When Mary Tolan’s backpack – containing her wallet, passport and six months of writing – was stolen in Ireland, she thought all was lost. Over the course of five weeks on the Dingle Peninsula, she found something even more important. "So you’re the American who lost everything, are you?” asked Vincent O’Gormain, who with his wife, Sile, owns a Dingle Peninsula bed and … [Read more...] about Joe Duffy Made Me Famous, Dingle Saved Me
Travel Stories for IA
Landscapes of the Heart
Photographer Eoghan Kavanagh on the Irish landscape. I began to work as a freelance photographic assistant in New York City twenty years ago. It was a wonderful opportunity but I could not settle, and eventually I returned to Ireland. What I did not know then, but I know now, is just how powerful a draw the Irish countryside has for me. A short while after I returned, I … [Read more...] about Landscapes of the Heart
Painting the Burren
Andy Weeks, a New York-based artist, finds inspiration in Clare’s rocky landscape. Two years ago, my wife and I decided to visit Ireland. We were in the process of buying a house outside of New York and we knew that the cost of it all would keep us from traveling for a while. The trip would be our last extravagance before we focused our attention and our money on the … [Read more...] about Painting the Burren
The Dunbrody: The Ark of New Ross
Celebrating the Dunbrody Famine Ship, the Irish Emigration History Centre, the Irish America Hall of Fame, and the upcoming inaugural Irish America Day, hosted by the town of New Ross, Co. Wexford. "Build it and they will come” may be a modified version of a line from baseball movie Field of Dreams, but it is also reminiscent of Noah and the Ark. In New Ross, Co. Wexford, an … [Read more...] about The Dunbrody: The Ark of New Ross
Finding Roots in Ireland,
Land of Enchantment
Heidi Boyd writes about here first trip to Ireland.
"Do you have Irish ancestors?” This is normally the first thing people ask me upon finding out I went on holiday in Ireland. In most cases, the person asking has Irish roots and is happy to meet a fellow Irishman. And maybe they’ve found one in me. Maybe.
Prior to my vacation in Ireland, I had no connection to Ireland or any … [Read more...] about Finding Roots in Ireland,
Land of Enchantment