Cities you'd never return to

CountingClocks · 29-04-2014 12:49PM

I live in Amsterdam and I haven't been in the RLD for years and years, locals avoid it like the plague. It's seedy and noisy and dangerous and full of tourists streaming past the windows to have a look at the girls inside, and that's before dark. There is so much more to Amsterdam that this area, I doubt RLD's in any city in the world would be considered safe or pleasant places and here is no different. Go for a quick look if you want to see what it's like, then get out and see the real Amsterdam.

cloudatlas · 29-04-2014 01:53PM

CountingClocks wrote: »

I live in Amsterdam and I haven't been in the RLD for years and years, locals avoid it like the plague. It's seedy and noisy and dangerous and full of tourists streaming past the windows to have a look at the girls inside, and that's before dark. There is so much more to Amsterdam that this area, I doubt RLD's in any city in the world would be considered safe or pleasant places and here is no different. Go for a quick look if you want to see what it's like, then get out and see the real Amsterdam.

Exactly the article is just anti-liberal "Look at the moral rot that has come about because of the legalisation policy etc..." I'm sure a lot of people think that is all there is...

sabat · 29-04-2014 01:57PM

cloudatlas wrote: »

Article in the Irish Times about the red light district and how it's degraded the area.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/amsterdam-pays-heavy-price-for-selling-out-to-sex-and-drugs-1.1776652

Brilliant journalism from the IT; maybe they should have also reported on the chick on acid at Woodstock who blinded herself staring at the sun or the smugglers stuffing a baby's corpse with heroin.

Perhaps as a consequence, police warned last year about a worrying increase in the number of young people being injured or killed trying to “fly” out their hotel windows.

thrashmetalfan · 29-04-2014 02:18PM

suicide_circus wrote: »

I have found that a holiday in dubai is a pretty good kunt-o-meter. Pretty safe bet that who enjoys that kind of environment is an utter prick.

i have a cousin who has spent a good part of his life working in dubai. needless to say he is an arrogant you know what as well, so he totally fits in with everyone else over there too.

cloudatlas · 29-04-2014 02:32PM

sabat wrote: »

Brilliant journalism from the IT; maybe they should have also reported on the chick on acid at Woodstock who blinded herself staring at the sun or the smugglers stuffing a baby's corpse with heroin.

Very daily mail of them.

Wompa1 · 29-04-2014 03:32PM

cloudatlas wrote: »

There is a chasm between perspective if you're trying to live and make a living somewhere compared to going somewhere as a tourist and having a very specific itinerary.

yeah, I'd imagine most are talking about cities they visited. Otherwise the thread is full of tramps

Daveysil15 · 29-04-2014 09:01PM

cloudatlas wrote: »

Article in the Irish Times about the red light district and how it's degraded the area.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/amsterdam-pays-heavy-price-for-selling-out-to-sex-and-drugs-1.1776652

If you're a tourist though it's a no brainer to avoid areas like this. Doesn't everybody do research into things before they go? Surely anyone knows a red light district is going to have all kinds different characters and run down establishment among the more classier places?

Is it? I would have thought it was one of the main attractions, even if it is just to have a look.

CountingClocks · 29-04-2014 09:37PM

sabat wrote: »

Brilliant journalism from the IT; maybe they should have also reported on the chick on acid at Woodstock who blinded herself staring at the sun or the smugglers stuffing a baby's corpse with heroin.

Well there have been several incidents of tourists jumping out of hotel windows and being seriously injured or killed. As mentioned in the article, one 18-year old was innocently sitting outside a cafe when a guy who thought he could fly landed on him and broke his back leaving him wheelchair-bound.

