Rest assured!

Last Sunday coming back from London, I sat beside a lady on Ryanair who had recently purchased a holiday home near Carcossone in Southern France. She told me the main reason for doing so, was; Ryanair flies to Carcossonne and this has enabled her, her children and grandchildren to visit frequently at little expense. This is certainly commonplace now. I pray to god that my husband and I are next on the list and can buy somewhere in Burgundy! This impromtu meeting spurred me to contact the man himself, and so I sent a letter to Michael O'Leary congratulating him on what he has done for all of us or those who wish to avail of his inexpensive flights to all of those wonderful hidden gems all over Europe. This was his reply!


"I thank you for your card and for your frequent flights on Ryanair. Rest assured we will keep trying to reduce the cost of air travel throughout Europe and I hope we will have the pleasure of welcoming you on many more Ryanair flights over the coming months."

Best wishes,

Yours sincerely

Michael O'Leary"

Here are a list of gems to visit from Dublin:

Algerho - Sardinia
Sardinia is wonderful. Wild and Rustic. It is very like Sicily in the sense that most locals completely disown mainland Italy. Saying that, this beautfiul island is frequented by the Romanese and Milanese, frightfully chic! It's still quite off the radar though.
Food and wine is wonderful. Look out for their Vermentino white wine, Cannonau red wine and Seafood! Head north west to Stintino.

Milan - Italy.
Frightfully sophisticated and glam! Head here for you shopping weekend and people spotting.
Great for access into the Dolomites for ski-ing holidays. The Dolomites are still very much undiscovered with us Irish and English. We went to Arabba last year near Cortina. Ski-ing was amazing and did not ski the same run twice in a week. Lots of pit spots for coffee. Queuing for lifts taught me a thing or two about fashion, sunglasses, and what to wear on the slopes. Check out Val Gardina as well. Very swish!!!

Paris - France
Ohhhh amazing, I simply adore Paris. My husband and I are true francophiles at heart. We visited paris in Spring this year. Simply wonderful, so romantic. I could rave about this wonderful city for hours and have decided that at some stage we will have to go and live there for a year. My dream is to become a french fashion aficionado - french women really know how to dress! We had a long weekend there and ate and drank for a third less than Dublin. We hung around the left bank mainly and visited all the wonderful galleries, watched the parisians walk their dogs and drooled at flower and interior design shops on Rue Jacob,7eme.
If you do plan to go I have a great file on a very parisian visit, thanks to a friend who lived there for a while.

Hann - Mosel Valley
A hot spot for Riesling wine. This part of Germany produces the finest in the world.
The mosel is extremely traditional and a beautiful spot to visit; try and go in during autumn tine when all the wine festivals are on. The village streets are taken over for the day and all sorts of delicious foods and wines are served. They love their pork! The region is also fab for wild river trout. To work it off you can hire bicycles and spend the day going downstream to Bernkastel. Fly into the regional airport of Hann, no hassle and very straightforward, within 15 minutes you are in the heart of the mosel wine region.


Pisa - Italy
Toscana - the heart of wine in Italy. Everyone that visits this wonderful part of the world, cannot resist the pull of all the beautiful hill top towns of Montalicino, Volterra, Montepulciano and Volterra or roam the streets of hisorical Sienna, Lucca and Florence. We had one of best meals ever here. We were staying in Chianti Classico and went off one evening to find supper. We came to a funny little cafe in a rather non exciting town. A good sign for the best food. We both had a teabone veal steak costing €5.20 each - wow I will never forget it, washed down with some delice Chianti Classico. Simple is best.

Trapani - Sicily
This is probably my number one destination to visit. Sicily is old Italy, trapped in a wonderful time warp, filled with tradition and history. I feel filled with a warm love when I think about this fascinating island. Never have I seen a culture so rich. We had the best time, staying in Agriturismo's dotted around the island, visiting working farms where the hospitality was top notch. Little English was spoken, a lot of "Alora". The food was heavenily and I can honestly say that in 17 days of eating out 3 times a day, we did not not experience one bad meal. The best dining experiences were always off the beaten track in small hidden away coastal towns, where we were always the odd ones out and no english was spoken. A favorite spot was Castellamare di Golfo on the north west coast, where we had supper in the port. A wonderful people watching experience, I was fascinated by all the sicilian americans, literally straight out of the sopranos, children dressed in Polo Ralph Lauren with thick New York accents which then conversed in strong regional sicilian when needed. Sicilians are just like us Irish, strong to their roots.
We ate a delicious seafood dinner and strolled around this seaside town in the dark, watching the auld biddies sit in the street underneath their streams of washing, with the occossional sound of a passing vespa in the distance.