Irish pubs on Holidays

hynesie08 wrote: »

I find them a handy place to go on your first night in a new place, especially if there's an Irish bartender. Usually better than the guidebook for advice on where to eat and drink, less well know attractions etc.

Can't understand the lads who spend the entire two weeks in the local Irish bar but each to their own.

Absolutely this. You beat me to it. I always visit one for exactly these reasons. The Irish pub abroad is like an informal consulate / tourist office with booze. You can get the low down on what do's and don't you should be aware of. What times to see certain things, where do good local cuisine that isn't a tourist trap. Often the Irish barman has a local boozer of his own that he would recommend that's not Irish. And often you can build up a rapport very quickly with the Irish bar man to the point that you could easily leave your bag behind the bar if you wanted to go off to see something for a few hours and didn't want to be lugging it with you.

Also if there's a match you would like to see in between doing the sights, then the Irish saloon is the place.

I was in Florence on FA cup Saturday and wanted to see the game but couldn't find an Irish pub, but managed to pursuade the waiter in a little cafe to turn on the telly and it was being shown. Place was deserted anyway.

And before anyone chimes in with "you were in Florence and watched football? You LOSER!!", I visited the Boboli Gardens before and the Ponte Vecchio after the game and then had a sumptious Tuscan dinner and a vat of Chianti in the evening.

I wouldn't spend my whole holiday in the bloody Irish pub but an hour is fine just for the sake of it.....and if the Irish pub has a good large terrace outside on a square with umbrellas and table service then it's no different to any of the local bars in the square except that it serves Guinness as well as Spaten, or San Miguel, or Perroni, or Kronenbourg, or Dommelsch.


Finally, if I'm on holiday in a warm city in summer and am parched and fancy an alcoholic thirst quencher in the form of an ice cold cider then it's bee-line to the Irish Tavern for a Magners on ice. Nowhere else will have it

I'd also like to add that the Irish pub is a good place to go to to meet local woman who are interested in Irish blokes. First night in Dusseldorf got the shift off a German bird in the Irish pub in the Altstadt. Result!