A poem for Saint Valentines Day

Posted on February 14, 2008 by Discovering Ireland

In a poll of the top ten most romantic nations in the world, it’s doubtful if many would vote for Ireland. Irish men have a reputation for being shy and taciturn except after a few beers and with few exceptions, being more interested in sport than their wives or girlfriends.

Ireland does possess however, some of the most romantic landscapes in the world. From the mountains of Mourne in the north east of the island, to the wildness of Connemara in the west, the stunning valleys of the Wicklow mountains in the east such as Glendalough, the windswept romantic coastline of west Cork and the breathtaking majesty of the Dingle peninsula with its stunning marriage of mountains and sea.

Ireland has also produced more than its share of literary heavyweights and there is something within the soul of the Irish that loves to give expression to our innermost thoughts normally through speech and song. One of our most celebrated poets and Nobel prizewinner for literature in 1923 is William Butler (W.B.) Yeats. So as a gift for you to share on this Valentine’s day and as a reply to those who say the Irish are not romantic I give you a poem from W.B. Yeats from the year 1888:

He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven

Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

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Travel to Ireland is best value in many years

Posted on February 8, 2008 by DiscoveringIreland Travel Tips

Aer Lingus have just announced a sale that has flights to Ireland for only $289 in the peak Summer season and as low as $199 in low season.
I have been watching the price of travel this year and despite the weak dollar combined with expensive oil, a vacation inAer Lingus Ireland in 2008 looks like it will be better value than it has been in quite a few years.

The Aer Lingus sale combined with some great offers from tour operators like DiscoveringIreland means that travelers from the USA or Canada who book early can avail of better value than last year.
For example, DiscoveringIreland’s latest offer of a free night in an Irish Castle added to these great Aer Lingus fares means that you could spend a week in Irish hotels (including flights and rental car) for $972  in July or just $972 in April

If you book your own flights, a week in family run Bed and Breakfast accommodation is available from just $399 per person including rental car which makes Ireland very affordable this year without any compromise on the experience.

Everyone recognizes that 2008 will have its challenges but this response from the Irish tourist industry is sure to see thousands of US visitors yet again come to one of the friendliest tourist destinations in the world.

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The Gathering 2008 – Traditional Music Festival in Killarney

Posted on February 5, 2008 by sylvie.quemeneur

At the end of this month, from Wednesday 20th to Sunday 24th February, one of Ireland’s major cultural events will take place in Killarney: The Gathering, traditional music festival. Now in its ninth year, the festival keeps growing and attracts visitors not only from Ireland but from all over the world, mainly coming from America and Europe.

All lovers of Irish traditional music and Irish dances meet there every year to share their common passion but also to spend a great time with each others. From morning to late in the night, you will find the best of Irish entertainment there. So why not joining the thousands of traditional music fans to experience the legendary Irish “Craic”?

During the day, musicians can attend instruments workshops (Fiddle, Accordeon, Concertina, Flute and Tin Whistle) while the dancers will have their own workshops with Set-dancing classes for children, beginners and advanced “steppers”. The highlights will be of course the Céilís every night, and the concerts, among them Pauline Scanlon and her Band, Lúnasa and Máirtín O’Connor. There will be also late-night music sessions and an all-day singing master-class. And if you want to make a break from all of that effervescence, join the guided walk into the Killarney National Park, or just stroll into Killarney town where you can find a wide choice of shops, restaurants and pubs. Staying overnight won’t be a problem as they are many hotels, B&Bs and self-catering in Killarney or around. But be sure to book in advance for that special event. See you there!

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Pancake Tuesday – A magical time of year

Posted on February 5, 2008 by Maria Lieb

Throughout Ireland and in many other countries, the day before Ash Wednesday – Shrove Tuesday – is commonly known as Pancake Day. This day is celebrated before the beginning of Lent, the fasting time up to Easter. We learn from the historians, that on Shrove Tuesday everybody used up the supplies of fat, butter and eggs. These foods were forbidden during austere Lent. To make pancakes was the best way to do so!

How much can you eat? Try on your own, make up for it this year by gorging yourself until you’ve got pancake batter coming out your ears.

Recipe: Pancakes

100g flour
2 Eggs
200ml milk from West Cork pastures, mixed with 75ml sparkling water

  1. Sift flour into a mixing bowl.
  2. Make a well in the centre of the flour and break the eggs into it
  3. Whisk well
  4. Slowly add the milk and water, whisking as you go
  5. Cook in a pan over a medium heat

Toppings

  • Sugar and lemon juice. It is vitally important that the juice be from a plastic lemon. Otherwise it may as well be any other day of the week because it’s just not Pancake Tuesday without plastic lemon.
  • Nutella. Nothing else. Okay, maybe ice cream. You’ll be bouncing off the walls for days.
  • Bacon and maple syrup. Friend in work gave me a bottle of maple syrup from Canada, since all I seem to be able to find in Dublin is maple-flavored Golden Syrup.
  • Blueberries. Awesome when they’re dropped into the batter as it cooks in the pan.

