The countdown is on until the holidays are here, and we are looking forward to when we get time to spend with those we hold dear. Days out with our loved ones can bring so much cheer this time of year, so we have found some fun-filled festive activities in Galway for you to try!
The Famous Galway Christmas Market
As we all know, the Galway Christmas market is one of the best things in Galway this time of year to feel that holiday spirit. Containing various stalls with an array of crafts and gift ideas, along with mountains of good food and drink options to choose from.
Enjoy a magical walk through the enchanted light gardens with friends and family, which can make for the perfect insta photo!
Festiva Afternoon Tea at the G Hotel
Next up is the G-Hotel’s Festive Afternoon Tea. With the weather being so cold, inside is where you want to be! Treat yourself in the run-up to the holidays with the delicious, savoury, and sweet treats they have to offer. Indulge in a selection of delicate sandwiches, including the festive-inspired sausage stuffing, walnut & sage croquette with a cranberry gel and turkey coronation & cranberry sandwich. Ooo, that sounds good!
The g’s pastry team have also curated a host of treats for the occasion, such as the traditional Christmas pudding, baileys and a salted caramel yule log. Why not go wild and absolutely spoil yourself with a refreshing glass of Taittinger Champagne? It’s exactly what you deserve.
Elftown
If you’re looking for something the whole family can enjoy, look no further than Elftown for a truly magical experience. A 2-hour Christmas experience set over 3 different buildings, with the mystical journey set over 4 floors.
And, at the end of your journey, you and your family get a private visit with Santa! Who is the most realistic and authentic Santa you will find in all the land. Children will be amazed when he knows a little secret about each child.
Every child will receive an Elf Town branded gift pack with an official invite from Santa to Elf Town this year. They have a unique Golden ticket and map of Elf Town addressed to the children and delivered by reindeer post before your booking date. All are included with your ticket purchase.
Last-minute stocking fillers from the Sock Society
If you’re looking to do some last-minute shopping to fill your stockings, we recommend hunting down a pair of the Sock Societies socks. Designed right here in Galway, these are the coolest, most colourful and funny socks you could find! These guys know exactly how to bring your feet to life and would make the perfect gift.
Don’t miss out on the festive fun! Book your journey NOW at Irish Citylink or Gobus to enjoy any of these festive activities with your loved ones over the holiday season!
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For a relatively small island, Ireland is blessed to have several airports for passengers to travel through. Each of the four provinces has at least one international airport, which makes Ireland a very well-connected country. In recent months, now that travel has returned to near normal, major airports across the world have seen delays and disruptions. However, cork Airport, Ireland’s second-largest airport, was ready to adapt and grow and is still expanding services, offering a lot of international routes.
Citylink proudly serves Cork Airport as part of the 251 Galway-Limerick-Cork Route, offering times to compliment outgoing and incoming flights. Our team recently took a trip down to Cork Airport to see how handy it is to get through the airport – From Door to Departures.
Citylink services pull up right outside the terminal building of Cork Airport. If the bus was any closer, it’d be on the tarmac with the plane! When you disembark the bus, you’re just a few metres away from the entrance to the building. Cork Airport is pretty compact. Everything is there for you as you walk through the main doors. You have your check-in desks in front of you, cafes and shops to the left, seating areas dotted along the building, and cool displays showing local bars and restaurants.
When you start making your way through the airport and get through security, it will literally take a couple of minutes to get from the front door to your departure gate (not including a stop in Duty-Free, mind you).
A trip through the airport is not complete until you spend some time in Duty-Free. When you get through security, you’ll find yourself in “The Loop.” Alcohol, perfumes, chocolates, and Clonakilty sausages and rashers are the perfect items to be shopping for before boarding your plane.
On our trip through the airport, we were amazed at how quick and convenient the airport was and how easy it was to navigate, which, for any traveler, is very reassuring.
The same can be said for inbound passengers to Cork Airport. You disembark the aircraft, and you’re nearly immediately at passport control. Once you’ve finished up there, you simply turn around the corner, and you’re at baggage claim! Before you know it, you’re passing through the doors to the arrivals lounge – back to where your journey through Cork Airport began.
Citylink offers 8 daily services to and 8 daily services from Cork Airport, bringing you to/from the airport’s front door.
