Two Weeks in Ireland - A Green Blur Special
Jun 4th, 2008, 12:36 PM
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Two Weeks in Ireland - A Green Blur Special
We (DH and I) just returned from spending the last two weeks in May in Ireland. We had incredibly wonderful weather: sunshine, blue skies, and only a couple of rainy spells.
Our first stop was Dublin. We arrived around 11:30 on Monday and were able to check into our hotel immediately. The hotel, the Trinity Capital, was in a great location, across the street from Trinity University and a short walk to almost anywhere. Our room was nice, the staff was nice, breakfast was good. However, the decor is odd, to say the least. It looks as if three decorators with wildly different taste (or lack thereof) were allowed to run amok. The lobby is full of strange, very tall furniture, including a couple of purple leather chaise sort of things with crimson velvet cushions and 8 foot high ends. There is a large statue of Buddha in one courtyard, statues of what appear to be the mongol hordes on horseback in one area, and two very large statues of camels in the interior courtyard. There are palm trees in giant pink flowered cache pots. On our floor, the walls were magenta. All the doors were purple, and all of them had full length mirrors. The carpet was orange with black swirls, I suppose to match the lobby by the elevator, which was tiled in orange reptile skin tiles. Despite that, I'd stay there again.
Tuesday we rode the Dublin Bus hop on hop off City Tour, hopping off at various locations, including my favorite thing in Dublin, the Long Room at Trinity University. The bus drivers on all the buses we hopped on to were personable and full of good information.
That night we did the musical pub crawl. I had expected to be less than impressed, but it turned out to be our most satisfactory musical experience in Ireland. DH was able to fulfill his dream of being able to sing an Irish song in an Irish pub.
Wednesday we did the Mary Gibbons tour of Newgrange. I had attempted to arrange to ride the shuttle bus with Over the Top tours or with daytours unplugged, but neither of them ever answered any of my emails. For reasons which escape me, I had thought the Mary Gibbons tour was a small group tour and was surprised to be picked up by a giant coach. I'm not a fan of large bus group tours. I wish we'd picked up the car a day earlier and gone by ourselves. Ms. Gibbons was quite knowledgeable, but the time at Bru na Boinne felt rushed to me, and there was not much time for lunch.
None of our restaurant meals in Dublin was especially memorable. We were too tired Monday night to do more than fish and chips in a pub. Tuesday lunch was in the Museum of Natural History Café and was quite nice, Tuesday night we got a cheese board at Oliver St. John Gogarty before the musical pub crawl started. Wednesday night we had dinner at a friend's home, which was memorable.
Next: off to Cashel and Cork.
Our first stop was Dublin. We arrived around 11:30 on Monday and were able to check into our hotel immediately. The hotel, the Trinity Capital, was in a great location, across the street from Trinity University and a short walk to almost anywhere. Our room was nice, the staff was nice, breakfast was good. However, the decor is odd, to say the least. It looks as if three decorators with wildly different taste (or lack thereof) were allowed to run amok. The lobby is full of strange, very tall furniture, including a couple of purple leather chaise sort of things with crimson velvet cushions and 8 foot high ends. There is a large statue of Buddha in one courtyard, statues of what appear to be the mongol hordes on horseback in one area, and two very large statues of camels in the interior courtyard. There are palm trees in giant pink flowered cache pots. On our floor, the walls were magenta. All the doors were purple, and all of them had full length mirrors. The carpet was orange with black swirls, I suppose to match the lobby by the elevator, which was tiled in orange reptile skin tiles. Despite that, I'd stay there again.
Tuesday we rode the Dublin Bus hop on hop off City Tour, hopping off at various locations, including my favorite thing in Dublin, the Long Room at Trinity University. The bus drivers on all the buses we hopped on to were personable and full of good information.
That night we did the musical pub crawl. I had expected to be less than impressed, but it turned out to be our most satisfactory musical experience in Ireland. DH was able to fulfill his dream of being able to sing an Irish song in an Irish pub.
Wednesday we did the Mary Gibbons tour of Newgrange. I had attempted to arrange to ride the shuttle bus with Over the Top tours or with daytours unplugged, but neither of them ever answered any of my emails. For reasons which escape me, I had thought the Mary Gibbons tour was a small group tour and was surprised to be picked up by a giant coach. I'm not a fan of large bus group tours. I wish we'd picked up the car a day earlier and gone by ourselves. Ms. Gibbons was quite knowledgeable, but the time at Bru na Boinne felt rushed to me, and there was not much time for lunch.
None of our restaurant meals in Dublin was especially memorable. We were too tired Monday night to do more than fish and chips in a pub. Tuesday lunch was in the Museum of Natural History Café and was quite nice, Tuesday night we got a cheese board at Oliver St. John Gogarty before the musical pub crawl started. Wednesday night we had dinner at a friend's home, which was memorable.
Next: off to Cashel and Cork.