Tuesday Pancake

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Why Finn McCool is Still Cool?

Posted on February 4, 2008 by Kristel Enkelberg

Giants Causeway

Finn McCool, a 52 ½ feet tall Irish hunter-warrior was known as a friendly giant and is something of a symbol for County Antrim hospitality today. People could often see him and his wife Oonagh gazing across the sea waving to the Scottish Giant to come over for a visit. The sea of Moyle being something of a challenge between the Irish and Scottish coasts, Finn decided to build a bridge from the many hexagonal stones that lay strewn along the shoreline. What happened next you can read at the World Heritage Site yourself- the Giant’s Causeway.

Maybe the pathway was an easy access later in the 17th century to the Scottish & English settlers making Ulster a fertile soil for plantation – to read more about this facet of Irish history check here – Modern Ireland.

This is a story about what you can see in Northern Ireland and especially on its coastline.

Northern Ireland consists of six of the nine counties of the province of Ulster, lying in the northeast of the island of Ireland, covering 14,139 km2. It has its own government – the Northern Ireland Assembly and currency being the pound sterling – it is effectively a part of Britain with its own unique identity, like Scotland and Wales.

Donegal is a good access point into Northern Ireland if you have traveled from the west coast of Ireland for example. The city of Derry or Londonderry (depending on your politics) is very close to the border with Donegal county, a border which no longer exists physically on the ground but is merely a line on a map nowadays. The Tower Museum and the Museum of Free Derry offers a detailed and intriguing story of the city’s history.

Not being a city girl myself I bypassed Derry towards the coastline during a lovely sunny day back iMussenden Templen June 2007. I was well impressed by the sandy beaches of Portrush and Portstewart and a stop at the Mussenden Temple was a relaxing lunch break in County Londonderry. I could see the Downhill castle standing high on a hilltop from the car. It is rather a roofless shell after a fire in 1851 however the charming glen planted with wild flowers and the enquiring looks of the sheep lead you to the clifftop where the temple stands. It is a memorial for Mrs. Mussenden built for her as a library by her cousin the Bishop of Derry. The splendid view is well worth
the time to get there.

A perfect overnight stay is in the village of Bushmills in County Antrim. Just a stone’s throw away is the Giants Causeway. You need good shoes and fine weather to enjoy the most breathtaking and inspiring coastline. I can still feel the strangeness of this place and Thackeray has expressed his feelings about the Causeway with the following: “When the world was moulded and fashioned out of formless chaos, this must have been the bit over – a remnant of chaos”.

You can enjoy a good twenty- minute walk from the Causeway to Carrick- a -Rede, the island which can only be reached by the perilous swinging rope bridge. It was erected by salmon fishermen to allow them access to a valuable fishing spot from where they would cast their nets into the sea. If it is a very windy day the bridge may be closed; something for which you may be thankful. If it is open you will need very steady pair of legs and must not be afraid of heights in order to cross and take some hard earned photos on the bridge itself.

From the Northern tip I headed to the Glens of Antrim. The uniqueness of the glens are the variations of a natural landscape including vertical cliffs, tundra plateaus and glacial valleys. Hugging the coastline are timeless fishing villages like Ballycastle, Glenarm and Cushendall where you can easily find a farmhouse B&B for the night.

The next morning a lovely walk in the Glenariff Forest Park ended with a picnic. As I have missed taking forest walks in West Cork where I live, I thoroughly enjoyed the one hour hike and taking pictures of the waterfall known as the Ess na Larach. It tumbles through a wooded gorge created by the Glenariff River.

I suppose no journey to Northern Ireland is complete without a peak into Belfast. It is a bustling city with its many new chic hotels and modern bars .The Ulster Folk and Transport Museum seven miles east of the city adds a bit of unusual flavor. It is an Open Air folk museum that illustrates the way of living in the 1900s.

Before heading home I had come to the conclusion that the country of Finn McCool is well worth visiting. A rental car with an Irish plate, no borders and few pounds sterling in my pocket, I dashed through Northern Ireland in just 3 days but it still left me haunted by the memories of its nature and its landscape.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand–
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep–while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

(E. A. Poe)

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Irish Dancing and a GAA Match

Posted on January 31, 2008 by genevieve.tuit

You may wonder what these two things may have in common – well 2 things actually – firstly they are both great passions of mine and secondly and possibly more importantly as far as you’re concerned they are 2 things that in this very modern and changing Ireland have not changed very much at all.

