Save your pennies—or rather, your dollars—and splurge an art-centric weekend in Ireland. Two of the country’s finest properties, the five-star Merrion Hotel in Dublin and the ultra-haute Ballyfin, in County Laois, have teamed to offer Inspiring Irish Art Weekends that showcase each property’s museum-quality art collection. I haven’t stayed at The Merrion, but I have … Continue reading
On a map, Ireland’s northwestern corner appears as if a giant stepped on it, splaying the land into fingers webbed by a raggedy-edged coastline. Wind-scoured headlands cradle swaths of sand, forested valleys shelter shimmery ponds, and heath-clad mountains overlord barren peat bogs. It’s expansive yet intimate, tame yet wild. In spring, like much of the … Continue reading
“Where are we?” asked Shane Connolly. I glanced around the small parking pullout, with ledges descending to Galway Bay on one side and a hill rising on the other. There was no “You Are Here” marker in sight. Shane reeled off the answer, the words flowing together and punctuated by a thick brogue. “The town … Continue reading
Travtastic 