Melissa5

My hubby got a kiss in Matt Malloys Pub from a lovely Bride-To-Be whose task it was to collect 100 kisses! >< Matt Malloys Pub in Westport, County Mayo is the temple of great Irish music and fun.

Ladies, watch your hubbies in Ireland!

I travelled from Dingle, County Kerry to Bushmills, County Antrim with my biologist hubby and 2 young adult daughters, ages 19 and 20. Just returned this week, July 2006, and Ireland was gorgeous and magical.

Thank you fodorites for everything! I also want to thank Michele Erdvig and her gang of Irish travellers on www.IrelandYes.com for excellent advice.

BEST AND WORST:

Best of my 14 Ireland guidebooks: Michele Erdvig's "Best Little Guide To Ireland". (See her web-site.)

Best info on Dingle Peninsula: Rick Steves Ireland guidebook.

Worst restaurant information: Rick Steves guidebook. #-o

Best Musical Pubs:
Matt Malloys, Westport, County Mayo
Greene's Pub, Ballyvaughan, County Clare
Murphy's Pub, Dingle, County Kerry

Most Helpful Fodorite Award: Cambe (Helen) and McShane

ACCOMODATIONS:

Not surprisingly, after 2 years of research, I enjoyed every b&b where we stayed and recommend them all:

Flew into Shannon.

1 night: BUNRATTY LODGE, Bunratty.
(comfty, very clean, convenient to airport)
www.bunrattylodge.com

3 nights: HEATON'S GUESTHOUSE, Dingle (An Daingean), County Kerry
Fantastic cooked breakfast choices! walk into town.
www.heatonsdingle.com

3 nights: DRUMCREEHY HOUSE, Ballyvaughan, County Clare
Outstanding continental breakfast buffet includes smoked salmon; efficiently run.
www.drumcreehyhouse.com

3 nights: THE BOULEVARD GUESTHOUSE, Westport, County Mayo
right in town but quiet; strangers become friends.
www.boulevard-guesthouse.com

2 nights: CRAIG PARK, Bushmills, County Antrim
outstanding personal service; quiet
www.craigpark.co.uk

2 nights: FORTWILLIAM COUNTRY HOUSE, Hillsborough, County Down.
friendly personal service; charming and full of antiques; farm; "real" Ireland.
www.fortwilliamcountryhouse.com

1 night: BEECHWOOD COUNTRY HOUSE, Malahide
convenient to airport; very comfortable and Joe O'Reilly gives it the personal touch.
www.beechwood.ie


TRIP HIGHLIGHTS:

--A fairy ring on The Burren

--The inspiring Cliffs of Moher

--Wild scenery of the Dingle Peninsula

--Fiddle-de-dee toe-tappin'
knee-slappin' Irish trad music in the Pubs... Give me another mug of Toucan and I'll stay for one more "chune"

--Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, Cultra, County Down: fantastic museum in Northern Ireland which is MUCH LESS crowded than the Bunratty Folk Park

--Dunluce Castle on a clear day with sunlight twinkling on the water (County
Antrim)

--Dunguaire castle medieval banquet in lovely Kinvara, County Galway; sure it's touristy but it's lots of fun, and hubby is still calling me "My Lady"! Our first taste of Mead...

--Getting stuck in a cow-jam... with gigantic Irish milk cows bigger than the car...they actually rocked the car as they went past!

--Exploring Belfast, where my Irish grandmother grew up.

--Meeting friendly Irish folks from all over the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Listening to their musical accents and appreciating their sense of humor and viewpoints.

COMING UP NEXT: Further details on the sites, scenery, food, and b&bs of County Kerry, County Clare, County Mayo, County Antrim, and County Down.

Melissa5

Just bumping my trip report up for people who have expressed an interest in reading it. Just returned from gorgeous Ireland on Sunday!

L84SKY

Thanks Melissa. I guess the Irish brides really do have to "kiss a lot of frogs." (Not your hubby of course.)
Including the addresses were a nice touch.

historytraveler

Melissa, Love your format. What a fun and interesting way to do a trip report. Look forward to hearing more.

Melissa5

L84SKY, funny you would say my hubby's not a frog...he's a herpetologist! He is my prince of course.

Some of the b&bs on my list aren't in a lot of guidebooks, so I thought I would make it easier for people to find them. I put a lot of time into my b&b research so that's why I usually come back with all good b&b reviews!

HISTORYTRAVELER: Thanks for the encouragement. I know I enjoy other people's trip reports when they can get a little bit creative and break them up with spaces and sub-titles. I'll be adding more to this later today.

If I had my way I would either be traveling, planning a trip, or writing about my last trip 24/7 !!! 8-)

dcd

Bookmarking for our trip next May (hopefully). Very informative and helpful. Thanks for posting. Please keep it coming!! Dave

Jayneann

Hi Melissa,
Great outline!!! Looking forward to the details!

