Cities you'd never return to

martyhass · 20-04-2014 08:51PM

wotzgoingon wrote: »

There is nothing to do in Belfast. Only one of two shopping centres in the city centre, there wasn't even a Mac donalds, there was a burger king though.

There's a McDonalds in Victoria Square shopping Centre and one beside Castlecourt SC, went to college up there, Belfast is an enigma of a place for sure though but it does have its charm.

leonards · 20-04-2014 08:55PM

grimm2005 wrote: »

Have to say I'm also pretty surprised to hear any pick pocketing stories from Dublin. Have lived here basically my entire life and I'm in the city centre several times a week. Have never been pick pocketed and have never heard of someone being pick pocketed from locals and tourists a like. The city has problems for sure but an abundance of pick pockets definitely isn't one.

I'm going to Barcelona next week and I've heard dodgy stories everywhere so I'll make sure to be on high alert. Have also heard it's a great city though so I'll just keep my wits about me! I got an email from the hostel I'm staying at outlining the most common scams so I suppose I have a head start on what to look out for.

Share the list of scams?

Cienciano · 20-04-2014 08:56PM

grimm2005 wrote: »

I'm going to Barcelona next week and I've heard dodgy stories everywhere so I'll make sure to be on high alert. Have also heard it's a great city though so I'll just keep my wits about me! I got an email from the hostel I'm staying at outlining the most common scams so I suppose I have a head start on what to look out for.

Bad news for you. It's a shíthole!
Ah no, it's not that bad, it has some nice thing to see. But La Rambla has the highest concentration of scumbags, skangers, pickpockets and knackers in the known universe. I've no idea how it became a tourist attraction.
The centre of Barcelona in general has just far far to many scumbags hanging around for me to like it. Madrid is better in every way imho.

Duck's hoop · 20-04-2014 09:05PM

Why on earth would you spend time on La Rambla?

JohnDx · 20-04-2014 09:06PM

1. Toronto, Canada never again, went for 2 weeks was bored out of my mind after the 3rd day. . People kept asking me what part of Scotland I was from, started to annoy me after a while.
2. Budapest, Hungary best part was the scenery around river area & heroes square other than that, a total ****hole.

20-04-2014 09:14PM

Paris never go there again horrible place!

Cienciano · 20-04-2014 09:14PM

Duck's hoop wrote: »

Why on earth would you spend time on La Rambla?

Yeah, as a tourist why would you do the main tourist activity in the city?

wotzgoingon · 20-04-2014 09:15PM

JohnDx wrote: »

1. Toronto, Canada never again, went for 2 weeks was bored out of my mind after the 3rd day. . People kept asking me what part of Scotland I was from, started to annoy me after a while.
2. Budapest, Hungary best part was the scenery around river area & heroes square other than that, a total ****hole.

Just out of curiosity, what part of ireland are you from? Or what type of accent do you have?

Legs.Eleven · 20-04-2014 09:15PM

I like La Rambla and Barcelona in general. I don't really know what people expect from a major European city; there's obviously going to be more shady characters in them than your local village. La Rambla is not as bad as people are making out and every city has it's dodgy part. Hardly a reason to avoid the city completely. Barcelona is full of culture and history.

RickyBobby1 · 20-04-2014 09:21PM

Kusadasi In Turkey. Dont know what I was thinking, people are sleazy assholes who chase you down the street while making comments about your girlfriend.
The dolum (bus) that we got every day that brings you in to the square got blown up and a young Irish girl died
Food was shocking and we all got terrible dose of food posioning

not yet · 20-04-2014 09:25PM

bmwguy wrote: »

Liverpool. Must be the biggest kip in the world and such annoying locals. Taxi driver asked us if we were blues or reds when we got in before even asking where we were going. We werent there for a match. Every bar we drank in had lads coming in selling fake t shirts, dvds etc. Late night bars had metal detectors going in to them. Dump.

Alright alright calm down calm down...

Duck's hoop · 20-04-2014 09:25PM

Cienciano wrote: »

Yeah, as a tourist why would you do the main tourist activity in the city?

If you seriously consider traipsing up and down a very crowded street full of tat and pickpockets the 'main tourist activity' in an otherwise superb city as vibrant and diverse as Barcelona. Well then ok.

Chiparus · 20-04-2014 09:32PM

Port-au- prince for the shear waste and deprivation and corruption.
Johannesburg - crime and soullessness
Singapore- bores

zetalambda · 20-04-2014 09:36PM

Chiparus wrote: »

Port-au- prince for the shear waste and deprivation and corruption.
Johannesburg - crime and soullessness
Singapore- bores

Singabore :pac:

Cienciano · 20-04-2014 09:38PM

Legs.Eleven wrote: »

I like La Rambla and Barcelona in general. I don't really know what people expect from a major European city; there's obviously going to be more shady characters in them than your local village. La Rambla is not as bad as people are making out and every city has it's dodgy part. Hardly a reason to avoid the city completely. Barcelona is full of culture and history.

I agree, (sort of), definitely not a reason to avoid the city, lots of interesting stuff to see in Barcelona too. Just one of the few cities that I never really liked.

Duck's hoop wrote: »

If you seriously consider traipsing up and down a very crowded street full of tat and pickpockets the 'main tourist activity' in an otherwise superb city as vibrant and diverse as Barcelona. Well then ok.