Jun 5th, 2008, 12:49 PM
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Thanks for the kind comments. Now on to Cashel and Cork
We got up Thursday morning and cabbed to the airport to pick up the rental car. We rented through Kemwel, so we were actually dealing with Europcar. There was one small surprise. I had understood that my over 70 husband would have to pay an extra €17 a day to drive; it was actually €35. We had asked for a midsize, since there would be four of us for a while, and we got a Nissan Tiida, which was small enough to be manageable and large enough to hold us all. It only rained on us twice; unfortunately the first and worst time was when we were picking up the car. We did not take the time to look as carefully as we should, since we and the bags were getting soaked, so we really don't know if we lost the hubcap or if some previous renter lost it. It was only €35 and I still have hopes of recovering that from Insurance4CarHire.
We successfully navigated the roundabouts onto the M50 and proceeded without incident down the road toward Cashel. We had our Garmin Nuvi 370 with us, fondly referred to as Jill, since that's the voice we chose. We haven't updated Jill's maps since we bought her in 2007, and there were several places where roads had been improved to the point that Jill was convinced we were driving through someone's sheep fields -- the little car image would be an inch or so away from the original road, and Jill would occasionally issue stern orders to turn left or right or even u-turn. When we'd fail to do so, she'd resignedly say "Recalculating" and then come up with some new route for us to try. Eventually she'd give up in despair. Other than her problems with roads she didn't know about, she was very useful. I had good maps and I'm a great navigator, but Jill knew when the roundabouts were coming and what exit we'd need to take, which was a great help and may have saved our marriage.
Lunch was sandwiches and coffee in a small but charming café in Abbyleix. We then went on to the Rock of Cashel, another of my favorite places. While we were wandering the graveyard reading the inscriptions, a voice said, "It's Ed the Singer!" It was a fellow pub crawler from Tuesday night. DH was most gratified to be recognized and remembered in that fashion.
We then set forth for Cork so that we could pick up our daughter and her fiance at the Cork airport. They live in London and were flying over for the bank holiday weekend. Since they were arriving late, I'd made reservations (with reservations) at the Radisson SAS Cork Airport Hotel, which is in walking distance of the airport. As it turned out, the rooms were very nice, the internet was fast and free, the staff was helpful, and the food was excellent. We had one of the best meals we had in Ireland there, seafood chowder and salmon for me, seafood chowder and steak for DH.
An aside on seafood chowder: I love it. It was ubiquitous and, I am told, delicious. I am allergic to clams and mussels, and the Radisson was the only place we went that had seafood chowder without mussels. DH ate it at almost every meal, with great gusto.
DD and FSIL turned up around 10:30, not quite an hour late. We breakfasted at the hotel the next morning. The soda bread was made on premises and easily won my best soda bread this trip award. And then we were off to the Old Jameson Distillery so DH and FSIL could worship at the shrine of Irish Whiskey.
An aside on Irish Whiskey: several years ago DD lived in Ireland for a while, and one Christmas she brought DH a bottle of Midleton for Christmas. He took a drink and made a very odd face, and said, "I'm glad I've never had Irish whiskey before." "Why's that?" I said. "I'd have been a drunk," he replied.
The tour was (I am told) very interesting. It exceeded my walking tolerance, so I stayed behind and finished reading "Pint Sized Ireland" by Evan McHugh and startling people by laughing out loud. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it.
Lunch was at the distillery restaurant, again quite good. DH had seafood chowder -- the big bowl, not the cup -- with mussels.
next: the Drive to Dingle
We got up Thursday morning and cabbed to the airport to pick up the rental car. We rented through Kemwel, so we were actually dealing with Europcar. There was one small surprise. I had understood that my over 70 husband would have to pay an extra €17 a day to drive; it was actually €35. We had asked for a midsize, since there would be four of us for a while, and we got a Nissan Tiida, which was small enough to be manageable and large enough to hold us all. It only rained on us twice; unfortunately the first and worst time was when we were picking up the car. We did not take the time to look as carefully as we should, since we and the bags were getting soaked, so we really don't know if we lost the hubcap or if some previous renter lost it. It was only €35 and I still have hopes of recovering that from Insurance4CarHire.
We successfully navigated the roundabouts onto the M50 and proceeded without incident down the road toward Cashel. We had our Garmin Nuvi 370 with us, fondly referred to as Jill, since that's the voice we chose. We haven't updated Jill's maps since we bought her in 2007, and there were several places where roads had been improved to the point that Jill was convinced we were driving through someone's sheep fields -- the little car image would be an inch or so away from the original road, and Jill would occasionally issue stern orders to turn left or right or even u-turn. When we'd fail to do so, she'd resignedly say "Recalculating" and then come up with some new route for us to try. Eventually she'd give up in despair. Other than her problems with roads she didn't know about, she was very useful. I had good maps and I'm a great navigator, but Jill knew when the roundabouts were coming and what exit we'd need to take, which was a great help and may have saved our marriage.
