Weekender
Domhnall O’Donoghue’s Jamaica
As a 12-year-old, I was introduced to the magic of the Jamaica Inn,
located near Ocho Rios, in Jamaica, through the diaries of playwright Noel Coward — one of the inn’s many celebrity guests since its opening in the 1950s.
This colonial-style property welcomed Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller
for their honeymoon. Ian Fleming coined the phrase ‘shaken not stirred’ in the bar, and Winston Churchill had a suite named after him.
When I first visited the Jamaica Inn three years ago,
another former British Prime Minister was checking out! It’s my favourite place, and provides a central location in my new book, Crazy
For You.
The first night, I’ll look out on to the calming Caribbean Sea and enjoy a vodka Martini. I’ll be left neither shaken nor stirred!
Jamaica is the home of chill,
so my Saturday will begin with yoga on the beach. The Caribbean Sea offers an embarrassment of activities — swimming, boating or, my favourite, snorkelling. The reefs will render you speechless.
On Saturday night, I’ll book a table in the hotel’s Terrace restaurant.
Under the starry sky, while musicians strum and drum nearby, I’ll eat yummy prawns cooked on the charcoal grill.
To take the edge off departing on Sunday,
I’ll enjoy a treatment in the cliff-top spa. A facial might help clear the tears that are sure to flow when saying goodbye.
Domhnall O’Donoghue plays Padraig in TG4’s
‘Ros na Run’ and writes a column in ‘Woman’s Way’. His third novel, ‘Crazy For You’, published by Mercier Press, is available digitally