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Ballad tours and hidden gems: Get to know Ireland's sites with a wonderful walking tour
A guide to some of Ireland’s more interesting walking tours to do this summer.
THERE’S NOTHING MORE exciting than exploring a city on foot for the first time.
Whether you’re taking in the beauty of a new place on holidays or looking to learn more about your hometown, walking tours are a great way to get to know somewhere intimately.
Over the last few years, musician Seán Fitzgerald has been giving a particularly unique style of walking tour of Dublin’s city centre. Ballad Tours takes attendees on a fascinating trail, telling stories rooted in the city through aged ballads. Fitzgerald, armed with his fiddle, has steadily built Ballad Tours and regularly brings groups of people gathered from all over the world.
The success of his tours has seen his brilliant style of tour become part of various festival programmes, such as the most recent St Patrick’s Festival given its melding of traditional and contemporary Irish tunes to tell
Fitzgerald told The Journal began, ironically, to stave off a serious job: “I first began Ballad Tours as a sort of busking escapade in order to avoid real work. Unfortunately, it’s become a lot of work, which has become harder and harder to avoid these days!”
And while the tour’s primary vehicle of expression is Fitzgerald’s performance, participants are invited to get fully immersed in the overall experience. When asked what his favourite point on the tour, Fitzgerald notes that getting everyone involved is always a highlight.
“The dancing! People don’t expect to dance with strangers and they usually think the dance is going to be really complicated and then it’s extremely easy. It always makes everyone happy on the tour. There’s a great book called Dancing in The Streets: A History of Collective Joy by Barbara Ehrenreich in which she makes a great argument on ways to get lots of people happy by not focusing too much on themselves. She makes a great case for collective dancing.”
This Summer, why not make a plan to travel around Ireland’s beautiful counties and book as many walking tours as you can for an alternative experience. We’ve compiled walking tours that give you interesting insights into the vast cultural and historical things that add to Ireland’s character.
1. Walking tour of The Quiet Man film locations in Cong
John Wayne was known for starring in some of the great Westerns from the golden age of cinema, but one of the highlights in his filmography brought him to a very different type of Wild West. Over 70 years ago, Wayne and Maureen O’Hara starred in John Ford’s The Quiet Man, which was based in the rural landscapes of the West of Ireland. A perfect afternoon for film fans, The Walking Tour of The Quiet Man Film Locations lets you immerse yourself into the world of the Academy Award winning film and see the sites that you’ve seen countless times in your sitting room.
2. Place names and their amazing stories in West Cork
William Shakespeare once asked, “What’s in a name?” Certainly, there are many people who enjoy delving into place names to unlock their histories. There is perhaps no place in Ireland more scenic than West Cork, nor is there an area which has been inhabited and explored by a myriad of people and cultures which have left their mark in the signs around the place. Place Names and their Amazing Stories in West Cork examines the history of this beautiful trail along the Wild Atlantic Way through Castlehaven’s toponymy. As well as seeing the picturesque landscape and acquiring plenty of useful information, participants can also enjoy a delicious picnic packed with local produce.
3. Delicious Dublin tour
As well as walking your way through a city, there’s nothing quite like eating your way through all of the great restaurants and cafes on offer. In the last few years, Dublin’s food offering has really upped its game with an incredible selection of cuisines from traditional Irish dishes to contemporary takes on classic recipes, a walking food tour will give visitors a truly unique perspective on an area’s history based on the delicacies. Delicious Dublin Tour is one of the finest food trails available.
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