Lunch was sandwiches and coffee in a small but charming café in Abbyleix. We then went on to the Rock of Cashel, another of my favorite places. While we were wandering the graveyard reading the inscriptions, a voice said, "It's Ed the Singer!" It was a fellow pub crawler from Tuesday night. DH was most gratified to be recognized and remembered in that fashion.
We then set forth for Cork so that we could pick up our daughter and her fiance at the Cork airport. They live in London and were flying over for the bank holiday weekend. Since they were arriving late, I'd made reservations (with reservations) at the Radisson SAS Cork Airport Hotel, which is in walking distance of the airport. As it turned out, the rooms were very nice, the internet was fast and free, the staff was helpful, and the food was excellent. We had one of the best meals we had in Ireland there, seafood chowder and salmon for me, seafood chowder and steak for DH.
An aside on seafood chowder: I love it. It was ubiquitous and, I am told, delicious. I am allergic to clams and mussels, and the Radisson was the only place we went that had seafood chowder without mussels. DH ate it at almost every meal, with great gusto.
DD and FSIL turned up around 10:30, not quite an hour late. We breakfasted at the hotel the next morning. The soda bread was made on premises and easily won my best soda bread this trip award. And then we were off to the Old Jameson Distillery so DH and FSIL could worship at the shrine of Irish Whiskey.
An aside on Irish Whiskey: several years ago DD lived in Ireland for a while, and one Christmas she brought DH a bottle of Midleton for Christmas. He took a drink and made a very odd face, and said, "I'm glad I've never had Irish whiskey before." "Why's that?" I said. "I'd have been a drunk," he replied.
The tour was (I am told) very interesting. It exceeded my walking tolerance, so I stayed behind and finished reading "Pint Sized Ireland" by Evan McHugh and startling people by laughing out loud. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it.
Lunch was at the distillery restaurant, again quite good. DH had seafood chowder -- the big bowl, not the cup -- with mussels.
next: the Drive to Dingle
Jun 6th, 2008, 10:36 AM
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Jill may save marriages, but she doesn't save mirrors.
I hasten to point out that DH did not sample the wares at the Old Jameson's Distillery, although we left with an ample supply for later sampling.
FSIL is well over 6 feet tall and a native English driver, so we put him in front to coach DH in left side driving and set off for Dingle. All the roads we'd driven to that point were large and well marked. That was about to change. Somewhere east of Killarney we had to detour through a small town with one of those narrow streets with cars parked on both sides and oncoming traffic bearing down on us. DD and I were screaming "Watch the side mirrors" and FSIL was calmly saying, "You’re a little too close on the left." when the inevetible happened. He whacked a parked car's mirror. Fortunately, the car was parked in the wrong direction, so both mirrors folded in and were undamaged. The driver was still in the car and he reached out and flipped the mirror back into place and waved us on. We stopped for coffee and to allow FSIL to give a bit more advice about car positioning, advice which was repeated a short time later when he cleared a pedestrian by about 6 inches (our opinion) or maybe 3 feet (his opinion). Several tiny towns later (plus a stop to admire Inch Strand) he seemed to master positioning the car, although after DD and FSIL left I started opening the window and folding the mirror whenever we approached a line of parked cars.
We spent our two nights in Dingle at the Greenmount House in their "superior garden view" rooms as opposed to the "superior sea view" rooms. Our room opened onto a deck just a few steps from the hot tub and had a wonderful view of the mountains. We were delighted with the rooms and with Mary Curran's hospitality and breakfasts.
DH wanted to go hear traditional Irish music, so Mary directed us to John Benny Moriarty's pub for dinner and music, followed perhaps by O'Flaherty's. We dined on pretty good fish and chips in a very busy pub and listened to two young women with guitars play for about 45 minutes before moving on to O'Flaherty's, where the crowd was bigger, the music was a bit more diverse and a bit more what DH was looking for. I sampled my first cider there (Bulmer's) and promptly reverted to Guiness. We eventually waddled back up the hill and fell into bed well fed and well entertained.
Next: Slea Head or Sleigh Head? and where the heck is Smerwick?
I hasten to point out that DH did not sample the wares at the Old Jameson's Distillery, although we left with an ample supply for later sampling.
FSIL is well over 6 feet tall and a native English driver, so we put him in front to coach DH in left side driving and set off for Dingle. All the roads we'd driven to that point were large and well marked. That was about to change. Somewhere east of Killarney we had to detour through a small town with one of those narrow streets with cars parked on both sides and oncoming traffic bearing down on us. DD and I were screaming "Watch the side mirrors" and FSIL was calmly saying, "You’re a little too close on the left." when the inevetible happened. He whacked a parked car's mirror. Fortunately, the car was parked in the wrong direction, so both mirrors folded in and were undamaged. The driver was still in the car and he reached out and flipped the mirror back into place and waved us on. We stopped for coffee and to allow FSIL to give a bit more advice about car positioning, advice which was repeated a short time later when he cleared a pedestrian by about 6 inches (our opinion) or maybe 3 feet (his opinion). Several tiny towns later (plus a stop to admire Inch Strand) he seemed to master positioning the car, although after DD and FSIL left I started opening the window and folding the mirror whenever we approached a line of parked cars.
