Having rejoiced at the news of Dublin‘s UNESCO City of Literature status we got to thinking about all of Ireland’s wonderful books. With so many to choose from, we decided to do what we do best and make a little shortlist. But we wanted to be able to show you the books, too, so myself [...]

Fact: Dubliners love a good story. A Dubliner can take something as everyday as buying milk into an epic tale of romance and bravery (or a first date on June 16th into one of the most acclaimed novels of all time – take a bow Mr Joyce). Considering the wit in our words and heritage of [...]

Countless castles pepper Ireland’s landscape, some so crumbled and barren it’s clear they’ve stood for hundreds of winters, and some so thick with hanging tapestries and the wafting smell of mead, you’d expect to see a King’s carriage in the carpark. Whether ruined or restored, you know those stone walls have seen some exciting things [...]

“High up on dangerous cliffs, out on lonely rocks, Irish lighthouses were built to last and most have stood for well over 150 years.” John Eagle is an artist, photographer and author of two books on Ireland’s lighthouses. We asked him to share his six favourite lighthouses – most notably along the West Coast where [...]

OK reader, we’re going to ask you to join us on a journey and imagine. Imagine you had wings. Imagine feeling a friendly gust of wind wrap round you and carry you high into the fresh air. Imagine dipping, diving and swooping over the crumpled green quilt of County Meath countryside. Then you spy something… [...]

Imagine, for a second, the most powerful man in the world is coming to your house for tea. What – on earth ­– do you cook? Well, Mary Ryan went for homemade bread and salmon sandwiches when President John F. Kennedy came round. He brought quite an entourage of security and admirers, not to mention [...]

You probably know our hopping, hair-flying traditional Irish dancing from the ‘Riverdance’ show thundering through your town or at least your TV set. It’s a peculiar but much-loved style that has evolved over centuries and has enough customs and conventions to make your curly head spin! So we thought we’d save you the chin-scratching pondering [...]

With years of gracing the covers of travel brochures and magazines, Carrick-a-Rede has to be the supermodel of bridges. It has a classic striking profile: light rope bridge hanging precariously over a chasm of rocky cliffs and blue-green waters. It’s tall, like any leggy model, at 23 metres above the crashing Atlantic. And it has [...]

Standing outside the red brick Holywood Arches library in East Belfast is a rather peculiar statue. The piece consists of a well-dressed man opening a wardrobe like he’s looking for a pair of clean socks. But he’s not looking for socks, reader – he’s looking for another world. Step around to the other side of [...]

It’s 100 years ago. The Manhattan Bridge has just connected Canal St to Brooklyn, Henry Ford has already sold 10,000 cars and the young aviation industry has yet to ‘take off’. In Belfast, the noise of the hammering of rivets echoes around the city from the Harland & Wolff shipyard. There, a local workforce of [...]