Category: Tourist

Articles, Musings, Tourist1 Comment

Funny Irish Road Signs Found in Ireland

Michael Green

LEFT: A candidate for the best sign ever! (love the parachute guy) RIGHT: Spotted outside a lunchtime Restaurant in Dublin LEFT: Someone had too much time on their hands RIGHT: Political Poster not quite up to the job LEFT: County Leitrim. We agree – dont shoot tourists RIGHT: Dont stand on… something ?? LEFT: 100KM on this road/dirt-track! Please disobey this road sign RIGHT: Dont walk on the water? Good advice! LEFT: You wait there. I’ll be out in a minute RIGHT: Typical Tourist Town Blarney LEFT: Help! RIGHT: It’s not easy being a sheep in Ireland LEFT: The Irish … Continue reading Funny Irish Road Signs Found in Ireland

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‘Loo with a View’ may revert to a Public Convenience

Michael Green

This is perhaps one of the strangest headlines we have ever penned but bear with us – it will make sense. At the very height of the property boom in Ireland a decade ago even the most obscure, tiny, or ridiculous piece of land was fetching equally ridiculous prices. The huge punt on the old ‘Glass Bottle’ factory site in Ringsend is perhaps the most infamous of these property gambles, tumbling as it did in value from 411 Million Euro to an estimated 40 Million Euro today. It is currently an unused field. But perhaps the full extent of our … Continue reading ‘Loo with a View’ may revert to a Public Convenience

News from Ireland, Tourist2 Comments

Irish Tourists Arrested for Watching a Game of Bingo in Portugal

Michael Green

The desire to stamp out illegal gambling in Portugal seems to have taken a bizarre turn. A group of 28 British and Irish tourists were arrested by Portuguese police for being in a bar where a game of bingo was taking place. Under Portuguese law any gambling, even bingo, needs to have an appropriate licence. The first game of bingo had concluded when the police swooped on the bar, arresting those present, regardless of whether or not they were actually participating in the game. The owner of the Yorkshire Tavern is Marianne Pittaway: “It is crazy, an absolute joke. We … Continue reading Irish Tourists Arrested for Watching a Game of Bingo in Portugal

News from Ireland, Tourist4 Comments

‘Quiet Man’ Pub Sold To Film Fan

Michael Green

The Irish country village pub made famous by the film ‘ The Quiet Man’ starring John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara has been sold to an English fan of the film. The bar is located in Cong in County Mayo, deep in the heart of Connemara and is reported to have sold for close to the asking price of 300,000 euro (US$385,000). The bar is central to the famous fight scenes between Sean Thornton (John Wayne) and Squire ‘Red’ Will Danaher (Victor McLaghlen). The fight meandered its way through the local fields, into the town and back out into the streets … Continue reading ‘Quiet Man’ Pub Sold To Film Fan

Tourist3 Comments

Rip-Off-Ireland Shedding Its Expensive Image

Michael Green

The perception that Ireland had become a very expensive country – a rip-off Republic – emerged during the Celtic Tiger boom era of the 1990s and early part of the current century. Photo From Free Public Domain Photographs With near full employment (only 4% unemployment at the height of the prosperity – now unemployment is over 14%), staff could afford to pick and choose their jobs, pushing up prices, offering poor value, inflating business costs. How things have changed. With the Tiger slain the economic crisis that nearly sank the country in 2008 and 2009 has seen earnings plummet, taxes … Continue reading Rip-Off-Ireland Shedding Its Expensive Image

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Saint Patrick’s Day Traditions

Michael Green

The Wearing of the Green The tradition of wearing Shamrock to celebrate Saint Patrick seems to date from the seventeenth or eighteenth century. This was a very turbulent time in Irish history. The suppression of the Gaelic way of life by the ruling British invaders resulted in many aspects of the Catholic religion in Ireland being forced underground. Strict laws were enforced which prevented the Catholic population from attending schools so ‘hedge-schools’ were operated in secret. These were schools run outdoors in secluded places (sometimes literally ‘under a hedge!). The teaching of religion was also forbidden so it is only … Continue reading Saint Patrick’s Day Traditions

News from Ireland, Tourist1 Comment

Blow to Economy as Tourists from Britain Desert Ireland

Michael Green

The number of visitors from Britain has fallen by as many as a Million visits since 2007 when 3.7 Million trips from Britain to Ireland were recorded. Six short years ago Ireland was a very different place. The ‘Celtic Tiger’ still stalked the land although his days were numbered. A property market collapse and financial ruin were just around the corner. Britain suffered its own recession too but was spared the carnage caused by the banks that Ireland suffered. Against this backdrop it is perhaps no surprise that visitors from our closest neighbour have decided to opt for sunnier climes. … Continue reading Blow to Economy as Tourists from Britain Desert Ireland