We spent our two nights in Dingle at the Greenmount House in their "superior garden view" rooms as opposed to the "superior sea view" rooms. Our room opened onto a deck just a few steps from the hot tub and had a wonderful view of the mountains. We were delighted with the rooms and with Mary Curran's hospitality and breakfasts.
DH wanted to go hear traditional Irish music, so Mary directed us to John Benny Moriarty's pub for dinner and music, followed perhaps by O'Flaherty's. We dined on pretty good fish and chips in a very busy pub and listened to two young women with guitars play for about 45 minutes before moving on to O'Flaherty's, where the crowd was bigger, the music was a bit more diverse and a bit more what DH was looking for. I sampled my first cider there (Bulmer's) and promptly reverted to Guiness. We eventually waddled back up the hill and fell into bed well fed and well entertained.
Next: Slea Head or Sleigh Head? and where the heck is Smerwick?
Jun 7th, 2008, 04:52 PM
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On Sunday we lingered over breakfast, hauled the dirty clothes off to the drop off laundry at the Esso station, and set out to circumnavigate the Dingle Penisula, clockwise of course. We had a lively discussion of whether you pronounced Slea as to rhyme with flea or as sleigh, finally settling on sleigh. I did not share with them the fact that some part of the Slea Head Drive, regardless of how pronounced, had fallen off into the sea a year or so ago until after we'd finished that stretch.
We stopped at everything, playing leapfrog the entire way with three tour buses: one with French tourists, one with German tourists, and one with Dutch tourists. We visited the Dunbeg Fort with the French, the Blasket Island Center with the Germans, and the Gallarus Oratory with the Dutch.
DD became peckish after we spent an hour or so at the Blasket Island Center. The café there was jammed with the tour bus occupants, so I consulted Michele Erdvig's guidebook. She highly recommended the Smerwick Harbor Hotel in Ballyferriter, where the bar food was good and available all day,
So we pressed on to Ballyferriter and through Ballyferriter and finally stopped and inquired of a passing pedestrian. Just on down the way on the left. You can’t miss it. So we went on down the way until we spotted a brown sign that said Smerwick Harbor. We turned on a small road, which became smaller and smaller and eventually turned into a dirt track. It ended in a small parking area with a beautiful beach in view and a tiny church where services were being held. There were dogs romping on the beach, and DD and FSIL joined them briefly. One of their people told us we’d turned too soon. Just go back to the main road, turn left, and it’s just down the way on the left. You can’t miss it. And this time we didn’t.
The hotel was quite appealing, but the bar was crowded with the French tour bus finishing lunch. We took a table, looked at a quite nice menu, only to be told that they were only serving sandwiches at this point. And, when pressed, chips. Three of us ordered cheese and tomato sandwiches, one of us ordered lamb. The sandwiches arrived completely undressed: processed cheese, one small pitiful slice of tomato, and a smear of butter on one side of the white processed bread. The chips were good and plentiful.
Back in Dingle, we collected the laundry and repaired to the guesthouse, where we drank our bottle of champagne to celebrate FSIL’s recent transition from boyfriend to fiancé. The bottle of champagne was a gift from the flight attendants when we landed in Dublin. The last couple of times we’ve flown to Europe we’ve managed Business Class, and each time we’ve left the airplane with a bottle of wine or champagne. I can’t figure out if it’s our charming personalities or the enthusiasm I manifest for wine while flying. I fear it must be the latter.
We’d made reservations for the Chart House for dinner that night. Dinner was excellent. I had the crab to start, followed by local lamb. DH had grilled oysters followed by steak, DD had the crab followed by monkfish in a mild curry sauce, and FSIL also had the crab followed by steak. We all had dessert AND Irish coffee and once again tottered back up the hill well fed. I heartily recommend the Chart House. It was expensive, but it was easily the best meal we had in Ireland.
next: Oops, was that Conor Pass?
We stopped at everything, playing leapfrog the entire way with three tour buses: one with French tourists, one with German tourists, and one with Dutch tourists. We visited the Dunbeg Fort with the French, the Blasket Island Center with the Germans, and the Gallarus Oratory with the Dutch.
DD became peckish after we spent an hour or so at the Blasket Island Center. The café there was jammed with the tour bus occupants, so I consulted Michele Erdvig's guidebook. She highly recommended the Smerwick Harbor Hotel in Ballyferriter, where the bar food was good and available all day,
So we pressed on to Ballyferriter and through Ballyferriter and finally stopped and inquired of a passing pedestrian. Just on down the way on the left. You can’t miss it. So we went on down the way until we spotted a brown sign that said Smerwick Harbor. We turned on a small road, which became smaller and smaller and eventually turned into a dirt track. It ended in a small parking area with a beautiful beach in view and a tiny church where services were being held. There were dogs romping on the beach, and DD and FSIL joined them briefly. One of their people told us we’d turned too soon. Just go back to the main road, turn left, and it’s just down the way on the left. You can’t miss it. And this time we didn’t.
