TRAVEL
Home & Away with Robert Walshe Hotel Métropole Monte-Carlo has received the highest accolade awarded by Leading Hotels of the World, an international network of 440 prestigious hotels and resorts providing excellence in the art of hospitality. The palace of Monaco was named “Best Hotel in the World 2010” at the Leading Hotels of the World annual convention towards the end of last year. During the event, the hotel’s General Manager, Jean-Claude Messant, was also voted “Hotelier of the Year”. The prestigious award is the result of an inspection in which Hotel Métropole MonteCarlo received the highest overall score of all member hotels, emphasizing the consistency, quality of service and excellent facilities offered.
Weekend Hotspot
As one of the oldest settlements in the USA and the largest city in New England, Boston has plenty of historic culture. Yet with over 50 colleges and universities situated in the greater Boston area there is a youthful, vibrancy that adds a different dimension to the historic charm of the city. Boston refers to itself as the ‘Walking City’ and is a remarkably compact city that is centred on the country’s oldest public park, Boston Common. The Information Centre in Boston Common is the starting point for two of the city’s main attractions, which are in fact walking tours. The Freedom Trail explores the revolutionary past and the birth of the modern American Republic, while the Black Heritage Trail highlights Boston’s place in black American history and its role in anti-slavery. Boston is a blend of historic charm and modern conveniences with a busy street life and beautiful architecture, green parks and gardens, skyscrapers and modern freeways, museums, galleries and colonial churches. Boston is home to the first public library, the first public school and the first subway system; it is the site of the Boston Tea Party that started
the Revolutionary War, and is the location of the Cheers bar, made famous by the popular TV sitcom Cheers. The Omni Parker House is the oldest Hotel in the USA & occupies a great site right smack bang in the Centre of the city. The Hotel was built in 1855 & has had £15M spent on it in the last few years. It truly is Carlo. n Hotel Metropole, Monte beautiful with many original paintings, antiques & chandeliers. The Hotel boasts a few restaurants & bars, New England foliage; and winter which are very good but often offers many celebrations, from the best bars as usual are in holiday shows to ice skating to town. The rooms are small but the country’s original First Night very well equipped with great on New Year’s Eve. All just a few views of the city & the harbour. reasons to visit this charming Over the years the city of Bos- US city. Aer Lingus fly to Boston ton has emerged as one of the direct from Dublin daily. www. USA leading restaurant des- aerlingus.com www.OmniHotinations. From 5-star dining tels.com/Boston rooms in luxury hotels to tiny neighbourhood restaurants Weekly Best Buy and ethnic eateries, Boston Concorde Travel has just rehas it all. The main neighbor- leased their 2011 program to hoods—Beacon Hill, Back Bay, Croatia. Offering the biggest Downtown, the Seaport District, choice of holidays to the AdriFenway, the North End and the atic from Ireland, Concorde South End—are very accessible Travel has a range of exciting to each other. Each has a dis- and great value holidays as well tinct character, but there is no as luxury hotel breaks to Dureal demarcation line between brovnik Riviera, Makarska Riviany of them. In the middle of era and Montenegro. Concorde all these neighborhoods are Travel are happy to tailor-make Boston Common and the Public your perfect holiday and also Garden, two of the city’s best offer two-centre holidays, wedpublic spaces, separated only dings, schooner cruises, esby Charles Street. The best way corted tours, adventure weeks to get around town, other than and pilgrimages to Medjugorje. your own two feet, is “The T,” Concorde Travel flights operate short for the Massachusetts at convenient times on Sundays Bay Transportation Authority - from April to October - and (MBTA). The T is America’s old- weekly from all major airports est subway line and the fourth in Ireland: Dublin, Cork, Ireland largest in the country. It goes West Airport Knock and Shanalmost everywhere you’ll want non. Offers include 3* Villa Erna to go. Boston attractions occur Apts on a self-catering basis throughout the year and every from €514, 3* Hotel Komodor on season has its charms—spring a B&B basis from €600, 4* Hotel brings the marathon and the Lapad on a B&B basis from Red Sox; summer holds the Bos- €654, 5* Hotel Dubrovnik Palace ton Pops and the Fourth of July on a B&B basis from €910 www. celebrations; fall has legendary concordetravel.ie Panorama’s
Pet’s Corner...
