A couple years back my parents told me I could pick anywhere to visit the summer after my senior year, sort of as their farewell-shoving-you-out-of-the-nest present. It took about half a second to decide: England, Ireland, and Scotland, duh. So now senior year is here, and I’ve loaded up with travel books at Barnes and Noble–part of the agreement is that I have to plan the whole trip. Well I started flipping through the books and discovered that there are about a THOUSAND things I “have” to see.. and I only have a month!
I know alot of you have been to the U.K. or even live there, so my question to you is: what towns, islands, castles, historical sites etc. would you highly recommend I visit? Towns especially, because I need to first figure out where I’m going before I decide what to do there. I would greatly appreciate the help!
“All things by immortal power, hiddenly,
to eachother linked are;
though canst not stir a flower
without troubling of a star.” (Madeleine L’Engle)
[ This Message was edited by: Soineanta on 2002-10-25 22:04 ]
I’m glad to see that you’re not trying to see the UK and Ireland in a mad rush - too many american tourists miss so much of the beautiful countryside by trying to do too much in a short time - the usual Stratford before lunch; Cambridge before dinner and London’s West end show before bed is a running joke in the UK.
It depends on what you what to get out of the trip, history? culture? transport? when? what finances? (it’s not cheap I would recommend the Youth Hostels for the cheapest accomodation and available at most “tourist” areas).
I would certainly recommend a couple of weeks in Ireland, esp its west coast, but you can’t go wrong visiting Dublin, it’s great. If this is your first time to Europe, I would try a day trip to Paris via the eurorail if only to get a more continental experience.
The list can be endless, if you could narrow it down to a few must haves or must sees then I could maybe be of more help.
If you want only suggestions then http://www.visitbritain.com/ is a great resource and their info packs are quite good. (See brochure section) (I just wish they didn’t have Tony Blair’s inane face on the infomercial)
[ This Message was edited by: jtbishop on 2002-10-25 22:43 ]
Soineanta,
The center of Irish myth and legend could easily be argued to be in Northern Ireland around South Armagh. There you will find Newgrange, The Ring of Gullion, Sleive Gullion, The tomb of Niall, (so they say) It is a beautiful place and the people are wonderful.
If you can find some time, the visit there would be worthwhile. It’s quite rural and unspoiled and a lot of great music came from there.
Ask me on Nov 16th, that’s when I get back from Ireland. It’ll be my second trip but the first one was for work so I didn’t get much sight seeing in. My wife and I are just going to drive around for a week. For a first trip I’d say stick with the tourist stuff (Guiness factory, Newgrange, Waterford factory, Blarney Castle, etc) just so you can get the feel of the place. Fill in the gaps on subsequent trips. Very cheap trip in the winter months. I think Scepter has trips from $400 per person off peak. Ireland is much better in the winter than NJ Just my opinion on trips though. I don’t know your personality. You may just want to go for the off the beaten path stuff or bicycling though europe or whatever. As long as you enjoy yourself, it doesn’t really matter.
Have fun,
-Jim
List of “must see” places in Ireland: Newgrange, Glendalough, Kilkenny (the Castle and High Street), downtown Waterford with its medieval walls and Reginald’s Tower, the Rock of Cashel, Cahir Castle, Limerick (King John’s Castle and Bunratty), Dingle (take the archeological tour offered by Timothy Collins), Clonmacnoise and Kildare (they let you climb the round tower there, which makes for great pix). Plan on two full days in Dublin, and see Kilmainham Gaol, the GPO (and find out why it’s important before you go), the National Museum in Kildare Street (not the other ones), Trinity College and the Book of Kells, Grafton Street, and anything else you may find time for beyond these.
[ This Message was edited by: blackhawk on 2002-10-26 01:56 ]
The trouble advising sensibly is that there is so much history packed into a relatively small area. If you listen to all of us give our must-see places, you’ll need two years, not one month. Perhaps if you could say how long you plan to spend in England, Ireland and Scotland respectively, you’d get more highly selective suggestions. The trouble is, many of us have spent years there, and we all have our own unforgettable experiences. The consolation is this: use your time well and, whatever you miss out on, you’ll still have your own unforgettable experiences.