I think pretty much every guide book or tourist would regard a stroll down La Rambla as one of the main tourist activities in Barcelona. Just because it's crap doesn't mean it's not one of the main tourist activities. And even knowing how over rated it is, I'd still advise people going to barcelona to do it.

Aidric · 20-04-2014 09:42PM

Borderfox wrote: »

Prague, beautiful city but the people in it are wan**r's!!

Ah not really. I lived there for 3 years and as well as being one of the most beautiful cities around the locals are great once you get to know them. If you are basing your experience on the service sector alone i could see your point, they aren't renowned for being welcome and can come across as curt on first encounter.

As a place to live, however, it can give you so much.

JohnDx · 20-04-2014 09:47PM

wotzgoingon wrote: »

Just out of curiosity, what part of ireland are you from? Or what type of accent do you have?

Dublin, on the posh side.

Bassfish · 20-04-2014 10:16PM

Aidric wrote: »

Ah not really. I lived there for 3 years and as well as being one of the most beautiful cities around the locals are great once you get to know them. If you are basing your experience on the service sector alone i could see your point, they aren't renowned for being welcome and can come across as curt on first encounter.

As a place to live, however, it can give you so much.

Spent a week in Prague last year and found the people nice enough but my god the food is shocking. Did not have one good meal there and even when I got so pissed off with the food that I went to McDonalds, that was manky. Made up for the lack of decent food with lots of good beer though

Aidric · 20-04-2014 10:20PM

Bassfish wrote: »

Spent a week in Prague last year and found the people nice enough but my god the food is shocking. Did not have one good meal there and even when I got so pissed off with the food that I went to McDonalds, that was manky. Made up for the lack of decent food with lots of good beer though

Ya I won't argue there. The food is very heavy and lacking in variety. The beer is up there with the worlds best though and for giveaway prices.

Stavros Murphy · 20-04-2014 10:28PM

I personally like Belfast, done a load of work there and find the people nice and the City center buzzing and friendly. Never anything but good times in Belfast, even last time when they were having a bit of a riot. Even the PSNI lads were sound - kinda like the riot got put on hold till the dopey southners got through, then all hell kicked off again. But that might just be me. I like the Belfast sense of humour, kinda black and wry, been there, done that. North of Belfast, think it's Portrane, not so much. Rufff.

MANUTD99 · 20-04-2014 10:38PM

Born and bred in Dublin. I love Dublin, we are a rare bred and have a weird sense of humor and have done well to accept lots of different cultures and nationalities that have come to Dublin in masses in such a short period of time. The city is very diverse now with so many different nationalities buzzing around the city

I've never been in any trouble of had anything happen to me. My wife is from Germany and loves Dublin. For a city we have a very laid back way compared to other cities around the world

There seems to be a social acceptance of scumbags though and we let them ruin our city center. I wish our criminal justice system got a set of balls and treated these scumbags they way they deserve.

Anyways I've traveled quite a bit but the biggest kip I've been to was New Delhi in India. I had to get it into my head early on that everybody was out to scam me. People defecating in the open public. The smell of **** and piss was relentless. For a country that is one of the up and coming super economies but allow the mass poverty in this country is baffling.. For anybody travelling to India I would recommend leaving New Delhi asap

Salmon Leap · 20-04-2014 10:44PM

Philadelphia. Never felt safe there.

Stavros Murphy · 20-04-2014 10:57PM

Salmon Leap wrote: »

Philadelphia. Never felt safe there.

Lovely on toast with salmon though.

bogman_bass · 20-04-2014 11:02PM

Bratislava. What a kip. All the bars are run by the mob

Stavros Murphy · 20-04-2014 11:04PM

bogman_bass wrote: »

Bratislava. What a kip. All the bars are run by the mob

But the women are stunning, it's like Paris fashion week, from the minute you touch down. I loved it.

Nodin · 20-04-2014 11:04PM

RahenyD5 wrote: »

The drug clinics and council housing should be moved outside to somewhere like Tallaght & Clondalkin, making Dublin 1 possibly almost crime-free and more attractive for tourism. This suggestion may be controversial, but what is the best way to clean up Dublin 1?

Also forcibly shut down Dr Quirkeys and relocate burger bars to Talbot St & Parnell St to deter troublesome youths from O'Connell St.

You, Sir, have located the epicentre of our urban ills. Once this place, and whatever music halls may be in the area, are closed, I predict a shining new society will emerge.

Olive8585 · 20-04-2014 11:11PM

bogman_bass wrote: »

Bratislava. What a kip. All the bars are run by the mob

Really? I found it quite nice. Boring as fcuk though.

fg1406 · 20-04-2014 11:19PM

Marseille: dirty city, rude people, looks akin to a North African slum in parts
Brussels: outside of Grand Place it's dull, boring and looks like a giant financial district.
Rome: beautiful in parts but enduring hellish traffic, obscene prices, odd Romans, I've no grá for the place at all but I do understand why people will continue to go there

Stavros Murphy · 20-04-2014 11:19PM

Olive8585 wrote: »

Really? I found it quite nice. Boring as fcuk though.

I'm guessing you're female. The men, not so much. The women are awesome.

anndub · 20-04-2014 11:23PM

Paris. Hated everything about it. Wasn't crazy about Copenhagen either but that was just down to my aversion to being cold and it being February.

Cities you'd never return to

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