Hello!
As promised, here is a brief trip report. Wouldn't want to spell out everything, otherwise it wouldn't be an adventure right?
My DD#2 (25 yrs old) and I (older than that) went on the adults only Emerald Isle Adventure Sept.6-13.
HUNGER ALERT... you will not go hungry... ever. And great food... always. Choices of food and beverage... always. Just for the record... I came home 5 pounds lighter than when I got to Ireland. Plenty of opportunity for walking, hiking---you just have to do it.
We booked one day early in Dublin. Very pleased we decided to do that. We landed around 9:30 am. ABD was waiting for us (one other couple too as it turned out) took us to the Westin. Fortunately our room was ready so we were able to drop off our stuff and hit the streets of Dublin. Our goal was to push through and stay actively awake until at least 9 pm.
Weather = phenomenal. High 60's low 70's --Actually throughout the whole trip... never went below the high 50's never above 75 and no rain!
Dublin is like any city. Lots of people, lots of restaurants, lots to do.
The Westin is located perfectly for exploring. The front desk will give you a runner's map and a local area map. We wandered around Trinity College green spaces, ate lunch, walked down to St. Stephen's Green - huge city park- walked Grafton St.--pedestrian area lots of shops/restaurants.
Made our goal of 9 pm. Next morning did more wandering in Fleet St. and along the Liffey as we awaited the time for the group dinner.
Met our outstanding tour guides; Jennae and Courtney and the rest of our easy going group of 6 couples total. Dinner was yummy. And the adventure began.
Truly, the itinerary pages for the Emerald Isle really are the best source for info about the daily details.
Some highlights IMHO.
Dublin-- The Guinness Storehouse tour - incredible! As was the lunch. I actually cannot drink alcohol but the Andrew, the Guinness guide, was so entertaining, he made the whole Guinness thing quite enjoyable.
Book of Kells-very minimal as far as scope but if you are a calligrapher, a bookbinder or make handmade artist's books, this is the only way you are going to see the actual physical books. They have the Kells and the Books of Durrow and Armagh. Only eight or ten pages are open for viewing. Simply amazing to see and contemplate the labor and artistry given the era and the materials used. If anyone wants to hear more specifics, write me here and I will go into things.
Rock of Cashel--our local expert was Liam, very intense, very knowledgable whole lot of great picture opportunities of ancient stones etc.
Arrive Killarney -Menton's Dinner -again, you will not be disappointed
Killarney--The Jaunting Carts, Muckross House, Killarney National Park, Biking.
Lunch at Muckross-holy cow the food! and good!
Went to see Riverdance in the evening at a local preforming arts center on a suggestion of "other things to do on your own" from Courtney and Jennae.
Killarney second day --other activities but my favorites were Irish Dance Lessons and Cheese Tasting!
Inch Beach--wonderful wonderful wonderful! Bernie, the expert on Inch Beach was quintessential Irishman. Great guy for answering questions; explaining geography particular to the area.
Waded in the ocean, played with hermit crabs, shell hunted, rock hunted. There was the sand incident but that is just between the bus driver Michael and me
Dromoland Castle... ahhhh.
Trust people when they say the castle is worth it.
All of us wish we could have had more time to be there. But we wouldn't give up the Bunratty Castle Medieval Feast the night we got to Dromoland Especially as Our Lord Lady (Bernie and Debbie) --Whooper1 on the Dis Boards-- turned out to be the hosts of the banquet!
And we wouldn't miss the next day's adventures at the Cliffs of Moher OR lunch at Monks Pub--AGAIN YUM!!! Have the crab salad, 'nuff said.
And Francis and Fenton are two more Irish folks it was a pleasure to be around on Rathbaun Farm.
What little free time my daughter and I did have between the last day's activities and the farewell dinner, we spent walking the grounds, taking oodles of pictures... the temple of Mercury, the hermit's cave, the walled garden, pheasants in the woods, the lily pond. We took more than 1500 pictures. We just had no time for bikes or for rowing on the lake or to meet the "hungry" ducks.
The scrumptious farewell dinner (plus a couple of Disney surprises)was a fitting end to our Emerald Isle adventure. Three Cheers for Courtney, Jennae and all of our fellow adventurers!