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newly launched summer brochure is welcome news for families grappling with their 2011 holiday booking, as it contains an unprecedented array of offers across 18 destinations. For a limited period, families can avail of both couples discounts and free child places, bringing savings of up to €699 on a family holiday. Examples of the early offers for families include 7 nights B&B at the 4-star Golden View Beach hotel in Egypt from August 17th for just €2,449, a saving of €699. There’s a saving of €649 on the 4-star Aqualand Resort in Corfu from 8 July (€2659), while at €2209, the Gouves Park in Crete is reduced by €619, departing July 15. All prices are based on a family of three. www.panoramaholidays.ie Robert Walshe is a freelance contributor / broadcaster and is guest travel writer for River Media newspaper titles across the island of Ireland
with Kathleen Murray
This is the lambing season with Kathleen Murray: Animal Behavioural Therapist
Dogs roaming unattended maul and kill sheep at this time of year. This is not the dogs fault as a dog is a hunting and herding animal and is only doing what it is bred to do. The fault lies with the owner as dogs need to be constantly supervised to ensure that they are not in a field of sheep nearby… or even a few miles away. Every year dogs go missing at this time. Many of them end up being put down in various ways (some not humane) for doing what comes naturally. There are very unfortunate cases where dogs get out ac-
cidentally ( it can happen in the blink of an eye). A dog may have been left with neighbours or relatives when someone went away for Christmas and it wasn’t there when they got back. It may have tried to follow them or find its way back home and met with “disaster” on the way. This can happen, but in general, some people seem to think that their dog wouldn’t do this. This is foolish. A dog only needs the right circumstances and it will cause sheep to die. Your dog might not even look at sheep when it is out walking, or if there are
sheep near your house, but put it with some other dogs and it will become a killing machine in a flash. It only takes a bit of “craic” to start up between dogs then the excitement takes over. Excited dogs are capable of anything. Dogs already know that this is the lambing season. They smell it in the air. They hear it for miles around them. They know that every year at this time the same thing happens. Dogs alert other dogs to it. Don’t underestimate the intelligence and nature of the dog. If you want to ensure that your dog lives and remains your pet then you need to know where
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it is at all times and it must be supervised at all times whether at home or while it is out for a walk. Dogs should not be roaming around the neighbourhood… even to the neighbour’s house. They will go missing at some point (call of the wild) and the neighbours will think it is with you and you will think it is with them. A dog only needs to walk past a field of sheep to cause a problem. It doesn’t have to be in the field with them. Please help the sheep to survive. Be watchful for dogs that are loose in your area and report them to the Gardai immediately.
Home and Away Extra Dubai Tourism has launched a new consumer-facing brand identity, Definitely Dubai, to be used in all its campaigns worldwide. A new website, definitelydubai.com, will have specific UK and Ireland content added by the early 2011. This will include information on air travel, promotions and tour operators that feature Dubai. Dubai Tourism said the United Arab Emirate saw visitor numbers increase 9% in the first half of 2010 compared with the same period of last year. The UK
and Irish markets are the largest for Dubai, representing 10% of Dubai’s total global visitors. Adare Golf Club at Adare Manor Hotel & Golf Resort, Adare, Co Limerick has been voted the No.1 Parkland Course in Ireland by Golf Digest Ireland Magazine, Ireland’s biggest-selling and only monthly golf magazine. This is the fourth consecutive year that Adare Golf Club has appeared in pole position in the Top 100 Ranked Golf Courses in Ireland, as chosen by their panel of experts. www. adaremanor.com