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My top ten Irish bucket list especially for St. Patrick’s day - PHOTOS

Places and people in Ireland I’d want to see before checking out

NIALL O'DOWD,

IrishCentral Founder

Published Thursday, March 1, 2012, 7:26 AM

Updated Friday, March 2, 2012, 12:22 PM

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Croke Park Dublin on All Ireland hurling final day

Photo by Paul Mohan / SPORTSFILE

Irish bucket list for St. Patrick's Day - top places to visit in Ireland before you die - PHOTOS

Visit our special St. Patrick's Day section for more news, recipes, photos and Irish culture

So suppose you were told the clock was running out and it was time for your last great journey before heading West forever?

Here’s my top ten spots in Ireland I would want to visit on my bucket list.

I’m not saying I’d die happy, but I’d come close!

Can you share yours?

1. A drive around Slea Head on the West Kerry peninsula, watch the majestic Atlantic unfold in all its majesty, the Blasket Islands sparkling in the distance and drive back in time to a timeless landscape

2. A stroll down Grafton Street in Dublin on a Saturday morning as the shoppers mingle and the musicians play and the great street theater unfolds. A cup of coffee and an Irish breakfast in Bewley’s makes the day

3. Eyre Square in Galway during Galway races week as the Western city comes alive with gamblers, chancers, singers, poets, Galway hookers and every kind of humanity in town, for the biggest festival in the land.

4. Croke Park Dublin on All Ireland hurling final day. Watch the world’s most ancient game which was played by CuChulainn, according to the Irish sagas. The modern warriors are fast, fit, and fleet, and would give even the mythical CuChulainn a run.

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Irish bucket list for St. Patrick's Day - top places to visit in Ireland before you die - PHOTOS

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5. The Hill of Tara in Meath. Seat of the Irish high kings, where history reaches out and touches the present. Imagine the massive banquets, coronations, love affairs, and wars that were hatched and carried out here

6. Glendalough, in the Wicklow Hills, where the ancient monks came to pray, be solitary, and fast. Solitary it was and is, a great stillness and beauty.

7. W.B. Yeats grave, Drumcliff graveyard, Sligo. Traffic pass by. Here is the resting place of perhaps the world’s greatest poet and a place to savor the silence and the plain but magnificent epitaph “Cast a cold eye on life, on death, Horsemen pass by”

8. Glens of Antrim -- Far north of Belfast a beautiful unspoilt and untrod landscape, forgotten during the Troubles, now being rediscovered all over again

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hermitTalker | Mar 17, 2012, 08:45 AM EDT

Am I exaggerating to suggest ten, at least, in each county? Obvious ones in the religious realm are Knock, where Mary appeared just after the famine when the nation held firm to the Catholic faith and Mass; St Patrick's grave in the Anglican C of I Cathedral in Armagh ( taken over as were all the cathedrals and churches at the Revolt-amation; the GPO which is famed for the 1916 Rising, and where they were execused in Kilmainham Jail; Clonmacnoise; the Book of Kells in Trinity College; the two former RC Cathedrals in Dublin; Galway from where Columbus got a sailor to sail to the Americas. The New Grange site which is older than the Pyramids and Stone Henge.Each town and county has ruins of pre-Celtic worship sites, as well as ruins of Christian churches from St Patrick's time through monasteries destroyed at the Revol-amation; several stately homes and castles, many still in use, some with with great art work, gardens such as Powerscourt. The list goes on and on.

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ellenred | Mar 16, 2012, 11:20 PM EDT

I've done some of these, so the rest will stay on my bucket list. But I also want to go back to Dingle. Ellen

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RedBranch | Mar 03, 2012, 03:43 PM EST

Why isn't Offaly on this list?

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johnshiel | Mar 02, 2012, 11:09 AM EST

coming back for seconds... I think the burren is the best: its crazy landforms and its fabulous water views and its stunning cultural history and its lively people. could easily make a top ten bucket list just here, probably including a fine lunch in Ballyvaughn at Monk's Pub. And a stupendous evening of music and craic in Doolin. And maybe some wee early hours of the morning hanging onto the windswept cliffs just south (boundaries can blur when bucketing)...

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pilib04 | Mar 01, 2012, 09:04 PM EST

Have attempted to climb Croagh Patrick seven times. Would love to make it to the top.

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beachcomber | Mar 01, 2012, 05:47 PM EST

Just crossed another one off the bucket list today by visiting the high crosses at Ahenny! YAY! Still hoping to make it to the Ring of Kerry this trip. I also want to go to Skellig Michael and Clare Island to pay homage to Grace O'Malley...perhaps next visit. Am loving my time here...the daffodils are blooming, and when I return home, they'll be blooming again, it's like getting two Springs this year...wonderful.

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MegK311 | Mar 01, 2012, 02:17 PM EST

I did visit Yeats grave I think a lot of people stop there. I would visit the Mourne mountains where they sweep down to th sea. The Glens of Antrim on my way to the Giants Causeway. I would visit Londonderry and walk on Derry's walls. The rolling hills of Armagh and the apple orchards when in bloom. A walk along Belfast lough on the Holywood side. I have good memories of all of these places.

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muirisobric | Mar 01, 2012, 01:56 PM EST

I've always longed for a cruise down the Shannon. Stop off at some of the towns on the way. A couple o'pints & a chat. Some music & a sing song. A hearty breakfast before moving along. Watching the land. Under the bridges. Birds. A dog chasing a butterfly gyrating in midair. Youngsters pointing, gigling at something. A man on a bike with a walking stick. Geeeze, what could be simpler. And yet...............

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howareya | Mar 01, 2012, 01:12 PM EST

Pretty much crossed a bit off my bucket list two years ago. On my annual visit home in October, me and my cuz who lives in Mullingar, decided we were going to visit the 5 Royal Celtic sites in one day. Started out at 5:30 am from my granny's in Sligo and went first to Rathcroghan in Roscommon. After a quick climb, drove down to the Rock of Cashel in Tipperary...then up to Dún Ailinne in Kildare...cruising up to the Hill of Tara in Meath and finally ending up just before dusk at Emain Macha in Armagh. Was a full day topped off with a pint at the little pub at Fore Abbey.

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bogsidebunny | Mar 01, 2012, 11:51 AM EST

Every place mentioned in the article.......But no later than 1978. Dublin especially was a wonderful city in the 1970's, but I wouldn't go within 50 miles of it today. And I wouldn't venture into most provincial towns after 6 PM. Sorry gang the rot has set in and the "auld sod" has fallen prey to the same troubles that haunt American cities.

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loveapint | Mar 01, 2012, 11:25 AM EST

Done 7 of them, would add visiting Arran Islands and a night in a good pub with trad music

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Murph46 | Mar 01, 2012, 10:46 AM EST

Nice list Niall, I have done 3 and you've given me a good target!

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irishpjk | Mar 01, 2012, 10:44 AM EST

You missed the Irish Times in Holbrook Long Island

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JBRAFTREE | Mar 01, 2012, 10:25 AM EST

Done #s 1, 2, 3 and 11. Now if I could get on a plane without carrying oxygen tanks with me, I'd be fine!~

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johnshiel | Mar 01, 2012, 10:21 AM EST

how 'bout a monthlong exploration of the northern coast, starting around Donegal's Slieve League (with time to WALK its crest) and ending up on the water, looking up at the sun setting into the mountains of Mourne? better make that two months, or three. gotta make time for the towns and cities and for the offshore islands like Tory, Rathlin... break that into ten segments and there y'go with yer bucket a' dreams... as always, there's the dreaded end of the party; what can we do about that bit??

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