The hotel was quite appealing, but the bar was crowded with the French tour bus finishing lunch. We took a table, looked at a quite nice menu, only to be told that they were only serving sandwiches at this point. And, when pressed, chips. Three of us ordered cheese and tomato sandwiches, one of us ordered lamb. The sandwiches arrived completely undressed: processed cheese, one small pitiful slice of tomato, and a smear of butter on one side of the white processed bread. The chips were good and plentiful.
Back in Dingle, we collected the laundry and repaired to the guesthouse, where we drank our bottle of champagne to celebrate FSIL’s recent transition from boyfriend to fiancé. The bottle of champagne was a gift from the flight attendants when we landed in Dublin. The last couple of times we’ve flown to Europe we’ve managed Business Class, and each time we’ve left the airplane with a bottle of wine or champagne. I can’t figure out if it’s our charming personalities or the enthusiasm I manifest for wine while flying. I fear it must be the latter.
We’d made reservations for the Chart House for dinner that night. Dinner was excellent. I had the crab to start, followed by local lamb. DH had grilled oysters followed by steak, DD had the crab followed by monkfish in a mild curry sauce, and FSIL also had the crab followed by steak. We all had dessert AND Irish coffee and once again tottered back up the hill well fed. I heartily recommend the Chart House. It was expensive, but it was easily the best meal we had in Ireland.
next: Oops, was that Conor Pass?
Jun 10th, 2008, 06:47 AM
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Yikes – did I say on Sunday? It was actually Saturday. And I sort of glossed over how much we enjoyed the Dingle Penisula. The scenery is incredibly lovely and the various attractions are very interesting, particularly (to us) the Blasket Island Centre. The film was really a good insight into this closed community in the early 20th century.
On Sunday we once again lingered over breakfast before setting out for the Cliffs of Moher and Doolin. We went by the Conor Pass and somehow completely missed noticing that we were at the top and should turn off into the overlook. DH was (surprise) unwilling to back up or to attempt to turn around, so we made do with stopping at the next overlook to take in the westerly views. I had been told that the road down the west side of Conor Pass had been widened and improved since 1999, which was the last time I was there. If so, the widening appears to me to have been a matter of centimeters. Fortunately the oncoming traffic was cooperative and we all scraped by.
We made a brief stop in Tralee for coffee then drove on to the Tarbert-Kilrush ferry. Our timing was impeccable. We were the last car on the ferry with no waiting at all. We took the long way round on N67 and arrived at the Cliffs around 3:00. The Cliffs were not particularly crowded; there were only a couple of tour buses in the parking lot. I was prepared to hate the visitors' center on sight, but I was surprised at how well they had managed to tuck it away under the hillside, and I must admit I enjoyed the café and the ample restrooms. I could do without the row of shops, however.
The visitors' center offered wheelchairs, raising my hopes that I would be able to get to the top once again. Unfortunately, the track is way to rough for a wheelchair to be comfortable mode of transportation and way to steep for anyone to manage pushing a person up. I contented myself with a view from the first vantage point and a soft ice cream from the café. One can buy one's soft ice cream cone "with a flake", which turns out to be a long skinny chocolate wafer sort of cookie. I immediately became a flake convert.
It was a beautiful sunny day, but the wind was blowing gale force at the top of the climb. DH, DD and FSIL made it to the top, enjoyed the view while attempting to avoid being blown out into space, and came back down in record time, catching me in the ice cream act. So they all had an ice cream with flake as well before we moved along to Doolin.
We had reservations at the Atlantic View House in Doolin and were warmly welcomed by Eileen Bailey. The rooms were nice and had spectacular views of the Cliffs. Eileen recommended Ballinalacken Castle for our dinner that evening. We booked a table and took advantage of their free taxi offer.
This was the first restaurant we were in on this trip that started by seating us in the bar and letting us decide what to order there, a custom which I quite like. DD and I shared the crab cakes and the goat cheese covered in pistachios with chutney. The goat cheese starter was excellent. DH had the seafood chowder, followed by monkfish, FSIL had the fillet steak, DD had a seafood platter with sea bass, monkfish, and a prawn big enough to frighten one if encountered in the wild. I, in a fit of virtuous idiocy, had the wholesome bean and lentil casserole, which was, well, adequate. The menu for the Ballinalacken is at http://tinyurl.com/5jpats. I regret that I didn't have the lamb.
We finished in time watch a spectacular sunset over the Cliffs of Moher. DD, FSIL and DH stopped in at Gus O'Connors pub for music while I toddled off to bed.
