TRAVEL
Home & Away with Robert Walshe European consumers have just voted Copenhagen into first place on the list of the best places to visit in 2011. Copenhagen was awarded Destination of the Year by European Consumers Choice, ahead of Barcelona, Rome and Madrid. It was the only Scandinavian city nominated. Over the past few years, Copenhagen has grown and renewed itself in a large number of areas. A string of new hotels has opened, as have a new congress centre and over the coming years both the metro and the harbour will be extended significantly. The city has also been the setting for several large international events, which have given massive coverage in all types of media internationally. See what Copenhagen has to offer for you, Scandinavian Airlines fly direct from Dublin to Copenhagen twice daily from as little as €69 one way including all taxes and charges. www.flysas.ie
Weekend Hotspot
County Cavan is rarely visited by tourists, relative to other parts of Ireland. The Lake Country, County Cavan has a huge number of lakes and rivers and as the locals say there are 365 of them, one for each day of the year. As the county is in the heart of Ireland’s lake–land region, it is well known as the country’s premier angling location. The River Erne and her main tributaries, the Shannon Erne Waterway and Dromore/Annalee dominate the middle of the county and further east lies the upper River Boyne system. The village of Belturbet is a good place to use as a base if you want to partake in lake activities The Shannon Erne Waterway which was reopened in 1994 is also called the Ballyconnell and Ballinamore Canal. It can be navigated by boaters as far as the shores of Lough Erne. The foothills of the nearby Iron Mountains, meanwhile, can be explored by hikers of any experience. Cavan also has a rich historical and cultural identity with many museums such as Cavan County Museum and St. Killian’s Heritage Centre; cultural centres
such as Cavan Genealogy Centre, Ballyhugh and Maudabawn; historic churches and abbeys such as the Wesleyan in Kingscourt and my favourite Kilmore Cathedral near Cavan. Also offered are championship golf, horse riding and a memorable visit to the Silver Bear Centre in Bawnboy will enthuse your children for years to come. The elegant Radisson Blu Farnham Estate Hotel 4km from Cavan town is set on a magnificent 1,300 acre estate. This sprawling demesne incorporates a luxury hotel and one of the countries leading health spas. The hotel is a joy to the senses from the softest most evocative fabrics to the most delicate local ingredients; every detail has been carefully chosen to create a sense of wellbeing. The stylish rooms are a treat and there’s a striking” Pink Room Boudoir” with retrochic wallpaper and furnishings. The modern wing has 146 contemporary standard bedrooms and eight of the hotel’s twelve suites are located in the 400 year old Farnham House. These are all unique in size and style and the Farnham suite makes you feel like a lady or lord of the manor! Images of the grounds surround you in the Health Spa, where a clever use of photography sees large-scale images of outdoors brought into the Mint Water Thermal Suite and the treatment rooms. A full range of face and body treatments including facials, massages and body wraps are on offer lasting from 15 minutes up to 2 hours. Much of the pleasure from a visit here is to be taken outdoors. Walks on the estate grounds range from the more relaxed, shorter routes through to the more challenging, depending on the individual requirements. Farnham Estate also offers an 18 hole, par 72, 7065 yard golf course. This stunning parkland course is spread over 500 acres of rolling countryside and dense woodland. Botanica Restaurant with a suitably themed menu features local herbs, flowers and vegetables. The restaurant has a dual aspect outlook one overlooking Farnham lawn and the other a courtyard.
Pet’s Corner...