BuilderPlumber · 29-04-2014 10:28PM

What about cities I WOULD return to? Here are some:

-Dublin: have to see all the places where Love/Hate was made. Have done some of them already. I'll avoid Templebar as much as possible!
-Ballinamore: great place for a good old IRA sing song!
-Prague, Vienna, Bratislava: very nice places.
-Limerick, Cork: nice relaxed cities I thought and easy to get around. Plus I work in Cork!
-Kilkenny: great history, and maybe my birth county Laois can learn some hurling here!
-Portlaoise and Abbeyleix: well, I have to don't I?
-Tehran, Esfahan and Shiraz: lovely places that just need a few changes. Fingers crossed things continue to improve.
-Belfast: lovely place for the food and music. Pubs as they should be.
-Killarney: but out of season.
-Paris: but need to know the friendlier parts which are lovely.
-Rome: ditto for Paris.

cournioni · 29-04-2014 10:45PM

Rome - overcrowded and dirty.
Sunderland - prime example of nothingness.
Long Beach New York - over priced kip, dead and people are rude as hell.
Limerick - dump.
Prague - meh.

chrissb8 · 29-04-2014 11:55PM

Derry city is probably the most miserable place I've been to. A sunny day and everything. Just such a mess of a city layout wise. The murals.

Just to defend one or two places as well! London is a beautiful city. Gorgeous spaces as well. London is up there for one of the most historically steeped countries ever. The center of the world at some stages in history. Food can be brilliant depending on where you go. Wrecks my head seeing people say it's alright.

30-04-2014 08:11AM

BuilderPlumber wrote: »

What about cities I WOULD return to? .

You can post them in the cities you would return to thread

Oops69 · 30-04-2014 12:41PM

Duck's hoop wrote: »

What did you find so offensive about the Champs Élysées in the '80s. As an Irish teenager?

It's a bit tackified and high streety now but even so. In '84 to call it a shìthole was surely just ever so slightly ignorant. In fairness.

'80s Paris was great. And still very French.

It was tackified and high streety then also , first impressions last , I was quite a refined teenager actually

Totally Tropical · 30-04-2014 09:38PM

Sydney Birmingham and London.I just didn't like those places at all.I wouldn't be a fan of Belfast either.It's well marketed and all but to be honest i think it's all a con.I just don't like Belfast i just don't like the vibe of the place.Derry on the other hand is a very nice city and it's a very underrated place compared to Belfast.To balance out the negatives i love Cork Limerick Waterford Liverpool Newcastle and Melbourne along with Derry.One mans paradise is another mans hell.If we all had the same opinions the world would be a boring place.

ErnieBert · 30-04-2014 09:48PM

Kilkenny city. It's just not a city. It's hardly even a town. That said, I actually loved it...!

Stockholm was a bit dull despite the beautifulness of the female inhabitants.

Atlanta is a perfect illustration of the poverty divide. Rich people are smug in their wealth and poor people don't have pi$$ to pi$$. A pot would be luxury.

Sligo is featureless. It's got a by-pass that doesn't even by pass the town, it goes through the town.

Paris is very underwhelming. People were rude and unappreciative of my Leaving Cert standard of French. It's very dirty too (and not in a good way).

josip · 30-04-2014 09:59PM

Linkoping - where they make you queue outside in the cold for 20 minutes on a Friday evening at 8pm to get into a bar that has only 16 people inside, to make it look busy. LINKOPING IS A FCUKING HOLE!!!

Totally Tropical · 30-04-2014 10:27PM

keano_afc wrote: »

Where do you find this tension? Walking down Sandy Row with your Ireland jersey on? Seriously. My wife was in Queens for 4 years while we were dating so I was up there at least every second weekend. Never had one bad incident, and she was staying in Methodist College which leads on to Sandy Row and some loyalist areas. She made a lot of frieinds in college so we still go up every few months. I've parked my Dublin registered car in East Belfast (in some really dodgy areas as well, Beersbridge Road for example) tons of times as most of her friends live over there and never had a problem.

Belfast is a great city, plenty to do and the nightlife is great. You might have some issues if you go looking for them, like any city. But based on my experience the vast majority of people just want to get on with life and couldnt be arsed causing hassle.

