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Most boring places you've visited

snowstorm445

While we're all reminiscing about places we'd like to go back to after COVID subsides, is there anywhere you've been to that you found totally forgettable?

My own contender is Hannover in Germany - stopped there once out of curiosity on the way from Amsterdam to Berlin and I was pretty familiar with the name from history etc. Apart from an impressive city hall, and some nice palace gardens outside the city (pretty modest by German standards though), it was basically just filled with shopping streets. A few Germans I've talked to since told me it's a big hub for people travelling around Germany by train, but there's pretty much nothing there. And like a lot of German cities, it's historic parts were gutted by bombing in the war, and only some reconstructed facades remain.

Closer to home, I was in Sligo for the first time about two years ago. The county is lovely (Ben Bulben, Strandhill etc.) but Sligo town is pretty unremarkable tbh. Not shockingly boring, but not very memorable either. Plenty of Midland towns have a reputation for being fairly forgettable as well, but then that's fairly well known. :pac:

Any other nominations?

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orangerhyme

GT89 wrote: »

The only work I've seen immigrants in Italy is selling selfie sticks and other bits of tourist tat so I wouldn't say immigration has benefitted their economy. Nearly all the service staff in restaurants, bars and hotels are Italian.

Most train stations in Italy are full of African migrants loitering and intimidating tourists.

You have to invest in them though. They need language, skills, training etc then you've a tax payer for a few decades paying the pension of older people.

Pension money isnt saved for the future, it's payed out of the tax of the working population

breezy1985

Hamachi wrote: »

Good call. You can’t go far wrong staying near Alexanderplatz. Most of the u-bahn lines intersect there, meaning you can get anywhere pretty quickly.

Not sure why people found it hard to track down nightlife in Berlin. It’s virtually impossible to miss it in Kreuzberg. Speaking of Kreuzberg, it’s an interesting place right in the shadow of where the wall once stood. The people are a curious mix of German hipsters and multi-generational Turkish families, who seem to co-exist relatively happily.

These are 2 places that I think let Berlin down at first glance. Alexanderplatz is an awful drab looking place that reminds me of Milton Keynes.

Kreuzberg has some great pubs but also lots of walking round street full of nothing to find them. Reminds me of Shoreditch which so many people in London rave about but all my memories of the place were of walking around for ages between supposed great pubs not in em

I saw lots of areas that might be great craic to live in in Berlin but I wouldn't recommend it to a tourist unless you were big on history

HBC08

FrKurtFahrt wrote: »

This place. I spent a fortnight there one weekend - it's like visiting a mannerly clinic.

I had one of the best weekends of my life in Singapore.
I was involved in a theatre production there about 15 years ago.We were flown in and put up in Raffles hotel,dinner with the ambassadors the whole lot.
Our last performance was on a sat night,we were in a mad hurry to get back to the city centre because Munster were in the Heineken cup final and unbelievably it was being show on a giant screen outdoors.We ran out of the theatre some of us still wearing bits of costumes,no taxis could be got so we managed to get a few cars of theatre goers to bring us in,made it just in time for kick off.
Maybe a 1000 people around a huge screen and it 30 degrees at night,Munster go on and win their first Heineken cup,mad celebrations and then pubs and nightclubs.Ended up in the "four floors of whores",now ive lived in Asia for 10 years and i thought id seen it all,turns out i hadnt!
Most of the lads were married or shacked up like myself so didnt partake but it was mighty craic,a couple of the younger unattached lads disappeared and got a bit of an education that night.
We got breakfast somewhere and were making our way back to the hotel.There was a marathon or some sort of running event going on,some streets were cordoned off so we stopped to have a look.Who do we see only one of the young lads half dressed in theatre costume running in the middle of it.We dragged him out of it fairly quick and got him back to hotel.Had a few Singapore slings in Raffles bar before heading to bed.
Apologies for long story but i always think of that weekend when Singapore is mentioned.

Brian?

GT89 wrote: »

The only work I've seen immigrants in Italy is selling selfie sticks and other bits of tourist tat so I wouldn't say immigration has benefitted their economy. Nearly all the service staff in restaurants, bars and hotels are Italian.

Most train stations in Italy are full of African migrants loitering and intimidating tourists.

Intimidating? Or just hanging around?

breezy1985

IsosKramer wrote: »

Absolutely.
Whenever I see these threads I feel they should just change the title to:
"What do you hate most about Galway?"

Ya poor Galway always getting picked on. Our hearts bleed for ye here in Limerick

Mad_maxx

hahashake wrote: »

Strongly disagree with this, touring the towns and cities, yes but it's a surprisingly big country with a lot of varied sights and activities. As long as you have a good itinerary, enough money and willingness to actually do things then there are months of things to do.

Rural NZ is paradise but there isn't one memorable urban area in the entire country

It's like one big farm

Mad_maxx

Deleted User wrote: »

i once had the misfortune of spending a night in loughrea.....it has no redeeming values

And Loughrea is one of the better towns in the county

orangerhyme

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

While that may have been the case in the past I don't think it is much anymore.