Living
For an extra special dining experience, private dining can be arranged for groups of up to 12 people at the Chef’s Table, which in addition to being part of the restaurant also forms part of the kitchen. The Botanica Bar is situated on a raised deck in the lobby, and drinks and snacks are available here n Copenha all day. The atmosgen. pheric Wine Goose Cellar Bar is located in the basement of the Great House, which also features a wine cellar. To be fair wherever the road takes you in Cavan, you will experience a wonderful sense of freedom in a relatively undiscovered part of the island. Farnham Estate is a place to linger, savour and enjoy. Packages n Radisson Farnham Estate, Cavan. from €120 pps with • Overnight Luxury Accommodation • Super Buffet Breakfast • Dinner and a round of golf ognised internationally as one or a 25 minute spa treatments. of the best cross-country skiing www.farnhamestate.ie locations in the world. The best value on offer coincides with the Weekly Best Buy best opportunity for crowd-free Geilo is the most complete ski skiing. Project Travel offers 5 and mountain resort in Norway. night self-catering and half-board With guaranteed snow from De- hotel breaks from Sunday to Fricember to April it also has one day in Geilo between January and of the longest seasons in Europe. late April 2011. Prices, including What the runs lack in length (the flights, coach transfers and aclongest is 2km) they more than commodation starts at just €562 make up for in terms of variety, per person based on 3 adults and quality and facilities making Geilo 3 children sharing a comfortable an ideal family resort for people self-catering apartment in the who really love to ski. A total of heart of Geilo. There’s a free ski 40 runs cater for all levels while bus running between the village snowboarders can choose from and all slopes on both sides of the 3 different snow parks. The re- valley. www.Project-Travel.ie sort also boasts Norway’s longRobert Walshe is a freelance est toboggan run, an adventure contributor / broadcaster and park (including zip lines), kid’s is guest travel writer for River club and ski schools plus 11 res- Media newspaper titles across taurants and 8 bars. Geilo is rec- the island of Ireland
Home and Away Extra Distance bus and coach passengers are set to enjoy rights similar to those enjoyed by air travellers under new measures to be introduced next month. The package includes compensation for delayed departures, rights to reimbursement, protections against discrimination and the provision of information for passengers. The European Parliament and Council this week reached agreement on the proposals after a conciliation process and final approval will come from a plenary session of the Parliament and from the Council in February 2011. Although the package greatly improves the consumer rights of coach passengers, it contains some of the limitations which have proved so problematic in air transport. For example, the regulation requires carriers to provide up to two nights hotel accommodation to stranded passengers, for a maximum amount of €80 per night, but this will not apply in cases of severe weather conditions and major natural disasters.
with Kathleen Murray
Making plans for the New Year with Kathleen Murray: Animal Behavioural Therapist
Since the budget was so bad for so many people this year’s plans will be mainly based around what can be afforded and what cannot. Animals don’t make plans. They get up in the morning, and every day is the same. They have a stretch and a pee and then they take it as it comes. If they are lucky enough to live in a house there might be a crust of toast or a bit of cereal for breakfast. They don’t get stressed over whether they can afford to go on holidays or where they should go. They just need food and water, somewhere to go to the toilet, somewhere dry to sleep, some exercise and a calm, controlled owner. Some fun and games
are always good and a treat now and then is a plus but in the main animals are easily contented and looked after... yet so many are abused and neglected. If you can find a space in your plans for the New Year for animal welfare that would be such a great help to all the animals of the county. Animals need people. They need someone to watch out for them, someone to save them when they are in the wrong hands, someone to notice if they are ill. Sometimes an owner that has never had an animal before might not know what the animal needs. Only too often people get an animal and they don’t know the first thing
about looking after it or worse, they don’t care. There are people with pets that put them out in all weathers, only feed them bits and pieces when it suits them, never worm them or check them for mites and fleas, and go off for a few days leaving the animal unsupervised and often without food or water. You often can’t tell a good owner from a bad one from the outside. Things often look and sound ok on the surface but if you look more closely you will be able to see if there is a problem of neglect or abuse. What is abuse? What is neglect? There are people who think that saying NO to a dog is abuse. There are people that think that hitting a dog
across the back with a 2 X 2 is ok. It is always good to remain sensible and let common sense lead you rather than emotion and hysteria. There are people that are ruled by their hearts and there are people that are ruled by their heads. A bit of both is always good when you are trying to size up a situation so that you can find an effective solution. If you know of an animal that looks like it is being abused or neglected (in your opinion) then it can often be that the animal is ill, on medication, is after an operation or is being neglected. Whatever the situation it is always
good to have it checked out by a local Garda or the ISPCA inspector. Both can be contacted through your local Garda station. If all is well then there’s no problem but if it was a neglect or abuse case then you have saved an animal. Happy New Year to all of the Letterkenny Post readers. I hope it is a good one for you and the animals.