Would you go back again in the near future? If so, where would you want to visit again? Thanks!!!

noe847

Great info - sounds like a fun trip.

lynders

Melissa5,
My husband and I are heading to Ireland in a few weeks. Will be there 10 days. I enjoyed your write-up thus far and am looking forward to your posting on Counties Kerry and Clare!

GBC

Melissa.....fastastic report that brought back lots of memories for us. We also owed a big vote of thanks to Michele Erdvig. We were fortunate to have discovered her work.

Like you, we stayed at Heaton's, Drumcreehy and Craig Park - all wonderful as you have said. We also stayed in Malahide but not at Beechwood.

I now look forward to another trip to Ireland so that I can locate that lovely Bride-To-Be.

rosetravels

Melissa5-
So enjoying your trip report and it makes me long to be back in Westport!I've been reading the details on Irelandyes.com

I'm delighted I was of help in your trip planning - I thought your planning was lots of fun.

I'm curious what your daughters thought of the trip as well, what their favorites were and how they liked the pubs.

McShane

SandyBrit

Melissa5:

I love your format - we all get to benefit from your research on the B&B's.

Looking forward to more and thank you for sharing.

Sandy

CAPH52

I'm so glad your trip was so successful, Melissa! I know how much research you put into it. Because of your earlier posts, I feel that I too gained from your research. Even though we went three months before you!

Great trip report!

Melissa5

DETAILED TRIP REPORT (and more chatting below!)

AER LINGUS: (LAX to Shannon via Dublin)
--worn uncomfortable seats
--narrow spaces
--lovely hot cuppa Irish tea
--individual screens at each seat for movies and games
--bring a neck pillow...you will need it!

EUROPCAR:
Booked Europcar through Kemwel on Michele Erdvig's web-site www.IrelandYes.com. They had a competitive rate for an automatic car including CDW. But we didn't notice we had NO air conditioning until we hit an Irish heat wave several days later.

WEATHER:
We arrived in dear Old Ireland to rain and hovered in our new windbreakers. After almost 2 years of planning we were actually standing, dripping, on Irish soil. Several days later the weather turned hot, with temps in the 80's F.

During our 2 weeks in Ireland in July, the outside daytime temps, according to our car, registered between 15 and 31 degrees C...quite a range!

CLOTHES TO PACK:
For summer in Ireland it is best to plan on wearing layers. Zip-off pants are great. Bring a light-weight windbreaker with some water-proofing. Solid color T-shirts, along with some light-weight cover-ups, are good.

BUNRATTY LODGE:
We had major jet lag for 2 days and were happy to drive only a short ways to Bunratty Lodge, close to the airport and to Bunratty Castle.

Polite Mary Browne settled hubby and I into a room with a comfty queen bed with pretty lace canopy at the end of the hall. Tea-service in the room...welcome to Ireland. Our daughters shared a nice twin room.

DINNER: HUNTER'S LODGE
We headed to Newmarket-on-Fergus for dinner at Hunter's Lodge to get away from the tourists. Ate in the back room with a lot of Irish families. Decent food for good prices.

Fell exhausted into bed back at Bunratty Lodge.

Breakfast at Bunratty Lodge was good. Our first taste of home-made Irish brown bread.

BUNRATTY CASTLE AND FOLK PARK:
Touristy or worthwhile? It is both, but unfortunately also overrun with tourists.

The next morning we enjoyed a half-day at Bunratty Castle and folk park. I especially enjoyed a chat with a delightful Irish lady whose job it was to work in ye olde pub in the folk park and chat with visitors.

Mostly this was something easy for a jet-lagged family to do nearby. It wasn't a highlight of our trip. We could have left it out and nobody would have missed it. :-?

SECRET TIP:
Do you know there is a folk park which is better than Bunratty, and MUCH LESS crowded, in Cultra, east of Belfast, in Northern Ireland, called the Ulster Folk Park and Transport Museum? However it doesn't have a castle.

HEADING FOR DINGLE:
We packed up our car and headed for Dingle, wondering if we were really in Ireland yet?

COMING UP NEXT: WILD DINGLE PENINSULA, County Kerry.

wojazz3

Another tip on the Bunratty Folk park (which I'm not particularly fond of but it's ok) ... If you get there 1st thing when they open, especially on a week day, it is likely that you will encounter very few crowds. The castle is nice, the folk park a bit less interesting though it would probably be great with kids.

Melissa5

DINGLE: WILD SCENERY AND LIVELY PUBS, COUNTY KERRY

Dingle (An Daingean) is a fun town with lively pubs , and the Dingle Peninsula is gorgeous!

