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Four of Cork City’s Best Accommodations
Tuesday, December 20th, 2011 / Richard F. Downes

The luxurious Maryborough Hotel & Spa, dating from the eighteenth Century, provides all the facilities that guests could want, whether they’re here for enjoyment or business. A resident bar and AA Rosette restaurant ; eleven meeting rooms ; gymnasium and complimentary vehicle park are all provided. The hotel’s luxurious leisure club is home to a 18-metre pool, spa bath and steam room. The spa provides a wide range of indulgent ESPA treatments and an ice fountain.

This area has much for visitors to see and do, such as Red Abbey Tower and Finnbarr’s Cathedral amongst many others, all of which are only a short public bus or taxi ride away. Additionally, there is not any dearth of shops or restaurants to be found, to taste the very best of Cork cuisine.

The Hayfield Manor, located in a relaxed part of Cork city, is deservedly classed amongst Ireland’s top five star hotels. Manor homes are often linked with the Georgian age, and with its cloistered leafy grounds and galvanizing attention to detail of design, this hotel successfully plays the part of a large estate house from this period. Its walled garden, doubling up as a nice suntrap in summer, rivals that of Muckross House in beauty and style. Nonetheless incredibly, the Hayfield was only built in 1996. The reception and library are luxuriously furnished, reminding the visitor of a different age.

For fine dining, head to Orchids Restaurant, serving only the very best of Irish cuisine. If you prefer something more casual, the eclectic dishes in Perrotts Garden Bistro have both Mediterranean and worldwide influences. The vibrant shopping precinct of St Patrick’s Street is only 20 minutes away on foot from Hayfield Estate. Only 1.5 km down the road is the internationally famous English Market.

The warm and inviting Maldron Hotel and Leisure Centre is fantasically located in the centre of Cork’s significant cultural quarter, making it one of the best found hotels in the city. Cork Sea Safari is only a 5 minute stroll off. One hundred metres from the hotel is the city tour bus stop.

The Stir Restaurant and Bells Bar provide tasty food, and the Club Vitae Fitness and Health Club has a complete range of free leisure facilities for residents. Free Net access and complimentary parking are available too.

Jury’s Hotel Cork, on Anderson’s Quay, is a hotel in the center of the city, with the city at its heart. Trattorias, shopping areas, bars and museums are all close by.

The Opera House and Finnbarr’s Cathedral are a short walk away , as are Kent train station and Cork bus station. Its walking distance to main business addresses makes its business centre and meeting facilities the ideal base for working guests, and access to a close-by vehicle park is available. The hotel’s 133 bedrooms, which include non smoking rooms and rooms for the physically challenged, all provide satellite T. V ; high speed Internet access ; air conditioning ; tea and coffee making facilities ; phone ; safe ; radio and hairdryer. Dry cleaning, washing and baby sitter services are all available. The restaurant, caf and bar downstairs provide food, drink and refreshments.

Visitors to Cork can book Cork hotels or a Cork Bed and Breakfast when visiting Cork.

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Travellers To Galway City Can Sense Its History All Around
Wednesday, November 30th, 2011 / Maurice F. Quilligan

The city of Galway is internationally celebrated as a nexus of entertainment ; with an all encompassing mixture of tin whistles, bodhrns, harps, bagpipes, banjos, guitars, fiddles, jugglers, wizards in colourful masks poets, painters, and puppeteers to amuse visitors. Actors in normal Irish costume can often be sighted in town. An assortment of curious cafs can be discovered on narrow cobblestone streets, and onstage music is hosted across the week by a wide range of public homes.

The highways of Galway are drenched in history. Nonetheless, there remains a recent feel. Students account for 1 / 4 of the city’s population. The medieval city walls sit adjacent to businesses selling handcrafted Claddagh rings, a collection of secondhand and new books and Aran sweaters. The town is connected to the seaside suburb of Salthill by a long promenade. The region’s famous oysters can be discovered in the close by Galway Bay.

The city has a selection of eating and drinking options, ranging from the market where farmers in wellies sell soil-covered plants to adventurous fusion eateries changing Irish cuisine. Rambling public homes with wooden staircases serve Guinness, Galway Hooker ale and Irish coffees.

Even by Irish standards, this is a wet county, yet the rain fails to dampen Galway’s atmosphere. When it is sunny Galway city is chock-full of life, and it’s colourful at any time of year but especially during its many famous festivals. It is often termed the most ‘Irish ‘ of Ireland’s cities. It’s the only one where visitors can hear Irish spoken in the stores, pubs and streets.