Next: Jill and the Burren
On Sunday we once again lingered over breakfast before setting out for the Cliffs of Moher and Doolin. We went by the Conor Pass and somehow completely missed noticing that we were at the top and should turn off into the overlook. DH was (surprise) unwilling to back up or to attempt to turn around, so we made do with stopping at the next overlook to take in the westerly views. I had been told that the road down the west side of Conor Pass had been widened and improved since 1999, which was the last time I was there. If so, the widening appears to me to have been a matter of centimeters. Fortunately the oncoming traffic was cooperative and we all scraped by.
We made a brief stop in Tralee for coffee then drove on to the Tarbert-Kilrush ferry. Our timing was impeccable. We were the last car on the ferry with no waiting at all. We took the long way round on N67 and arrived at the Cliffs around 3:00. The Cliffs were not particularly crowded; there were only a couple of tour buses in the parking lot. I was prepared to hate the visitors' center on sight, but I was surprised at how well they had managed to tuck it away under the hillside, and I must admit I enjoyed the café and the ample restrooms. I could do without the row of shops, however.
The visitors' center offered wheelchairs, raising my hopes that I would be able to get to the top once again. Unfortunately, the track is way to rough for a wheelchair to be comfortable mode of transportation and way to steep for anyone to manage pushing a person up. I contented myself with a view from the first vantage point and a soft ice cream from the café. One can buy one's soft ice cream cone "with a flake", which turns out to be a long skinny chocolate wafer sort of cookie. I immediately became a flake convert.
It was a beautiful sunny day, but the wind was blowing gale force at the top of the climb. DH, DD and FSIL made it to the top, enjoyed the view while attempting to avoid being blown out into space, and came back down in record time, catching me in the ice cream act. So they all had an ice cream with flake as well before we moved along to Doolin.
We had reservations at the Atlantic View House in Doolin and were warmly welcomed by Eileen Bailey. The rooms were nice and had spectacular views of the Cliffs. Eileen recommended Ballinalacken Castle for our dinner that evening. We booked a table and took advantage of their free taxi offer.
This was the first restaurant we were in on this trip that started by seating us in the bar and letting us decide what to order there, a custom which I quite like. DD and I shared the crab cakes and the goat cheese covered in pistachios with chutney. The goat cheese starter was excellent. DH had the seafood chowder, followed by monkfish, FSIL had the fillet steak, DD had a seafood platter with sea bass, monkfish, and a prawn big enough to frighten one if encountered in the wild. I, in a fit of virtuous idiocy, had the wholesome bean and lentil casserole, which was, well, adequate. The menu for the Ballinalacken is at http://tinyurl.com/5jpats. I regret that I didn't have the lamb.
We finished in time watch a spectacular sunset over the Cliffs of Moher. DD, FSIL and DH stopped in at Gus O'Connors pub for music while I toddled off to bed.
Next: Jill and the Burren
Jun 13th, 2008, 07:20 AM
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Pittpurple, you're going to love Dingle and Doolin. I hope you have a bit more time there than we did.
We left Doolin en route to Ballyvaghan, depending on Jill to lead the way. To my surprise, she did not take us up N67, the main road to Ballyvaghan. Instead, she took us up R479 and then across a series of smaller and smaller regional roads until we finally ran into N67 a bit south of Ballyvaghan. It was a wonderful drive past all manner of Burren landscape, and the flowers were in full bloom.
We arrived in Ballyvaghan in time for morning coffee and refreshments. When DD and I were passing through Ballyvaghan 9 years ago, we stopped at The Tea Junction Café, where I had the best "spicy wedges with garlic mayo" I have ever eaten. Hoping for a repeat experience, we popped in again. Sadly the fire codes led to the removal of the fryer several years ago, so I had to settle for a good cappuccino and a nice scone and a nice visit with the new owner of the cafe. DD and FSIL wandered off in the direction of the beach (which I don't think they found) and DH and I wandered around Ballyvaghan for a bit.
Then, placing our faith in Jill again, we set off in the general direction of Kilfenora and the Burren Centre. She started us off on N67, but just before we got to Poulnabrone Dolmen Jill insisted we turn right on some tiny little road. We did, and after winding through miles of tiny little roads and more fantastic landscape we arrived back on R477 west of Lisdoonvarna. We went on to Kilfenora, paid our respects to the Burren Centre, and set off south toward Bunratty Castle and Folk Park.
I know there are those among us who are not impressed by the Bunratty attractions, but I enjoyed it 9 years ago and we all enjoyed it again this time. We lunched at MacNamara and Sons pub in Bunratty Village and had quite good fish and chips and Guinness, and wandered around looking at the various buildings and the castle for a couple of hours. Then we wandered over the Blarney Woollen Mills and had an afternoon snack, and then it was time to take DD and FSIL to Shannon Airport for their flight back to London.
Next – on to Galway
We left Doolin en route to Ballyvaghan, depending on Jill to lead the way. To my surprise, she did not take us up N67, the main road to Ballyvaghan. Instead, she took us up R479 and then across a series of smaller and smaller regional roads until we finally ran into N67 a bit south of Ballyvaghan. It was a wonderful drive past all manner of Burren landscape, and the flowers were in full bloom.
