Derry is a city in Ireland. It is the second largest in Northern Ireland, surpassed only by Belfast. It is worth a stop on any tours of Ireland to see the city walls. Those walls were never breached and the city is known as the “maiden city”. The...
This is a castle overlooking the city of Belfast, with panoramic views. It sits on the site of a much older Viking fort. If your tours of Ireland take you North the castle is worth looking at. The current castle was built in 1867 by the third Marquis...
This is a sentinel rock that sits in the Firth of Clyde. If you are on tours of Scotland you will see it off the West coast. If you are near Girvan it is clearly visible. Ailsa Craig is in fact a large volcanic core over 1,000 feet...
One travel writer displayed typical Scottish pride, if not ingenuity, by writing that Ailsa Craig was from a certain angle a perfect pyramid, ‘with this advantage over the pyramids of Egypt, but twice their height’. Ailsa Craig, the fairy rock, Paddy’s Milestone (so called because...
Beautifully situated on the River Lee, Cork City is after Dublin and Belfast, the 3rd city of Ireland with long established Choral, Film and Jazz Festivals. The rich farmland of Cork (the largest of the 32 counties) is separated by the Ballyhoura, Galty and the...
The traditional prophecy, attributed to St. Columbia, that “a stranger mounted on a white horse and bearing a shield of painted birds shall conquer Ulster” appeared to be fulfilled when John de Courcy headed the Norman invasion of Ulster in 1177. Gradually the Anglo-Norman overlords...
The last time I visited Belfast, it was more a City in recovery, than the vibrant Metropolis it is today. Within hours of reaching the heart-beat of N.Ireland, it was clear that multimillion £’s of British and foreign investment in the City has put the Bzazzz...
Belfast Spring Continental Market 22 May - 25 May 2015 Come to the award-winning spring continental market! With traders from 26 countries as far afield as Morocco, India, Belgium, France, Russia, Tanzania, Spain and China, the market is a source of outstanding local and international produce, gifts...
The Scottish Baronial pile that stands on the lower slopes of Cave Hill was begun in 1862 and completed in 1870, to replace Belfast’s earlier castles that had burnt down in the 12th and 18th centuries. It was designed by W.H. Lynn for the 3rd...
Looking out over trim lawns, this Tudor-Gothic building with its red-brick façade, stone facings and stone-mullioned windows is all that a University building should be. Indeed, its central tower closely resembles the Founder’s Tower of Magdalen College, Oxford. The architect was Sir Charles Lanyon, designer...