As Irish rugby fans flock to Paris next weekend, RUADHAN MACCORMAIC takes a tour of the places in the French capital where the Irish have left their mark

 CITY BREAK: BRATISLAVA: A UFO FLYING ABOVE the treetops and a huge concrete housing estate – whose sadness couldn’t be salved by the colours it had been painted – these were our first views of Bratislava. Seeing as we were travelling along the Iron Curtain Cycling Trail, it was also symbolic – a path leading past communist era’s relics into a bright future.

 TOP TEAS: The ritual of afternoon tea is celebrated in tea rooms all over the country. LORRAINE COURTNEY samples some of the best on offer

 GO WALK: The soaring rocky architecture of Killarney’s Gap of Dunloe is unrivalled, writes JOHN G DWYER 

 SURFING: TAK TAK TAK BOOM. Tak tak tak BOOM . . .” No, it’s not a revival of Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince – it is a surf lesson, and as instructors Sebastian and Marcel call out this mantra over and over and over, I find myself rising to my feet, standing on my surfboard and riding a wave to the shore.

 TRAVEL: AFRICA: EARLY EVIDENCE THAT Addis Ababa is going to be different from my two previous experiences of African towns comes within minutes of arriving at my hotel. I’ve travelled here to witness the Great Ethiopian Run and ask for directions to the main square where it will begin and end, only to be told that it is a 10-minute walk away. Briefly, I’m taken aback.