We arrived in Ballyvaghan in time for morning coffee and refreshments. When DD and I were passing through Ballyvaghan 9 years ago, we stopped at The Tea Junction Café, where I had the best "spicy wedges with garlic mayo" I have ever eaten. Hoping for a repeat experience, we popped in again. Sadly the fire codes led to the removal of the fryer several years ago, so I had to settle for a good cappuccino and a nice scone and a nice visit with the new owner of the cafe. DD and FSIL wandered off in the direction of the beach (which I don't think they found) and DH and I wandered around Ballyvaghan for a bit.
Then, placing our faith in Jill again, we set off in the general direction of Kilfenora and the Burren Centre. She started us off on N67, but just before we got to Poulnabrone Dolmen Jill insisted we turn right on some tiny little road. We did, and after winding through miles of tiny little roads and more fantastic landscape we arrived back on R477 west of Lisdoonvarna. We went on to Kilfenora, paid our respects to the Burren Centre, and set off south toward Bunratty Castle and Folk Park.
I know there are those among us who are not impressed by the Bunratty attractions, but I enjoyed it 9 years ago and we all enjoyed it again this time. We lunched at MacNamara and Sons pub in Bunratty Village and had quite good fish and chips and Guinness, and wandered around looking at the various buildings and the castle for a couple of hours. Then we wandered over the Blarney Woollen Mills and had an afternoon snack, and then it was time to take DD and FSIL to Shannon Airport for their flight back to London.
Next – on to Galway
Jun 18th, 2008, 12:13 PM
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Sorry for the long delay between posts -- work impinged.
We spent two nights in Galway in the Forster Court Hotel, chosen on the basis of comments made by this group primarily for location. The hotel was quite nice, particularly for the price, and way conveniently located for pubs and the main part of Galway.
We spent most of the next day wandering around Galway and relaxing. We found it a very pleasant city. Dinner that night was in the Park House Hotel and was very good.
The next day we set out for Westport by way of Roundhouse Harbor, Clifden, Kylemore Abbey, and the Killary Fjord. It was quite a leisurely day's drive with lots to stop and look at, and we arrived at The Boulevard bed and breakfast at 4:00 pm. The Boulevard is very well located on the South Mall right next door to a Garda station. We wandered around Westport for a couple of hours, ate an unmemorable dinner somewhere, and headed for Matt Malloy's. We were surprised to find it almost empty at 8:45 and wandered on back to the Boulevard for an early evening.
The next day we set off for Killybegs. Shortly before our trip someone had told us we mustn't miss "Seedy Fields" on the north coast of County Mayo above Ballina. I'd not had time to find information about it, so while we were in Galway I asked a young man working in the tourist information if he had any information. "Seedy Fields?" he said. "And where would that be?" "North of Ballina." "Ooooooh," he said, trying manfully to stifle his snorts of laughter. "Ceide Fields." Which is, of course, pronounced Cagey Fields.
Ceide Fields is near Ballycastle and is a fascinating neolithic site being excavated from the blanket bog in the area. http://www.museumsofmayo.com/ceide.htm
The visitors' centre has an interesting film and great displays of the settlements as they appear to have been in ancient times. There's a 45 minute guided tour through the dig, which I was not able to do, but what little walking around we did made me think it would have been a wonderful tour. I can't believe I'd never heard of this, nor had DD, who lived in Ballina for a year. It's well off the beaten path, but I highly recommend it.
Killybegs is, for reasons I cannot articulate, one of my favorite places in Ireland. We stayed at the Bayview Hotel, which was very nice, and dined at Number 22 -- one of our better meals. We strolled around the harbors and streets after dinner to look at the fishing boats and gear. The next morning we visited the Maritime and Heritage Center to view the world's largest wooden carpet loom and see how Donegal wool carpets are made. It was a beautiful day, but DH could not be persuaded to spend the morning driving up the Cliffs of Bunglass, so we set out for the North Coast.
next -- Dunluce Castle, Giant's Causeway, and Glentaisie.
We spent two nights in Galway in the Forster Court Hotel, chosen on the basis of comments made by this group primarily for location. The hotel was quite nice, particularly for the price, and way conveniently located for pubs and the main part of Galway.
We spent most of the next day wandering around Galway and relaxing. We found it a very pleasant city. Dinner that night was in the Park House Hotel and was very good.
The next day we set out for Westport by way of Roundhouse Harbor, Clifden, Kylemore Abbey, and the Killary Fjord. It was quite a leisurely day's drive with lots to stop and look at, and we arrived at The Boulevard bed and breakfast at 4:00 pm. The Boulevard is very well located on the South Mall right next door to a Garda station. We wandered around Westport for a couple of hours, ate an unmemorable dinner somewhere, and headed for Matt Malloy's. We were surprised to find it almost empty at 8:45 and wandered on back to the Boulevard for an early evening.
