Limerick's most famous landmark is without a doubt King John's castle. I hadn't been to visit it in years, but the Shan clan popped along late in August, the day before Dante started back at school, for one last summer day out. We had a very enjoyable time there -- they've upgraded it a lot since my last visit, with new areas and more interactive material. I've included some photos, most of which are self-explanatory, except perhaps for the last one...

When we came out of the castle at the end of our tour, we saw this lovely mural of Dolores O'Riordan, the lead singer of the Cranberries, who was from Limerick and sadly died at a terribly young age a few years ago. It was great to see her commemorated in so fitting a fashion. And, by a strange quirk of fate (or DesTiny?!?) I happened to be wearing my Hitchers T-shirt that day, as you can see in the snap.

"What's that?" you huff. "Who or what are the Hitchers, and why should it be of any significance?"

Well, the Hitchers were another Limerick band, who started back in 1989 and penned many a memorable tune -- they're the band I've seen live more than any other over the years, and they always put on a great gig. I highly recommend checking out some of their songs online -- "Strachan" is the best football (soccer) song ever written, "Killed It With My Bare Hands" is one of the catchiest songs I've ever heard, and "You Can Only Love Someone So Much (But You Can Hate Them All The Way To Hell)" is proof that you can write a great song with only two lines of lyrics.

Anyway. Their drummer/lead singer is called Niall Quinn. (I've got to know him him to say hello to whenever I spot him at a gig or out and about. He's my only "rock star" buddy, though if you called Niall a rock star, I think he'd raise one amused eyebrow in response.) In 1989 Niall was doubling-up as the singer in another band that had just started, called The Cranberry Saw Us, but he decided to leave them in order to concentrate on his work with the Hitchers. That left them looking for a new lead singer, and Niall recommended a young Limerick lady to them that he was familiar with, called... Dolores O'Riordan. She joined, the band changed their names to the Cranberries, and the rest is rock history!

As Michael Caine would no doubt say if telling this particular story -- "Not a lot of people know that." :-)