Let’s take Irish Dancing first of all. And I don’t mean the Irish dancing that conjures up visions of little girls in traditional costumes and goldilocks ringlets. What I’m talking about is Set Dancing which is a completely different thing altogether.

Long ago if you were going on a date in Ireland, if he wasn’t bringing you to the pictures he’d be bringing you to a dance. Now ‘a dance’ might bring to mind ladies in ball gowns dancing sedately, but in Ireland a dance was quite a different thing! So much so that they were never held without the parish priest patrolling the hall to make sure things didn’t go too far (you’ll be glad to hear this is one tradition that has died out!)

If you’ve ever seen a set you’ll know that it’s a formation dance made up of four couples not unlike a square dance, just pick up the speed about 10 fold and add in some ribald traditional Irish music. And if you’re wondering about the priest let me just explain that you have to get fairly up close and personal when you’re lepping around the floor at high speed.

After a couple of sets you might take a break to do a ceili dance such as the Haymakers Jig or the Seige of Ennis. These dances were popular as they involved a lot of partner swapping so if you positioned yourself right you might get to dance with the object of your affection even if you hadn’t had the gumption to ask her to the dance and had only gotten as far as making eyes at her across the floor.

Half way through the night a cup of tea and some cakes and sandwiches would be served by the ladies of the parish to keep the strength up. And you’ll still be treated to these refreshments at any ceili to this very day!

So if you’d like to experience the delights of ‘a dance’ as it might have been fifty or sixty years ago in Ireland just ask your Ireland guide if they can include a rural ceili dance on your itinerary.

What about the GAA you ask (as you well might after reading Paul’s blog below – as well as the heated debate taking place in the comments!)? Well check back soon and I’ll tell you all about it!

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Cork hurling and football crisis – who cares?

Posted on January 31, 2008 by Discovering Ireland

There are several things in life that one can take for granted. Kerry win football titles, Kilkenny win hurling titles, Cork win some of each but don’t win enough of either of them. One of the reasons for this may be detected in the current civil war between the players and the County Board which has resulted in the players refusing to play. There is no point in engaging in a minute analysis of who said what and when, not least because in general the public, me included have no interest in the detail. As a true rebel I’m only interested in having the team play at its best and to be in the shakedown for either or both titles come September.

Along the way, I’ll have spent my euros supporting the teams, I’ll have had my say in the car and bar on the composition of the team and I’ll have thrown myself wholeheartedly into the business of being a Cork man who cares passionately about the success or failure of his team. Now it strikes me that that description probably fits the players who play for the county at every level, the administrators at all levels and the backroom team of physios, kit men, groundsmen and so on, the vast majority of whom, like the players are amateur, unpaid and do it because they love it and want to make a difference. Want in short, to win things.

What we have here in Cork is a power struggle between the old guard, the torch bearers, who for the past 125 years have caused this extraordinary cultural, social and sporting organisation we know as the G.A.A., to become the world-renowned phenomenon that it is and the legions of players who for too long have been the currency used and discarded by the very thing they have helped create. In Cork there is a passion amongst the players and supporters to be the best and for the players to be the best prepared. In the past the tradition has been that the players are told what they will be allowed to have, what can be afforded; sometimes that’s been enough but more often the standards have fallen below what is expected and indeed what is the norm in other counties. So along the way maybe we’ve not won as many titles as we should have but sure we do alright don’t we? And there is the crux of the problem. To some, the players are getting uppity and need to be taken down a peg or two, to others, the more vocal players are eyed suspiciously as fifth columnists “the enemy within” who have all sorts of agendas including pay for play. I suspect the majority just want the dispute to go away without caring how, so that the teams get out on the field and we have something to look forward to come May when the days are longer and all positive results are still possible.

For me, it’s not about democracy or indeed the G.A.A.’s preferred weapon of choice, bureaucracy, it’s about cutting the players some slack and giving them a bigger say in how things get done for them. It’s the players who work their backsides off, the players who make the sacrifices, the players who take the abuse and yes the players who also get the glory. But imagine at the end of your career looking back at the sacrifice, the pain and the glory and imagine thinking that your true potential went unfulfilled because bureaucracy and rules and egos put obstacles in your way. Wouldn’t you, given the chance to do something about it, do it? I would.

