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Your ultimate guide to a Priceless weekend, brought to you by Mastercard

When it comes to planning your weekends during the summer season, you really are spoiled for choi...
Newstalk
Newstalk

12.01 22 Aug 2017


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Your ultimate guide to a Price...

Your ultimate guide to a Priceless weekend, brought to you by Mastercard

Newstalk
Newstalk

12.01 22 Aug 2017


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When it comes to planning your weekends during the summer season, you really are spoiled for choice. That’s why we’ve teamed up with Mastercard® to bring you the ultimate event guide every weekend for the rest of the summer. Your weekend starts here:

Dublin

Women's Rugby World Cup

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This year, Ireland plays host to the Women's Rugby World Cup 2017 with a host of games being played in Dublin and Belfast. Proudly sponsored by Mastercard®, the pinnacle tournament for Women's rugby kicked off on the 9th of August and runs until the 26th when the final will be held in Kingspan Stadium, Belfast.

You can see the full list of fixtures for the tournament here

Dalkey Lobster Festival

A delicious fusion of lobster, crab, and “all that jazz”, the Dalkey Lobster Festival combines the best of local seafood with cracking live music. Basically, it’s a seafood lover’s dream festival.

Dalkey Village will be transformed with twenty marquees lining Castle Street, providing lobster, prawns, crab claws, mussels and other tasty morsels from the sea, along with live street entertainment and music all weekend from 12pm-6pm. Dalkey’s 20 eateries and six pubs will also be getting into the lobster groove, with fish specials over the course of the festival.

Our recommendation? Stroll up Killiney Hill in the morning for a breathtaking view over Dublin before stuffing yourself silly on freshly cooked crustaceans and craic.

Ukulele Hooley

For something a bit more unusual this weekend, Ireland’s national ukulele festival in the lovely seaside town of Dun Laoghaire won’t disappoint when it comes to amping up the volume with easy-going, all-round good fun.

Saturday’s events include €15 ukulele masterclasses (and yes, beginners are more than welcome!), an open-topped bus tour packed full of ukulele players, for an afternoon of ukulele playing, busking and touring the beautiful coastline and harbours around Dún Laoghaire with a stop off for refreshments at Killiney Castle Hotel, and a late night open mic night.

The Hooley’s main event will take place on Sunday in People’s Park - an eight-hour-long free concert featuring some of the ukulele world’s most talented artists and groups. Grab some grub from local market stalls and chill out for the afternoon.

Dublin Fun Fest

Smithfield Square will be the home of Summer ‘17’s party atmosphere this weekend, with free entertainment for the whole family taking place on Sunday.

Food stalls will pop up on the square to provide a range of yummy snacks, while dance performances and sports demonstrations will keep you on your toes. For adults who are secretly still kids at heart (and aren’t we all?), there will be Giant Jenga, Giant Connect 4, Giant Bowling and Ring Toss games to play with your mates, as well as inflatable soccer and basketball shoot-outs.

Craft lovers will enjoy the pop-up market in the Generator Hostel too, which will showcase vintage clothing, jewelry and arts and crafts fairs.

Vermeer and the Masters of Genre Painting

Culture vultures, this one’s for you: a fascinating exhibition of some of the finest Dutch painters of the period 1650 to 1675, expertly curated by the National Gallery of Ireland.

This exhibition will explore the network of relationships between Vermeer and Dutch genre painters, and will give visitors an insight into how Vermeer and his contemporaries admired, inspired and rivalled each other. A collection of over 60 paintings, with as many as ten works by Johannes Vermeer  will be included in the exhibition, which represents the third highest number of works by the artist ever assembled in the world.

The National Gallery of Ireland’s Vermeer, Lady Writing a Letter with Her Maid, c.1670, which is regarded as one of the artist’s finest works, will be shown alongside other exquisite works including Woman with a Pearl Necklace and The Astronomer.

Tickets must be booked in advance via The National Gallery’s website, and with this rare exhibition of Vermeer’s work only on display until the 17th September, you might want to book sooner rather than later.

Galway

The Dirty Circus

Bringing sultry sounds to the Roisin Dubh stage this Saturday night is The Dirty Circus, a Cabaret and Burlesque show featuring some of Ireland’s most talented performers, clowns, stand-up comedy, dancers, circus skills, contortion and fire breathers -  basically, picture something spectacularly entertaining and chances are you’ll see it in this show.

The Dirty Circus shows have toured Electric Picnic, Body & Soul, and the Vodafone Comedy Festival, with organisers promising each show is never the same. “Think smokey hot jazz clubs of prohibition”, with glam dress code encouraged of ladies to wear their finest and gentlemen to “dress like gentlemen.”

Intrigued? You should be. Put on your glad rags for a night out on the town with a difference.

Galway Farmer’s Market

Galway's famous bustling market has been trading in Church Lane by St Nicholas' Church in the centre of Galway city for centuries, and here’s where you will find hundreds of stalls selling fresh produce and locally produced crafts.

There's a great variety of food available, from Madras curry to fresh fruit and veg, to mouthwatering handmade chocolate, and all the essentials for a gourmet picnic spread. Open Saturdays from 8.30am-6pm and Sundays 2pm-6pm, must-visit stalls include The Bean Tree, a vegetarian company selling delicious veggie curries and chapatis, Coolfin Organic Bakery, who serve up light and fluffy yeast breads and tasty spelt loaves, and Kappa-Ya Sushi, who use a mixture of traditional Japanese ingredients and Irish produce for fresh rolls and Teriyaki dishes.

Cork

The Great Irish Beer Festival

A three-day event featuring craft beer from Irish producers, live music, lectures, brewing demos & food prep demos, the Great Irish Beer Festival returns to Cork City Hall after its first hugely successful event last year.

24 Irish craft breweries, including local favourites Franciscan Well and West Cork Brewing Co. will provide thirst quenching tipples alongside “unique taste experiences” of local food produce. Live demonstrations of home brewing techniques and lectures on beer-related topics such as the effects of Malt in beer and the science behind brewing make this a necessary visit for any budding beer connoisseur. 

Added bonus? The festival has a top notch music line-up, with performances over the weekend by Stiff Little Fingers, Le Galaxie, Rebel Rebel - The David Bowie Experience, The Band Anna, Fire & Water and Audible Joes - the perfect soundtrack for such high quality beverages.

This event guide was brought to you with thanks to Mastercard®. Register on Priceless.com today to discover exclusive experiences and get privileged access to sporting events, shopping, dining and travel.


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