CONNOR PASS:

The drive from Bunratty to Dingle over Connor's Pass was magnificent! We stopped the car at the top, near a small waterfall, just us and an Irish family nearby.

Gorgeous green mountains, sheep-dotted, clouds and mist lend mystery. Two rays of sunlight pierce through the clouds and the green valley is lit by a shaft of gold. Little waterfalls. WOW! ><

The Irish man interrupts my reverie to point out that the fog is moving fast, and it will soon engulf our road up ahead completely! We had been so lost in the wonder of it all, we hadn't noticed how that lovely fog really was creeping up on us.

The Irish man headed down with his family and we headed up & over and lived to tell this tale.

Connor Pass is one of the highlights of the amazing Dingle Peninsula, County Kerry.

HEATON'S GUESTHOUSE, DINGLE

Heaton's is fantastic! Nuala and Cameron are very friendly and will chat with you. Very comfortable, and just a 10 minute walk into lively Dingle town on sidewalks, on flat ground.

Our "deluxe" blue and white room #8 was lovely with a view and these comforts:
--great King bed
--very clean, pleasant, cheerful
--power shower with tub
--nice wide-screen TV
--2 soft chairs plus vanity w/chair

Breakfast until 10:00 am...woo-hoo! I'm raving, I know, I highly recommend this place. Included in the room price is a wonderful breakfast buffet PLUS a choice of cooked breakfasts!

The pancakes are wonderful...they are similar to a muffin in texture, with a crunchy top. I ordered fresh fish for breakfast one morning! Plus you can have porridge with drambuie and cream as a starter.

I'm moving to Heaton's Guesthouse in Dingle forever. www.heatonsdingle.com Our deluxe room was 75 euros per person sharing in July. This was our splurge.$)

COMING NEXT: DINGLE PENINSULA DRIVE!

edhodge

One of my favorite memories of Ireland is leaving from our first B&B, driving straight into a cow parade. It was funny to us to watch the farmer move his cattle from one pasture to another. Hey, what can I say? We are easy to entertain!

I can't wait to read the rest of your trip report.

Melissa5

Edhodge, we got stuck in a cow-jam too! That's when I REALLY knew I was in Ireland.

Melissa5

DINGLE PENINSULA DRIVE:

Dingle Peninsula is beautiful; the poetry of inspiring scenery, white-capped waves spraying up onto black rocky coast. Dingle is now called An Daingean, so brush up on your Gaelic.

We headed off in the rain to explore the gorgeous Dingle peninsula. My husband was driving, and he whipped right by the Milestone B&B with the prehistoric stone pillar (Gallaun) in its front yard. We made him turn around and drive back.

My artistic daughter, age 20, and I scurried out of the car into the pouring rain. There we stood in our raingear and umbrellas, touching this mysterious ancient stone that may have been there since 4,000 B.C. Our first contact with ancient Ireland history.

In Ireland, there are thousands of ruins, and the older they are, the less is known about their history and origins. Some of them are marked with long explanations on boring signs.

Later in our journey, my younger daughter, 19, a budding anthropologist/writer, gave us her concise summary of these long boring signs:
"THIS SIGN IS COMPLETELY USELESS. IT BASICALLY SAYS THIS IS VERY VERY OLD AND WE KNOW ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ABOUT IT!"

Later the sun came out, and we spent one whole day exploring the Dingle Peninsula, and a second day at the Blasket Center in Dunquin, on the Dingle Peninsula. We all voted to take a boat over to the Great Blasket Island; however we ran out of time.

BLASKET CENTER, DUNQUIN, DINGLE PENINSULA:

I loved the Blasket Center! I spent 4 fascinating hours there until my family dragged me away. It is a great place for lovers of poetry, literature, and history.

It is more meaningful if you have learned ahead of time about the people who lived on the Blasket Islands off the shore of the Dingle Peninsula.

My older artistic daughter, 20, said she wished we could go to the island because it is like traveling back in time to remember a way of life that is gone now. She said here in America we pave over our past, but on the Great Blasket Island the past has been "preserved".

The enthusiastic lady working at the Blasket Center said the government is trying to buy the island so that its history can be preserved and so that it won't get built up with hotels.

My husband was fascinated to learn at the Blasket Center that in Luxemburg, there is or was a language called Luxemburgian (Luxemburgese?). He didn't know that, and he has some ancestors from Luxemburg.

VIEW OF BLASKET ISLAND:
The view of Blasket Island and Sleeping Giant from the coast behind the Blasket Island Center on Dingle Peninsula is gorgeous. We took a walk behind the Blasket Center and this is what I wrote in my journal:

"There is only the place where the land meets the sea. Why does this world apart feel so special? Is it the contrast between the choppy white-caps of the Atlantic and the dark rocks? Is it the green hills of Ireland dotted with sheep and criss-crossed with farming plots? I think it is the peace that really makes you feel grounded. The LACK of hotels, beach umbrellas and litter is refreshing...The way we tame and civilize the land spoils it. Here, we can still see nature in its primal form."

