Going to Dublin - What's your "Must not miss in Ireland" suggestions...

[johnkhudson@hotmail.com]

I'm heading to Ireland in a few months and would like to hear from you if you have taken a photo tour in the country. What are the locations that you would consider as "must not miss".

[xjben]

I was in the Dublin area breifly a couple of years ago. Didn't get to do much sight seeing, but in what little I did see in that area...I enjoyed the hike up Bray Head (not too far outside Dublin). It's a short hike (like 20-40 minutes) up a trail to where you can look out over Bray and the coast below. In Dublin, I did a quick walking tour the last day I was there, enjoyed seeing the major historic places (really old churches, Guinness factory, etc...). The group I was with also got to go to Johnnie Fox's (http://www.jfp.ie/), which was a neat place to go. Good luck, I'm sure there are many more fun things to see there too.

[johnastovall]

A very interesting and a nice photographic journey is to visit all the sites in Dublin visited by Bloom in Joyce's Ulysses. You can get more details at the Joyce Centre.

If you are there on June 16th you can take part in some of the many the Bloom's Day activities.

[Steelsun]

I did Ireland a few years ago for about a week. A real tour - 5 of us, me being the main photog, in a car driving those narrow roads.
Our Itinerary was:
Day 1) Fly in to Dublin, drive to Waterford.
We stayed at a B&B that was part of the coachhouse to a castle on the outsjirts of Waterford.
Day 2) Waterford Factory Tour, travel through the south of the country, saw several celtic crosses (the bigguns) & Rock of Cashel. Made this a real long day as we ended up in Doolin (about 1/2 way up the west coast) where we had a B&B for the next 3 nights
Day 3-5) day tripped out from Doolin to visit misc castles, cliffs of mohr, abbeys, celtic cemetaries, the Burren, etc.
Day 6) Trip through the burren and accross the country back to Dublin. Toured the Guiness factory (very disney-ish now) and some of Dublin, had a B&B for the night near the airport for an early morning flight out.

Find a book called "Sacred Ireland", it lists lots of cool places and how to get there (like the Celtic Crosses, wells, etc)

[amadjuster]

Guinness - Come for a day, stay for a week.

[My Porsche]

-Guinness factory
-Jameson Distillery
-The Spire (as in Aspire, it'll be easy to spot, its on...dang i forgot the street name, but it's the main street, 2 lanes each side with a divider) anyway the Spire is a massive metal pole/sculpture on that road as it is about to cross the river liffey.
-Trinity College
-Government Buildings
-Random Old houses


...dang youre making me want to go back!

[PLStout]

Really enjoyed Glendalough and Powers court gardens. Both south of Dublin but within easy rent-a-car distance. Geat opportunity for old round tower shots, celtic crosses, and trees and flowers of all kinds.

[HotHolly]

Super jealous! Take tons of photos and post all of them!!! :o) I wanna see...

[BabyHopes]

I really loved the cliffs of Mohr. In fact, that whole side of Ireland is amazing. If you make it to the cliffs you really should stop by Doolin. It's an excellent spot to base out of for pictures of the cliffs, Aran Islands, the Burren, and some of the Poulnabrones. Also, it's near Gallway and all that fun as well. :)

[GregO]

The one thing not to miss in Ireland? BEER!

[Stephen H]

I was once in Dublin, TX- does that count?

I went there to take photos of the Texas Central Railroad- a shortline that ran between there and the next town or two. Don't even know if it's in existence anymore. I remember talking to a lady and she said they used to call it the "Goober Train" because they hauled peanuts. They had three or four locomotives that were nearing the half-century mark as I recall.

Seems like the Doctor Pepper place is in Dublin, too, although I didn't go to it.

Circle around and take some Dublin pictures before you leave. Then you can tell folks over there "Here's our Dublin."