Many of those places you’ve mentioned I’ve already put at the top of my list, so its good to see them seconded. It’s still loose, but I plan to spend about 2 weeks in Ireland, and a week each in England and Scotland. What I’m looking for mostly is history and culture… to be honest, I’m not really interested in the Guiness or Waterford factories and things like that. Also, if anyone could recommend the best Gaeltaecht (sp? I think I’m right..) or Gaelic-speaking area to visit, where an outsider could get along only knowing a bit of Gaelic, that’d be great too. Thanks for all the help so far.
if you are coming to England, you must come to Northumbria, the land of castles and good beer. A good base is Newcastle or Durham city. There’s too much to see, but if its history, then start with Durham Cathedral, nearly a thousand years old and still in use.
Castles, Alnwick, Bamburgh, Durham can’t go on too much, people will think I’m boasting.
By the way one of the Harry potter films was filmed in Alnwick Castle. Then there’s the beaches, the hills, the beer, the scenery, the beer, DAMMIT I’m away out for a pint!!!
On 2002-10-26 10:49, Soineanta wrote:
What I’m looking for mostly is history and culture… to be honest, I’m not really interested in the Guiness or Waterford factories and things like that. Also, if anyone could recommend the best Gaeltaecht (sp? I think I’m right..) or Gaelic-speaking area to visit, where an outsider could get along only knowing a bit of Gaelic, that’d be great too.
Dingle is a Gaeltacht, and is both musically and archeologically rich. You can do the archeology by day and the pubs/music at night. Don’t worry about whether or not you’ll need to speak Gaelic. All of them can understand English…but that won’t matter because you won’t be able to understand the old timers’ English anyway.
I also am a major history buff, and even though I’ve been to Ireland three times, I have never been to the crystal factories or kissed the Blarney Stone. But all the places I recommended are strictly the A places of Irish history.
1.) The largest Gaeltacht left in Ireland is Connemara, the western part of County Galway (from Galway City west). Both Spidéal and Carraroe have schools you can attend, to improve your Gaelic proficiency. Your search engine should be able to bring up their contact information pretty quickly.
2.) http://www.knowth.com/loughcrew.htm Loughcrew in County Meath (about 60 miles west of Dublin) is a petroglyph site you ought to consider visiting. A Dutch chemist named R. de Jonge and an American biologist named J. Wakefield have written a book called HOW THE SUN GOD REACHED AMERICA C. 2500 B.C. - A Guide To Megalithic Sites. The book explains that several pictographs at Loughcrew are actually detailed numerical maps, chronicling voyages of discovery across the Atlantic. (Stonehenge, according to the authors, is a monument to the discovery of America.) Coupled with other decipherments in Celtic France (Dissignac), the Loughcrew petroglyphs explain some puzzling anomalies in American (pre)history: e.g., the origin of the Olmec culture, the Michigan copper mines, and the stone chambers found at several sites in New England.
The book meshes nicely with Carl Munck’s research, pinpointing the numerical positioning of the Great pyramid in Egypt, Stonehenge, Mayan Palenque, etc., on the intersecting ley lines of the dodecahedron and icosahedron sections of our globe, mentioned by Plato in his dialogues. Munck’s research can already be found on the web: http://www.greatdreams.com/gem1.htm
Our great & rich Irish Celtic culture will never die, as long as we have folks like you who want to pass it on to future generations, Soineanta; that being so, may your Gaelic name be an accurate forecast of your own life.
Lean ar do láimh, Shoineanta,
ádh mór anois,
brian_k
Just my opinion on trips though. I don’t know your personality. You may just want to go for the off the beaten path stuff or bicycling though europe or whatever. As long as you enjoy yourself, it doesn’t really matter.