VIEW AT RYAN'S DAUGHTER:
I am a bit foggy on where this stop was, but it was gorgeous. I think it is the beach on the Dingle Peninsula where they filmed Ryan's Daughter.

We stopped there spontaneously. Stark, black, sharp rocks jut out of the water towards the cliffs like spears. White-caps of ocean spray about them.

LUNCH: STONE HOUSE RESTAURANT
A great place for lunch along the Dingle Peninsula drive is the Stonehouse Restaurant on the Slea Head Loop across from the Dunbeg Fort. We enjoyed great vegetable soup and brown bread for 4 euros. The open-faced chicken sandwich was also tasy for around 8 euros.

MURPHY'S PUB, DINGLE:
Murphy's was our favorite pub for music in Dingle. It was a fun and happy crowd, lots of smiles and clapping. The lead musician/singer did a lot of sing-a-longs with the crowd. It was the only pub we visited where the musicians included a bodhran player. (Why aren't there more of them?)

Murphy's was a lively place...there was one regular fella who wanted to dance, so he enticed an elderly woman with white hair to dance with him. I think he made her day...she was wearing a huge smile. My older daughter said this is what she imagined pubs in Ireland would be like.

It was a mixed crowd of tourists and locals. After 11:00 pm some of the Irish young folk came pouring in, standing room only by then.

GUINESS at this point in the trip was as tasty to me as turpentine. But I dutifully tried Guiness, Murphy's, Smithwick's and also Toucan, which apparently is made from an original Guiness recipe no longer used. After several days I found I had developed a taste for Guiness, the beer with a bite. I've been bitten and I like it.

DINNER: HALF DOOR RESTAURANT, John St. Dingle:
Half Door has gourmet food but it is over-priced for dinner. I found it disappointing because for the price, food was very artistically presented, but it looked better than it tasted!

Two of us had the price-fix dinner at a whopping price of around 37 euros each. I was disappointed in my main dish, with very little crab and too much cheese and a watery sauce.

DINNER: JOHN BENNY MORIARTY PUB, Dingle:

We were pleasantly surprised with the good quality of our dinner in this ordinary-looking pub. I enjoyed my Black Sole with lemon butter sauce for 16 euros immensely. It was very fresh and hubby showed me how to lift the whole skeleton of bones right off the whole fish. Very tender. Everyone enjoyed their meals here and it was uncrowded and reasonably priced. www.johnbennyspub.com

SUMMARY:
Lively Dingle town and the wild Dingle Peninsula were everything I dreamed they would be. Three nights in Dingle weren't enough. I wish we'd spent 4 nights in Dingle. I would have then added a visit to the Great Blasket Island on a boat and some shopping time.

I hope to return someday either to the Dingle Peninsula or to a nearby peninsula in County Kerry.

COMING UP NEXT: AWESOME COUNTY CLARE!

Melissa5

CHATTING:

DCD: Dave, I hope this helps you plan your trip for next May. There should be lots of flowers blooming on the Burren in May! We found lots of flowers in July.

Jayneann: Thanks for the compliment. Yes, I definitely want to return to Ireland. I wish to explore County Donegal and Connemara on a future trip. Also I would love to return to County Kerry, County Clare, County Mayo, or County Down. I would prefer 4 nights in each of 4 places on our next trip.

noe847: Yes, it was fun!

Lynders: You are leaving soon, have a great trip! Counties Kerry and Clare are both gorgeous with far-and-away beauty. Am adding County Clare trip report section next.

GBC: You are funny...by the time you get back to Ireland that lovely bride-to-be will be happily married. Sounds like your trip was similar to our plan. Happy memories...

ROSETRAVELS: Thanks again for your help! You asked what my daughters thought. They loved the Cliffs of Moher, the Dunguaire castle medieval banquet, the Dunluce castle ruins in County Antrim, the Giant's Causeway, and getting stuck in a cow-jam on the road! My younger daughter, 19, said she doesn't like bars and was always eager to get back to the hotel room in the evening!!! My older daughter, 20, enjoyed the atmosphere and music in the pubs, but said it would have been even more fun if she was with friends her age. (One thing is that pubs with traditional Irish music attract a crowd of mixed ages, which means a smaller number of young people the age of my daughters.)

SandyBrit: I hope you enjoy some of the b&bs we stayed at on our next trip!

CAPH52: Hopefully you will go again to Ireland and then I can try to help you as much as you all helped us! I have for sure done enough research for my next 2 trips to Ireland already, as you must be aware...

COUNTY CLARE COMING UP NEXT!