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Blarney Castle

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There are those who think that you come to Blarney Castle only to see the Stone. But most leave knowing that the Blarney Stone is only a part of our attraction. Scoll down and have a look at the other interesting things to see and do while you are with us!

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There are those who think that you come to Blarney Castle only to see the Stone. But most leave knowing that the Blarney Stone is only a part of our attraction. Scoll down and have a look at the other interesting things to see and do while you are with us!

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The Bonye Valley

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The Boyne Valley is a core area of Ireland's Ancient East, the recently launched history and heritage tourism destination. Ireland's Ancient East is a very exciting project focusing on four heritage themes:

Anglo Ireland - Ireland's Great Houses.

Ireland's Ancient East is geared to maximise the history and heritage in the region and bring it to greater international attention. To do this, the new initiative will offer visitors a personal experience of 5000 years of history through a relaxing journey of discovery in the beautiful landscape that attracted warring settlers for millennia and illuminated by stories from the best storytellers in the world - the local people.
Stretching from Newgrange and the Boyne Valley in the north east and ranging through the midlands all the way down via Kilkenny's Medieval mile to Waterford's Viking Quarter and Cork's many cultural attractions, the new brand proposition is intended to match and complement the Wild Atlantic Way in terms of scale and ambition.

Ancient Ireland

There are many treasures in the south and east that are older than the pyramids, set in an ancient green landscape - passage tombs, dolmens and Stone Age observatories that are found throughout Ireland's Ancient East. Visitors can wonder at the meanings behind the largest concentrations of carved Stone Age artwork and Celtic gold artefacts in Western Europe as well as hear from the locals themselves the stories that infuse this landscape of ancient warriors and Celtic druids.

For example, the low hills that you cross from the valley of the Liffey to that of the Boyne mark the crossing to a far more ancient time. Here there are a collection of pre-historic ceremonial sites that connect the lives and deaths of Stone Age Man who lived here to the seasons of the land in which they lived. Moving south visitors can stop off at Brownstown Dolmen, in the fertile farmland between the Slaney and Barrow rivers and marvel at its 100 ton capstone and, from here, the Slaney Valley takes you to the Irish National Heritage Park where everyday life in the Stone Age is beautifully recreated.

Key attractions: The prehistoric attractions of the Boyne Valley ( Newgrange, Knowth), Brownshill Dolmen, Carlow.

Early Christian Ireland

Visitors to Ireland's Ancient East will also be encouraged to step into the Golden Age of Saints and Scholars and visit the university and monastery sites where Ireland's pioneering saints and monks wrote some of the world's greatest illuminated manuscripts, before spreading their learning and spirituality throughout a Europe locked in the Dark Ages.

Visitors can, for example, stand on the Hill of Slane where St Patrick built his bonfire, or travel west from the Boyne valley along the path of the Ancient Dividing Road, the Esker Riada, to find the site of Saint Ciaran's great monastery at Clonmacnoise. It was from here that the monks brought Christianity back to many parts of Europe where the Barbarians had all but wiped it out. The sites and relics of the centuries that followed, when Christianity spread throughout Ireland, are to be found throughout Ireland's Ancient East and visitors can climb a round tower, kneel in a monk's cell, marvel at the carved high crosses or just absorb the peace and serenity of these sacred sites on a walking tour of the paths the pilgrims once took. They can compare the austerity of life at Glendalough and Clonmacnoise with the relative comfort of later abbeys at Jerpoint, Tintern or Cashel or see how the spirit of these times lives on at the many heritage festivals, food festivals and events which animate the local towns and villages throughout the year.

Key attractions: Clonmacnoise, Glendalough, Mellifont, Jerpoint Abbey, St.Canice's Cathedral, Holycross Abbey.

Medieval Ireland

Visitors will also be encouraged to explore the pathways of Medieval Ireland and uncover a rich tapestry of tales from this turbulent time. From the Viking Triangle of Ireland's oldest city, Waterford, lush river valleys lead to the beautifully preserved Medieval City of Kilkenny and beyond.

The fortresses and castles built to protect the land and its occupants are evident everywhere in the region. For example, Hugh de Lacy's magnificent Norman Castle still dominates the landscape at Trim. In the beautifully preserved Medieval City of Kilkenny the spirit of centuries of craftspeople still lives and breathes - in the merchants' houses, the Norman castle, the monks' ale, the potters, jewellers, weavers, artists and artisans of every kind. It's a magnificent setting where visitors can enjoy music, theatre and local festivals and events or follow in the footsteps of the feuding Butlers - on the Butler Trail through the Suir Valley.

