DAYTIMESArts in Co Donegal: Holidaymakers and locals alike will be spoilt for choice at the wonderful two-week
Blue Danube: Enjoy a lunchtime concert of music by Johann and Richard Strauss (including the popular Blue Danube waltz) from the National Symphony Orchestra in the National Concert Hall, Dublin today at 1.05 p.m. The concert will be broadcast live on Lyric FM's Lunchtime Choice series. Tickets €6.50. Tel: 01-4170000.
NIGHTTIMES
Earagail Arts Festival, which opened last night. Don't miss Ristorante Immortale (above), a Fawlty Towers-style show from Flöz Productions at 8 p.m. in An Grianán Theatre, Letterkenny, from tomorrow until Friday. Tickets: €16/€12 (tel: 074-29186).
CHILDTIMES
The Earagall Arts Festival also has lots of shows for children, including Mick an Chnoic, a tale of a talking mountain, at various venues in Co Donegal from today until Friday. Tickets: €3(tel:074-29186)
MY NATIVE COUNTY: CORK
Actor Don Wycherly
Three of my favourite places:
1 The harbour of Glandore, Co Cork. Although it has changed a lot since my youth and unfortunately become the place to go for the elite of Cork, I still like going there - particularly in the winter. When we were young, we used to climb down a set of winding steps to a hidden beach. There was great depth of water there, which was good for diving into. I still pop into Glandore on my way home to Skibbereen.
2 Lough Ine is another of my favourite places. It's a lovely lake off the beaten track between Skibbereen and Baltimore. I think it is a sea-water lake because it is always full of sea urchins. It is so quiet and tranquil. There is a wood on a hillside next to it and, as children, we used to run to the summit where there was a clearing and look down on to the lake. Sometimes, I'd have a snorkel and mask to look at the sea urchins.
3 My home town of Skibbereen is a special place for me. My children love the playground there - it's one of the best around and they never want to leave. At night while I'm there, I go for a walk around the town with my mam to see all the changes to the town.
Don Wycherly will appear in the second series of Bachelors Walk on RTÉ1 in the autumn.
Sylvia Thompson
JUST-IN-TIMES;
late offers
Learn to sail with Sunsail in Turkey. Holidays on August 9th have been reduced to £645 sterling, Some free child places are available also. Price includes bed and breakfast and full use of all watersports equipment. ContactSunway at tel: 01-288 6828 or e-mail: www.sunway.ie
Direct Holidays has Gran Canaria from €649, the Algarve from €579, and Costa Dorada half-board from €619 for departures this weekend (tel: 01-8860400). Or relax in a Heavenly Bed in a Dublin luxury hotel. Dinner, bed and breakfast, plus champagne and fruit on arrival in the Westin is just the way to treat yourself (€152.50 per person sharing).
Joan Scales@irish-times.ie
