Day 1-2 - Shannon Airport to Doolin
Our trip to Ireland began with the most uneventful travel we have ever experienced. No lines at security at Hopkins, flight to Newark on time to catch connecting flight to Shannon and the gates were one apart. Although I couldn’t sleep a wink on the plane, we arrive smoothly in Ireland and 7:00 and headed off for pretty big day.
Car hire ( not rental ) put us in a Nissan stick shift that barely contained all our luggage. We slammed down the trunk and it would have been away we got, but someone remembered the camera in the trunk and then when we went to open it - it wouldn’t. End result - instant upgrade before we left the parking lot to a standard Mercedes.
And we were off - quite awkwardly with Jerome behind the wheel. Luckily the first road from Shannon to Gort was a 4-lane divided highway, so Jerome had a bit of practice without oncoming interruption. We stopped in Gort at the place with the placards advertising all day food - but it wasn’t open - Sunday morning. A lovely local stopped us on the street and directed us to ……. And our Irish breakfast adventure began. David and Jerome with the traditional including both white and black pudding.
We girlfriends can’t believe we really made it to Ireland together!
Gort made it to the itinerary because is near Coole Park, home of the famous Lady Gregory and W. B. Yeats “wild Swans at Coole” fame. Very informative film and a rainy, blustery stroll to the lake and through the gardens to see the famous autograph tree.
Entrance to Coole Park
Tree lined walk
Autograph tree featuring initials of W.B. Yeats, George Bernard Shaw and others
Then back on the road to Doolin - the site of our first accommodations.
So the Irish saying about the road rising up to meet you is really a reference to how “feckin’ narrow the roads are.
These roads don’t give much of a margin of error!
We took a twisty, turny road from Gort through Kilvarnen and Ballayvaughan. And Lisdoonva, home of the Match Making Festival and a great place to rest our road-frazzled nerves.
Lisdoonvarna festival street sign
Match making statue
Somewhere along - did they really call it - Cork Screw Hill, the side of the rock fence birmed road rose up to meet the left side of the rental car. Some scratches in the paint observed at a pull off for our first castle.
How many of these castles can we pose in front of?
Lunch needed to rest nerves and fortify spirits was spent at The Lynch Hotel where Danette, Linda and David enjoyed their first bowls of seafood chowder with lots of vegetables and Jerome had vegetable soup devoid of chunks of any vegetables at all.
The short ride from Lisdoonvarna to Doolin brought us, with a few wrong turns, to Sea View House and the wonderful hospitality of Darra and Niall. They fixed us a pot of proper Irish tea with Chocolate glazed McVities Digestive biscuits and talked through our plans for our three nights in Doolin.
Front window view from Sea View House of stormy sea
Restaurant recommendations, advisories about ferry travel to the Aran Islands and - most importantly - tonight’s pub music session starting at 6:00 (it’s Sunday) landed us in Gus O’Connors Pub at the base of the hill just down from the B &B.
Our first pub, just down the hill from the Sea View House
Two orders of traditional fish and chips and a lovely goat cheese tart with a heaping pile of mussels with onions and cream sauce and some great local music. We chatted at the bar with a friendly couple from Galway. He said his brother is a mechanic for Budget rental and we assured him our car damage will keep him in business. We are back early to our room, ready to take tomorrow slow.
Traditional Music Session at O’Connor’s Pub in Doolin
Day 3 - Doolin
Waking up from a much needed night in a comfortable bed, I remembered I had placed my breakfast order the night before - kippers!!!!!
Locally smoked kippers with tomatoes and lemon
David ordered the Full Irish - Duck Egg, Rashers, Sausages, Black Pudding and Tomato
These photos fail to capture the charm and hospitality of breakfast at Sea View House. Hen or duck eggs fresh from their hen house down the hill were offered, along with freshly baked breads and muffins and a side board assortment of fruits, cheeses and cereals. Pleasant conversation took place with other travelers sharing the breakfast table and loads of recommendations of a day trip here or there from Niall and Darra.
Although one look out the window at the roiling sea convinced us otherwise, Niall said the boats would probably be run to the Aran Islands. We opted for a day trip to The Burren.
Beginning at the visitor’s center helps introduce the rocky land formation of The Burren
Amazingly, wild flowers grow between the rocks
These flowers are used at The Burren Perfumery to make all sorts of perfumes, soaps and lotions. A nice stop along the way with a video about how the terrain supports growth.
Ireland’s oldest perfumery
A great place to buy gifts
Back on the road, we drove through The Burren, making a few stops to walk out on the rocks.