Key attractions: Ireland's Medieval Mile, Kilkenny; Viking Triangle, Waterford, Hook Head Lighthouse; Trim Castle; Rock of Cashel.

Anglo-Ireland

In Anglo-Ireland visitors can discover the stories of a time of contrasts which shaped the lives of the now settled conquerors of Ireland and those they ruled over. Visitors will have a unique opportunity to experience what life was like in the 18th and 19th centuries. Lavish gardens, opulent houses and market towns are all there for them to explore including the great estates at Powerscourt, Mount Usher, Avondale, Castletown, Emo Court, Altamont and Lismore.

The romantic ideals of these times inspired others to failed Rebellions, or to seek better fortune and escape from famine through emigration. At Dunbrody Famine Ship, in Wexford, for example, they can discover what leaving was really like for them. At Vinegar Hill and Wicklow Gaol visitors can see what became of those who stayed and fought for change here.

Key attractions: Great Houses and Gardens, Dunbrody Famine Ship, Wicklow Gaol.

Boyne Valley Tours

Private Day Tour of the Boyne Valley, an area rich in heritage and history. Places to visit include Brú na Bóinne (Newgrange & Knowth), Hill of Slane, Hill of Tara, Monasterboice, Old Mellifont Abbey, Bective Abbey, Trim Castle, Loughcrew, Fourknocks, Kells, St Ciarán's Holy Well and much more.

Since your tour is private and personalised, you will be picked up from your accommodation or cruise ship in the Dublin / Meath / Louth area. Private transport in a Skoda Superb Sedan for up to four passengers or Mercedes Minivan for up to seven passengers.

Ireland's Ancient East - 10 Quick Facts

1. Waterford City is Ireland's oldest centre of continuous urban settlement in Ireland and is consequently Ireland's oldest City. Founded by the Vikings between 856 and 914, the city is over 1,000 years old.

2. Muiretach's Cross, Monasterboice in Co. Louth is Ireland's most beautiful High Cross and West Cross is the tallest remaining Celtic high cross in Ireland.

3. Newgrange in Co. Meath is the best known Irish passage tomb and dates to 3,200BC. It is the oldest known deliberately orientated structure in the world.

4. Loughcrew in Co. Meath is possibly the oldest cemetery in the world and tells of Ireland's Neolithic cultures. One legend has it that the so-called burial mounds were created by a witch flying overhead and dropping pebbles on the landscape.

5. The Timahoe round tower in Co. Laois is one of Ireland's most beautiful. It was built in the 1100s. Carvings of human heads, with flowing beards and moustaches, decorate the main entrance, about five metres from the ground.

6. Trim Castle in Co. Meath is Ireland's Largest Anglo-Norman Castle. It is also the place where the film Braveheart was shot.

7. Ireland's earliest known lighthouse is at Hook Head, Co. Wexford. It was first built in the thirteenth century, where it was maintained by local monks.

8. Ballitore in Co. Kildare is the only planned and permanent Quaker Settlement in Ireland.

9. Ireland's oldest known bridge crossed the River Shannon near Clonmacnoise in Co. Offaly. Underwater archaeology in the 1990's revealed the remains of a great wooden bridge at least 120m in length dating from 804AD.

10. Lockes Distillery in Kilbeggan, Co. Westmeath was licensed in 1757 and produced whiskey for over 200 years. Now open as a museum, it is the only sample left in Ireland of a typical small pot distillery.

Day Tours from Dublin

Private Day Tours out of Dublin to the Boyne Valley, home of the Newgrange World Heritage site, Glendalough and the beautiful scenery of Wicklow, the Irish National Stud and the Japanese Gardens in Kildare.

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The Boyne Valley is a core area of Ireland's Ancient East, the recently launched history and heritage tourism destination. Ireland's Ancient East is a very exciting project focusing on four heritage themes: Anglo Ireland - Ireland's Great Houses. Ireland's Ancient East is geared to maximise the history and heritage in the region and bring it to greater international attention.

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Climate

Dublin enjoys a maritime temperate climate. The average temperature is lowest in January-February, 42 °F (6 °C), and highest in July-August, peaking at about 68 °F (20 °C). Most sunshine is in May and June and averages four hours a day. The mean annual rainfall is 30-40 inches (760-1,000 mm), although more falls in the surrounding mountains. There are fewer than 10 days of snow per year.

