If you're into Irish decorative arts of the 17th and 18th centuries, you'll want to make a beeline for Glin Castle, a fantastical neo-Gothic crenellated structure, set on the banks of the Shannon, which has been home to the FitzGerald family for centuries. The rich, red dining room is set with baronial Jacobean-style furniture, the Morning Room is lined with family curios, and the main Hall is set with Corinthian columns and a dazzling Dublin-style Georgian plaster ceiling. Everywhere you look are exceptional antiques, most with the vibrant, virile Irish touch. It wasn't always so. The family has seen more than its fair share of decapitations, bankruptcies, and other hair-raising tales (one knight was tied to a cannon by Cromwell's forces and threatened with being blown apart; another was drawn and quartered during the Middle Ages). The family was, in fact, of English origin but became "more Irish than Irish" by marrying into the Gaelic chieftainry families. Their latest house was built in 1785, then largely expanded between 1820 and 1836 into a full-fledged Irish Gothic mansion by the 25th knight, who added castellations and pepper-pot towers, which look like gigantic chess pieces. Inside, many marvel at the splendid "flying" staircase, the full-length family portraits, the equine paintings of Lady Rachel FitzGerald, and the famous mahogany furniture. Outside, clipped yews, walled gardens, an "antique" temple, and a neo-Gothic henhouse cast their own spell.