Poulnabrone Portal Tomb
Niall had suggested at breakfast that we hold our hunger until we reached Monks Pub in Ballyvaughan. On a day when I would have almost worn mittens if I had had them, a bowl of seafood chowder and some Irish coffee hit the spot.
All seafood - no potatoes! Look at that coffee!!
Interesting sign on the pier at Ballyvaughan
The drive from Ballyvaughan back to Doolin was full of gorgeous, although cloudy, views. The Burren goes on for miles and miles and reaches right out to the the sea.
Since lunch had been at 3 o’clock, dinner could wait. We decided to walk to the far end of Doolin to check out the other pubs. The music drew us into McDermott’s Pub, and since we had had one good night’s sleep - we ate and drank like Irishmen! The bartender even offered Jerome a taste of Connemara whiskey distilled with peat that tasted like a campfire.
End result of the evening - drinks and two orders of fish-
Wow! We can’t do that every night!
Great local music filled our ears all the way back up the hill
Day 4 - Doolin
Waking up feeling even more human today, we decided to forgo the trip the the Aran Islands once and for all in favor of a visit to our first big city of Ireland - Galway. A not so harrowing car trip got us to a centrally located car park, and we were off to explore the city. We had heard there was an Arts Festival in town and we saw evidence of it in the form of several street performers and a humongous dinosaur.
Crowded Galway pedestrian mall
The dinosaur was an Arts Festival feature
Lunchtime we found Nimmo’s under the Spanish Arch on the water. This lovely little market and bistro had great sandwiches and entrees and good strong coffee. 
After lunch we split up and wandered Galway, shopping and enjoying the bits of sun finally peeking through.
David and I wanted to check out the one time home of Nora Barnacle, James Joyce’s wife. We found it on Bowling Green Street and paid 2 euros to hear all about Nora’s early life from the docent who was happy to have visitors.
Nora Barnacle’s house in Galway
Back together in Eyre Square for a bite of pastry before heading back to Doolin
This is how the Irish mark a car driven by someone with a learner’s permit
Our last night in Doolin we returned to Gus O’Connors Pub for a great music and a light dinner
Danette’s first bowl of mussels
Day 5 - Doolin to Dingle
Our last breakfast with Darra and her amazing sideboard of fruits, cheeses, rhubarb crisp and banana bread. We almost hated to say goodbye to our new friends and Doolin’s simple charm, but it was early in the trip. Darra advised taking the Shannon ferry with our car to make the trip to Dingle shorter. But first - The Cliffs of Moher.
Cliffs of Moher
The ferry ride and drive to Dingle offered many awesome views of typical Irish countryside.
Can you ever tire of these views?
Arriving in Dingle late in the afternoon, we were greeted by the daughter of innkeeper John Curran at The Greenmount House. She showed to our rooms and around the house. These would be our most luxurious accommodations of the trip - with side by side sea view rooms with little sitting areas in-room and outdoor patio seating.
View of the front of The Greenmount House
Our two front rooms
Looking out to the water from the front of The Greenmount House
We asked for dinner and pub recommendations, but decided to walk into town to see for ourselves. Since we had been sticking with pub fare up to this point, we decided to treat ourselves to a two course early bird special at The Old Smokehouse.
David had his first sirlion of Irish Beef
Jerome really enjoyed his Lamb Shank
Following dinner, we walked along the harbor admiring the sunshine which was finally out in full force.
After looking into several pubs, we followed a tip from the innkeeper’s daughter that there might be an Irish dancer in-house and settled into seats at the bar in The Dingle Pub. Live music was two singers with guitars who led the audience in a sing along of Irish ballads.
The Dingle Pub before sunset
Sitting at the bar, we got to talking to two young local girls. We chatted about local history with them and they recommended I read Peig. They couldn’t believe I had never heard of it - they were forced to read it in school and hated it. We asked them where they go to hear good local music. They were on their way to a bar in Ventry Bay and invited us to come along in the cab with them, but we stuck around to see the owner’s son, purportedly a two-time National Irish Step Dancing Champion. He came out twice while we were there and literally danced right in front of us. Pretty awesome.
Day 6 - Dingle
The Greenview House offers a lovely breakfast, with a side board full of fruits, cereals, yogurt and cheeses. Then there is a selection of entrees, and often a daily special. Today it was a smoked salmon omlette - yum!
Since today is our only full day in Dingle, we decide on a hike to the lighthouse along the harbor to enjoy the views and, hopefully, catch a glimpse of Fungie, the resident dolphin who has been living in the waters of Dingle Bay since the 1980s.