Now that Cork Airport is adding more departures – including new routes to Rome and Newcastle, maybe a winter break is on the cards? We sure are tempted anyways!
We understand that life is hectic and sometimes plans change. We here at Citylink want to make your experience as pleasant and seamless as possible.
A question we get asked a lot is “Can I change my booking?” and the answer is, yes! To help our customers have more flexibility and control over their travel plans customers can now amend their booking up to 3 times prior to the scheduled service departure time.
Conditions:
You can amend your booking with Citylink up to 30 minutes before a service departs its first stop
We are happy to change the time and date of your booking but we cannot change the destination.
How to manage your booking:
If you need help with amending your ticket, check out our handy video tutorial below.
Or check out our step by step guide below:
How to manage your booking:
When you go to our website www.citylink.ie, click “Manage my Booking” in the top right corner as seen below:
When you click on the “Manage My Booking” section the following page will appear:
Enter your booking reference number which can be found in your confirmation email, or if you chose to have your ticket text to your mobile, your booking reference number can also be found here. You will also need to enter the email you used to book your initial journey.
Once you have submitted these details, you can proceed to change the date and time of your booking. Your new ticket will be sent to your email.
With the acquisition of GoBus, Irish Citylink will become one of the largest private land transport companies in Ireland.
Irish Citylink, a wholly owned subsidiary of ComfortDelGro group headquartered in Singapore, has successfully completed the purchase of GoBus from its present owners. The acquisition marks a significant step forward for the company in expanding its network throughout Ireland.
On reviewing the market to identify companies that offer an excellent level of service, it was imperative to choose a company whose values and reputation aligned with the core values and level of service Citylink is known for. GoBus epitomizes these values that are important to our company and passengers.
David Conway, Regional Director of Irish Citylink, commented, “Having navigated the challenges of COVID-19 and as we are rebuilding and expanding the range of services we offer to the traveling public, the addition of the GoBus network will enable us to provide significantly more options to both Citylink and GoBus customers. This enhanced network of services will encourage more people to travel via public transport and support our greater green agenda of moving towards a sustainable public transport network”.
The acquisition of GoBus fits into Citylink’s strategy to become the largest operator of intercity coach services in Ireland. GoBus’ convenient services and fleet of modern and comfortable coaches, alongside Citylink’s premium and reliable services, provide major opportunities for the company to become the largest intercity coach operator in Ireland.
When asked about the acquisition, Frances Cahill, General Manager of Irish Citylink, commented, “This is just the beginning – The acquisition of GoBus brings so many new opportunities to the business in terms of employment, funding for local sponsorships, and the services we can provide for our passengers. We are absolutely delighted to bring two reputable transport providers together to provide an expanded network of routes and an even better customer experience for our current and future passengers!”
The stories behind Irish Citylink and GoBus
Irish Citylink first began right in the heart of Galway almost 20 years ago. The company’s distinctive blue and yellow coaches have become synonymous with high-quality, reliable, and affordable coach travel. In the beginning, Citylink ran up to 12 daily services between Galway and Dublin. Since then, they have expanded their business and network of routes to over 100 daily direct, express, and multi-stop services across all routes. Over 150 people are employed in the provision of Irish Citylink’s services in Galway, Dublin, Limerick, and Cork.
GoBus was established in 2009 and operates frequent and flexible coach services across three main routes serving Galway, Dublin, Cork, and Ballina. GoBus prides itself on offering flexibility and the best in comfort and safety on board.
Pairing GoBus with Citylink’s mission to connect Ireland’s towns, cities, villages, and airports across the nation by providing reliable travel is both ambitious and vital. Particularly as the need for public transport increases each year.
Irish Citylink operates a range of services in Galway, Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Clifden, Loughrea, Athlone, Ballinasloe, and more. The company currently carry over 28,000 passengers per week across all routes which is forecasted to surpass 35,000 later this year. With these numbers in mind, it is clear that transport is an essential and vital service in today’s society. With this acquisition, Irish Citylink is determined to create a reality where transport is more accessible in Ireland than ever before!
For more information on how this acquisition will affect Irish Citylink and GoBus’ customers, please click here.
Nothing beats the post Christmas blues like a quick Spring getaway to look forward to. There are a multitude of amazing destinations at our doorstep in Europe, waiting to be explored. Keep reading to find out about our Top 5 picks for a Spring City Break in Europe.
