Tell me how to fall in love with Ireland
 

I love Italy and Spain: the architecture, piazzas and plazas, exuberant music, spicy food, and the lifestyles and cultures in both countries.

So many people love Ireland, but so far, I can't seem to "get" what they do. I am not putting Ireland down. I would truly like to get a grasp on perhaps seeing it in new ways. I have visited Dublin twice and enjoyed it very much. I have also been to the Connemara area, Foxford, Balina, and the Northwest Coast a couple of times. It is beautiful; the people are really, really sweet and kind, and the food is good, but I find it all dreary and a bit sad. Is it just those areas? I hope to have the opportunity to visit the SW: Cork, Dingle, etc. Will that help give me some special feeling?

This summer, I was in Provence for the first time (for only a day), and was so overcome with feelings for the place, that I cried. Basically, I fell wildly in love with Provence. I feel I could have been re-born there, had I gone earlier in my life. I am angry with myself for never going there before, and have plans for returning in a few weeks.

It makes sense that I may never feel that way about Ireland, but I know other people do. Do you feel that way about Ireland? If so, what made you feel that way?

Don't force it IMO. Some are "Italy people", some are "Ireland people". Some love the Greek islands - others are into London or Paris.

Me - I <i>like</i> Ireland, but love, LOVE, <B>LOVE</B> Scotland. It isn't wrong to only like (or even dislike) one place and adore someplace else.

Different strokes, different folks. Nothing wrong with you. Ireland's just not your thing.

I just came back from Provence. I always wanted to go there. I liked it; I didn't love it (well, I really, really loved the rose wine, but I'm sure that's not what you meant).

I went to Ireland NEVER expecting to love it. I'd go back in a sec--and I have. I loved the mists, the people, the humor, the music. Actually don't like Guinness.

We all have "feels" for different places, and we all have different expectations. I remember a thread here about a person who expected to love Rome--and hated it. Ironically, I expected NOT to like Rome, and I fell in love with it. At the same time, while I loved Florence art, I'm not into the romance of Tuscany. It's just an emotional, not a rational response.

Again, I don't know that other areas of Ireland would make you feel any different. There are vibes from areas,terrains, countries, seasons, that just match one's being at that moment. I remember being at a cowpicking contest in Montana at sunset and thinking, "I am so very happy". I'm a total city and arts person--how could that be? It just was.

Isn't it wonderful that we all respond differently to different places? Otherwise, we'd all be on the same square foot of terrain in July and August.

Ireland is one place I have no desire to return. Dublin did not do a thing for me.
I don't worry about it or feel I am "missing" something.
Give me Spain any day!

Did you try drinking?

Seriously, - you can't force these feelings. That is one of the things that frustrates me on this Board. So many people react wildly when others do not like what they like. It is almost humourous, but entirely unfortunate.

They just don't get that others may just not "LOVE!" the places they went, the things they did, where they slept. and how they went from place to place. Yet they continue to trumpet their subjective experiences as if it were the greatest gift they could give and only fools would not follow.

Travel should be thought about like food, or clothing. Why on earth would someone think that someone should order the same food as they would at a restaurant, or go out and but the same shirt they did because they just LOVE IT?

Paris, I just don't get and it is one of the few places I feel that way about. I will never go back. I have zero desire to ever go to Southeast Asia. However, If I am lucky, the hotel clerks in Salzburg, Bamberg, Brugge will know me by my first name some day.

I "reluctantly" went to Spain 3 years ago after never having considered it as a real place of interest. We were interested seeing the Dordogne (LOVED IT!) I wanted to see something else near the area too and, well, I wanted to avoid Paris. I have been back twice already with at least 2 more trips on the horizon.

Just stay open (you clearly are) to being surprised and don't feel guilty if something doesn't shake you boots.

The way I see it - everyone visiting someplace I am not interested in is freeing up some space where I am. And the best part is, they get to feel the same way.

I'm on AlessandraZoe's side. It's an emotional, not a rational thing.

