Favorite Thing You Bought in Ireland
 

There is another thread like this for favorite things to shop for and buy in Europe but I want to narrow it down to Ireland. What is your favorite things you have bought while in Ireland.

a Guiness and a nagen

There was one a few months ago about what to bring back from Ireland. It was pretty extensive.

I agree with the Guinness!!! ((b))

Aside from the Guiness, I really like the wool jacket I bought at the Avoca factory. I also bought several beautiful wool throws/blankets for my family.

We also bought a beautiful hand-hammered silver piece at a small shop in the Design Center in Kilkenny.

It is my Irish fisherman sweater. I live in Minnesota, and although it has been a relatively mild winter here there were a few days where the sweater was just what I needed to stay warm(er). I had a lot of complements on it, too.

Crystal bought in Kinsale and a very soft blanket made of mohair and wool, also bought in Kinsale!

A 9kt gold Celtic Cross w/ a Claddagh symbol in the circular center: I bought it for my wife at Roche's jewelers in Ballina, Co. Mayo. We bought a 14K gold necklace to go with it here in Phila. She was and is delighted with it! I was on a solo trip then to visit some relatives on my Mother's side (incl. a 105-year old first cousin of my Mother). That was in May, 2003.

We went to Ireland in late Feb '04 & came across an 'across the board' 30% off sale at the ITB Shop in Lahinch, County Clare. We bought 5-Aran wool knit sweaters (Me, wife, son, Son-in-law and daughter). Each was 49 Euro less 30% (35 Euro) and we got VAT rebates of about 7 Euro on each. So, the net cost to us was 28 Euro each.

If you want to see what you can buy go to www.blarney.ie

My black skin bodhran from Dingle and Tullamore Dew Reserve Whiskey.

for the wife...hand knit sweater, gloves, and scarf

I can tell you more about the things we didn't buy and wish we had: the lovely warm wool coat in Dingle, the silver bracelet in Cobh, the bodhran in Roundstone, the sign we didn't have made in Boland's in Kinsale...

We always bring home Irish whiskey and Baileys' type liqueurs from duty free. We started collecting Galway crystal a few years back, have a really nice set of small rock glasses and decanter, among other pieces. We found a great shop in Dingle that sells inexpensive woolen scarves, and Lisbeth Mulcahey's shop, where the woolens are finer but more expensive. Linens (Quills is great), blankets (we like Avoca Handweavers), unusual jewelry designs.

A beautiful wool mohair throw. I'm using it right now. It's one of my favorite souvenirs from anywhere. Also, a trivet with the "Irish Blessing", a Waterford bud vase, and an Aran knit beret.

The first thing would have to be my Claddagh ring with bezel set Connemara marble in the heart...waited 20 years to buy my claddagh ring and so glad I waited to buy it in Ireland...it's a great reminder of the wonderful trip I had and my Irish ancestry.

Second is the 400+ photos I took while there, ok, so maybe it wasn't a purchase made in Ireland, but the picutes evoke such great memories!

And lastly, although I didn't bring this back with me I am able to re-create it here at home...Baby Guinness Shots...YUMMO...Tia Maria or Kahlua with Baileys layered on top in a tiny shot glass...probably had a few too many on a few occassions...but it sure was fun! :O

During trips to Ireland in 2003 and 2004 – a several pairs of earrings with a Celtic design, including a beautiful pair of silver earrings with green stones indigenous to Ireland, a mohair throw, and a variety of Christmas ornaments that remind me of Ireland each year. In 2004, we encountered some unexpected warm weather and I bought two blouses at the Kilkenny shop. I always get compliments on them.

My Claddagh ring and pair of hand-made mugs that I bought in a small pottery shop on the Dingle Peninsula. I'm still kicking myself for not buying a hand-knit sweater.
((c))

I suggest you try and buy some Irish Single Malt whisky from the boutique distillers. You won’t find any as old as the Scottish single malts, but they are apparently excellent, according to DH and friends. As matter of fact, a good friend of ours, who has been drinking expensive single malts for years maintains that the $30 Connemara single malt I bring back from the duty free at LHR tastes better to him than a $100 bottle of Scotch. I’ve heard the same from some of my German colleagues.

The Claddagh rings are really popular and I personally like the design.

Also, friends of mine like Belleek china (http://www.belleek.ie/) but don’t buy the stuff with shamrocks, check out the antique shops for the older, plain designs.

I love old photos which show an Ireland long gone, particularly ones of Dublin “in the rare ould times”.

Beautiful Irish coffee mugs, engraved for gifts, at Waterford. And a beautiful rainbow bowl, engraved with our names and "Ireland 2004"

Most of all a sweater hand knit to my size by a darling lady in a side street by the church in Dingle. Living in S Fla can only wear it a few days a year, but it makes me feel great.

