http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/ Welcome to Been there. Your tips on the places you know - that you love, live in or have just visited - are what make this guide. http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34465 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34465 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34464 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34464 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34463 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34463 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34462 I suggest a trip to scenic Howth and the village of Malahide on the north side or the equally pretty Dalkey and Killiney on the south side of the city. If you like seafood, indulge in Dublin Bay’s finest in King Sitric restaurant in Howth or Guinea Pig in Dalkey village. Advanced booking is recommended.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34462 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34461 Heading over the north side of the Liffey to Moore Street, don’t miss the larger than life market traders with their battered Silver Cross prams brimming with oranges and giant Toblerones. These ladies are so synonymous with Dublin street life that they were even the subject of a recent photographic exhibition.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34461 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34274 It hosts live music most evenings from rock 'n' roll to blues.
You will find the gigs list on the website.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34274 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34271 The Albert Road area around the docks in Cork became a Jewish quarter from the end of the 19th Century.
While there were some Jews in Cork from the mid 18th Century, a big influx of Jews from the Vilna and Kovno areas of Lithuania arrived from the 1880s onwards. These folk were fleeing Russian pogroms and settled in the Albert Road area.
People always wondered why Jews settled in Cork, a city in what was then a very Catholic country. Allegedly the immigrants with no English may have thought the port of Cork was in fact ‘New York’.
Whatever the reason for their arrival, the area became locally known as "Jewtown" though not in a pejorative way. While poor it was more a Jewish quarter rather than a Jewish ghetto.
At its peak the Jewish population of Cork in the early part of the 20th Century was about 500 with the bulk living in Jewtown. Now the Jewish population is estimated somewhere between 20 to 30 in a city of almost 200,000.
The most famous Jewish native of Jewtown was Gerald Goldberg (several times Lord Mayor of Cork). While not Jewish, James Joyce's father, John Stanislaus Joyce, lived near the Goldberg family home in Jewtown.
Today, the streetscape is more or less as it was more than a century ago but alas there is very little trace of the Jewish community today. The Jewish meeting house at the corner of Electric Terrace is now a residential property. The nearby synagogue (technically Orthodox) on 10 South Terrace which is well over 100 years old is still in use. There are sadly only a handful of Jews in the congregation though it is occasionally inflated by visitors.
Additionally there is a green area called, Shalom Park opened in 1989, in the heart of Jewtown. In Dec 2011 an art installation marked the Jewish Hanukkah festival and a similar lighting show is planned for the next 50 years!
There are a few decent bars in the area (on Albert Quay) such as the ‘Idle Hour’ and ‘The Sextant’ which serves food.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34271 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34270 At the back of the pub is a large outdoor beer garden with seating which is ideal for smokers as well as those who like their drink outside. Areas of the beer garden are under cover and are heated so ideal for the winter months.
From media reports it was sold for over €14m in the property bubble of the mid 2000s! Great pub as it is, when you see the bar you will wonder how anyone could spend so much on it!]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34270 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34155 Contact Jerry and Rianne at Aqua Ventures in advance whatever your plans to check on what boat dives they are running / can arrange. Accommodation can also be sorted out. Excellent if you want to arrange a week of diving for experienced divers, but not so great if you want to pop in for a day while on holiday and lack experience in the conditions (even in August it may be rough and only 13 degrees in the water).]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34155 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/33807 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/33807 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/33691 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/33691 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/33561 Although only a short ferry ride from the Cork coast, the island is at a step out of time. This far west, the Atlantic commands the pace.
One hot afternoon from the cliffs at Horseshoe Bay, we watched through a telescope a yacht head out to the ocean before we descended along a gorse-choked path for a bracing dip in the turquoise shallows.
But as well as the natural beauty the island has other diversions. The story goes that when asked by summer visitors what time The Jolly Roger pub closes, locals joke ‘October’.
Sherkin doesn't fit with the conventional notion of a desert island but then sometimes paradise is right under our noses.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/33561 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/33423 Quite a range here from exotic fruits, vegetables, artisan breads, handmade chocolates, fish and meat. Additionally there are numerous cafes in which you can take a pit stop.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/33423 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/32572 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/32572 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/31999 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/31999 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/31763 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/31763 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/31727 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/31727 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/31406 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/31406 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/30734 Doyles Pub in Dublin is across the street from my alma mater, Trinity College. Popular with the great unwashed student population, on a Friday or Saturday night the upstairs bar, with its unassuming decor of wooden floorboards and faded velvet-topped stools, becomes thronged for the indie-disco that surely defies health and safety regulations. But come to the same spot on a Tuesday for the Ruby Sessions, and that dance floor will now host a series of higgledy-piggeldy tables and chairs, in front of a faded curtain that has provided the backdrop for some truly memorable acoustic gigs. My “I-saw-them-first” moment was here in November 2008, when in front of about 40 people, I witnessed Mumford and Sons knock the socks off the gathered crowd, PA systems be damned. It’s a testament to the organisers and the gig-going faithful that there is never any need for bells and whistles up here. All you need is a common ethos: put the music first and nothing else matters.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/30734 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/30677 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/30677