20 years ago I brought an American lady to my non-tourist, provincial, 10k+ population home town.
She was amazed about how busy the place was, both day and night.
An American town of 10k+ would not have near as much shops, pubs etc.

But in recent years I have seen so many places in the twon close.
The pubs are barely busy at weekend now never mind during the week.
Many small family shops have closed.

I was in a job a few years ago that meant I had to overnight in similar type towns midweek.
Places like New Ross, Mallow, Carlow, Skibereen etc
I'd pop into a few pubs in each place and most were completely dead.
No life or atmosphere in them.

I agree they're not as good as pre re-recession celtic tiger era, but still better than towns of comparable size in other countries.

Most towns have a cinema, good selection of pubs, restaurants, cafes, late bars/nightclubs.

I heard a social psychologist say that watching tv shows with groups of people or friends is like a proxy for our need for social connection and community. Eg watching Love Island and discussing it on twitter has replaced village gossip.

GT89

Brian? wrote: »

Intimidating? Or just hanging around?

Yes they are intimidating. I wasn't intimidated by them as I'm a grown man that's well able to handle himself but for lone women, children or older people it would be quite intimidating I'd imagine. The guys selling selfie sticks are also very annoying for tourists. Most Italians I've spoken to hate these guys and want every single last one deported.

ulster

jmlad2020 wrote: »

Dortmund is up there.

I also found Howth to be incredibly underwhelming when I visited... I grew up on the west coast, beautiful scenery etc.. I just thought it didn't deserve the amount of Tourists it was getting in comparison to some other places in Ireland.

It's all personal preference.

I'm not from Dublin myself but i think Howth is a nice place. I'd nearly prefer it to Dalkey/ Killiney.

onrail

Deleted User wrote: »

Let me guess.

Wexford council?

Nope! (I don't mean dumping of refuse btw...)

hahashake

Mad_maxx wrote: »

Rural NZ is paradise but there isn't one memorable urban area in the entire country

If you go to NZ for the urban aspect, you are going for the wrong reason. Same population as Ireland (Republic) in an area 4x the size. That being said, Auckland is fine for city of its size. Quite like the islands in the Auckland harbour and viaduct area.

Brian?

GT89 wrote: »

Yes they are intimidating. I wasn't intimidated by them as I'm a grown man that's well able to handle himself but for lone women, children or older people it would be quite intimidating I'd imagine. The guys selling selfie sticks are also very annoying for tourists. Most Italians I've spoken to hate these guys and want every single last one deported.

So you imagine they were intimidating.

The bolded part, I suspect, is confirmation bias. The voting pattern in Italy suggests that there is a large number of people who'd want the african immigrants deported. I feel you're throwing in the hate part.

feargantae

MyLove4Satan wrote: »

Absolutely! I was amazed at some the comments about Athens on this thread. Athens is a pulsating and energetic city filled with life. I do not care about the graffiti! It is pure energy. What kind of pussies are made frightened by graffiti in the 21st century FFS!

The graffiti, as ugly as it is, isn't the frightening bit. It's the messages written in the graffiti. So much of it promotes the golden dawn, a modern day nazi party, they are anti LGBT+, anti immigration, believe women belong in the kitchen etc etc. A few years ago I remember a story that they were in a boat and came across a boat full of migrants. The golden dawn sank their boat and wore this like a badge of honour. You'd hear of them assaulting a gay person or an Albanian/immigrant too and it'd be swept under the rug since they'd hate police in their pockets too. Vile stuff altogether and so widespread.

Visiting the place is 1 thing since it's so cheap, but to actually live there is another

Hulk Hands

Mad_maxx wrote: »

And Loughrea is one of the better towns in the county

Il ask you again, at what point in your life were you bullied by a Galway lad? Every single thread ive ever seen reference the place, there you are with your little disparaging remark. Even some threads that have nothing to do with Galway you'll bring it back to there. It's very strange and a little sad tbh

Where are you from, in comparison? Have to laugh at some of the remarks about the place as if that person comes from somewhere we couldn't equally rip on

[Deleted User]

GT89 wrote: »

Yes they are intimidating. I wasn't intimidated by them as I'm a grown man that's well able to handle himself but for lone women, children or older people it would be quite intimidating I'd imagine.

I'm a female, have done quite a bit of solo travel and I don't find them intimidating, can't imagine how any child would find people standing around intimidating, kids don't really do intimidating!
I think you're just showing you're own bias now.

road_high

I quite like Galway city. It’s very easy stroll around, lively, nice shops and restaurants. Very pretty setting too with Connemara and the seaside

duffmann

As much as I love Berlin, I fear that it will become as boring as Dublin with the gentrification and hotels going up everywhere. It has changed a lot in ten years.