We find the trail, after a little searching, at the bottom of the hill just below our B & B, and set off on what is one of the most beautiful hikes of this vacation.
Path along the Dingle Harbor
Everywhere you looked, the views were lovely
Sun peeking through the clouds light up Dingle behind the harbor
Nice sandy cove where we chatted with a local who had brought her children to look for the dolphin
Fungie is said to stick close to tour boats like this one that go out each day - David says he spotted a dorsal fin through our binoculars
Half way to the lighthouse we pass this ruin
Just beyond the lighthouse
We decided to keep hiking - past the signs that Private Property - through v-shaped stiles in the rock wall
One of my favorite pictures
After our hike, we took time to shop and wander the town. First stop, Murphy’s Ice Cream for fortification. Murphy’s is a local Dingle which uses local Kerry cow milk to make its ice creams. Today’s sample was Kerry Cream and Sea Salt for me, and Double Chocolate with Raspberry Sorbet for David.
Before our trip, I had read an article in Gourmet Traveler June 2011 issue about the charms of Dingle. The town is every bit the “green gem” the article proclaimed, but the staggering concentration of pubs - more than 50 (one fore every 40 full time residents) - gave us an afternoon project. The article had featured Dick Mack’s and behind the door of this one time haberdashery, time stands still.
Haberdashery storefront
Inside Dick Mack’s
Oliver Mack
We found Oliver Mack installed behind the bar looking exactly like the magazine photograph I had seen. He explained that he has been working at the bar since he was 6 years old. His grandfather was Dick Mack. Every room in the bar, and there are several nooks and crannies, was set up for the next customer with coasters laid all around. The shelves still held boxes of shoes, boots and hats from decades earlier. There was only one other patron in the bar - an older gentleman who spoke Irish and was very hard to understand. He and Oliver had been to the funeral of the local butcher earlier that morning. We decided we had to order something - pints of Smithwicks this time. We chatted about music and Oliver claimed he detests Irish traditional music but loves Bob Dylan, so David played The Times They Are a-Changin’ on his his harmonica. Oliver drank Budweiser because he was thirsty and left us alone in the bar while he went to smoke. This was full-Irish we had come in search of.
Next we wandered in to The Dingle Bookshop because we can’t pass a local bookstore with out checking it out. 
I struck up a conversation with the proprietor, who convinced my best local author purchase would be Peig, the autobiography of Peig Sayers who lived on the Blasket Islands and wrote about the ruggedness of life there. It is the one book local high school students are required to read. And they detest it - and - this was the very book the girls from the pub this night before had drunkenly recommended.
Camilla Dinkel - store owner
This day had earned us a nap and a chance to read in the sun on our little front porch at Greenmount House looking out over the bay. We made dinner reservations at the restaurant feature in the magazine article - Out of the Blue - for a fresh seafood dinner.
Out of the Blue Seafood Restaurant
Freshness disclaimer
Menu brought to your table with brightly colored lettering
My plate of scallops with interesting side salads
Stuffed and satisfied we wandered the streets of Dingle, hoping for a sunset over the harbor - until we realized the sun would not set until 10:00. Pub time!!!!
Rick Steves travel guide had suggested a proper Dingle pub crawl - John Benny Moriarty’s, O’Flaherty’s and Murphy’s. We found John Benny’s with a handwritten note on the door - “closed for funeral”. The butcher. Right! Murphy’s advertises local music every night and we hovered around tables of diners waiting for a chance for a seat. A guitarist was setting up and as we waited for the fiddle player arrive, an elderly man seated with a young priest told a joke about an Irishman who swapped his brain with a goldfish. Guess you had to be there.
We finished our evening at O’Flaherty’s - my favorite authentic pub of the trip.
Here locals mingled with tourists under the photograph of “O’Bama” on the shelf. A collection of a half-dozen musicians - including guitars, flute, fiddle, squeeze box and bouzouki - played as we chatted with two Dublin sisters “on holiday”. They were the ones who explained to us about the “snug” - a little enclose alcove where ladies would enjoy a private drink before it was fashionable for ladies to be seen in a pub. The Dublin sisters gave us restaurant recommendations for Kenmare and wished us a pleasant holiday, and we walked back to our lodging full of Irish cheer.
Day 7 - Dingle to Kenmare
Our last breakfast at The Greenmount House and I opt for the Poached Egg with Smoked Salmon.
Lovely Greenmount House breakfast room
Today the plan is to drive the Dingle Penninsula before heading to Kenmare. It will be a significant driving day. We pass Bee Hive Huts and views of the filming landscapes from Far and Away and Ryan’s Daughter. 