I never, ever thought about going to Ireland voluntarily: even more rain than here in Germany, just stone walls and sheep, beaches but no real possibility to swim, no "major" sights like the Grand Canyon or the Alhambra.
Then my best friends moved to rural Ireland five years ago, not even close to the somewhat sunny coasts of the Southwest or South. Yet it was obvious that I had to visit them because due to their job, they were somewhat not flexible with traveling.

When I was there, we did not do any of the famous "Rings", nor any other of the better known sights, except for the Cliffs of Moher. We mostly did a few day trips in the area, and spent a little time at the local village pub. So definetely nothing spectacular.
Yet, when I got back home again after a week, the first thing I did was to book a flight for two or months later.

Since then, I go back 3-5 times a year. Don't ask me why.
I still don't like the weather too much, and I still think that other places have "more to see". And I still haven't been on the Ring of Kerry or Beara.
But it has become the closest thing to feel like coming home when the plane lands in Cork or Dublin and I get on my three hour bus trek to the middle of nowhere.

Play golf, then drink.

Alessandra and Cowboy, You are both absolutely right. It is emotional, not rational. It is the vibes that hit you at that moment. It is that which connects with whatever is going on within yourself. I was looking for something external.

Alessandra, what you wrote was very nice. Even though it didn't happen to you, I think you really got what happened to me in Provence. I stood on a street in Aix and cried like a baby. I felt I had been snatched away at some point in my life and my soul had been left there. Absolutely crazy, I know. Makes me sound like a nut case. My sadness was that I had not gone and discovered this earlier in my life. I feel a little like that in parts of Paris.

Because so many people find it magical, and I have to use vacation time to visit family there, I kept wanting and hoping to experience some magic and fall in love with Ireland, so I wasn't wishing to be someplace else every time I was there. I will go back to visit family, but after three trips already, I am guessing there won't ever be a "love connection". People sing and tell jokes, but a sense of gloom seems to envelope me in Ireland.

In Italy, even in very poor areas outside of Naples, I feel a pervasive sense of joy. Maybe it is only the light and sunshine, and wine and limoncello. I feel like jumping and skipping: so, definitely the wine and limoncello.

I did fall in love with Ireland, absulutely. I frequently spent many moments overwhelmed by the beauty and the people and the spirit there. I spent two months there last summer and have dreamed about it none stop every since then. In fact, I would pack up my life and move there, if I didn't have people at home that I couldn't possibly leave! I loved all of Ireland, but I did enjoy Dingle the most out of anywhere, staying 8 days instead of the 3 I had originally planned. I think for myself, the scenery combined with the most friendly people were what sold me. I hope you find that "special feeling" if you go back, but at least you have found that somewhere else!

I dont know whether its because I went to dublin for work so often, but I just dont really it that much...much prefer france, italy etc! Different strokes I guess

You cannot judge a country by one city - those of you saying you went to Dublin and disliked it so you can't like the whole country are doing the rest of the country an injustice.
I have never been to Paris, and have no desire to go there, but hat doesn't mean I don't like France. Amsterdam is not the Netherlands, Paris is not France, London is not England and Dublin is not Ireland.

You cannot be made to fall in love with a country or a town any more than you can be made to love a person. It just doesn't work that way.

I envy those of you who have a place you love. I have liked many places a lot, including SW Ireland, but never felt a real emotional tie to one place. Well except for a village n north Wales - but that is my mother's family home, so a different thing entirely.

I didnt mean that I had only been to Dublin - have been to other places in Ireland as well. I just think having to go to Dublin for work has maybe coloured my view.

Either way, I just dont like Ireland and thats ok...just as its ok for others to like or dislike places...

I feel the same as the original poster: Ireland simply doesn't do anything for me. Great people, ok beer, decent food, but it just didn't make me want to go back. Same with Belgium and Indianapolis.

We're headed to Ireland in a few weeks for the first time. So many have recommended going there. I'm a little nervous about, it----will we like it? I'm not a fan of gray weather, I don't golf (MDH does), and I don't like beer--only wine.

What we do like is having a car and driving around to small towns with pretty scenery so I am somewhat optomistic.

We have been going to France in Sept. for years now and when I am there I feel like I've come home, or lived there in a last life.

