Lonely Planet says Town not as grim

January 2008

DUNDALK is ‘ not as grim’ as it used to be, according to Lonely Planet’s 2008 Guide to Ireland.

Once again, the authors pull no punches in dispensing advice to travellers intending to come to the ‘Wee County’, and, predictably, put more than a few noses out of joint.

‘Dundalk is all business, and always has been.

‘Not as grim as it once was, the town is a pleasant enough place for those who live there. It has a couple of interesting sites.’

St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Kelly’s monument, the county museum, the courthouse and Maid of Éireann all get a mention, but that’s it.

The only dining out recommendation is Rosso, described as ‘one of several restaurants of distinction’ in town.

There are no listings for hotels or B&Bs, though details of the bus and train stations are included, suggesting, perhaps, that visitors may want to leave soon after they arrive.

While the guide extols Carlingford as the ideal tourist base, it says the Cooley peninsula is ‘unsettling.’

After waxing lyrical about ‘ the dark waters of Carlingford Lough’ and the ‘sun-dappled multihued hills of the peninsula’, where the visitor will ‘feel solitude and maybe even calm’, the guide continues: ‘But there’s something unsettling about the place too. Isolated and remote, the Cooley Peninsula may be a political part of the Republic of Ireland, but its spirit is in the wilds of south Armagh, a fiercely independent territory in Northern Ireland that is deeply suspicious of outsiders, and a bastion of Republican support.’