Limerick sits on the Shannon, Ireland's longest river, at the point where it widens into a broad tidal estuary, and for a thousand years that position made it a prize. Vikings founded a settlement on King's Island in the tenth century, and the Normans built King John's Castle there in the early thirteenth, a massive walled fortress with round towers that still looms over the river. In 1691 the city withstood a long siege by William of Orange's army, and the Treaty of Limerick that ended the war is commemorated by the Treaty Stone, a lump of limestone beside Thomond Bridge.
The city has a reputation as tough and gritty, shaped partly by Frank McCourt's memoir Angela's Ashes, but a few days here shows something more complex. The Georgian quarter around Pery Square is handsome, the Milk Market on Saturdays is full of cheese, bread and music, and Thomond Park, home to Munster rugby, fills the city with passion on match days. The Hunt Museum holds a surprising collection of art and antiquities, and the old stone cathedral of St Mary's has fine medieval carved misericords.
For motorcyclists, Limerick is a gateway to the west. Follow the N69 along the south bank of the estuary through Foynes, where the flying boats once crossed the Atlantic and where Irish coffee was invented to warm the passengers, and on toward Glin and Tarbert, where a car ferry crosses to County Clare. To the north, the roads through Bunratty and Ennis lead to the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren, a grey limestone country where wildflowers bloom among the rocks. Surfaces are variable, with rough patches and tight, hedged bends, and in winter the wind can be strong.
With ninety thousand people, Limerick has fuel on every main road and in all the retail parks, and food from fine dining to a good fish supper. Choose a hotel with secure parking, as is common in the city centre. Traffic is heavy around the bridges at rush hour, and the Limerick tunnel under the river is the easiest way through, but the quays on a Sunday morning are quiet. Take time to walk the river path and look back at the castle in the evening.