Skip to content
Home

Traveling People

Where to go in Ireland? There’s much to choose from

By Ed Forry, June 3, 2013

by Judy Enright
Special to the BIR
Want to know where to go when you visit Ireland? Well, check out recommendations from some of the Irish who voted for the best place to vacation in Ireland. The Irish Times newspaper recently announced 25 locations shortlisted by their panel of judges from 1,400 nominations submitted since March. The judges, most of whom are in some aspect of tourism, will choose an overall winner.
The top 25 included four islands (Achill, Inis Meain, Inishbofin and Valentia), the River Shannon, two picturesque West Cork spots (the Beara peninsula and Gougane Barra Lake), a few beaches (Caherdaniel and Derrynane in Kerry, Dunmore East in Co. Waterford, Gweedore in Donegal, Rosslare Strand in Co. Wexford, and Strandhill in Sligo) and, of course, Dingle and Dublin City, perennial favorites for tourists.
Also listed were Cork and Londonderry. The gourmet capital of Ireland – Kinsale – made the list too as did: Killarney; Loop Head peninsula, Co. Clare; Louisburgh in Mayo; Boyle in Roscommon and Ballyvaughan in Co. Clare, at the edge of the spectacular Burren. Read more

Walker? Jogger? Cyclist? I have the island for you

By BIR News Room, April 8, 2013

By Judy Enright
Special to the BIR
There was a time not so long ago in Ireland when bicycles and feet were the primary modes of transportation, especially out in the rural areas. Of course, there were motorized vehicles then, too, but certainly not the numbers that there are today. And, bicycles were mostly useful, old-fashioned, and clunky – not sleek racing machines. Read more

‘The Gathering’ and ‘The People’s Parade’ give an added boost to St. Patrick’s Festival in Dublin

By BIR News Room, March 6, 2013

By Judy Enright
Special to the BIR

The St. Patrick Centre: Inside the St. Patrick Centre in Downpatrick, Co. Down, Northern Ireland. One of the many interesting interactive displays at the St. Patrick Centre in Downpatrick, Co. Down, Northern Ireland. The Centre is about 2 1/2 hours from Dublin.

Dublin’s St. Patrick’s Day celebration is always extraordinary and lasts for much longer than just a day. But as spectacular as the annual festival always is, this year’s event promises to be the biggest and best yet thanks to the tourist industry’s massive global promotion, “The Gathering Ireland 2013.”

The Dublin festival runs from March 14 to 18 and one of the many interesting new attractions this year is The People’s Parade, which will precede the annual parade. As many as 8,000 visitors have been invited to fill out applications and march on the 17th along a 2.5 km (a little over a mile) route through Dublin’s streets. If you’d like to be included in The People’s Parade, an application form is available on the website (stpatricksfestival.ie) Read more

Connemara’s charming Lough Inagh: More home than hotel

By Ed Forry, February 7, 2013

BY JUDY ENRIGHT
SPECIAL TO THE BIR
Would I ever steer you wrong about Ireland and all things Irish? No, I never, ever would.
So, I love it when I mention my favorite tourist attractions and accommodations and others agree. For instance, Ireland’s hospitality industry magazine, Hotel and Catering Review, recently chose my favorite hotel – Lough Inagh Lodge in Connemara – as the best country house for 2012. This was the second consecutive year that Lough Inagh won the Gold Medal, the top award. They were also runner-up another year. Read more

On the drawing board: Kylemore Abbey as ‘a new icon’

By Anonymous, January 7, 2013

By Judy Enright
Special to the BIR

Since before 2010, when the Benedictine nuns closed their highly regarded school for girls at Kylemore Abbey in Connemara, the most frequent question in the area has been: “What next?”

Would the picturesque castle, perched on a rise above Pollacappul Lake, become a tourist hotel? Would the property be transformed into a Celtic Magic Kingdom? Could developers build a casino or conference center in peaceful Connemara? Read more

Irish treasure: Harry Clarke’s stained-glass windows

By BIR News Room, November 30, 2012

By Judy Enright
Special to the BIR

It’s hard to fully appreciate the amazing colors and complex details in the late artist Harry Clarke’s magnificent stained glass windows The Immaculate Conception window (1925) in St. Mary’s in Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo. (Judy Enright photo)It’s hard to fully appreciate the amazing colors and complex details in the late artist Harry Clarke’s magnificent stained glass windows The Immaculate Conception window (1925) in St. Mary’s in Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo. (Judy Enright photo)

It seems appropriate in this holiest of seasons to draw special attention to the incredibly detailed and brilliant stained glass windows designed and created by Irish artist Harry Clarke at the beginning of the 20th Century.

Clarke was born on St. Patrick’s Day 1889 on North Frederick Street, Dublin, where his father, Joshua, had a stained glass and ecclesiastical decorating business. The younger of two sons (brother Walter was exactly one year older), Harry left school at 14 to join the family business after his mother, Bridget, died. He took night classes in stained glass and won several scholarships, which ultimately led him to study the art in London and France. Read more

Pick a town, pick a time, and Ireland will delight you

By Anonymous, November 2, 2012

by Judy Enright Special to the BIR One of many things I love about Ireland is that each time you visit, you are likely to be surprised by something that you haven’t before seen or experienced. Each season and location brings its own set of special delights and events. LOUGH INAGH This fall, I visited Lough Inagh Lodge Hotel (loughinaghlodgehotel.ie) in Connemara – my favorite small hotel and a convenient jumping off spot for photographic forays into the stunningly beautiful surrounding area. The hotel has 13 double bedrooms, is comfortable and welcoming, and the food is delicious. Read more

When it comes to wind energy, the Irish know their stuff

By Ed Forry, October 2, 2012

By Judy Enright
Special to the BIR
The Irish are a wind-loving lot – and why not when they are so often buffeted by the gales that swirl around the greenest island in the Atlantic? While some here complain that wind turbines block their vistas, the Irish have long embraced the concept of harnessing the wind’s energy and all its resulting benefits and you can see turbines atop many hills in the country. Read more

Kylemore Abbey has history, and much, much more

By Anonymous, August 31, 2012

Resplendent: Kylemore AbbeyResplendent: Kylemore Abbey

If you’ve traveled through the West of Ireland, you have almost certainly stopped to visit Kylemore Abbey, built in the 1800s by Mitchell Henry for his wife, Margaret. Kylemore is one of Ireland’s top tourist attractions for so many reasons—the fascinating history of the castle and the Henry family’s many contributions to life in Connemara, the wonderfully well-stocked gift shop, delicious meals and snacks in the Mitchell cafe and Tea House, the restored Victorian Walled Garden, beautiful Neo-Gothic Church, and the vast array of programs held on site during the height of the tourist season. Read more

The Irish and B&B offerings: Very successful combination

By Anonymous, August 2, 2012

Clonalis in Castlerea, Co. Roscommon, the ancestral home of the O'Conor familyClonalis in Castlerea, Co. Roscommon, the ancestral home of the O'Conor family
By Judy Enright
Special to the BIR
The Irish have totally mastered the art of bed and breakfast accommodation, offering many wonderful and welcoming B&Bs all across the country where you will experience so much more than just a bed for the night and breakfast. I enjoy staying in B&Bs of every sort and will choose that option over most hotels. Read more

AdaptiveThemes