City layout

Apart from the port area and the docks, Dublin is a low-built, steepled city, with few buildings dating from before the 17th century. The Roman Catholic churches are 19th- and 20th-century structures. The 17-story Liberty Hall (built 1961-65 as a trade-union headquarters), long Dublin's tallest building, has been joined by a spate of new high-rise offices and apartments. Still, most of the buildings are no higher than 5 or 6 stories.

The three elements that constitute the architectural legacy of Dublin-Norse, Norman, and Georgian-all meet in Dublin Castle. In the first two decades of the 13th century, the Normans obliterated the Norse stronghold and raised a château-fort. When the Georgians built the present red-brick castle, they left two towers of the old structure standing. The castle-the seat of British authority in Ireland until 1922-is now used for ceremonial occasions, especially the inauguration of the republic's presidents, who reside at Áras an Uachtaráin ("the President's House," formerly the Viceregal Lodge) in Phoenix Park, and for local and international conferences. The castle also is the home of a number of cultural organizations, notably the Chester Beatty Library.

Close to the castle a Norse king of Dublin built Christ Church Cathedral ( c. 1030), which was replaced about 140 years later by a more magnificent Norman structure. By the 19th century the edifice was in ramshackle condition; it was restored in the 1870s at enormous cost. Its neighbour, St. Patrick's, erected just outside the city walls, was also originally a Norse church that may have been built on an earlier Celtic foundation. Rebuilt by the Normans in 1191, it was enlarged and partially rebuilt over the centuries. It was in a state of collapse when Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness, the brewing magnate and a lord mayor of Dublin, financed its restoration in the mid-19th century. Christ Church is the cathedral for the diocese of Dublin and Glendalough, whereas St. Patrick's, unusually, is not the seat of a bishop. Both have been Church of Ireland (Anglican) churches since the Reformation. In 1949 the funeral of Douglas Hyde, the first president of the Republic of Ireland, was held at St. Patrick's. Because of the Roman Catholic Church's prohibition of its members' attending Protestant services, the whole Irish government, apart from its two Anglican members, attended in the foyer of the cathedral. The Pro (for Provisional) Cathedral on Marlborough Street, to the east of O'Connell Street on the north side, is the principal Roman Catholic church. It was completed in 1825 and is the seat of the archbishop of Dublin and primate of Ireland.

The area between St. Patrick's and the Guinness Brewery on the Liffey is known as the Liberties, located outside the old city walls and so named because it was subject to private jurisdiction and not to the king or the town. In the years after World War II, large tracts of this district were cleared for low-cost housing.

Dublin's early private speculators had a sense of order and beauty as acute as their sense of profit. The city's streets were broad and its garden squares spacious. For their time (the 18th century), the houses were ultramodern-elegant yet simple Georgian and Neoclassical structures designed in the manner of the great English architects Inigo Jones and Sir Christopher Wren. The sweeps of red-brick houses, ranged in squares and long terraces and built with well-proportioned windows, made a harmonious whole that still stands as a happy achievement of urban architecture.

In the southern half of the town, between Trinity College and St. Stephen's Green, Joshua Dawson, one of Dublin's leading citizens, built an impressive house that was completed in 1710. The city soon bought the house to serve as residence of the lord mayor, and, as the Mansion House, it still does. The first Irish republican parliament, the Dáil Éireann, met there in 1919.

Dawson's neighbours, the equally prominent Molesworths, followed his example and began building houses and entire streets. In 1745-48 the earl of Kildare erected a palace at the end of Molesworth Street; Kildare House, renamed Leinster House when the earl became the duke of Leinster, is thought to have been the model for the White House in Washington, D.C. It is now the seat of the republic's parliament (Oireachtas). Twin Victorian buildings, which were constructed on either side of Leinster House in the 1880s, contain the National Library and the National Museum of Ireland. Merrion, immediately to the east, and Fitzwilliam, to the south, are two of the great 18th-century squares.

The oldest and largest of the city's squares is St. Stephen's Green, recorded in 1224 as common grazing land but enclosed and bordered with houses in the 1660s. Most of the imposing mansions now surrounding it were built in the 18th century. By 1887 the parkland was run down, and the Guinness family, whose former residence on the south side now houses the Department of Foreign Affairs, paid for its rehabilitation.

The city's north-south axis runs from the western side of St. Stephen's Green down Grafton Street and through College Green to the Liffey, across O'Connell Bridge to the river's northern bank, and then along O'Connell Street to Parnell Square. Grafton Street, long Dublin's premier shopping district, was made pedestrian-only in the 1990s, and it has become a lively thoroughfare hosting street entertainers. It emerges onto College Green between the University of Dublin (Trinity College) and the 1729 Parliament House, which is now the privately run Bank of Ireland's headquarters.

