along the river Corrib, all the way from the university down to the docks. Another way to enjoy the magnificent Irish nature is to take the ferry out to the Aran Islands, where, as I mentioned earlier, you can rent bikes. Also if you’re visiting over the summer and are feeling brave, bring swimwear and take a plunge into the Irish sea!
Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland is declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. It is a genuinely astonishing natural formation which you might recognise from the cover of the Led Zeppelin album Houses of the Holy.
Game of Thrones
You probably won’t find a bearded guy in Northern Ireland that has not been an extra on Game of Thrones. A few of these bearded men have started a Game of Thrones guided tour around Northern Ireland. If behind the scenes and on set fun facts are your thing, you’re in for a treat! In-between each location the guide showed excerpts from the series to set the feeling, and if you are lucky with the weather, you even get to take photos on location in costumes! We had the most horrendous rain, it was raining sideways and upwards, so we, unfortunately, didn’t get to take photos in the costumes. The Giant’s Causeway has nothing to do with Game of Thrones, but since we’re already on the Antrim coast, the Game of Thrones tour have decided they might as well stop and show it to us!
Link to the guided tours here
If Jack and Rose’s love drama is more your cup of tea, you can visit the Titanic shipyard in Belfast. Just remember to buy tickets to the museum in advance!
We flew from Oslo to Dublin, where we spent 3 nights. We spent one of the days on a day trip to the old Celtic heritage Brú na Bóinne (Newgrange). Then we spent a night in Cashel, where the main attraction is Rock of Cashel, an old castle on the hill (queue Ed Sheeran’s Castle On The Hill). Not having seen enough castles we stopped in Cahir on our way to Galway, to see another one, which by the way was my favourite. Moving west on the map and down on Ed Sheeran’s album Divide, we spent 3 nights in Galway. From there we took a day trip to the Aran Islands. Lastly, we moved north, almost behind the wall, to the land of Game of Thrones. Belfast, where we stayed 2 nights, has so much more to offer than a really successful HBO show. However the main priority this time around, was the world of Jon Snow.
HOW TO GET AROUND AND WHERE TO STAY
Originally, we wanted to take the train from city to city. It’s an excellent way of slow travelling and perfect for reading books, but it turned out that it’s a long way to Tipperary and it’s best done by bus. Bus Eireann has a vast network between the cities, and no need to go by Dublin like many of the train trips would have. We did take a train from Galway to Dublin on our way to Belfast, just because we missed travelling by train and that it’s faster to go by Dublin when you’re headed that way.
Like with all holiday-accommodation you win some, and you lose some. The standouts, worth writing home about from this trip where the student accommodation in Galway and the Airbnb in Belfast. The National University of Ireland, Galway rents out its accommodation to lucky tourists over the summer holiday. It was nothing like the horror stories of dodgy student accommodation, and I wish I could bring it back with me to London! In Belfast, we rented this super cute and cosy little house of Airbnb. It looked newly refurbished and modern, yet homely, in its colour scheme. Also a place I’d like to bring with me to London!
Link to the student accommodation in Galway
Link to the Belfast Airbnb
Locally in Dublin and Galway bus is the best way to move long distances. In good weather or for shorter distances it’s always nice to walk and explore the city by foot. On the Aran Islands renting a bike is the perfect way to travel about. Just after you’ve stepped off the ferry, there are two rental shops with a great range of bikes from the ladylike to the sporty type. In Belfast, it’s almost as cheap and just as easy to take a taxi. You can order one with the fonaCAB Belfast app.
TO SEE AND TO DO
The capital
Dublin could have been a whole blog post in itself, but I’ll try to keep it short with a few of my favourites. Dublin is a UNESCO City of Literature, and Ireland and the Celtic have a long and proud tradition of written language which you can see in the famous library of Trinity College. Other important Irish contributors to literature are James Joyce and Oscar Wilde, both of whom you can find statues of in Dublin. Some would argue that whiskey and literature go well together, and Dublin has you sorted. In the old distillery of Jameson Irish Whiskey, you can go for a tour, whiskey tasting and cocktail making. There is a fair chance you’ll walk out of there with a new favourite whiskey! Another pride of Dublin and Ireland is the Guinness brewery, which is a must see and do even for non-beer lovers! Other arenas to enjoy a Guinness is in the pubs, where you can listen to joyful, Irish inspired live music. Last, but not least, I have made a new vintage favourite in Dublin Vintage Factory where they sell by the kilo. I made an absolute barging on the most fabulous leather jacket there!
The Celtic civilisation is older than the Roman one, and in Newgrange, we are lucky enough to still be able to see remains of the Celtic culture. Brú na Bóinne, an incredible human-built formation of stone with a grass roof was used in Celtic rituals. The historians are not sure exactly what type of ritual it was used for, but what we do know is that the light enters the formation in a unique way on winter solstice, which they will demonstrate for you on the guided tour. The only way to access this site is through a guided tour. This is to make sure the site won’t get further damaged by tourists. On the inside of the formation, you can see engravings from tourists who visited the site during the late 19th century!
Nature
Other than following in the footsteps of Ed Sheeran’s Galway Girl music video, I can recommend walking along the river Corrib, all the way from the university down to the docks. Another way to enjoy the magnificent Irish nature is to take the ferry out to the Aran Islands, where, as I mentioned earlier, you can rent bikes. Also if you’re visiting over the summer and are feeling brave, bring swimwear and take a plunge into the Irish sea!
Game of Thrones
You probably won’t find a bearded guy in Northern Ireland that has not been an extra on Game of Thrones. A few of these bearded men have started a Game of Thrones guided tour around Northern Ireland. If behind the scenes and on set fun facts are your thing, you’re in for a treat! In-between each location the guide showed excerpts from the series to set the feeling, and if you are lucky with the weather, you even get to take photos on location in costumes! We had the most horrendous rain, it was raining sideways and upwards, so we, unfortunately, didn’t get to take photos in the costumes. The Giant’s Causeway has nothing to do with Game of Thrones, but since we’re already on the Antrim coast, the Game of Thrones tour have decided they might as well stop and show it to us!
Link to the guided tours here
If Jack and Rose’s love drama is more your cup of tea, you can visit the Titanic shipyard in Belfast. Just remember to buy tickets to the museum in advance!