Mary McEvoy - Actor
What’s your earliest holiday memory?
I remember going to Inchiquin, near Kenmare, Co Kerry where there was a waterfall and a mountaintop lake in a very wild beautiful valley. We didn’t have a holiday every year as my dad wasn’t always able to leave the farm.
What was your worst holiday?
I went with friends to a resort near Faro, Portugal. It was one of those locked-in tourist resorts that it was really difficult to get out of and where everything was geared towards organised tours. It was also late July so it was blisteringly hot. I was trying to explore and see some normal local life but the area was so decimated by developers. I enjoyed it but would not ever choose it again.
What was your best holiday?
A trip to Tenerife. We didn’t go to the more populous area but went to the north of the island to Garachico village. The hotel was gorgeous and Garachico had a wild rocky sea with natural rock pools for swimming with crystal clean water.
The under-explored side of Tenerife was such a surprise. There was a volcanic national park that looked like a Star Warslandscape, La Orotava village with amazing architecture and a picturesque mountain village called Masca.
If budget or work were not a restriction, what would be your dream holiday?
I’d travel through France and take my time. I love France in every way. I’ve had a love affair with it since I was a child and I’ve had a thing about Paris for years. At the moment I’m in love with Nice. It’s not the glamorous south of France but rough around the edges. I love the quality of the light in the city, the promenade and the rocky beach. Nearby is a lovely walled town called Saint-Paul-de-Vence with a beautiful modern art museum called Fondation Maeght.
If you had your pick, who would you bring on holiday with you?
My fella, but I’d also bring any of my girl friends so he would not have the stress of trying to go here and there. He tends to want to flop on holidays or go on ridiculous expeditions.
What’s your favourite place in Ireland?
The Forty Foot, Sandycove. When I lived in Dublin I would be a year-round swimmer and there is such a magic atmosphere there, like a community. There is a beautiful lake near me – called Lough Lene, Co Westmeath – but in summer it gets so littered despite the best efforts of locals.
Your recommended holiday reading?
I love my Nordic thrillers. Years ago in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, I read Perfumeby Patrick Süskind about a serial killer set in the same part of 18th century France. I was staying in an old hotel and one night on my way to the bathroom I suddenly got a sense of perfume and this awful creature and scuttled back to my room!
Where will you go to next?
I’ll save up to go back to Nice if I can. I’d rather spend three days well in a nice hotel than stay a week somewhere that’s not comfortable.
* Actor, author, broadcaster Mary McEvoy was nominated at this year's Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards for How The Light Gets In(Hachette)
In conversation with
GENEVEIVE CARBERY