On a drizzly morning in early summer -- what the Irish refer to as a "soft day" -- I'm doing something that has become rather commonplace during my numerous travels to Ireland. I'm talking about local history with two men who live in County Mayo and work at the Delphi Mountain Lodge and Spa. We stand at the entrance to a business that was constructed with the entrepreneurial … [Read more...] about Into the West & Far East
International Tourism
Sweet Avondale
California redwoods in Ireland? Yes, you can find a fine grove at Avondale Forest Park in County Wicklow about an hour's drive from Dublin. Avondale, now a national historic site and home of the Irish Forest Service, was the family estate of Charles Stewart Parnell, whose brilliant career as national leader in Ireland's fight for Home Rule was wrecked by the revelation of his … [Read more...] about Sweet Avondale