At the end of this month, between Friday 28th and Sunday 30th September, Galway celebrates its International Oyster and Seafood Festival.
An annual event, this is possibly one of the most international recognised food festivals in Ireland and the world’s longest running oyster festival.
Continue reading
In a rare public appearance in 1997, Neil Alden Armstrong, most famously known as the American astronaut who was the first person to walk on the Moon, spent four days in Kerry on a visit to open an exhibition on space exploration at the town’s county museum.
Continue reading
The Corona Cork Film Festival has quickly become one of Ireland’s largest and most loved cultural events. This year will mark the 57th anniversary of the festival which takes place from the 11th to the 18th November 2012. The first ever festival took place in 1956 with interest rising rapidly ever since.
Why not head to Cork in Southern Ireland this November for your Ireland vacation and join in on the fun and festivities. This years programme promises to be jam packed yet again this year with every film genre, taste and entertainment need catered for!
On a slightly different note, just recently the top 10 films as voted for by well-known and respected critics have been released: Continue reading
Most of the festivals highlighted throughout the country celebrate various aspects of our proud Irish heritage, and as a European and multicultural country we also like to celebrate and acknowledge the traditions of our neighbours. One upcoming event which celebrates the food, drink and customs of another nation is the Paulaner Oktoberfest Beag allowing us to don lederhosen and embrace a true German spirit for a few days.
Continue reading
This weekend proved to be a dynamic sporting occasion in the capital with two national football championships taking place within 24 hours of each other. On Saturday we had the rare thrill of witnessing US College American Football season in action, playing for only the second time in its history on foreign shores (first time was in our own Croke Park in 1996) when Notre Dame played Navy in the Emerald Isle Classic at the Aviva Stadium with the aptly named Notre Dame Fighting Irish delivering a comprehensive win.
And on Sunday back in our own national football championships, we had the long awaited second national football semi-final when Mayo played defending champions Dublin in Croke Park. Despite a close finish, dark horses of the completion Mayo provided another upset in this seasons championships, after Donegal‘s surprising win over Cork last weekend, to secure their first final appearance in six years. They will now face Donegal in the final on 22nd September with only one thing certain, whatever the result there will be a new All Ireland football champion for the 2012 football season. With Dublin being the last football champions of the past number of years to fall in a championship which has been full of shocks and surprises, this championship has seen the old guards and past champions of recent years fall to fresh blood and could mark a turning point in a championship that had been become predictable. Continue reading
What a weekend for Sport in Ireland and for our Sporting Stars representing Ireland.
In London, Ireland’s Paralympians have been racking up the medals across a number of disciplines and smashing world records whilst they are at! The medal count for Ireland is now at 4 Gold’s, 2 Silver’s and 1 Bronze and there is still plenty of more action to come and chances for medals as the games progress this week.
Continue reading
While midsummer is the time of year for a range of arts festivals up and down the country as summer is ending and we draw onto autumn, the food festivals kick into gear. September and October it appears are the months for genuine lovers of good food with a number of key food festivals highlighting the best of Irish food, drink and local culture. In the next few weeks expect to see the towns of Skibbereen in West Cork (Taste of West Cork festival 10-16th Sept) the cities of Waterford (Waterford Harvest Festival 10-16th September) and Galway (Galway Oyster Festival 28-30th September) showcase the best in local produce and cooking in conjunction with a fun resident festival vibe.
And if one is interested in even more food festivals and top cooking, then in October one can look forward to the Dingle Food and Wine Festival in the beautiful scenic region of Dingle peninsula. An area of outstanding natural beauty, being in lonely planets top 100 places on earth, Dingle is also renowned for the quality of local food with seafood a highlight, showcased in its many top restaurants and highlighted to the full in this delightful and overlooked festival.
Last night was the opening ceremony to the London 2012 Paralympics games, and what a spectacular opening, beginning with a segment depicting the Big Bang, appearances from Sir Ian McKellen and Professor Stephen Hawking’s and a massive 3,000 volunteers taking part.
Continue reading
With Donegal beating Cork to get a place in the All-ireland final, 2012 it appears to be Donegal and the Northwests year: by weather standards if not in sport, not that the general public would know. For it appears that despite weather reports from Met Eireann that continually forecasted rainy weather nationwide, Donegal and the northwest of the country had a summer of sunshine and clear skies. So off has RTE’s weather forecasts been for the northwest that some local councillors in Donegal claim that the RTE meteorologists have neglected to accurately represent the whole of the country concentrating instead on the more well-known tourist counties of Cork, Kerry and Dublin. Continue reading
