Derry Girls (and guys)
“I wanted to be an individual, but me Ma wouldn’t let me.”
Derry Girls. It’s the show that launched a thousand one-liners … and an excuse to look again at the cool, historic and complicated city in which it is set. Visit today, and you’ll find a guided Derry Girls tour, a mural of the gang on Orchard Street, and locals eager to show that there’s much more to their home than stereotypes.
“I’d describe it as a spring uncoiling,” says James Huey, owner of the Walled City Brewery. “For 30 years, our food scene was on pause – it’s almost like we’re accelerating to fill this void that happened.” His small-batch beers hint at the city’s spirit, too. One sour brew is called Beerexit (“it splits people down the middle, pretty much”). Another, an imperial stout, is called Sister Michael.
The Derry Girls mural, a view of the city and Walled City Brewery
The city is in a hurry. The Bishop’s Gate and Shipquay hotels are tidy new townhouse options within the 400-year old walls. A pedestrian Peace Bridge straddles the River Foyle; a new Museum of Free Derry tells the story of the city’s civil rights movement among the political murals of the Bogside. Tens of thousands of people dress up for its annual Halloween carnival, and all of this right at the crossroads where the Causeway Coast meets the Wild Atlantic Way.
Best of all, perhaps, is the value. A walking tour costs £4. A two-course lunch special at chef Ian Orr’s Browns in Town will set you back all of £12.
Go on. Be an individual … your ma won’t mind.
Get there: Fly to City of Derry airport. The city is a 90-minute drive from Belfast, or roughly 3.5 hours from Dublin. visitderry.com
Gastro Galway
Got an appetite? Here’s where to slake it. If one place encapsulates Ireland’s food revolution, it is Galway: a boho college city I can only describe as an international crossroads that walks and talks like a country town. Now is a great time to go as the city gears up to enjoy its moment on the world stage as European capital of culture.
“There’s so much diversity here,” says Sheena Dignam of Galway Food Tours. “It goes from old institutions like Griffin’s bakery, trading for six generations, to new coffee roasters such as Calendar and breweries such as Soulwater. Galway makes me feel at home. It’s just one of those places that has this impalpable energy.”
A dish at Aniar, the restaurant’s chef patron JP McMahon, and Dela
Impalpable is a good word. Here’s a city that feels authentically artsy rather than artificially hip. It’s got two Michelin-star restaurants (Aniar and Loam), and a Food on the Edge symposium that brings superstar chefs such as Virgilio Martínez and Angela Hartnett to the Wild Atlantic Way. But it’s also crammed with great casual eats such as Kai, Dela or Ard Bia at Nimmos, and reverence is equally bestowed on local fixtures such as McCambridge’s deli, or the sizzle of Herterich’s sausages.
“It’s a small, tight little area with so much variety and an astonishing welcome,” says Brian Nolan of Galway City Walking Tours. “You don’t have to walk more than 500 yards [and you’ve gone in time] from St Nicholas’s church all the way through to the European capital of culture 2020. Yesterday, I passed two musicians from Finland playing outside Tíg Cóilí. It’s not packaged. It’s happening organically.”
Tuck in. Walk the Latin Quarter, visit the Druid theatre, browse Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop, and angle for a pew outside the Tíg Cóilí pub.
You’ll feel like a Galwegian before you know it.
Get there: Galway is a 2.5-hour drive from Dublin, and an hour from Shannon (both widely served from the UK). wildatlanticway.com
Dublin: winter is coming
Dublin really comes into its own in winter. On a crisp blue-skied afternoon, nothing beats a chilly stroll in Phoenix Park followed by a hot whiskey in a cosy pub such as L Mulligan Grocer or the Legal Eagle. Or an amble from IMMA (Irish Museum of Modern Art) to one of the city’s new wave of distilleries – Teeling, Roe & Co or Pearse Lyons.
Streets in Temple Bar, the Legal Eagle and Teeling Brewery
“Winter is probably my favourite time of year in Dublin, not least because museum people are born to wear autumn and winter clothes!” says Simon O’Connor, director of the new Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI) on St Stephen’s Green. “It’s as if the Georgian and Victorian colours of the city are at their best in the beautiful winter light we get here – and it’s often our driest season, too. Crisp air and the whiff of wood fires only amplify an evening stroll to Dublin’s great bars, with their windows fogged up and the hum of contentment from within.”
