On Vacation

We decided to go to Ireland over a year ago, and have counted down the months, then weeks and days. Now it’s a matter of hours. We’re going tomorrow afternoon!

Mel and her sister, T, are very excited to get a chance to see their ancestral homeland. I did a bit of genealogy research for them, but we weren’t able to pin down the exact location(s). Anyway, this trip is for them and I’d told them to leave it to me. So, based on what they said they were interested in, this is what I came up with. See what you think…

Wednesday & Thursday
Dublin – Bus tour, National Museum, Guiness Brewery Storehouse, pubs, and whatever else we have time to squeeze in. Found a nice, new hotel at the city center.

Friday
Rent a car and drive to the northern coast in Antrim Co., stopping at Newgrange Passage Tomb along the way. Once at the coast, visit the Bushmill’s Distillery. Stay at B&B.

Saturday
Visit the Giant’s Causeway and Dunluce Castle, walk across the Carrick-a-rede Island rope bridge. Drive west to Donegal Co. Stay at B&B.

Sunday
Visit Beltany Stone Circle. Have lunch in Donegal Town, shop for tweed. Drive south, arriving in Doolin early evening.

Monday – Friday
Stay the week in a cottage on the edge of the Burren, overlooking the Aran Islands. From here, do a bunch of day trips: See the Cliffs of Moher, from above and via coastline cruise. Visit Bunratty Castle, Ailwee Cave, hike on the Burren, visit the Aran Islands via ferry, visit Galway city. It turns out that Doolin is considered the Irish music capital, so I suspect there will be a pub to visit nearly every evening. Apparently, the cottage is within stumbling distance of the main drag. 😉

Saturday we fly home from Shannon.

If this trip turns out as good as it looks on paper, I may have to go into business developing customized tours for people. Wouldn’t that be a blast?

3 comments

Comments are closed.