We're looking at this as a new adventure and are trying to keep our minds open. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Honestly, no one can tell if you will like Ireland.
But you also can't foresee what flavor of ice cream you will like until you tried it.

There are lots of pretty small towns with pretty scenery, so that should be your least worry.

The only way to beat variable weather is to be "variable" yourself.
If you set your itinerary in stone, and schedule every minute of the day, chances are good that you will spend a sunny day inside a museum, and a rainy day hiking.
If you allow yourself some flexibility, you will be able to get the most of out the weather. Forecasts on TV or at www.met.ie are pretty good for next day. Forget all those 7-day forecasts you find on the web. Nothing but useless voodoo.

I live in Ireland and I totally get where the OP is coming from. Don't get me wrong, Ireland is home and in my own way I love it and I certainly don't want to live anywhere else but I often wonder why foreigners choose to come here on their precious one or 2 weeks holidays (mostly when I am in town and see camera clad tourists under brollies and sheltering from the rain, or on a Sunday July afternoon when I am in my house out the country sitting in front of a roaring fire and can see tourists cycling by on bicycles with paniers and big yellow slickers trying desperately to stay dry).

Ireland is beautiful - when you get the weather. Of course the rain is why it is so green so it's a Catch 22 situation. Perhaps it doesn't matter as much if you are coming from a country where you get decent summers, but as someone who lives here one of the main attractions of my own holidays are the thoughts of getting 7 guaranteed dry and better still sunny days in a row :)

I love the south of France and could happily live there if family and finances permitted. I like Paris but not as much as I expected to. I hated Rome for my first 48 hours there but grew to love it. I liked New York City but fell in love with Washington DC. I absolutely adored Colonial Williamsburg and the surrounding Virginia landmarks. I adore Orlando (but that's a different kettle of fish as they say).

Within Ireland I am not especially a Dublin fan (although I did live there for 6 years). West Cork is beautiful and I like Donegal. The Burren and Connemara just don't do it for me although they are favoured by many tourists (Irish and foreign alike). Kilkenny is nice - but I am a tad biased :) Some of the nicest ways to see Ireland are just to get in a car and wander up the back roads to nowhere in particular and just "come across" little old villages etc. (bring a GPS - we're not strong on road signs :) Understatement of the year there!)..........and bring a brolly!

TPAYT--No guarantees. I admit we first went to Ireland because people who really knew us said, "You guys will love it." I didn't think I would. I did--three trips. I must admit, I've never been to Dublin.

I did expect to fall in love with Scotland. I had magical memories of Edinburgh from childhood, and so I thought this emotional floodgate would open as I biked through the Highlands. Nope.

I still love Montana, especially cowboy stuff there. I don't enjoy cowboy stuff elsewhere. I love Tucson AZ canyons. I love Bodega Bay, CA. My heart skips a beat in the Marais in Paris, yet I'd also go back to Normandy in a heartbeat. And I am enraptured with the Lower East Side of NY. Go figure.

Just enjoy--and feel free to dislike. I, for one, will never judge your reaction. It's YOUR reaction, your trip, not anyone else's.

o.k. we did liked Aran and some places on Dublin Bay ( like Sandycove and Howrt). Taking DART ( fast commuter train) to a few spots outside the city was the best thing we did in Dublin. It takes only 15-20 minutes... highly recommended.

Sassafras, your thread is provocative. Of course, no one is expected to love any particular country. I too adore Provence and Italy. But I am a child of the Irish Diaspora, that particular brand of Boston Irish raised with a love of Ireland before I ever saw it. My grandfather came to the Boston area about 1889. He had paid his passage to American with gold coins from a sheep shearing competition. As he lay dying, he thought he was back under the hawthorne trees in Roscommon. My mother often spoke of seeing her own mother crying in the kitchen after receiving a letter from Ireland saying that my great-grandmother had died. They never went back – couldn’t afford the trip in those days. So there exists a “longing” for the “old country” among the American Irish that is often greeted with humor by the present day Irish who have the opportunity to travel freely. To us the land remains almost “magical,” although it is understandable that weather and mists make Ireland less attractive to many travelers.

Enjoy your travels....