Bee hive huts on the Dingle Penninsula
Spectacular view
After a quick grocery stop in Dingle for picnic supplies, we head to a lunch stop at Inch Beach, a wide strip of beach you can drive onto.
Picnic time
Hard sand and cold water
Next stop, Kenmare - just off the Ring of Kerry. We drove past Killarney National Park and got out of the car several times to admire the views.
Jerome at The Ladies View scenic stopping point
We have three nights reserved with Owen and Mary Patricia O’Sullivan at the Sea Shore Farm, which really isn’t on the sea shore, but rather the banks of the Kenmare River. We arrived and are greeted by Owen who offers to make us a pot of tea while we bring in our luggage. The house is full of old-world charm and our room is large with great views of the pasture and river below.
Signpost outside of Sea Shore Farm
Guest sitting room at Sea Shore Farm
Owen explained that the town of Kenmare is just about a 20 minute walk down the hill, but if we preferred to drive, there was a parking lot at the end of the hill to make it easier. We opted to drive to town and after reading all of the menus in the windows we decided on O’Donnabhain’s Pub where I had Seafood Stew and David had Lamb Stew.
Seafood Stew with huge chunks of all sorts of fish and shell fish
Lamb stew
We topped it off with Irish Coffee Creme Brulee and Sticky Pudding and walked out with full bellies to check up the Kenmare pub scene. Florry Batts looked appealing to the guys, so we went in and ordered a pint from a waitress who wins the least friendliest barmaid in Ireland award from us. Perhaps this was a real local pub and we weren’t locals, but every other pub in Ireland was as welcoming as could be to us. We finished up the night at The Bold Thaddy Quill - a pub connected to a hotel that advertised Country Music. The performers were a his and hers team that had synthesized, pre-recorded music. It was pretty awful - right down to her rendition of “on the banks of the Old-High-0”. The real sign of horror was that their roadies fell asleep in the corner of the pub shortly after their music began. We got out of there in a hurry! We certainly weren’t in Doolin any more!
Day 8 - Kenmare
We have decided not to drive the famed Ring of Kerry, but we wake up with a clear plan for this day - we will visit the Avoca Marketplace we passed yesterday before heading to the Kissane Sheep Farm for a herding demonstration, and then continue on to Killarney National Park. Mary Patricia calls the sheep farm for us to confirm a 2:30 demonstration, so we pack up the rest of yesterday’s picnic and head out.
The Avoca Store and Cafe is lovely place to shop for gifts - especially brightly colored wool blankets and sweaters. There is a cafe on the upper floor that offers pastries, soups and sandwiches and offers a spectacular view of Moll’s Gap - a panoramic spot on the Ring of Kerry.
A selection of Avoca throws
Avoca Cafe treats
Our visit to the Kissane Sheep Farm will long be remembered as one of the high points of the trip. We arrived well before the 2:30 demonstration time and were greeted by Anne Kissane who told us we could hike around the farm as long as we secured the gates behind us. We walked out among the sheep over trails through a portion of the 3,000 acre farm.
Hiking through the sheep
Lambs we got to bottle feed
Shearing demonstration
A pen full of Border Collie pups
We joined a bus load of German tourists for the sheep herding demonstration. It was fascinating to watch the Border Collies scramble all over the rocky terrain assembling the sheep and bringing them back to the pen.
Sheep assembly
Dogs and their master, John Kissane
Next stop Killarney National Park, where we were told the best way to see the park is to hire one of the Jaunty Cars whose drivers’ practically accost you as soon as you park your car. We got into a cart with Paddy and let him show us the park, naming every tree and letting us off at Muckross House to visit the gardens.
Car hire
Paddy, our driver
Muckross House
Lovely Muckross Gardens
A great photo in Killarney Park
A cart full of friends
Our cart ride ended at the base of the trail up to see Torc Waterfall. It was worth the many stairs we had to climb for the view from above.
Torc Waterfall
View from the waterfall heights
Back to Sea Shore Farm to get ready for a nice dinner at No. 35 where I had the largest mussels I have ever seen for a starter and horseradish crusted salmon for an entree from the Pick 2 Early Bird Menu.
A mussel that fills the shell!
Our evening ended with a pub crawl - Drinks at O’Donnabhain’s, and music at Davitt’s where we saw several “hen parties” out for the Saturday nigh bachelorette experience. We had driven to the parking lot at the base of the hill, so we didn’t have to walk all the way back to Sea Shore Farm!