Whatever ones opinion check there is no denying that when everything within the Cork GAA camp runs smoothly, the action in Pairc Ui Chaoimh grounds can be electrifying when an onsong Cork hurling or football team takes on the might of the other GAA giants.

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St Valentine and Dublin. What's the connection ?

Posted on January 30, 2008 by Vivienne Stanley

So you cannot think of where to take your loved one for that special valentines break well why not take them to St Valentine himself. Take a look at some of our Dublin Hotels

It may not be known outside Ireland that the Carmelite Church in Whitefriar Street in Dublin City claims to hold the remains of St Valentine. The Carmelites first arrived in Ireland in 1271, and today there is a community of 17 in the Monastery attached to Whitefriar Street Church. The story of how the remains of St Valentine came to rest in Whitefriar Street is interesting, and involves a nineteenth-century Carmelite attached to the Church, Fr John Spratt. Fr Spratt visited Rome in 1835, and apparently on the strength that he was such a great preacher , Pope Gregory XVI decided to make his Church a gift of St Valentine’s body, then believed to be in the Cemetery of St Hippolitus in Rome. The remains of Valentine were then transferred to Whitefriar Street Church in 1836.

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A Whale of a Time In West Cork

Posted on January 30, 2008 by rosie.dent

While the Greenpeace ship, Esperanza, and Australian surveillance ships track the Japanese whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean in an effort to stop them killing minke whales and fin whales, they plan to kill 900 minke whales and 50 fin whales by mid April, the whales and other marine life off the Irish coast are thankfully under no such threat.

West Cork is now recognised as one of the best places in Europe to go whale watching and sometimes they come so close to the shore that it is not even necessary to go out in a boat. From the kitchen window at home, near the village of Castletownshend in West Cork, I have seen a pod of more than 20 fin whales (the second largest animal ever to live on this planet) less than a mile from the shore. They stayed there for a couple of weeks feeding on sprat before moving on. Fin whales are most commonly seen between August and December. Minke whales are also common and even the occasional humpback whale.

Dolphins too are a common sight off the Irish coast. One evening a couple of years ago weDolphin headed out from the fishing village of Baltimore with the hope of seeing some. We didn’t have to go far and when they saw us coming they came to meet us. Far from being scared of the boat they came right up to it to play in the waves alongside us. A school of about a hundred dolphins so close to us that we could hear their high-pitched squeaking.

Blue SharkShark are also plentiful a bit further offshore with a variety of species including blue shark, basking shark and the occasional six-gilled shark. One summer out in a small boat in Castletownshend harbour we came across a massive basking shark, bigger than our boat which it decided to swim around. A slightly scary experience because although the shark was completely harmless we were worried that it would tip the boat and we’d all end up joining it in the water.

Six Gilled Shark

Charter a boat from one of the many fishing villages in West Cork including Castletownbere, Baltimore, Courtmacsherry, Kinsale, Glandore or Union Hall
and spend a day shark fishing. One of the biggest fish ever caught off the Irish Coast was a 315 lb six-gilled shark caught off Baltimore. Hooked by my cousin Stefano off my fathers boat, the shark weighed twice the Irish record but unfortuately could not be claimed as a record. After more than an hour of trying to land the massive six-gilled Stefano had to hand the rod over to another angler and a record cannot be claimed if the rod is handled by more than one person. With many hotels in West Cork to choose from, there is no excuse to visit this great part of the country!

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Air Canada extends service between Ireland and Canada

Posted on January 24, 2008 by joan.oconnell

Air Canada Yesterday in Dublin Air Canada announced the resumption of their scheduled services between Toronto and Dublin starting on 20 May 2008. Due to high demand Air Canada have started the service earlier than in previous years with flights four times a week between 20 May and 2 June 2008 and a daily service after that until 02 October. The service then reverts back to a four day service until 19 October. Air Canada has extensive network throughout Canada and North America making it an excellent choice of airline for vacations to Ireland. Arriving in Dublin at 9.15 am means that visitors avoid the early morning traffic grid-lock and can pick up their car rental or make their way into their Dublin city centre hotel with ease.

DiscoveringIreland has many fine centrally loacted hotels to offer in Dublin such as the Davenport, The Shelbourne, The Morgan Hotel. Alternatively you can head south travelling through the historical towns of Kilkenny and Waterford. A visit to the wilds of West Cork or the scenic Ring of Kerry. You may choose to travel to the west of Ireland, visiting Westport, Connemara, the colorful Galway city, the barren bleak landscape of The Burren and the spectacular Cliffs of Moher. Visitors travelling to Ireland either from Canada or North America will have plenty of options available to them and lots to see and experience while in Ireland.

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