The Irish word for Galway, Gaillimh, has its origins in the Irish word gaill, meaning ‘foreigners ‘ or ‘outsiders’. This has stayed a fitting term across the history of the city, which commenced as a fishing town at the mouth of the salmon-filled Stream Corrib. It changed into a major town in 1232 when the Anglo-Normans, controlled by Richard de Burgo, caught the territory. Around 1270, its fortified walls were built.

A charter granted by Richard II in 1396 transferred power to fourteen merchant families or ‘tribes’ hence the pet name ‘City of the Tribes’. The ruling merchant families, almost all of whom were dependable to the Crown, successfully maintained the city’s independent status. Galway’s location on the Atlantic supported a successful trade in salt, fish, spices and wine with Spain and Portugal. The city was to at last be undermined , however , by its support of the English in 1651 when the town was held siege by Cromwell. The town slipped in 1652. In 1691, William of Orange and his military added to the havoc. Trade slid off with Spain and, as the sea traffic of Waterford and Dublin continued to grow, Galway languished for centuries.

In the early 1900s tourists started to reappear and student numbers started to grow, respiring new life into the city. The cobbled streets and thatched cabins of Claddagh were tarred and flattened to make way for hygienic, modern buildings in 1934. The city’s population carries on growing as new residents move in, making it the fastest growing town in Europe.

Visitors can stay at Galway hotels or Galway Bed and Breakfast while exploring Galway

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Travel Around Eire From A Hotel in Dublin
Tuesday, November 29th, 2011 / Niall G. Hennessy

As the door to Ireland, Dublin is a well-liked destination for travelers from around the world. This major city is an interesting mix of coastline, countryside and urban development with many things worth doing and see. Dublin hotels offer easy access to shopping, family journey, cultural spots and activities that may keep visitors entertained.

Adventure seekers will find chances to go surfing, canoeing and sailing in Dublin Bay. Keen anglers will want to go to Corkagh Park Fishery with its two lakes spanning 7 acres. The park features acres of grassland and perspectives that include the majestic Wicklow Mountains.

Families on holiday will find lots to do at the Nation’s Aquatic Center. The AquaZone is a massive indoor waterpark and activity center complete with a wave pool, flumes, lazy river and more . The Center also functions as a pro training facility for competitive swimmers, divers and polo players.

St. Stephen’s Green marks the town center and is only one of many town parks. The biggest walled park in Europe is Phoenix Park with 1,750 acres of country. The Visitor Center occupies space inside Ashtown Castle and contains a considerable number of historic exhibits tracing the city’s roots back to the days of the Vikings. The Wellington obelisk towers 203 feet above the park and is only one of several monuments found there.

Grafton Street is one of 2 main shopping areas. The street runs from St. Stephen’s Green northward to School Green and the great majority of the street is closed to vehicle traffic. The exception is the area between Varsity Green and Nassau Street. Purchasers are steadily entertained by the range of street performers gathered there. Mimes, musicians, wizards and poets share their gifts. The Molly Malone statue marks a popular meeting spot for tourists and locals alike.

The Temple Bar area with its old fashioned cobblestone streets has a fascinating split character. By day it’s an significant cultural center where folk go to visit the art studios. It’s also home to the Irish Film Institute, the Project Arts Center and other important institutions. The energy rises to new levels after dark with crowds flocking to its many dives, cafes and pubs.

Lots of the city’s galleries and museums are free to tour. Folk curious about architecture will wish to see Dublin Castle. This great Norman structure was built on the very land where Vikings erected the 1st fort and marks the point of convergence for the Poddle and Liffey Rivers. The Record Tower is the oldest standing structure and dates to the early 13th century. The Cork Hill Gate offers access from Castle Street.

The Guinness Brewery is an imperative stop for the majority visiting this part of Eire. The brewery went into production in 1759 and now puts out millions of pints of stout a day. The Storehouse is a museum erected in honor of Guinness stout, the official state drink. After touring the museum, guests are invited to tip a pint in the Gravity Bar located on top floor as they take in the impressive 360-degree perspectives.

Visitors to Ireland will find Dublin hotels offering convenient access to these attractions and plenty more. Regardless of budget or interest, a Dublin holiday has something for everyone.

Visitors can find good cheap hotels in Dublin or Dublin B&B at Dublin Overnight

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Ireland- Where to Go and What to See
Sunday, November 06th, 2011 / Joel Olor

Ireland is a most marvellous Country. If you plan to visit Ireland might I suggest that you concentrate on the following destinations if your intention is to take in some site seeing as against concentrating solely on the ‘Craic’.

For the purposes of this brief article, I have focused on Coastal Routes.