As the daylight hours recede, the festival colour picks up. Halloween’s Bram Stoker festival celebrates the author of Dracula. NYF Dublin is a three-day series of new year’s celebrations. Before you know it, January is here, Tradfest is thumping in Temple Bar, and Turner’s watercolours are on display at the National Gallery. For me, that’s a wow moment. Thirty-one of JMW Turner’s works were bequeathed to the gallery in 1900 – on the condition that they be exhibited for free, every year, for the full month of January. They’re a soft light in seasonal darkness.
Get there: There are regular flights to Dublin airport, with Stena Line and Irish Ferries operating to and from Holyhead. visitdublin.com
Cork: ‘rebel city’ retail
Cork is Ireland’s rebel city. The nickname goes back to the Wars of the Roses, but the shoe still fits. Walk its medieval laneways and main streets, step from the knotted Huguenot Quarter to the fascia-board shopfronts of Oliver Plunkett, and you’ll feel it. In the food, the music, the feisty independent retail scene.
Cask restaurant in the Victorian Quarter, the English Market and the Metropole
International brands are here, but they don’t dominate. Instead, you’ll find yourself drawn to a mosey through the English Market, to Hanna Tommola’s jewellery at DesignWorks, to a museum journey at Nano Nagle Place that starts with “the lady of the lantern” who founded the Presentation Sisters, and finishes with design goodies in the gift shop and a snack in the gorgeous garden cafe.
Cork’s Victorian Quarter is on the turn, thanks to restaurants such as Cask and Greenes, upgrades at the famous Metropole Hotel, and the funky Mother Jones Flea Market. Elsewhere, music lovers can go crate-digging in Bunker Vinyl, set in the basement of a Georgian building, while fashionistas can wander from vintage stores like Miss Daisy Blue to luxury boutiques such as Monreal and Samui.
“It’s personable down here,” says Lisa Grainger of Olori, a store specialising in cutting-edge Irish designers such as Roisin Linnane and Moon + Mellow, alongside international labels such as Cathrine Hammel. “I’m from Dublin, but the Cork spirit is very different … it’s harder to be an entrepreneur, so you have to take a risk,” she says. “Everything is a five or six-minute walk away, and everyone knows everyone.”
After a shopping trip, you’ll feel that way too.
Get there: Aer Lingus and Ryanair fly to Cork airport, a short transfer from the city. Cork is a 2.5-hour drive from Dublin. purecork.ie
Limerick’s layers
“The history of the world is right here behind my back,” says Eleanor Purcell. She’s referring to more than 100 varieties of tea stored in old, oriental-style jars on the shelves of her shop – Cahill’s Tea, a 19th-century time capsule on Wickham Street.
Fresh produce in Limerick, street art by Maser and Askew One, and the River Shannon
She could also be referring to Limerick. This is a place where historical layers run from St Mary’s 12th-century cathedral to Georgian streetscapes that teeter between grandeur and careworn. The mighty River Shannon carves it in two, the modern-day fortress of Thomond Park is the home of Munster Rugby, but still, Limerick can’t quite shake the spirit of Angela’s Ashes.
That makes its surprises all the sweeter. Turn a corner and you might find a splash of collaborative street art by Maser and Askew One, or a colourful take on Sionna, the river goddess. King John’s Castle has had a multi-million euro reboot; the new 12-bed Bedford Townhouse has opened in the old Fashion Quarter; a tasty food scene is moving beyond the brilliant covered Milk Market, driven by small, local businesses such as La Cucina and Canteen.
“We were pretty much the first to make an espresso in the city,” says Dave Corbett, remembering the first iteration of his Green Onion Café in the 1990s. Back then, he ended up closing and moving away from the city. Now he’s back, with a new location opposite the Hunt Museum. “The vibe is much fresher now.”
Get there: Limerick is a 2.5-hour drive from Dublin, and half an hour from Shannon airport (both served from the UK). limerick.ie
Pól Ó Conghaile is travel editor of The Irish Independent and the author of Secret Dublin: An Unusual Guide. You can follow him on Twitter @poloconghaile.
From the Causeway Coast and the Wild Atlantic Way to the Ancient East, and the 11 cities in between, Ireland has plenty to explore. Now’s the time to start. Get inspired at ireland.com
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