Search Results for 'Blasket Islands'

What is this Wild Atlantic Way you speak of? Are you ready for the journey of a lifetime that will take you along the snaking route of one of the most westerly parts of Europe, where the ocean kisses Ireland; that bitter bowl of tears that brought so many people from this island right across the world for centuries.

A trip to Loop Head Lighthouse is a visit of contrasts, centred around this beacon of hope that has perched majestically on the scenic headland of Loop Head peninsula for hundreds of years, looking down on the fury of the Atlantic Ocean 90-meters-below. Here a world of beautiful seabirds, seals and dolphins meets breathtaking views as far as Dingle and Connemara.

George Chambers was born in England in 1873. He lived at Temple Fortune Lane in Middlesex. He travelled extensively and this included several trips to Ireland. In 1929, he toured parts of West Cork and Wicklow; in 1931, he visited Galway city and the Aran Islands and on subsequent trips he went to the Blasket Islands, to Achill and Clare Islands, and to various other islands off the coast of Donegal.

The arrival of British royalty on Irish shores in recent times, is usually greeted with genuine interest and curiosity, and a sense of welcome and respect, while extreme nationalists have to grin and bear it.

I have often wondered how the unusual name of Zetland found its way to the head of Cashel Bay in the heart of Connemara. It is, of course, the name of a well known hotel today. The hotel was founded in the closing years of the 19th century, by the son of a mountain farmer, JJ O'Loughlin, who had a canny instinct for business. The hotel was originally called The Zetland Arms, and before that The Viceroy's Rest. All these names allude to the hotel's distinguished patron Lawrence Dundas, Viceroy or Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1889 to 1902, in which year he became the Marquis of Zetland.

"THE GREAT Blasket was blessed with a population of distinctive character and with eminent literary gifts. The islanders chose to write in their own language until complete evacuation of their island home occurred in 1953."

AN TAIBHDHEARC is set to host Snámh na Saoirse, an imaginative play by Róisín Sheehy, which fuses dance, drama, and music. This is Sheehy’s debut work for theatre and is a poetic re-telling of a tragic drowning which occurred off the Great Blasket Island in 1909.