County Wicklow, which is situated on the East Coast is regarded as the ‘Garden of Ireland’ and is known for its beautiful mountains and valleys. Glendalough is probably its best known tourist attraction and a trip from the village of Hollywood over the Dublin Mountains and down to Glendalough will take you approx. 30 minutes and will provide you with some dazzling scenery. If you are returning to Dublin, then a trip through the Sally Gap from the Wicklow village of Laragh is also well worth doing.

Heading to the South Coast you should concentrate on West Cork and Kerry. Kerry in particular is most noted for its ëRing of Kerryí bus tour which will take you the best part of the day to complete. Starting and ending in Killarney Town, the tour will take you through such wellknown places as the Gap of Dunloe, Bog village, Rossbeigh,

Molls Gap, Muckross House, and Ross Castle to name but some. Killorglin Village will also form part of the tour and Killorglin is pretty unique in that it boasts an annual festival called the Puck Fair which concludes with the crowing of a real live Goat. you might pity the poor goat! Killarney Town itself is a most preffered destination for

North American Tourists and a horse-drawn jaunt around the town and further afield is a must for most visitors.

If you are planning to visit to the West Coast then you are in for a real thrill. Connemara, located to the west of Galway City, is one of the most stunning places in the world. Bordering the Atlantic Ocean, Connemara is littered with grassland, bog, lakes, rivers and mountains. A trip from Galway city to Clifden and back to Oughterard, taking in

Klyemore Abbey along the way, should not be missed. Whilst in Clifden you should pay a visit to the crash landing site of Alcock and Brown who made the first ever non-stop transatlantic flight in June 1919. Having exhausted their fuel supplies they were compelled to crash-land in a rocky field close to Clifden. Luckily they survived the crash with more than a few broken bones.

Heading North West you should take in the jagged coastland of Sligo and Donegal before going Eastwards through Northern Ireland visiting the famous Mountains of Mourne and the Giants Causeway.

Finally, remember to finish your days with a trip to the local hostelries where you will experience some real Irish Traditional Music to help you wash down the requisite pint of Guinness.

This article on Ireland was written by the publisher and designer of http://www.tourclipper.com, a dedicated Irish video website offering over 500 free to view videos of all things Irish.

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Galway Hotels And Sights To See During Your Stay
Tuesday, October 25th, 2011 / Michael B. Waters

The 5th biggest town in the country of Eire is Galway. This area offers a lot for visitors to do and see. The common Irish hospitality and warm welcome can be discovered in all Galway hotels. The town is found in Western Ireland. It’s a seaport, as the river Corrib opens up to the Atlantic. The climate is kept moist and temperate by the North Atlantic current, though there’s frequent rainfall and wind.

After the Norman invasion of mainland Britain, the English settled in the area and set up the town. Because of its seafront location, it became a vital overseas port in the Middle Ages. Two fires virtually destroyed the city in the latter fifteenth century. As Galway maintained powerful links with the UK, there were tensions with the remainder of the Irish peoples. The potato famine in the nineteenth century took its toll on the population of the town.

But nowadays the town has been transformed into the cultural heart of the Irish Republic. Holidays in arts and culture are held all the year round. July is the time of the primary Arts Holiday.

You will be spoiled for choice when it comes to art galleries and museums. Those interested in contemporary art will enjoy a visit to Bolds Art Gallery.The seafood and oyster festival held in Sep gives you an opportunity to sample the traditional food. This may be enjoyed with the fine wines on offer, and followed by dancing and music. Sports are central to life in Galway. Horse-racing has a long custom, and the local racing calender has many events to supply all year.

Those having an interest in architecture and history will enjoy visiting St Nicholas Collegiate Church, which was erected around Other Medieval buildings in the area include Lynch’s Castle, which was once the home of Galway’s strongest families. The Spanish Arch was built as an extension to the walls of the city and is still prepared.

If you have youngsters, you’ll also find attractions that cater for their interests. Brigit’s Garden will amaze the kids ( and adults ) with the stunning range of plants and flowers, as well as stories of Celtic myths. Academic activities can also be found at the Nation’s Aquarium of Eire. The kids will love the hands on displays and learn about the types of sea life that are abounding in the area.

The coast around Galway Bay offers some pretty views. From there you might need to catch a ship and visit the Aran Islands, where you can explore the islands by bicycle. These are available for hire at an affordable cost. Forty minutes drive away from the city you will find Aliwee Caves, where you can take in the stunning views of the Bay from the entrance. Steered tours are on hand if you want to explore the caves.

Amongst Galway hotels, the oldest one in operation is the Meyrick. But whether you make a decision to stay there or at any of the other many friendly locations available, you will always have something to do in this pretty part of Eire.

A good option, especially for larger groups or families who may want accommodation which is cheaper than a Galway hotel may be Galway Self Catering which is of a very high standard and very affordable.

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