Robert Ballagh, artist
What's your earliest holiday memory?Every year we would go to my great-aunt's farm in Limerick. We experienced everything from milking cows by hand to collecting water from a spring to harvesting the hay by hand. It's a cherished childhood memory of an Ireland that no longer exists.
What was your worst holiday?I don't believe such a thing. I've stayed in awful places but have always made something of it. A couple of years ago I took a last-minute trip to Cape Verde. It sounded marvellous, but I discovered when I got there that the airport was on one island which was a fairly miserable desert rock in the middle of the Atlantic. I was there for a week with nothing to do but I discovered a CD by Cesária Évora, a tropical Ella Fitzgerald. So I've the holiday to thank for that.
What was your best holiday?This is between Costa Rica and Kerala, India. Costa Rica for the nature and wildlife. We went to nature reserves and saw extraordinary animals, such as sloths and howler monkeys. It's a small little country undisturbed by human beings with the highest percentage of nature reserves in the world. Kerala, India because it's a wonderful place with lots of different things to see and terrific people. It is covered in "backwaters", a series of canals, lakes and rivers near the sea.
Myself and my wife headed off on with a crew on a wonderful houseboat. They cooked lunch and we carried on until mooring at dinner time and watched the tropical sunset, then we retired to a little cabin bed with a mosquito net over it.
I also loved the cultural aspects and the food in southern India is very different. We like to go to exotic places when we can, such as Madagascar and Vietnam.
If budget or work were not a restriction, what would be your dream holiday?We made a rule never to go back to the same place, but if I would, I'd go to Kerala again for a week of Ayurvedic hot oil massages. I had a massage in Kerala and it was one of the most pleasurable and relaxing experiences of my life.
If you had your pick, who would you bring on holiday with you?My wife, Betty. We've enjoyed all of our trips tremendously over the years.
What's your favourite place in Ireland?Ballycotton, east Cork. We had a little cottage down there and, when they were young, we would bring the kids for a couple of months during the summer. It's a lovely village with a nice harbour, great cliff walks and beaches. Now the car nearly goes on its own to Ballycotton!
Your recommended holiday reading?I always bring a Lonely Planet as it usually helps you find a couple of things you wouldn't have found on your own. I generally bring novels with me too.
Where will you go to next?My next foreign visit will be business and pleasure. I am the set designer for Riverdanceand a new company is touring in the US soon so I am going out to check that everything is okay. But I'm toying over more exotic destinations. You don't have to go too far to find interesting places such as the volcanic Aeolian Islands north of Sicily.
- Robert Ballagh, Citizen Artist
- In conversation with Genevieve Carbery
by Ciaran Carty, is published by Zeus Medea, €70