[studiocygnet]

Hi John,
I have been a tour guide in Ireland for 17 years, starting out with a local Texas company called Planet Earth Adventures, and then for REI Adventure Tours. (Y'all know of REI?) I lead cycling and walking tours, mostly in the west. So we need to narrow your request down a bit. Are you just staying around the Dublin area, taking trains and buses, or will you be going out in the country with a rental car?
The other big question I would have is when are you going? You said in a few months, but it makes a big difference. The months of July and August are generally extremely crowded with tourists from the continent, since the French and Germans all get a month of vacation then. And many of them drive over, so the roads will be more packed. There is an obvious increase in traffic from June 30 to July 2 (takes them a day to get over).
Certain areas that have been mentioned, like the Cliffs of Moher, Doolin, Powerscourt Gardens, etc. become very crowded in mid summer, and I would actually steer you toward some areas that don't get as many tourists.
But just to go over some highlights, most any city or town, including Dublin, has many old storefronts, doors, castles, churches, that make wonderful photo opportunities. If you are in the Guiness Brewery neighborhood, stop in at Christchurch Cathedral, and also the oldest pub in town, the Stag's Head. It's so old the doorways are about 5 foot tall. Take the train to the south end of the line, the Dalkey/Bray area. Get a little boat out to Dalkey Island. Farther south, but still close to Dublin, are the Wicklow mountains, where Glendalough and Powerscourt are located.
The opposite direction, Northwest of Dublin about an hour is the Boyne Valley, which has numerous old sites, including Newgrange. This is a prehistoric burial tomb where the light into the burial chamber lines up with the rising sun on winter solstice. Kinda like the Irish version of Stonehenge, except you can still take a tour into the tomb. However, get there early in summer, as the tour buses end up taking up most of the spots after 10 am. They can only fit about a dozen people in there at a time.
If you do get to go out west, definitely the Burren in County Clare, with the Cliffs and Doolin, is great. But hike to the Cliffs of Moher from Doolin, instead of going to the top at the visitor's center. That way you get a side view, instead of straight down. However, if it's mid-summer, I would recommend going up to Sligo and Donegal town, and going out to Slieve League. More cliffs, less tourists, and Sligo is one of my favorite towns. Up there you have the author Yeat's burial site, Benbulben, and the Isle of Innisfree from his famous poem.
Not quite as far north, near Westport, you could hike to the top of the pilgrimage mountain, Croagh Patrick. I think it's on the last Sunday in July, thousands of people do this hike to honor St. Patrick, some of them still do it barefoot for penance. Y'oull think they are effin' crazy. If you are around then, this would be a good journalistic opportunity.
And finally, if you can get all the way up to Northern Ireland, one of the most fabulous sights in the world is The Giant's Causeway. I consider it one of the wonders of the world.
You will hear a lot of folks talk about Killarney and the Ring of Kerry. It's very beautiful there, with the highest mountains in Ireland, but it's also the most crowded of all in the summer. Go there if it's May or September or later.
Sorry, this is getting kinda long, but this is just the things I could think of off the top of my head. You will find excellent photo opportunities almost everywhere, and most people are very friendly and even speak english, though it's sometimes a little hard to understand. I can make it out better with a Guinness or two down. And geez, I haven't even started in on Dingle, a trip out to Skellig Michael, the Arans and Dun Aonghasa, Clifden and the High Road, Mayo and the lakes, but you'll find out.
Oh yeah, one more thing - the best fish and chips in the world is at Powell's near Christchurch Place in Dublin. The second best is at McDonough's in Galway, downtown in the area where the streets are all blocked off for pedestrians. Be hungry, or bring along someone to share with.
Slainté
P.S. My avatar is from Rosserk Abbey in north County Mayo.

[Angelo]

I've traveled to Ireland more than 40 times in the last 15 years. A wonderful place to visit. The people are down to earth and very congenial. it rains a lot so be prepared...
What part of Ireland will you be in or traveling in?

[Steelsun]

As mentioned above - beware the French tourists. If you think the French in Paris can be rude, be prepared for the ones on big Tour buses (another danger on some of the narrow roads, especially in the burren), who excel at being rude.

[CaptainTom]

I've heard that the Dublin Dr. Pepper is pretty good. I'd look for that on the tour.............