1.Amsterdam
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
The capital of the Netherlands, Amsterdam, is well known for it’s artistic heritage, narrow houses with gabled facades and being the world’s 2nd most bicycle friendly city in the world. Amsterdam’s nickname is “Venice of the North” attributed by the large number of canals which form a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Originating as a small fishing village in the late 12th century, Amsterdam became one of the most important ports in the world in the Dutch Golden Age of the 17th century and became the leading centre for finance and trade.
Exploring the cities canals by foot, enjoying a walk on Blijburg beach and learning about Amsterdam’s history at Stadsarchief (City Archives) are a few of the many amazing things you can do to make the most of your time in this wonderful city.
Berlin is a world of culture, politics, media and science. It is the capital and largest city in Germany bursting with fascinating history. It’s 3,748,148 inhabitants make it the second most populous city of the European Union after London.
Among the city’s main features are the many lakes in the western and southeastern boroughs formed by the Spree, Havel, and Dahme rivers. Due to its location in the European Plain, Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. About one-third of the city’s area is composed of forests, parks, gardens, rivers, canals and lakes.
The city has numerous orchestras, museums, and entertainment venues, and is host to many sporting events. It’s Zoological Garden is the most visited zoo in Europe and one of the most popular worldwide. The city is also well known for its festivals, diverse architecture, nightlife, contemporary arts and a very high quality of living.
The “City of Love” as it is well-known globally is the perfect place to visit with your loved ones to overcome the Christmas blues. Paris, France’s capital city, is a major European city and global centre for art, fashion, gastronomy and culture.
Paris is especially known for its museums and architectural landmarks: the Louvre was among most visited art museums in the world in 2019, with 9.6 million visitors. The historical district along the Seine in the city centre is classified as a UNESCO Heritage Site, and popular landmarks in the city centre included the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris, now closed for renovation after the April 15, 2019 fire.
Paris received 24.5 million visitors in 2018. It was ranked as the second most visited travel destination in the world in 2018, after Bangkok. The football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris. The 80,000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis.
Venice is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is situated on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. It was a major financial and maritime power during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and a staging area for the Crusades and the Battle of Lepanto, as well as an important centre of commerce – especially silk, grain, and spices, and of art from the 13th century to the end of the 17th.
The lagoon and a part of the city are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Parts of Venice are renowned for the beauty of their settings, their architecture, and artwork. Venice is known for several important artistic movements – especially during the Renaissance period.
Although the city is facing some challenges (including an excessive number of tourists, problems caused by pollution, tide peaks and cruise ships sailing close to the buildings), Venice remains a very popular tourist destination, a major cultural centre, and has been ranked many times the most beautiful city in the world. It has been described by the Times Online as one of Europe’s most romantic cities and by The New York Times as “undoubtedly the most beautiful city built by man”.
Things to do:
Grand Canal – Canal, basilica and palace
Rialto Bridge – Ornate footbridge over the Grand Canal
St. Mark’s Square – Landmark basilica dominated square
Budapest, Hungary’s capital, is bisected by the River Danube. The Széchenyi Chain Bridge connects the hilly Buda district with flat Pest. Budapest is a global city with strengths in commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and entertainment. It is Hungary’s financial centre, and was ranked as the second fastest-developing urban economy in Europe.
Among Budapest’s important museums and cultural institutions is the Museum of Fine Arts. The central area of the city along the Danube River is classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and has several notable monuments, including the Hungarian Parliament, Buda Castle, Fisherman’s Bastion, Gresham Palace, Széchenyi Chain Bridge, Matthias Church and the Liberty Statue.
Things to do:
Buda Castle – Castle home of Hungarian art collection
No matter where you decide to travel in Europe, you are guaranteed to find some delicious cuisine, historic landmarks, fantastic nightlife, beautiful scenery and much more!
