For our final post before Worldcon, Gillian Polack explores the Hill of Tara, ably assisted by James Shields and Fionna O’Sullivan. Today I went to Tara. Or rather, Fionna drove and James took the final batch of intrepid pictures in the driving rain. Today three of us went to Tara, then. This first picture is […]
The Georgian period ran from 1714 to 1830, under Kings George I to IV, and was very influential on Irish history and on Dublin’s development. Much of Dublin’s most important architecture was built during this time, not least its famous Georgian Squares. These squares were not just pretty parks, they were the entertainment multiplexes of […]
This week Emma J King takes to some interesting places to walk around Dublin… There are some remarkably pleasant walks, both urban and rural, within easy reach of Dublin City Centre and accessible by public transport. I recently had some unexpected free time in Dublin and did each of these walks as a day trip […]
This week Carolina Gomez Lagerlöf takes us walking around Inishbofin Island in Connemara. Hiking is one of the best ways to experience a new country. This time I wanted to see more of Ireland than just Dublin. I did it the easy and comfortable way, by booking a self-guided hiking tour from one hiking tour […]
Ireland was once cris-crossed with railway lines connecting many isolated communities around the country. At it’s height, there were over 3000 miles (5000km) of railway tracks. Sadly. railways proved expensive to run and as better roads developed, many railway lines proved unviable and were closed. This was not helped by the partition of the island, […]
This week, James Shields takes us to Dunmore Cave near Kilkenny… Not far from the south-eastern corner of Ireland lies the town of Kilkenny, often referred to as “Ireland’s sixth city”. Though not officially recognised as a city, it has its own cathedral and was briefly the capital of the “Catholic Confederacy of Ireland” from […]
Birthplace of Dumbledore (well, Richard Harris) and the childhood stomping-ground of Preacher’s Tulip O’Hare (Ruth Negga), Limerick is an ancient and storied place. The name is likely derived from one of several words or phrases meaning ‘a bare place where horses graze,’ Vikingised and Anglicised into a name shared with a well-known genre of rude […]
Whenever people tell me they’re going to visit Dublin, the first thing I always do is urge them to make sure they get out of the city at some point. It’s not that Dublin isn’t a terrific city, with lots of wonderful corners to explore—you’ll know that already if you’ve been reading this blog. But […]
Despite visiting Belfast every year of my childhood to see my Barrett Grandparents, until recent times, I was blissfully unaware of the existence of the Royal Navy warship, HMS Caroline. What makes this vessel worthy of interest? Her vintage. For unlike the floating computers that make up the modern navies of the world, with their […]
Derry, Londonderry, Doire, the Maiden City, the Walled City, Stroke City – Northern Ireland’s second city has many names and flavours, depending on who’s talking about it. My personal favourite nickname is Legenderry, used for a lot of the publicity material when it was the UK City of Culture back in 2013. It’s a small […]
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