Here's a thread that asked a similar question that may provide some helpful suggestions.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34683331 ((b))

One of kind jewelry from the West Coast Arts Center in Skibbereen. Sweaters in gorgeous colors from the Bebhinn Marten shop in Baltimore, West Cork.

Should read "West Cork Arts Center." Sorry.

Jerpoint Glass -- gorgeous!
It's offered in stores around the Republic but the studio is in Stonyford, Co. Kilkenny, and is worth the effort to find it.

A waterford lamp and beleek woven dish both purchased in 1983!

I love my 2 camel and black polka dot mohair/merino throws from Foxford woolen mills. Love them! The family loves them too!

I also like my Nicholas Mosse pottery pieces that I use often, including a little round bowl I used tonight for butter. And just today I wore my red, hand knit Irish sweater that I bought in Donegal and I was quite cozy.

the one and only thing i bought while in ireland is my "Guiness is good for you" newspaper ad poster :P

A beautiful Waterford bowl. When the light in the breakfront shines through it the effect is smashing.

I'd have to put my 'I Heart Mayo' front license plate on the list: I bought it from Mr. Flaherty, probably Postmaster in Belmullet, Co. Mayo who also has a little convenience shop in the P.O. Building.

I wear my 'I Heart Mayo' plate proudly on my MiniVan in Phila. Someone vandalized it once (probably kicked it) so I had to put a frame around it.

Flaherty told me he plays to a 7-handicap at Carne Golf Links (which is the reason I was in the area).

Beautiful crystal from Kinsale.

Well, this has to be the most unusual anyway.

We were in Roundstone in Connemara, checking out the shops. In a vintage clothing shop there, my wife found a dress that had been made by a small North Carolina company in the 1960s. One of the head seamstresses in that company was my wife's grandmother.

So my wife bought a dress in Ireland that likely had been sewn by her grandmother; who knows how it ended up in Roundstone.

Although I love the crystal vases purchased from Dingle, Kilkenny and Kinsale Crystal during deveral different trips to Ireland, my favorite has to be my lamps with their blue-green pottery bases and hand-painted shades with blue waves and yellow seagulls purchased from Louis Mulcahey on the Dingle Peninsula. Everytime I look at them I am reminded of the Slea Head landscape and its beatiful vistas. I am returning to Dingle this summer and you can bet that one of my visits will be to Louis Mulcahey's workshop!

My Claddagh ring with three small emeralds in the shape of a shamrock is by far my favorite item. Everytime I look at it I know I must get a wistful, faraway look in my eye.

Perfume and bath salts from the Burren Perfumery and lovely woven scarves from the Doolin Crafts Gallery.

allow me to continue a desperate search...my grandmother gave me the cross pendent that my grandfather bought her in ireland. she doesn't recall where they bought it (years ago) but she knows it was called "the modern cross", and it is an offshoot of a st. bridids cross. it had a small diamond in the middle...i lost it two years ago and am still sick about it! i can describe it further if this sounds familiar to anyone, or if anyone knows where i can go for something like it.

I bought a Nicholas Mosse posey pot and Jerpoint Glass vase. Both factories are worth a visit. www.nicholasmosse.com & www.jerpointglass.com. I use the posey pot all summer with flowers that I pick from my garden.

I bought a 70% wool, 30% silk sweater made by Killarney Woollen mills. It's light weight and soft enough to wear right over my bare arms. I loved it so much, I found them and had them send three more by mail. I, too, bought a heavy fisherman's knit sweater that I never wear because it just doesn't get cold enough for it here.
Bought several nice CD's of Irish music in the music store in Doolin.

I agree with Magistra- my lamp from Louis Mulcahy. I did't buy it the first trip and longed for it an entire year. I love the colors (same as yours- blue with green) because they remind me of the colors of the water and land. My lampshade has only handpainted waves, no seagulls. :)

If there's one lesson I learned about buying things is Ireland it's if you find something and you love it BUY IT!!! Don't wait. Don't hesitate. Don't think you are going to find it on sale somewhere (you might or might not these days but, seriously, why take the chance?) Just get it.

I have several pieces of jewlery, some handmade one-of-a-kind stuff but also some that are more mass produced (mainly from Newbridge Silver) that I love. Whenever I wear any of my Irish pieces I always get compliments about them.

Waffle - Why sweat it? Everything in Ireland you can buy online. Go for it!

I'll will pass along your comments about the Louis Mulcahey pottery. My sil works there.

A Guinness and a Smithwicks glass that we got from 2 favorite pubs (we paid for the Guinness glass; the bartender told us to take the Smithwicks). Hoped to bring back a painting of the Irish landscape but it didn't happen (loved Liam O'Neill though).

Louis Malcahy pottery. We went to the actualy shop but we ended up buying stuff that was in a gift store in Kenmare.

Amazing how much of these purchases were made in or around Doolin!
Mine too!
I bought a silk broadcloth batik scarf signed, with a Celtic initial on it..and the artist told me to machine wash !!! I have, many times and still love to wear it..green mostly of course.