Travelling to Dublin Airport? Travel in luxury with Citylink. Our coaches offer on board toilets, Free WiFi, charging points, generous luggage allowances, comfortable seats and friendly and helpful drivers. Have any queries about our services? All information about our services can be found on www.citylink.ie
A beautiful structure with years of history lies just outside our Citylink office in Aston Quay: The Ha’penny Bridge. The Ha’penny Bridge which is the best known and most beloved of Dublin’s bridges, was the first iron pedestrian bridge in Ireland. The bridge was built in 1816 across the River Liffey in Dublin. The Ha’penny Bridge remained the city’s only pedestrian bridge over the Liffey for over 180 years until it was joined by the Millennium Bridge in 1999. The official name of the Ha’penny Bridge is the Liffey Bridge, however the nickname of the Ha’penny Bridge stuck because of the history. Keep reading to find out more.
The History of the Ha’penny Bridge
Originally called the Wellington Bridge (after the Dublin-born Duke of Wellington), the name of the bridge changed to Liffey Bridge in 1922 when Ireland gained independence. The Liffey Bridge remains the bridge’s official name to this day, although it is most commonly referred to as the Ha’penny Bridge.
Before the Ha’penny Bridge was built there were seven ferries, operated by William Walsh, across the Liffey. The ferries were in bad condition and Walsh was informed that he had to either fix them or build a bridge. The bridge was the idea of the Dublin Corporations’ s John C. Beresford. Despite the £3,000 cost, Walsh chose to construct a bridge.
Initially the toll charge was based not on the cost of construction, but to match the charges levied by the ferries it replaced. Each pedestrian who crossed paid a ha’penny, which is where the bridge got its famous nickname. A further condition of construction was that, if the citizens of Dublin found the bridge and toll to be “objectionable” within its first year of operation, it was to be removed at no cost to the city.
The toll was increased for a time to a penny-ha’penny (1½ pence), but was eventually dropped in 1919. While the toll was in operation, there were turnstiles at either end of the bridge. When the bridge opened in 1816 it was reported that an average of between 400-500 paying pedestrians crossed every day. Fast forward to now, approximately 30,000 pedestrians are crossing the bridge daily.
The Ha’penny Bridge celebrated its 200th birthday in 2016. However, it nearly did not reach 100 because in 1913, Dublin Corporation adopted plans to demolish the beloved Ha’penny Bridge and replace it with an art gallery over the river. The proposed gallery would showcase the work of Hugh Lane. The plans to build the gallery bridge were later scrapped, leaving the Ha’penny Bridge in place.
Nostalgic drawing of the Ha’penny Bridge
Construction & Renovation
The Ha’penny Bridge is a single elliptical iron arch rising over three metres above high water at its peak. The bridge is 43 metres long and 3.66 metres wide. The ribs of the bridge were individually cast in 18 separate pieces by the Coalbrookdale Company and then shipped to Dublin. Once in Dublin, John Windsor – one of the company’s head foremen – oversaw construction.
The superstructure is reported to have remained remarkably sound since then, but when a survey revealed that work was needed on the railings and deck due to wear and tear, it was closed for a few months of renovation in 2001. 85% percent of the original cast iron was re-used in the renovation project.
Romance on the Ha’penny Bridge
The Ha’penny saw a spell of having its famous white railings decorated with ‘love locks’, or padlocks with lovers’ names on them. After an initial attempt to discourage couples from the practise in 2012 proved unsuccessful, 300 kilograms of locks were removed from the bridge in 2013 over concerns about damage to this protected Dublin structure.
Love locks on the Ha’penny Bridge before they were removed in 2013
Conclusion
To conclude, there is a significant amount of history revolving around the Ha’penny Bridge. The bridge was build in 1816, over 200 years ago and was the only pedestrian bridge in Dublin for over 180 years until the Millennium Bridge was built in 1999. The original name was the Wellington Bridge, which was changed to the Liffey Bridge in 1922 when Ireland gained independence. This is still the official name, however, it is more commonly known as the Ha’penny Bridge due to the ha’penny toll charge for pedestrians crossing until 1919. The bridge was renovated in 2001 and the current bridge is 85% original cast iron. Don’t forget to like this blog if you enjoyed reading. You can also share this blog on Facebook or Twitter.
🙌 Citylink was in the stands as Connacht sealed their first win of the Pro14 aginst Benetton at the Sportsground. Outstanding performances by Caolin Blade, Tom McCartney, Conor Fitzgerald and a superb solo effort by Kyle Godwin ensured a comfortable victory.
🚌 Citylink are the official coach providers to Connacht Rugby, driving Connacht Rugby forwards in the hail rain or snow.
