kwren

Thanks jaja!

I'm going back and forth between staying in Bunratty or Ennis. We're going to Doolin for the boat tour at 10 am that first day and don't want to have to get up really early. We also don't want to drive after Irish night. 1/2 hour less driving to Doolin so far is winning out!

I suppose we could change hotels each day, but it would be good not to have to do that since we'll be on the move the rest of the week. My husband in particular wants to stay put as much as possible. I don't mind changing hotels more often, but gotta keep DH happy!

kwren

Are there any sites with spectacular high crosses? I'd love to see one.

jaja

High crosses? Clonmacnoise!

jaja

Tony will have recco's for Ennis; I have one for Ennis and two for Bunratty if you are interested.

dugi_otok

Hi kwren
This thread reminds me of the trip 10+ years ago with my red headed Irish American wife, god bless her soul. We spent our last night in Shannon staying here- Gallows View B&B

http://www.bunratty-gallowsview.com/ Really nice.

We loved the Bunratty Castle Medieval Banquet!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXvGip8x_Ho

The girls sang like nightingales:

She Moved through the Fair.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFS7dNQuJVU

Danny Boy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF8la_KG5lM

Another winner was staying at the Aran View House Hotel Doolin , Great food.
http://www.aranview.com/

Walking distance to the traditional music pubs. The moonscape Burren with its megalithic tombs is a real trip. As are the cliffs. It was so windy and cold that the ladies bought new sweaters the next day.

We also stayed in Clifden at Ben View House B&B

http://www.benviewhouse.com/ see tripadvisor.

Connemara. The setting of Kylemore Abbey was worth the trip all by itself. Took the Sky road while in Clifden. Only got as far as Westport, did not get to Sligo. Missed seeing Clonmacnois. I guess it was too far east.

We took the ferry and Conner pass to get to Dingle. Yikes, glad no one was coming down as we were going up.

Ring of Kerry vs Dingle Peninsula. We picked the Dingle Peninsula to avoid the tour buses of the Ring. And I wanted to see the Gallarus Oratory which we promptly named This Old House.
We stayed in Dingle at the Cleevaun B&B , Dingle , best breakfast of the trip.

http://kerry.travelinireland.com/acc...y-ireland.html tel. 066/51108

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...nty_Kerry.html

Next stop Killarney. We stayed at Linden House Hotel, Killarney

https://travel.yahoo.com/p-hotel-354374-windway_house-i

The Linden house has a fine restaurant. After dinner on two nights we walked to a pub, I think it was The Laurels (It could have been the Danny Mann). Whatever, there was non stop music from 9 to midnight. I mean non stop, no breaks, no pause between songs. The music literally never stopped.

On your Thursday relaxing day I would do the "Gap" in the morning .

http://www.gapofdunloetours.com/bus_boat.html

We took the tour that included the bus, Horse cart, walking, boat, bus back to Killarney.

Another good excursion is to Muckross House, Abbey, Torc Waterfall. We also took a jaunting car ride during this excursion.

Next we went towards Dublin. We stopped at Blarney Castle to kiss the Stone. It was a hoot. Your kids may like it. We did not go to the nearby Blarny Woolen Mills. By this time we were sweatered out.
And on to the Rock of Cashel. We were with Lady Bird Johnson and her entourage touring the Rock.
Then on to Kilkenny were we stayed the night. Do not recall where we stayed. Saw the town and its castle.

Also on this trip we stayed at an old coaching Inn. Do not remember when or where.

Next stop Lorum Old Rectory B&B ,County Carlow

htt://www.lorum.com

Neat place with a dinner with the hosts and other guests at the dining room table. Toured the area sights-Glendalough, National Stud (like , not my, old Kentucky home), Russborough, etc.

On to Dublin and the river Liffey.The only stressful event of our trip. We got to our reserved B&B and there were no rooms. Our B&B owner had us coming in the day before. He showed me the back of an envelope where he had written the date next to my name. As far as he was concerned we were a no show. Besides he was painting our rooms as we arrived. Sorry, no rooms. I called at least 20 hotels, no rooms. Finally we walked into a nearby Jury Hotel. Rooms available. It turned out fine. In fact they were having a show that night. It was an Irish comedian, the funniest person on earth. Hysterical laughing all night. And to top it off the best bread pudding I ever had.

An even better highlight of Dublin was a city bus tour. The driver was an Irish tenor who gave us a concert for the length of the tour. As good as any I have ever heard. On the bus tour we learned something. Yikes! It is not a Catholic church.

Also while at Trinity College to see the Book of Kells my wife had her family names researched for their origin. My wife told the student that she thought she was English/Irish. The student researcher told her that she was Scotch/Irish. And the student added, "It is much better to be Scotch/Irish."

On to Shannon, the Bunratty Castle Banquet, and our flight to LAX.

