Search Results for 'Aran Islands'

Large networks of underground rivers stretching out off the west coast of Ireland, hidden beneath the Galway Bay seabed, have been discovered by geologists from the School of Natural Sciences at NUI Galway.

All great books begin with an arresting sentence. I remember as a boy being captivated by JM Synge’s opening sentence in what I consider his greatest work The Aran Islands, first published in 1907, two years before his death. It has not been out of print since:

The idea of cooking with tea is nothing new, but the idea of making tea from entirely indigenous ingredients is part and parcel of the philosophy at Aniar. This is the basis of the new tasting menu introduced this week. As always, this is a menu dotted with native seaweeds, wild herbs, and berries, and reflects Aniar’s billing of itself as “a terroir-based restaurant”, a farm to table culinary experience. Terroir refers to the soil and climate imbuing food and wine with the flavours of a region and, as such, carries lots of potential for pretentiousness. This they somehow manage to avoid, this is traditional food made contemporary proving that profound truths can be spoken plainly.

A record 70,000 visitors attended the third Galway Food Festival during the Easter weekend to delight in food tastes from the west.

Because of its strategic location, Galway was always an important centre for the military. The original fort in Renmore was known as St Augustine’s Fort and featured prominently in the 1641 rebellion, after which it was abandoned, the purpose for which it had been built having been accomplished.

Until recent times there was widespread belief in fairies; both the malignant and the more innocent kind. Many people believed that the fairies would steal away certain children, or an adult, and replace them with a changeling. These beliefs were mostly found in rural communities; and were often an attempt to explain, or to invite compassion or ‘kindness’ for a handicapped child, or someone who was temporarily ‘not themselves.’ The phrases used to describe this transformation are various; but locally included the words ‘touched’, or ‘swept’, or ‘taken’.

Athlone Little Theatre’s next production is the wonderful Martin McDonagh play, The Cripple of Inishmaan.

On approaching the Connemara Coast Hotel surrounded by spectacular sea views and rugged landscapes, visitors cannot help but feel they are in a special place - tucked away in a picturesque and unspoilt part of Ireland yet but still only 10 minutes from Galway city.

It is strangely easy to forget that Ireland is an island. Part of that comes from the fact that, unlike Britain, Spain, or Japan, we have no real naval tradition.

The PSO for the air services amounts to an annual subvention of €1,880,913 to run the flights as well as the three aerodromes on the Aran Islands and the Connemara Regional Airport in Indreabhán. Aer Arann Islands currently employs 38 full-time and two part-time staff, to run these services.