Practical Ireland Travel Tips

• Rent a car! Otherwise you can travel in Ireland by coach. This is okay if you are unable to drive, but if you have the ability rent a car to see the countryside and meet the people on your schedule.

• If you want to spend some days in Dublin, try AirBnB as an alternative accommodation. It can be even cheaper than even a traditional Irish Bed and Breakfast but still the same intimate experience with local expertise.

• Compare booking sites before you book your car rental! brands like Hertz, Alamo, Budget, etc., you can also check companies like Dan Dooley, Irish Car Rentals, AutoEurope, Argus, and Sixt. Just know what you are getting before you reserve. Some companies are great at sneaking hidden fees.

• Add at least a 1/3 more time to travel estimates between point A and point B. The roads are small. There will be many stops between for pictures. And you may enjoy a wrong turn or two.

• Bring a good pair of walking shoes. It will be really tempting to (and you should) get out of the car and explore the countryside.

• The Trip Advisor Forum is very active and helpful when planning your trip. Take a look at Trip Advisor’s reviews of accommodations and attractions. You can drop the highest and lowest review to get more accurate evaluation.

• Contact to the locals—they have the best advice and it’s always great experiencing Ireland up close.

• Get lost. :-), taking a wrong turn in Ireland can lead to some of the best undiscovered small towns. It also gives you an excuse to stop to talk to people for directions or advices.

• Don’t try to see the whole country in a week. Pick a couple or three of places and really explore!

Bye Bye Ireland

After meet nice people, see castles, quiet walkings in  beautiful villages, eating good food, listen traditional music with an Irish beer and enjoy the amazing landscapes .... Our time in this fantastic island is over, we have to come back to Barcelona and right now start another hard work, to write the project which explains our experience.

I hope to see you early IRELAND :-D

Belfast

Belfast is the administrative capital and the largest city of Northern Ireland. By population, Belfast is one of the largest cities in the United Kingdom and the second largest on the island of Ireland.

The city is very industrial, totally different from what we have seen so far  in the rest of Ireland. We had a night walk through  the city center, but the city was not so busy and lively as some other cities we  had visited before. 

  

We slept in a hotel near the center and the next morning we went sightseeing  around the city again. 

There you can see the brick walls which were constructed to separate the Catholic and Protestant districts, so as to avoid conflict. In the catholic part of Belfast, the West part, you can find graffiti on the walls with sentences such as:  "Down with the Queen!" (Elizabeth II),"Long live the IRA!" or "Long live Ireland!" On the east part, the Protestant one,  you can read sentences such as "No surrender!"

 

Finally, before to come back to Dublin we went a museum dedicated to the Titanic, called Titanic Belfast, opened on 31 March 2012. The six floors of the museum explore the history of the Titanic and the people who built the city. It also has a direct connection with the rest of the ship.

 

Derry and Giant's causeway

Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fourth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name Derry is an anglicisation of the Irish name Daire or Doire meaning "oak grove". In 1613, the city was granted a Royal Charter by King James I and the "London" prefix was added, changing the name of the city to Londonderry. While the city is more usually known as Derry. The old walled city lies on the west bank of the River Foyle.

We started visiting the Bogside district. Everything is close, around 400 meters. This neighborhood is famous because have been numerous altercations During the Northern Ireland conflict between 1960 and 1970 like the Battle of the Bogside, the bloody Sunday, the Operation Motorman and the establishment of "non-'s go "Known as Free Derry. 

Once we visited the Catholic neighborhood we went in the old walled city (Protestant).

The Wall is completely intact and was built between 1613 And 1618. The Walls have a perimeter of 1.6 Km  and were built with a Diamond Shape, it has Has four original doors (Butcher, Shipquay, Bishops And Ferryquay).

way to a giant's causeway, we have a nice surprise (Castle of Dunluse).

The Giant's Causeway is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This designation was given in 1986 to what has been widely referred to as the eight wonder of the natural world. This is the only World Heritage Site site designated in Northern Ireland and one of only three in Ireland. The site includes the Giant's Causeway and the coastline along to Benbane Head, a unique landscape.

Along with the stones there is a modern environmentally friendly building which houses interpretation, cafeteria and retail. There is an overall Causeway Experience ticket of £8.50 that includes entrance to the facilities, a guided walk, audio guide and parking.

GALWAY-CONNEMARA National Park

Galway is a city in the West of Ireland in the province of Connacht. Galway lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay and is surrounded by County Galway. It is the fourth most populous urban area in the Republic of Ireland and the sixth most populous city on the island of Ireland.

After a long day in Limerick, Cliff of Moher, Doolin, ... and a lot of kilometers finally we arrived in Galway. We slept in a B&B close to city, 5 minutes by car. The nightlife in the city center is busy, Traditional and contemporary music can be heard at numerous locations around the city. Among the most notable are The Crane Bar on Sea Road, The King's Head on High Street, Tigh Neachtáin and The Quays on Quay Street, Róisín Dubh and Monroe's Tavern on Lr Dominic Street.

The next morning, after our daily Irish breakfast we went back to the centre, the rush area is the Eyre Square, full of shops everywhere, we walked throught the city for saw the most important monuments of that.Spanish Arch, San Nicolás Cathedral, Lynch Castle and Salmon Street (where it's a funny place), overcrowded with fishermans trying to catch some salmons.

After that we take the car direction to Connemara National Park. The route is full of amazing views

The Killary fjord is 16Km long and is home of mussel farms



The final destination is The Kylemore Abbey, it is located in a really beautiful environment, beside a lake and surrounded by mountains



The Kylemore Abbey was before a castle, the Kylemore castle, which was built by Mitchell and Margaret Henry had inherited from his father a fortune and used this money to build a magnificent castle with gardens where they could enjoy a calm and pleasant life with their nine sons

After visited this amazing place we started a long trip to Derry