Happy birthday, brew you: Guinness Storehouse toasts 15th anniversary Deirdre Reynolds PUBLISHED02/12/2015 | 12:18 SHARE 4The Guinness Storehouse. Photo: Deposit Happy birthday, brew you – the Guinness Storehouse toasts its 15th anniversary in the capital today. SHARE The former fermentation plant famously underwent a massive €42 million facelift in 2000. A decade and a half on, the St James’s Gate attraction is expected to welcome its 14th million visitor this year. Celebrating the occasion, Guinness Storehouse Managing Director Paul Carty told Independent.ie: “When we first opened, our target was to welcome one million visitors. I saw that as very far off in the distance and stretching things to say the […]
Tralee and Lismore named as the best tourism towns in Ireland In their annual Tourism Towns Awards, Fáilte Ireland awarded Tralee and Lismore with a certificate and a grant of €5,000 towards further tourism development Wed, Nov 25, 2015, 16:00 Updated: Wed, Nov 25, 2015, 16:04 Joan Scales Tralee and Lismore have been crowned the top large and small tourism towns, respectively, by Michael Ring, TD Minister for State for Tourism and Sports. The Fáilte Ireland annual tourism awards recognise those towns that do their best for tourism and where all sectors have supported the strengthening of their local welcome. Each town will receive a certificate and a grant […]
Happy birthday, brew you: Guinness Storehouse toasts 15th anniversary Deirdre Reynolds PUBLISHED02/12/2015 | 12:18 SHARE 4The Guinness Storehouse. Photo: Deposit Happy birthday, brew you – the Guinness Storehouse toasts its 15th anniversary in the capital today. SHARE The former fermentation plant famously underwent a massive €42 million facelift in 2000. A decade and a half on, the St James’s Gate attraction is expected to welcome its 14th million visitor this year. Celebrating the occasion, Guinness Storehouse Managing Director Paul Carty told Independent.ie: “When we first opened, our target was to welcome one million visitors. I saw that as very far off in the distance and stretching things to say the […]
Travel Writer, Mayo: “Because it wasn’t vineyards and bistros we initially had a feeling of being hard done by. We were, of course, entirely wrong.” Emma Sides chooses Belmullet over Bordeaux and discovers a holiday she didn’t know she would appreciate “Blind Harbour’s secret beach within a beach, reached by clambering through a small cave, still gave me a thrill and brought me back to boogie boarding on wooden surfboards (purchased in Cornwall in the 1950s) and cartwheels and handstands on the sand to warm up after.” Last summer, trying to save money, we ditched our plans for a continental holiday and exchanged Bordeaux for Belmullet, pretty much as far […]
Ireland’s 100 Best Places to Stay – and they’re surprisingly affordable “It’s about authenticity” Pól Ó Conghaile Twitter EMAIL PUBLISHED12/03/2015 | 06:48 SHARE 7Newforge House, Co. Armagh McKennas’ Guides has published its 100 Best Places to Stay in Ireland, with some fascinating inclusions… and exclusions. SHARE The influential guide features 12 new entries this year, ranging from Dublin’s five-star Marker Hotel to Glencarrig Farmhouse B&B on Co. Clare’s Loop Head peninsula. Ard Na Sidhe in Co. Kerry – recently voted one of the world’s best affordable places to stay by Condé Nast Traveler – also makes the cut for the first time. Cork City’s River Lee Hotel is new to […]
666 years in the making, is this Ireland’s most haunted house? Loftus Hall’s devil in the detail Pól Ó Conghaile Twitter EMAIL PUBLISHED30/03/2015 | 22:46 SHARE 5Loftus Hall at Halloween. A group of paranormal investigators claims to have encountered “major temperature drops” and electro-magnetic field spikes at a house said to be Ireland’s most haunted. SHARE Irish Ghost Hunters (IGH) visited Loftus Hall on Wexford’s Hook Peninsula to carry out several paranormal investigations this March. The spectre-seekers found “major temperature drops” as well as “significant spikes” in electro-magnetic fields (EMF) in some areas of the house, they say. “Our team is scientific, we don’t work with psychics or mediums,” […]
Barfly: Porterhouse Temple Bar, Dublin Nineteen years after it opened, the chain’s first Dublin pub is thriving Porterhouse Temple Bar: walls are heavy with craft beer bottles, the stairwell lined with awards. It’s 19 years since Porterhouse opened their brewhouse on Parliament Street in Dublin 2. It wasn’t such a busy spot then: craft beer was foreign, Temple Bar was in its infancy, the boom was a pipe dream and a group of young men taking on the might of the brewing industry seemed like a crazy waste of time. Nearly two decades, six bars, a devoted customer base and multiple awards later and they seem to have made their […]
The terrifying – but funny – world of the disgruntled TripAdvisor reviewer Ireland’s grumpiest visitors Joe O’Shea PUBLISHED12/08/2015 | 02:30 SHARE 7The Rock of Cashel at sunset. They’re our top attractions, but to some caustic critics, the Cliffs of Moher are ‘just cliffs with vicious parking fees’ and the Book of Kells is ‘old and dirty’. Joe O’Shea unearths the funniest TripAdvisor reviews… SHARE The Rock of Cashel is “just a rock and some ruins”, Blarney Castle is “basically hell on earth” and Cork’s famed English Market is “full of smelly fish shops”. Don’t even think about going to the Cliffs Of Moher, all you will see is “fog and […]
Skellig Michael: Is 6th-century rock star selling out to a galaxy far, far away? The Force Awakens Graham Clifford PUBLISHED06/09/2015 | 02:30 SHARE ‘Star Wars’ is coming back, but should it be a welcome guest on ancient Skellig, asks our reporter. SHARE Just days old, the little bird would easily fit into the palm of my hand. Nestled between the stone walls of a monastic beehive hut, the grey, fluffy storm petrel chick is sheltered from the elements. In another corner I hear a Manx shearwater cooing as the winds roll in from the Atlantic. This is Skellig Michael, monastic rock, ecological paradise and since last year, a film set. […]
Subscribe It sounds like a cliche, but South West Donegal is truly a hidden gem. Sarah Jessica Parker and hubbie Matthew Broderick have been coming to this unspoilt region to escape the glare of the paparazzi for over a decade – and from the minute we arrived, we could see why. From its rugged, beautiful scenery to its delicious seafood and unrivalled traditional craft fare, you’d be hard pressed to find a more magical Irish getway. Castle Murray House 3pm : Hold court at Castle Murray House Father and daughter team Martin and Marguerite Howley have run this charming little hideaway since 2002. Quaint comfortable and homely, Castle Murray House […]