The thread is called cities that you will never return to.I just think parts of the city centre (North Street etc) are very run down.I also don't find the risk of running into a rampaging loyalist mob to be all that appealing.;)

Knob Longman · 02-05-2014 06:21PM

Abbeyleix is one rotten kip.

3hn2givr7mx1sc · 02-05-2014 06:23PM

Knob Longman wrote: »

Abbeyleix is one rotten kip.

I don't think Abbeyleix is big enough to be a rotten kip, tbh.

Knob Longman · 02-05-2014 06:26PM

baz2009 wrote: »

I don't think Abbeyleix is big enough to be a rotten kip, tbh.

It deserved a special mention. I visited it once and I shutter when I think of the place.

WHIP IT! · 02-05-2014 06:33PM

Phuket. Disgusting hellhole full of middle-aged Western leches preying on underage girls... one night there was one night too many...

Seaneh · 02-05-2014 06:35PM

I said earlier I wouldn't return to Barcelona. Turns out I was wrong.

Friends from the States are there for the summer because one of them is doing an Internship for her masters in the city. They asked me and another friend to visit for a few days, haven't seen them in 2 years, be rude not when they are so close.

Greentopia · 02-05-2014 06:49PM

Seaneh wrote: »

I said earlier I wouldn't return to Barcelona. Turns out I was wrong.

What's wrong with Barcelona?? one of the best places I've ever been.

My contribution to cities I'd never return to-Stuttgart. Polluted, grey, industrial. Wouldn't have even gone there in the first place is BF of the time wasn't living on the outskirts.

Aidric · 02-05-2014 06:54PM

Some awful shoite being posted in this thread.

newbie13 · 02-05-2014 06:56PM

Dusseldorf - Germany --

Seaneh · 02-05-2014 06:59PM

Greentopia wrote: »

What's wrong with Barcelona?? one of the best places I've ever been.

My contribution to cities I'd never return to-Stuttgart. Polluted, grey, industrial. Wouldn't have even gone there in the first place is BF of the time wasn't living on the outskirts.

Just not for me. I thought there was too much open street crime, prostitution and the place was pretty filthy. But it was the middle of tourist season so I guess that kind of taints it.

Second trip will also be the middle of tourist season but hopefully it leaves a better impression.

I prefer Madrid to Barca as a city and to be honest I prefer the north west coast to the rest of Spain.
My favourite area of Europe outside of Ireland is the triangle between Pamplona, San Sebastian and Bilbao.

Greentopia · 02-05-2014 07:14PM

Seaneh wrote: »

I thought there was too much open street crime, prostitution and the place was pretty filthy. But it was the middle of tourist season so I guess that kind of taints it.

I was there last Nov. and didn't see any of that and I was in El Raval, but I did avoid the parts the guide books warned to stay away from-especially travelling as a woman on my own. I thought they did a great job cleaning up the place on those ride-on machines late at night in the city centre. More of an effort made than I've seen here!

It gets the thumbs up for me for it's extraordinary culture, architecture, food, street life, vibrancy and night life. Can't wait to go back some time.

To each their own.

Diane Selwyn · 02-05-2014 07:24PM

Seaneh wrote: »

Second trip will also be the middle of tourist season but hopefully it leaves a better impression.

So its not actually a city that you will never return to then?

Seaneh · 02-05-2014 08:55PM

Diane Selwyn wrote: »

So its not actually a city that you will never return to then?

As I already explained... Do keep up.

Seaneh · 02-05-2014 08:56PM

Greentopia wrote: »

I was there last Nov. and didn't see any of that and I was in El Raval, but I did avoid the parts the guide books warned to stay away from-especially travelling as a woman on my own. I thought they did a great job cleaning up the place on those ride-on machines late at night in the city centre. More of an effort made than I've seen here!

It gets the thumbs up for me for it's extraordinary culture, architecture, food, street life, vibrancy and night life. Can't wait to go back some time.

To each their own.

Well November is about as off season ad it gets so is image it's a lot less crazy and a lot cleaner.

Cities you'd never return to

Comments