After I got home I got the idea, from a Tralee drive through, to plant a Rose of Sharon. The Rose of Sharon is still thriving in my garden. I still miss her very much.

kwren

dugi - thanks for all the links - I enjoyed looking through them all. I had tried Aran House before and as with most of the places I am checking, our first night is fully booked! I'm waiting to hear back from the Roadhouse in Doolin right now. It would be convenient to stay there one night since we are taking Tony's suggestions to do the cruise from there the next day.

jaja - I'm so glad you think Clonmacnoise is the place to go - I had it marked on my map but didn't know if there was a more interesting place. Thanks for confirming!!! I'd love your recs for a place in Ennis - I wrote to quite a few but only heard back from one, and it was full! I'm still hoping to hear back today.

jaja

Just out of Ennis...Eden Hill House...
http://edenhill.clareireland.net/

jaja

Just out of Ennis...Eden Hill House...
http://edenhill.clareireland.net/

flpab

Clonmcnoise is a favorite of mine. I have been to the old waterford factory and it was so interesting. Iwould like to hear what the new smaller Waterford crystal place is like. I love the pieces I have but stopped buying afternclosed. Galway crystal was nice. We did the French tour. It sounds as if all id coming together. Hope you have a good day for the boat ride.

flpab

yikes, must stop typing on the kindle keyboard.

Tony2phones

The tour of Waterford is exactly the same as the old factory.. except for an initial video marketing presentation.. Blowing, Cutting and exhibition piece demonstration.. no photo shoot of you holding a piece but other than that just about the same if slightly more compact.. Celtic Crystal in Moycullen is the only totally Irish crystal start to finish these days..

kwren

jaja - I didn't look at Fodors soon enough to see your recommendation, but it's very funny that we booked a place that sounds very similar to it...Cahergal Farm halfway between Bunratty and Ennis. It was so hard to find something to fit our criteria that was available when we needed it. Thanks for the rec though. Seems like we think alike.

We are staying in Doolin our first night at the Roadford House because we couldn't find anything in Kinvara or Ennis and I gave up looking. Long drive but we have all afternoon and into the evening if necessary. It's a 2 bedroom suite. Looks sweet! Hope for good weather for our boat tour the next day!

My husband then rebelled about my finding so many places to stay as we drive a big loop so we changed the plans to accommodate that. 3 nights at the Ross Castle Lodge near the Killarney National Park. Not enough time in that area though. I'm leaning towards a trip to Skellig Michael for our Ring of Kerry day but don't know how it would be to go up 600 steps.

Only 4 nights to go for finding places to stay!

kwren

If we would like a hotel by the beach (not for swimming purposes, just for ambiance), what area in the SW or SE would anyone recommend? Or would you recommend staying by a bay instead for a nice view?

jaja

I have been interested in Ross Castle Lodge so will be waiting for your report.

Would have had a recco near Doolin, also, had I caught on soon enough.

How about the Bervie for beach ambiance? http://www.bervie-guesthouse-achill.com/ Not exactly SW or SE but if you head toward Sligo....

kwren

The best laid plans...

My son has an unexpected but required internship meeting at 3:30 the day we were going to pick him up at 1 to go to Doolin. So we skip the high crosses on the way and get there by 7:30 or 8 anyway. Maybe we could visit a sea side town or go into Dublin while we wait, but I'm thinking that it would be hard to figure out Dublin in 3 or 4 hours with a car.

The second weekend his group might be going to Giants Causeway and he's not interested in our choices. We have yet to hear about that. I'd rather see Giants Causeway too so I can't blame him.

kwren

Hey Tony - I see there are 2 combo cruises to Inisheer and the cliffs. They both leave at 10, but one gets back at 2:45 and the other gets back ar 4:45. Which do you recommend to have enough time to see the island? What should we see on the island?

Should we book in advance? (Looks like the weather forecast for this Saturday is going to be good)

We have tickets that night for the Traditional Irish Night at Bunratty Castle that night so we could make it from either cruise, but maybe we'd like to drive along the top of the cliffs after the cruise. How long should we allow for that (or we could do that over the weekend)

Thanks!

kwren

On the first Wednesday of each month, the Irish Heritage (Heritageireland) sites are free! It won't help us this time, but I thought it might help someone else!

http://www.heritageireland.ie/en/med...Wednesdays.pdf

kwren

Well, it was a rush in planning, but we leave tomorrow! Most has been planned but a few nights we will just be winging it. We used to do that in France all the time so we're actually looking forward to it. If we feel like stopping, we will. Not tired? We'll keep on drivin'. Thanks to all for the advice and tips. See you on the flip side with what I hope are a lot of great adventures.

irishsweaters

On Inisheer you will be greeted by plenty of horse and cart jarveys who will want to take you around the Island. They something like to pack in 2 or 3 groups of people on a carraige. What I usually do is walk up and wait then initial madness or arriving passes and with 10-15 min empty carraige will come by which will take you around the island. It only take 45 mins to go around by horse and cart. after you stop for a few sight take some pics, have some lunch and food by the pier and you can walk down to the beach from here. The combo tour is class coming around from the cliffs of moher by boat. I actually felt seasick on the combo tour so if you are prone to this have some medicine

irishsweaters

I never booked the combo tours in advance just went straight down to the pier and negotiated price. I alway found it more expensive to book in advance. 4 boat companies i think operate with plenty of room.

After the cruise you have seen it all just head back to bunratty and chill out after the boat cruise.

Have a wonderful time, heatwave here at the moment