"Roundstone is a haven. Roundstone is an escape," said 2fm broadcaster Ciara King of her native Connemara village. Ryan Tubridy caught up with her for a chat while on his tour of the Wild Atlantic Way and Ciara was more than happy to talk about Roundstone's appeal.
"You know when people describe having an idyllic childhood, I had an idyllic childhood. I don't have to ham it up, I don't have to pretend. It's kind of like the best kept secret but not really… It connects you to people throughout your life like randomly… People want to tell you how they're connected to the place."
Ryan feels the same, describing an evening of drinking Guinness while overlooking the harbour as "one of the most Zen moments of my year if not my life" and Ciara knows exactly what he's talking about.
"It's one of those things that you have to see it to believe it. I can talk about it for the rest of my days, I can talk about how beautiful it is, how peaceful it is, how tranquil it is, how it makes me feel… There's silence and all you can hear is the sea lapping up to the walls and the seagulls and the sun and it really is beautiful. It is exactly what it says on the tin."
It was in this very village that Ciara's book, 'Ciara's Diary: Sense and Shiftability: 1999-2002' is set. It recalls her teenaged misadventures and explorations with the opposite sex when Leonardo di Caprio was on her Most Wanted list and getting the shift was the aim of the game.
"It was written over seven years actually because I used to do it as a night time segment on the radio… What was great about it was peoples' reactions to that particular time in the late 90's, early noughties. Anyone who has lived in pockets of villages or towns across Ireland appreciated it… There was a really good response. Irish people love nostalgia and I think that sometimes we look back with rose tinted glasses a little bit because I don't know what we're trying to cling onto but we're trying to cling onto something… It's full of nostalgia and references to pop culture of that particular time and all the rest… and shifting!"
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