BASEL IS ON SONG!

Rachel Beresford ticked off a bucket list trip with a weekend in Swiss city

- Rachel Beresford

IF YOU grew up in the 70s, 80s or even early 90s in Ireland, chances are you grew up watching — and revering — the Eurovision Song Contest.

Those were the golden years for us, with Ireland's seven wins achieved across three decades.

I was born in the late 80s so, sadly, I only remember three songs from watching them live rather than on repeat over the years — In Your Eyes by Niamh Kavanagh in 1993, Rock 'n' Roll Kids by Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan the following year and Eimear Quinn with The Voice in 1996.

We also won with All Kinds of Everything, performed by Dana in 1970, What's Another Year? in 1980 and Hold Me Now in 1987, both sung by Johnny Logan, and Why Me? by Linda Martin in 1992.

All were exceptional songs, but I don't think anyone will ever forget the 1994 Eurovision, held in Dublin.

That, of course, was the year of Riverdance — the interval show produced and directed by Moya Doherty and John Colgan and performed by Michael Flatley, Jean Butler and co.

I grew up in a Eurovision-mad household. My mam absolutely adored the contest and every year we'd all huddle around the TV with our various goodies and watch it until the very last 'douze points' was awarded even if that was way past my bedtime in the mid-90s!

We haven't been very successful in the modern-day Eurovision era but that hasn't dulled the contest's allure for me.

So when I was invited to this year's contest by the show's international sponsor, Royal Caribbean, I jumped at the chance to go to my very first Eurovision.

And it is a trip I will never, ever forget. And not only because this was my first time going to Eurovision, it was also my first time to visit Switzerland.

This year's contest was held in Basel in northwest Switzerland and close to the country's borders with France and Germany.