"circled the island" Ireland by emmet7

fabulous country I really enjoyed my first visit and visited where some of my relatives came from after the famines.

I started in Dublin which was great fun, plenty of history, significant architecture and of course lots of pubs. I walked through the city to the Temple Bar and Grafton areas; up by the castle.

Good music scene, enjoyed some of the buskers and several of the 'live' acts in the pub during the evening, the food was so-so.

Ireland is not cheap but quite friendly and certainly an international place with tourist from afar and a great many immigrants from Central Europe.

Definitely a fun place!

I next drove down to Cork along the coast road for quite a distance with great scenery, then I cut over to Kilkenny which was just a beautiful old city that was quite well-developed.

Cork was a fascinating place despite being a little 'seedy' in my view. I liked the hilly topography of the city with good views and fresh breezes. The walking area in the city centre was expansive and vehicle free in several areas.

Next I went on to Galway driving up the west coast and then taking the car ferry to just below Galway which was not overly impressive, the incessant rain did not help my sightseeing activities.

The next day I drove to Belfast where you could sense and see there was a significant difference between the North and Ireland proper, the troubles have certainly not vanished.

Rich history there and more fabulous architecture but possibly even more expensive than Dublin but again a good club 'live' music scene. The castle was fairly impressive despite being small and the pubs were cool.

I returned to Dublin to catch my flight to Edinburgh, it was a good introduction to Ireland and I look forward to my next visit.

• Pros:friendly, green, great pubs, rich history
• Cons:expensive, weather rarely nice, food is so-so
• In a nutshell:look forward to my next visit