Judy in Wisconsin
As promised, here is a brief trip report. Wouldn't want to spell out everything, otherwise it wouldn't be an adventure right?
My DD#2 (25 yrs old) and I (older than that) went on the adults only Emerald Isle Adventure Sept.6-13.
HUNGER ALERT... you will not go hungry... ever. And great food... always. Choices of food and beverage... always. Just for the record... I came home 5 pounds lighter than when I got to Ireland. Plenty of opportunity for walking, hiking---you just have to do it.
We booked one day early in Dublin. Very pleased we decided to do that. We landed around 9:30 am. ABD was waiting for us (one other couple too as it turned out) took us to the Westin. Fortunately our room was ready so we were able to drop off our stuff and hit the streets of Dublin. Our goal was to push through and stay actively awake until at least 9 pm.
Weather = phenomenal. High 60's low 70's --Actually throughout the whole trip... never went below the high 50's never above 75 and no rain!
Dublin is like any city. Lots of people, lots of restaurants, lots to do.
The Westin is located perfectly for exploring. The front desk will give you a runner's map and a local area map. We wandered around Trinity College green spaces, ate lunch, walked down to St. Stephen's Green - huge city park- walked Grafton St.--pedestrian area lots of shops/restaurants.
Made our goal of 9 pm. Next morning did more wandering in Fleet St. and along the Liffey as we awaited the time for the group dinner.
Met our outstanding tour guides; Jennae and Courtney and the rest of our easy going group of 6 couples total. Dinner was yummy. And the adventure began.
Truly, the itinerary pages for the Emerald Isle really are the best source for info about the daily details.
Some highlights IMHO.
Dublin-- The Guinness Storehouse tour - incredible! As was the lunch. I actually cannot drink alcohol but the Andrew, the Guinness guide, was so entertaining, he made the whole Guinness thing quite enjoyable.
Book of Kells-very minimal as far as scope but if you are a calligrapher, a bookbinder or make handmade artist's books, this is the only way you are going to see the actual physical books. They have the Kells and the Books of Durrow and Armagh. Only eight or ten pages are open for viewing. Simply amazing to see and contemplate the labor and artistry given the era and the materials used. If anyone wants to hear more specifics, write me here and I will go into things.
Rock of Cashel--our local expert was Liam, very intense, very knowledgable whole lot of great picture opportunities of ancient stones etc.
Arrive Killarney -Menton's Dinner -again, you will not be disappointed
Killarney--The Jaunting Carts, Muckross House, Killarney National Park, Biking.
Lunch at Muckross-holy cow the food! and good!
Went to see Riverdance in the evening at a local preforming arts center on a suggestion of "other things to do on your own" from Courtney and Jennae.
Killarney second day --other activities but my favorites were Irish Dance Lessons and Cheese Tasting!
Inch Beach--wonderful wonderful wonderful! Bernie, the expert on Inch Beach was quintessential Irishman. Great guy for answering questions; explaining geography particular to the area.
Waded in the ocean, played with hermit crabs, shell hunted, rock hunted. There was the sand incident but that is just between the bus driver Michael and me
Dromoland Castle... ahhhh.
Trust people when they say the castle is worth it.
All of us wish we could have had more time to be there. But we wouldn't give up the Bunratty Castle Medieval Feast the night we got to Dromoland Especially as Our Lord Lady (Bernie and Debbie) --Whooper1 on the Dis Boards-- turned out to be the hosts of the banquet!
And we wouldn't miss the next day's adventures at the Cliffs of Moher OR lunch at Monks Pub--AGAIN YUM!!! Have the crab salad, 'nuff said.
And Francis and Fenton are two more Irish folks it was a pleasure to be around on Rathbaun Farm.
What little free time my daughter and I did have between the last day's activities and the farewell dinner, we spent walking the grounds, taking oodles of pictures... the temple of Mercury, the hermit's cave, the walled garden, pheasants in the woods, the lily pond. We took more than 1500 pictures. We just had no time for bikes or for rowing on the lake or to meet the "hungry" ducks.
The scrumptious farewell dinner (plus a couple of Disney surprises)was a fitting end to our Emerald Isle adventure. Three Cheers for Courtney, Jennae and all of our fellow adventurers!
Judy in Wisconsin
