| Culture, cuisine and craic
MALCOLM ROGERS recommends some less well-known gems of the Emerald
Isle.
 Ireland
now has three World Heritage Sites (for homework next time see if you
can name them), seven national parks and countless must-see tourist destinations
such as the Cliffs of Moher or the Burren.
But visitors can also discover a whole new Ireland culinary, cultural,
architectural, historical and panoramic gems in addition to the more regularly
visited destinations.
So next time you’re home check out some of these:
Irish Museum of Modern Art
With over 1,500 works in its permanent collection housed in the grandeur
of the 17th century buildings which make up the Royal Hospital Kilmainham,
this is Ireland’s premier contemporary art museum.
Upcoming exhibitions include Georgia O’Keefe, Miro and Lucian Freud.
Entrance is free.
Contact: Irish Museum of Modern Art, Military Road, Dublin. Tel: 00 353
16 129900
www.modernart.ie
Victory Over The Sun, Belfast
The only feature mentioned in this article which doesn’t have a
set venue. This club has been described as the coolest in Europe —
sophisticated electronica and live art in a unique venue somewhere in
Belfast (usually) or Dublin (occasionally). For ‘grown-ups’
there’s no dancing just beautiful people, mesmerising music and
a very, very weird venue. Tel: 07901 853 216.
The English Market, Cork
The main food market in ‘the real capital’ is an essential
destination for the gastronaut and guzzler alike. Speciality black puddings,
white puddings, drisheen, pâtés and various porcine delights
are all available, as well as Ireland’s main contribution to bread
cuisine — soda farls, potato bread and wheaten bread. Try them with
some of the mature Irish cheeses on offer, all favourably priced. Alternatively
sample some of the wares (and more) at the Farmgate Café which
overlooks the market from a balcony at the south end of Patrick Street.
Contact: www.cork-guide.ie
Open Mon-Sat 9am-5.30pm.
Whitepark House, Co. Antrim
A couple of hours drive north of Belfast, Whitepark House is near one
of the most picturesque harbours in these islands Ballintoy.
The B&B is actually an 18th century country couse, tastefully restored
and richly decorated with only three rooms so coziness guaranteed.
The landlord actually won the AA ‘Landlady’-of-the-Year
prize in 2003 no wonder; he makes a great fry-up in the morning at the
bay window overlooking one of the finest views in the world, and serves
tea and home-made shortbread in front of the open fire if you return from
a wind-battered walk on the cliff-top walk nearby.
Doubles £90 for two people sharing a double room; £50 single.
Whitepark Road, Ballintoy.
www.whiteparkhouse.com
Tel: 028 2073 1482.
Kilcullen’s Seaweed Baths, Enniscrone, Co. Sligo
The seaside village of Enniscrone has been entertaining enthusiastic seaweed
bathers for over a century. It’s all to do with the alginate in
the seaweed apparently.
The process itself is quite soothing heated water is pumped straight
from the Atlantic Ocean into your private porcelain bath, while you lie
back and bathe in natural oils and seaweedy goodness.
Contact: Tel 00 353 9636238
http://homepage.eircom.net/~seaweedbaths/
Cost: £20.
Fishy Fishy Cafe, Kinsale
The name says it all really. This veritable seafood institution in Ireland’s
piscine gastronomic centre serves locally-caught, splendidly-prepared
shellfish, crustaceans and fish.
You can have any of the fresh fish on display cooked to your liking or
you can choose sea chowder or whole cooked prawns, smoked salmon sandwich
or spicy lobster.
Contact: Tel 00 353 21 477 4453
The Slieve Bloom Way
The overlooked midlands area of the country where Old Ireland is still
alive and well is probably best seen from the 48-mile walking trail which
stretches across the eskers, bogland and mountains of counties Laois and
Offaly. En route you’ll pass ruined castles, haunted follies and
prehistoric dolmens.
Contact: www.slievebloomway.ie
Tel 00 353 86 278 9147.
Inis Meanin Restaurant and Suites
The Aran Islands are always a delight to visit but there’s now an
additional reason to journey out across Galway Bay.
The least-visited of the islands, Inis Meanin, now boasts a seafood
restaurant and you may be sure the fish are as fresh as in any restaurant
in Europe.
The restaurant building is an architectural gem, boasting panoramic views
across the Atlantic, while the kitchen produces home-cooked local produce.
You can also stay overnight five double rooms are available.
Contact:
www.inismeaninaccommodation.com Tel 00 353 99 73047. O’Looney's Pub, Lahinch
Even if you’re not a surfer, Lahinch in Co. Clare is still a place
you should try to visit on a regular basis.
The huge Atlantic rollers crash in on Lahinch strand with dramatic force
but on the odd day when the ocean isn’t performing its party piece,
the surfers congregate in O’Looney’s Pub on the promenade.
Beside the traditional turf fire is the perfect place to have a restorative
pint of stout and hearty meal while in the summer there’s live music
every night.
Tel 00 353 65 708 1414.
Tollymore Forest Park, Co. Down
From now until early summer, the arboretum in Tollymore Park is such
a riot of colour that Fabergé might even consider it a bit gaudy
azaleas, rhododendrons, bougainvillea, magnolia plus a host of woodland
flowers compete with each other for the attention of honey bees and butterflies.
This is where CS Lewis (of Narnia fame) spent much time walking and indeed
the views across the Mournes might inspire anyone.
Lyons Village, Co. Kildare
Lyons Village is an attractive stone village which has been developed
by Tony Ryan (of Ryanair) on the grounds of his Kildare estate as a gastronomic
centre.
Regular farmers’ markets, local food and wine stores service the
area’s growing gourmet demands and just in case you don’t
want to bother cooking anything yourself, Richard Corrigan, one of Ireland’s
premier chefs, has now opened a restaurant in the village. Cottages will
be available for rent by the summer.
Contact: www.villageatlyons.com
Tel 00 353 1 630 3500.
Altamont Gardens, Co. Carlow
The gardens at Altamont, Co. Carlow (just south of Tullow near the village
of Balon) are wonderfully atmospheric and worth visiting any time of the
year.
Two hundred and fifty years of planting, shaping, hoeing, weeding and
planning have gone into producing these gardens which sweep down to the
River Slaney.
Formal lawns give way to the Nun’s Walk, a cathedral of beech trees
and laurels which lead past streams lined with ferns and mosses, past
strawberry trees and towering pines, to the wilder birch plantations near
the river.
George’s Street Arcade, Dublin
Bustling market place which partly reflects old Dublin second-hand books,
map prints, old coins as well as hippy Dublin with stalls for old clothes
and psychedelic records.
New Dublin is also well represented with new Japanese and Chinese fashion,
African prints and Polish food.
Refuelling stops are traditional Simons Place Cafe has been servicing
Dubliners for the best part of half-a-century, the Market Bar for even
longer.
Ballyportry castle, Co. Clare
Situated on the edge of one of Europe’s wonders, the limestone skeletal
landscape of the Burren, this restored medieval castle has all mod cons
including central heating and water bed as well as some not-so mod cons
like turf fire and terrific views.
The Burren is probably best seen in springtime when the trenches (or
grykes) are stuffed full of an abundance of flora possibly the only place
in Europe where sub-tropical and Arctic flowers grow together.
Botany during the day, craic in the evening.
www.elegantireland.ie
Tel 00 353 1 475 1632. |