The next day we set off for Killybegs. Shortly before our trip someone had told us we mustn't miss "Seedy Fields" on the north coast of County Mayo above Ballina. I'd not had time to find information about it, so while we were in Galway I asked a young man working in the tourist information if he had any information. "Seedy Fields?" he said. "And where would that be?" "North of Ballina." "Ooooooh," he said, trying manfully to stifle his snorts of laughter. "Ceide Fields." Which is, of course, pronounced Cagey Fields.
Ceide Fields is near Ballycastle and is a fascinating neolithic site being excavated from the blanket bog in the area. http://www.museumsofmayo.com/ceide.htm
The visitors' centre has an interesting film and great displays of the settlements as they appear to have been in ancient times. There's a 45 minute guided tour through the dig, which I was not able to do, but what little walking around we did made me think it would have been a wonderful tour. I can't believe I'd never heard of this, nor had DD, who lived in Ballina for a year. It's well off the beaten path, but I highly recommend it.
Killybegs is, for reasons I cannot articulate, one of my favorite places in Ireland. We stayed at the Bayview Hotel, which was very nice, and dined at Number 22 -- one of our better meals. We strolled around the harbors and streets after dinner to look at the fishing boats and gear. The next morning we visited the Maritime and Heritage Center to view the world's largest wooden carpet loom and see how Donegal wool carpets are made. It was a beautiful day, but DH could not be persuaded to spend the morning driving up the Cliffs of Bunglass, so we set out for the North Coast.
next -- Dunluce Castle, Giant's Causeway, and Glentaisie.
Jun 22nd, 2008, 01:26 PM
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The last time I saw Dunluce was a cold, dreary November day in a downpour. This time it was sunny, warm, windy, beautiful, and completely overrun by a bridal party and their photographers. The bride was beautiful, even when gulping sandwiches from the trunk of a car. The groomsmen were enjoying a pint or two. It certainly wasn't Dunluce as I remembered it, but it certainly was a lot of fun.
The stretch of coast road from Dunluce to the Giant's Causeway was a shocker -- looking over toward Port Ballintrae was a large housing development and a trailer park.
The Giant's Causeway was not as crowded as I'd feared. I found a comfy rock to perch on while DH gambolled around leaping from rock to rock. After that we drove around a bit and finally headed for Ballycastle and The Glentaisie House. Another fine choice of b&b, particular the breakfast, and quite reasonable as well.
We were off to Dublin the next morning, sticking primarily to the motorways. We got off at the Ravensdale Exit, where a sign promised food. After about a mile of nothing resembling a restaurant, we asked a passing runner where we might find a restaurant. "Are you looking for Fitzpatrick's? she said. "It's just a few miles down the road, then turn right when it ends, and it's right there. It's a wee bendy lovely road and Fitzpatrick's a lovely Irish restaurant." It was a bit more than a few miles, but indeed Fitzpatrick's, which is in Jenkinstown, is a lovely Irish restaurant. DH had what was to be his last bowl of seafood chowder there, full of lovely fresh mussels.
We reached the Dublin airport area in the late afternoon and checked into the Holiday Inn Express. The motel is brand new and very clean. The room was relatively inexpensive, the internet was free, the shuttle bus was reliable, and the breakfast was good. I highly recommend it for the night before a flight.
Up early the next morning and off to the airport, which was INCREDIBLY crowded. Just pushing your way through the crowds to get to the line you need to stand in was a real struggle. But we checked in without incident, boarded, and were on our way back to Atlanta and the end of a lovely holiday.
el
The stretch of coast road from Dunluce to the Giant's Causeway was a shocker -- looking over toward Port Ballintrae was a large housing development and a trailer park.
The Giant's Causeway was not as crowded as I'd feared. I found a comfy rock to perch on while DH gambolled around leaping from rock to rock. After that we drove around a bit and finally headed for Ballycastle and The Glentaisie House. Another fine choice of b&b, particular the breakfast, and quite reasonable as well.
We were off to Dublin the next morning, sticking primarily to the motorways. We got off at the Ravensdale Exit, where a sign promised food. After about a mile of nothing resembling a restaurant, we asked a passing runner where we might find a restaurant. "Are you looking for Fitzpatrick's? she said. "It's just a few miles down the road, then turn right when it ends, and it's right there. It's a wee bendy lovely road and Fitzpatrick's a lovely Irish restaurant." It was a bit more than a few miles, but indeed Fitzpatrick's, which is in Jenkinstown, is a lovely Irish restaurant. DH had what was to be his last bowl of seafood chowder there, full of lovely fresh mussels.
We reached the Dublin airport area in the late afternoon and checked into the Holiday Inn Express. The motel is brand new and very clean. The room was relatively inexpensive, the internet was free, the shuttle bus was reliable, and the breakfast was good. I highly recommend it for the night before a flight.
Up early the next morning and off to the airport, which was INCREDIBLY crowded. Just pushing your way through the crowds to get to the line you need to stand in was a real struggle. But we checked in without incident, boarded, and were on our way back to Atlanta and the end of a lovely holiday.
el
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