Friday, June 3rd, 2011
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People from Crete consider themselves to be one big family. Just as I, as an Irish person, can’t confuse the origins of someone abroad whose name has the prefix ‘O’, Cretans can spot a fellow islander anywhere thanks to the majority of their names ending with the suffix ‘akis’. Most locals say that it originates [...]
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Tags: Chania, crete, green travel Crete, pure crete, responsible tourism crete, villas in crete, walking holidays in Crete
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Tuesday, May 31st, 2011
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Looking through the visitors’ book at a stunning Welsh farmhouse in the hills overlooking Fishguard Harbour, words like ‘bliss’, ‘peaceful’, ‘stylish’ and, of course, ‘eco’ jump off the page. What strikes me as strange, however, is that apart from me, none of these happy holiday makers is Irish. And yet, Rosslare is only two hours [...]
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Tags: accommodation near Fishguard, cottage Wales, ferry ireland to Wales, Fishguard, green places to stay in Wales, Pembrokeshire Coast Path, under the thatch, wales
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Monday, May 30th, 2011
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I always secretly wanted to be Julie Andrews. Leading children merrily across Alpine pastures, with songs to fix every dilemma, and Christopher Plummer hanging on my every note. So, walking in the Alps in late May, (albeit French, not Austrian), with my husband and two sons, the snow-capped peaks glistening in the distance, and Edelweiss- [...]
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Tags: ecotourism France, green holidays France, green travel France, itinerance, mercantour, tourisme durable France, walking holidays France, walking holidays in the Alps, walking with a donkey
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Monday, May 30th, 2011
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I never dared go on a horseriding holiday before. The reasons? Not good enough, not brave enough and not rich enough. However, all horsy hang-ups were dispelled on a recent family break in County Galway, at the Slieve Aughty Riding Centre . I met the owner, Esther Zyderlaan, at an ecotourism conference earlier in the [...]
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Tags: ecotourism Ireland, green ireland, green travel Ireland, horse riding galway, horseriding Ireland, language holidays Ireland, responsible tourism Ireland, riding holidays Ireland, Slieve Aughty
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Monday, May 30th, 2011
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If you are a keen sea swimmer on holiday, there is always a list of dangers to look out for: unpredictable currents, jellyfish, sea urchins and, at worst, sharks. But few people point out one of the greatest dangers. Jet skis. On my recent swimming holiday in Croatia (click here to read the article) there was one [...]
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Tags: ethical travel, jet ski danger, responsible tourism, water safety, whale watching west cork
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Saturday, May 28th, 2011
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It is the beginning of April, and I’m sitting outside a small island cafe, sipping frothy coffee, overlooking a peacock blue harbour, before returning up the hill to a Mongolian yurt. For those who aren’t yet familiar with yurts, they are large round tents, built around a wooden trellis structure, with canvas stretched over the [...]
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Tags: Camping Ireland, Cape Clear, eco travel Ireland, green travel Ireland, yurt camp Ireland, Yurts Ireland
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Saturday, May 28th, 2011
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I was one of ten foot passengers on Fastnet Line’s new Swansea to Cork ferry three weeks ago. And three of those were my family members. Then a volcano erupted and, with it, thousands of travel plans. On our return journey we were among five hundred foot passengers, most of them wearing suits. The ferry [...]
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Tags: ash cloud, Fastnet, ferry ireland to Wales, ferry to Cork, ferry to Ireland
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Saturday, May 28th, 2011
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For some people golf is the reason for getting up in the mornings. However, most are unaware that it is one of the most damaging forms of tourism. There is no sugar coating it, I’m afraid. In many parts of the world, where resorts boast eighteen heavenly holes, others campaign to stop vast amounts of [...]
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Tags: eco golf, Golf Environment, Golf Mexico, green golf, IAGTO
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Thursday, May 26th, 2011
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Serendipity is sometimes a life saver. About ten years ago, at one of those crucial life turning points, when I didn’t know which road to take, I got a phone call from a friend, asking me to mind his cottage in the Wicklow Mountains for a few months. Within a week I, my husband [...]
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Tags: accommodation Wicklow, Ballymurrin, cottage Wicklow, ecotourism, green travel Ireland, The Old Milking Parlour Wicklow
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Thursday, May 26th, 2011
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The recession has forced many of our golden gates of tourism to open to new ideas and new visitors, indirectly creating a more responsible and accessible form of tourism. I recently visited the five star hotels of Parknasilla in Kerry and Castlemartyr in Cork which have opened their doors to us mere mortals. This is [...]
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Tags: Castlemartyr, county kerry, ecotourism Ireland, Ecotourism Ireland Kerry, green ireland, green travel, green travel Ireland, natural retreats, parknasilla
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