Hulk Hands

road_high wrote: »

I quite like Galway city. It’s very easy stroll around, lively, nice shops and restaurants. Very pretty setting too with Connemara and the seaside

It's a town. It has the usual amount of things to do that 75k towns have, i.e very little, and has decent but limited nightlife and throws on a few festivals. It gets elevated over the other small Irish towns and cities because they have worse nightlife, fewer festivals and equally, little to do.

If people say Galway is overrated that's probably accurate, because of what we have to compare it to here. If people are actually saying it's 'the most boring place they've visited', then I'd question where exactly on this fair isle they live themselves

breezy1985

duffmann wrote: »

As much as I love Berlin, I fear that it will become as boring as Dublin with the gentrification and hotels going up everywhere. It has changed a lot in ten years.

I really like Dublin. For a big city and a national capital it's very compact and easy for a tourist

fryup

GT89 wrote: »

Berlin

Also the locals seem to be very unfriendly and customer service in shops, hotels and restaurants etc. is awful it's like no one can crack a smile they don't even say danke.

well they did start two WW's ...it's not like they have a track record in joviality in fairness

kenmc

Hilversum, near Amsterdam. Sent there with work in 1999\2000 sorta timeframe. Literally nothing to do, it's basically a retirement village. Oh and one of the TV studios is there. Dreaded every Sunday evening for about 3 months as I knew I'd be flying back out early the next morning for a week of boredom

breezy1985

Hulk Hands wrote: »

It's a town. It has the usual amount of things to do that 75k towns have, i.e very little, and has decent but limited nightlife and throws on a few festivals. It gets elevated over the other small Irish towns and cities because they have worse nightlife, fewer festivals and equally, little to do.

It's the "elevated over the other small Irish towns and cities" bit I don't get. I was expecting it to be way better than Limerick judging by the way people go on about it but in reality it's about the same on a night out. Maybe a little more compact and easier to find your way round but for pubs and clubs it's almost identical.

Cork though is way better than both as you would expect given the size but doesn't get half the praise Galway does

[Deleted User]

breezy1985 wrote: »

These are 2 places that I think let Berlin down at first glance. Alexanderplatz is an awful drab looking place that reminds me of Milton Keynes.

Kreuzberg has some great pubs but also lots of walking round street full of nothing to find them. Reminds me of Shoreditch which so many people in London rave about but all my memories of the place were of walking around for ages between supposed great pubs not in em

I saw lots of areas that might be great craic to live in in Berlin but I wouldn't recommend it to a tourist unless you were big on history

Alexanderplatz is very Stalinist looking. I guess that’s to be expected as it’s the center of the old east Berlin. If you’re only there for a few days / weeks, it’s a good central base to get around. It’s walking distance to Unter den Linden and the Brandenburger gate. I agree that it wouldn’t be very appealing to live there though.

Personally, I really like Kreuzberg. The only downside for me was Goerlitzer park, that I used for running. It was absolutely crawling with drug dealers and I had to literally run the gauntlet of them to get into the park. I also felt very uncomfortable seeing open drug dealing going on whilst kids played on the swings and slides in the spielplatz 20 meters away.

Church on Tuesday

fryup wrote: »

just like Ireland then :cool:

No Greggs though sadly.

Mad_maxx

Hulk Hands wrote: »

Il ask you again, at what point in your life were you bullied by a Galway lad? Every single thread ive ever seen reference the place, there you are with your little disparaging remark. Even some threads that have nothing to do with Galway you'll bring it back to there. It's very strange and a little sad tbh

Where are you from, in comparison? Have to laugh at some of the remarks about the place as if that person comes from somewhere we couldn't equally rip on

Never bullied by an Irish lad ,let alone "a Galway lad "

Hope that answers your question

Hulk Hands

breezy1985 wrote: »

It's the "elevated over the other small Irish towns and cities" bit I don't get. I was expecting it to be way better than Limerick judging by the way people go on about it but in reality it's about the same on a night out. Maybe a little more compact and easier to find your way round but for pubs and clubs it's almost identical.

Cork though is way better than both as you would expect given the size but doesn't get half the praise Galway does

I love Limerick and spent years living there but you can't compare Limerick nightlife with Galway. It's lively for students but generally dead on the weekend and has little in the way of big summer festivals. It does have more touristy things to do though and a bigger city centre.

Cork is a proper city so you can't really compare. I never thought Corks nightlife was exceptional for its size but certainly not bad. I do think it's underrated as a destination in Ireland terms

Hulk Hands

Mad_maxx wrote: »

Never bullied by an Irish lad ,let alone "a Galway lad "

Hope that answers your question

Grand so. Il be back again after your next 100 posts complaining about the place to ask why you have such an odd obsession with it and where you come from yourself

ArtfulPodger

Dr. Bre wrote: »

Singabore

Memorable only for the horrendous heat and humidity!

EmmetSpiceland

Hulk Hands wrote: »

Grand so. Il be back again after your next 100 posts complaining about the place to ask why you have such an odd obsession with it and where you come from yourself

I believe he thinks Galway has “too many liberals” residing in it.