We’re taking another tumble down the rabbit hole into Ireland’s rock ‘n’ roll hall of fame. Get ready to meet more of Ireland’s rock gods and the places that shaped them. First stop: East Belfast. Gary Moore A shining light in the world’s rock ‘n’ roll mantle went out last year when legendary axeman Gary [...]

As October 31st looms closer, a subtle change creeps across the Irish landscape. An unnatural chill haunts the air and darkness falls too quick. Pagan Ireland invented Halloween in the form of Samhain: the night when the veil between this world and the next is at its thinnest… allowing strange things to happen. But Ireland [...]

In today’s music industry, you could well ask yourself “Where have all the rock stars gone?” We all know they don’t make ‘em like they used to, but it is interesting to see where they make them. Ireland has produced some of the world’s most influential rock stars. We’re talking about Van Morrison, Rory Gallagher [...]

Sure, big screen stars Colin Farrell, Liam Nesson and Michael Fassbender are lighting up Hollywood at the moment, but there are other big screen regulars doing just as good a job: Ireland’s castles. What’s not to love about castles? Gigantic, hulking structures, shrouded in mystery and built centuries ago in some seriously dramatic scenery. Movies [...]

Behind every song or poem is a good story, place or character. And wouldn’t you know some of the most interesting have been inspired by Ireland in some big, small or touching way. From Johnny Cash to James Joyce, artists, musicians and poets taken pen to paper and finger to cord in honour of Ireland. [...]

We’re going to the zoo, zoo, zoo how about you, you, you? Forgive that little outburst of song. It’s just the mere mention of the word ‘zoo’ drums up golden childhood memories for me of sun-drenched days strolling around Dublin zoo, ice-cream in hand (and granted, slightly all over face) with that musky animal-y smell [...]

It’s our Camino de Santiago; our Via Francigena; our Lourdes. Ireland’s holy mountain of pilgrimage, , has been a peak of spiritual significance for thousands of years, well before Christanity, and St Patrick claimed it as their own. And today, multitudes still scale its slopes for the rejuvenation, the views and the craic. Croagh Patrick [...]

Ireland is a love story. Our city streets and pastoral countryside are stages upon which some of the world’s greatest love stories have played out. Our wordsmiths have crafted some of the most romantic feats of penmanship ever – see Patrick Kavanagh’s Raglan Road or WB Yeats’ He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven. Oh, [...]