Along the Liffey's northern quays stand James Gandon's Neoclassical masterpieces of the Custom House (1781-91) and the Four Courts (1786-1802). The Custom House was burned out in 1921 by republicans who wished to destroy administrative records; the Four Courts was ruined by shellfire and mines at the outbreak of civil war in June 1922. Both have since been rebuilt.

O'Connell Street-first called Drogheda and then Sackville Street-is a stretch of shops, cinemas, and snack bars. The only building of any distinction to survive the warfare that swept the street in 1916 and again in 1922 was the General Post Office, seized as headquarters of the 1916 rebellion. Badly damaged, it was reconstructed behind its surviving 1815 classical facade in 1929. Opposite the post office stood Nelson's Pillar, a landmark for generations of Dubliners. Built in 1808, it was mysteriously blown up late one night in 1966. At the beginning of the 21st century, Dublin Corporation (now Dublin City Council) began upgrading both the street and its shops, cutting down the century-old London plane trees that lined the centre and erecting the Spire.

At the top of O'Connell Street, Bartholomew Mosse constructed his Rotunda Hospital, the "Lying-In," which remains a maternity hospital to this day. The rotunda itself is now the historic Gate Theatre. Behind the hospital is Parnell (formerly Rutland) Square, laid out in 1750, with many of its original Georgian houses still intact. One of these, built for the earl of Charlemont in 1762-65, now houses the Municipal Gallery of Modern Art.

The 18th-century city commissioners circumscribed the growing city with the North and South Circular roads. Synge Street, close to the South Circular Road, was the birthplace of the dramatist George Bernard Shaw. The Grand Canal was constructed to the south and the Royal Canal to the north of these peripheral roads; both canals enter the Liffey at the harbour entrance and both connect with the River Shannon. Only the Grand is now navigable.

Dublin's Phoenix Park is Europe's largest enclosed urban park. It is roughly ovoid in shape, with a land perimeter of 7 miles (11 km), and is situated on the north bank of the Liffey, about 2 miles (3 km) west of the city centre. In September 1979, during the first visit by a reigning pontiff to Ireland, the religious service conducted by Pope John Paul II in the park attracted an estimated 1.25 million people, the largest gathering ever recorded in the country. Duels took place in the park, and in 1882 it was the scene of an assassination that involved the stabbing of the British chief secretary of Ireland, Lord Frederick Cavendish, and his undersecretary, T.H. Burke ( see Phoenix Park murders). Initially a royal deer park, Phoenix Park was opened to the public in 1747. Its zoo, celebrated for lion breeding, opened in 1831 and effectively doubled its size in 2001 when the African Plains section opened on land donated by the president of Ireland from the presidency's official holdings. The 205-foot (62-metre) Wellington Monument is at the southeast end of the park, commemorating Arthur Wellesley, 1st duke of Wellington. Nearby is Islandbridge, the site of World War I memorial gardens designed by Sir Edwin Luytens.

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Dublin, city, capital of Ireland, located on the east coast in the province of Leinster. Situated at the head of Dublin Bay of the Irish Sea, Dublin is the country's chief port, center of financial and commercial power, and seat of culture. Learn more about Dublin in this article.

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Rock of Cashel

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Set on a dramatic outcrop of limestone in the Golden Vale, The Rock of Cashel, iconic in its historic significance, possesses the most impressive cluster

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Cliffs of Moher

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Cliffs of Moher Tourist Attraction in Ireland, Things to Do in Ireland | Ireland's most visited natural attraction

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The Cliffs of Moher are a Signature Discovery Point at the heart of Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way

Like more than million plus visitors who come to see them each year, you can look forward to a trip never to be forgotten: Ireland at its most natural, rugged, panoramic and breathtaking. Everything you dreamed that Ireland would be - and more. The beauty of the Cliffs of Moher is that they offer us a totally multi-faceted experience of Ireland's incredible west coast - as much a historical landmark as they are a geographical wonder, conservation hotspot and area of immense natural richness and importance.

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Where are the Cliffs of Moher, Cliffs of Moher Facts | Cliffs of Moher

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Like more than million plus visitors who come to see them each year, you can look forward to a trip never to be forgotten: Ireland at its most natural, rugged, panoramic and breathtaking. Everything you dreamed that Ireland would be - and more.