Saint Patrick's Day 2010 in Ireland

If you have always dreamed of an unforgettable holiday in Ireland, why not make it during this year's Saint Patrick's Day period? Every year all over Ireland almost every town organizes special events in order to celebrate the most important day in the year for the Irish: Saint Patrick's Day.

Saint Patrick's Day is an event that is celebrated nearly all over the world but only in Ireland will you be able to experience the real "Craic": downing a few pints or more likely a couple of Irish coffees if the day is cold, then standing in the freezing cold (you'll be lucky if it's not raining) for an hour or two in order to get a good sighting of the Saint Patrick's Day parade, then heading to a pub that also serves grub where you can have a comforting bowl of Irish stew and then another one or twenty pints of Guinness while listening and occasionally (especially if you opt for the twenty pints) joining in the session of traditional Irish "Ceol" (music).

This year the organizers of the Saint Patrick festival have prepared events that will be rolled out over six days starting on March 12th and finishing on March 17th in Dublin which is the capital of Ireland and also where the biggest Saint Patrick's Day parade will be held. You can check the official Saint Patrick's Festival website to get an idea of what is going to happen mainly in Dublin during these six days.

But it's not only in Dublin that the Saint Patrick's Day celebrations will be held in Ireland. Every major and a lot of smaller Irish cities usually hosts their own parade and events such as street theatre, outdoor concerts, family events, and of course the obligatory traditional music sessions in pubs.

The city of Cork will start its Saint Patrick's Day celebrations on Saturday, 13th March with events on the 13th, 14th and 17th March 2010.

In Galway the Saint Patrick's Day parade on /march 17th will start at 12.30pm; this year's theme is "Over the Moon" so expect to see some aliens and UFOs along with the usual green leprechauns (little green leprechauns?). Galway's Saint Patrick's Day festival is also spread between March 13th and March 17th 2010 so even if you find it too cold to stand outside to watch the parade, there will be more entertainment to look forward to during that week.

I will not be attending any of the above parades this year as I have an obligation to my eldest daughter who is in a school band and who will be participating in our local town's Saint Patrick's Day parade. I hope our local pubs will be well stocked with hot chocolate for afterwards so me and my girls can relax and enjoy the Craic after standing and parading in the cold weather.