Discovering Ireland, land of castles, flowers, rock walls, narrow roads, stone towers, friendly folks and Guinness

Ever since we had German exchange student Sascha Vogel come to live with us two years ago, we have been saving and planning for a trip to Europe. Bill and I spent many weeks preparing to leave, working extra hours to line up our departure for what we believe is probably a once in a lifetime trip.

We are celebrating our only child’s transition to adulthood as we all begin a new chapter of family life. We wanted the end of his childhood and beginning of his young adult life to be an opportunity to reconnect and make more great memories before he begins college.

We also wanted to be part of this special time in Sascha’s life as he too graduated from high school on June 20.

Before we forget how much fun we had in Ireland, I want to put some highlights down on paper so as not to forget the fun and friendly people we met on our six day Spectre Tour in Ireland. Beginning June 9, leaving from Panama at 9 a.m. and Omaha at 1 p.m., to Atlanta, to New York, we arrived at the Shannon, Ireland, airport at 10 a.m. the next day, June 10. A minor glitch, Delta did not have seats reserved for us on the plane to Ireland for some reason, but at the last minute, as the plane sat on the tarmac, they made room for us and seated us quickly, but Bill was left to be sandwiched between two strangers, while Asa and I made ourselves as comfortable as humanly possible in coach for the eight hour flight.

I had researched the trip, made all the travel arrangements, flights from the U.S. to Ireland, and on to Germany, Holland, and Italy, hotels and rental cars, by using the internet and suggestions from Sascha. Asa was clueless, but excited, Bill was anxious, excited, and reluctantly resigned. I was, as usual, just excited to be experiencing something new.

Bill did have reason to be anxious, after landing in Shannon and picking up our baggage, we headed for the Dooley Rental Car company and picked up our Ford Focus. Bill had all of one minute to acclimate himself to sitting in the right side drivers seat and pulling into the left lane of traffic. There’s nothing like 24 hours of air travel to sharpen your wits, particularly since the roads were quite narrow, but we had seen nothing yet.

Our destination was Limerick in County Clare, which was only 10 miles away, but we explored on and off Highway N18 along the way and ended up at Bunratty Castle and the Blarney Woolen Mills shopping area. We started buying gifts for staff and family immediately, followed by fish n’ chips lunch at Durty Nelly’s, an old, old pub (1620), a decent lunch, but pricey.

We checked into the Hotel Maldron in Limerick and took a five hour nap at 3 in the afternoon. At 8:30, Eileen, ever so helpful and pleasant Maldron desk clerk, arranged for a taxi for us to go downtown to Dolan’s, a famous Irish pub, for dinner, drinks and good live Irish music. Eileen also suggested a tour to the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren with tour operator Christine Barratt.

A standard Irish breakfast of strong coffee, juices, fruits, scrambled eggs, link sausage, ham, toast, hash brown potato wedge, pork and beans, broiled tomato, cold cereal, and red and white pudding (not Jello pudding) was served complimentary at all of our hotels.

Barratt Tours took us first to the Burren, a very unique landscape created at the end of the ice age over 10,000 years ago. We stopped at Leamanah Castle, built in 1480 but deteriorating, as were many of the stone towers seen all over Ireland.

Next was Caherconnell, an ancient stone fort, built between 900 and 1000 AD and occupied up until the 17th century!! Then onto Poulnabrone tomb in the Burren, an ancient burial site. Do you see where we are going with this? Everything is ancient!!

Christine expertly drove the small tour bus on incredibly narrow roads, lined with rock fences and shrubbery over many miles, arriving at Galway Bay with stunning views across the bay. Lunch at Doolin’s in O’Connors Pub dating from 1832, was really excellent, but was where we decided to start sharing meals. Food was a little pricey, but not really if you considered the huge portions served up in Ireland. One meal was more than enough for two and sometimes enough for all three of us. We made friends along the way and enjoyed the time spent at the spectacularly beautiful Cliffs of Moher along the western coast of Ireland on the Atlantic Ocean.

Back at hotel Maldron, very nice accommodations by the way, both in Limerick and Dublin, we grabbed a bite at the hotel bar and packed up to leave in the morning for Castlebar in Mayo County.

The trip from Limerick to Castlebar was a little harrowing on the very narrow N84 road, which was lined with rock fences covered in vines and shrubbery-something we noticed all over Ireland. We stopped to look at some old forts and Celtic crosses in a cemetery in Clairinburton.

Taking a break from the road, we stopped at Ballintubber Abbey, founded in 1216, the only church in Ireland where mass has been offered without fail for almost 800 years!!!

We took a lazy trip to the Breaffey House Hotel (part of it an old castle) on Friday. They kindly upgraded our room to an apartment that slept six in a separate building. Lovely hotel and grounds, very courteous and helpful staff, so much so that I left my purse in the lounge and Peter, the bartender, returned it unscathed to the front desk, all contents intact. We were told that not only were the Irish a friendly lot, but known for their honesty.

I lounged in the resort hotel spa and pool for nearly two hours while Bill and Asa explored. It was still light outside at 10:30 at night so we took a late evening hike while Asa acquainted himself with some friendly Irishmen in the pub (it is legal to drink in Ireland and all over Europe at 18).

Saturday we spent on the grounds of Wesport House, an unusual mixture of historic estate complete with tennis, pitch and putt, swam padaloes a log flume ride, and a beautiful animal and bird park. That night we partied with the Irishmen at the hotel bar until very late.. the Irish can drink.

Sunday, we drove from Castlebar to the Maldron Hotel in Dublin and walked 15 minutes to explore the Temple Bar area developed in the 19th century with narrow cobbled streets close to the river. (Bill refused to move the car for the next two days until it was time to return it at the airport). It was lots of fun and while Asa napped, Bill and I bar hopped among the numerous establishments packed along the street and listened to the many talented street musicians. We walked to and from Temple Bar along the Liffey River, which separates the city into north and south.

On Monday , we took an hour and a half guided green city bus tour in Dublin; the 24 hour pass allowed you to hop on and off so we hopped off at four of the 23 stops of interest. Chester Beatty Library at Dublin Castle, displays a world famous collection of early Christian, Islamic, and Asian manuscripts, paintings and books, an extraordinary collection of one man who bequeathed his library to a public trust in 1968.

Dublin Castle, built in 1204 by King John, was what you might expect to see, magnificent paintings, furnishings, decor of the aristocrats including the British government until 1922.

We took a lunch break at the Panama Bar (we had to check it out) on the Bachelors Walk, and enjoyed the food, drink and unique decor.

One stop at the seven story Guinness Beer Storehouse, designed in the shape of a giant pint of Guinness, lasted several hours, culminating in a free pint at the Gravity Bar with a panoramic view of city. It is the 250 year anniversary of Arthur Guinness when he signed a 9,000 year lease for the St. James Gate brewery; they now produce around the world at the rate of 10 million glasses a day.

Our last evening in Ireland, we returned to the Temple Bar area and ate at an All American establishment, the Thunder Road Cafe, decorated with motorcycles and Americana. It was the first time we saw someone we knew since we left the States-we bumped into Ann Miller a U.S. customs agent in Chicago who we met on the Barratt tour-she was also dining at the Thunder Road on her last night in Ireland. We returned another time for a snack at the Thunder Road due to the niceness of Aisling, our waitress.

Walking back to our hotel in the big city felt perfectly safe even at midnight. I forgot to mention that it sprinkled on us every day and is known for it.

Tuesday, we woke early to drop off our rental car (unscathed by brambles or rock walls) and took an AerLingus flight to Berlin, Germany to meet Sascha.