DAY 1
Arriving in Dublin in the morning, on a direct evening flight from New York, JFK Airport the previous day. Coach transfer into town.
Check into Jury’s Inn near the city centre.
DAY 2
Private guided morning tour of Trinity College, founded by Queen Elizabeth 1st in 1592. See the Library and ‘The Book of Kells’.
Remainder of day at leisure. B (breakfast)
DAY3
Free day in Dublin. There is a great deal to do and see, with splendid museums, parks, galleries, shops and many literary associations and tours. B
DAY 4
Departing from Dublin, our destination today is Cashel towards the southwest, but first we will visit Powerscourt Gardens, one of Ireland’s finest. Laid out more than 150 years ago,the gardens are dramatically situated at the foot of Great Sugarloaf Mountain.The great house was badly damaged by fire in 1974, but some restoration is in progress. We will have lunch in the attractive cafeteria overlooking the gardens. Late afternoon we arrive in Cashel and check into the lovely Cashel Palace Hotel,an opulent Queen Anne residence, once the Bishops Palace. Dinner at the hotel on both nights. B,L,D
DAY 5
Overlooking the hotel is the great Rock of Cashel, topped by one of the most important group of royal and ecclesiastical medieval buildings in Ireland. A very popular tourist attraction, we will be given our own private tour in the morning. The remainder of the day at leisure. B,L,D
DAY 6
Departing from Cashel, we continue southwest, stopping for lunch at Blarney Castle,home of the famous ‘Blarney Stone’ which is up on the battlements.Continuing on we enter beautiful County Kerry, and arrive at lively, bustling Killarney, where you will find more pubs and bars than you can ‘shake a stick at’.We will be staying for three nights in the splendid Hotel Europe. Dinner will be at the hotel for the next three nights. B,L,D
DAY 7
Today we take the highly scenic, 120 mile drive around the Iveragh Peninsula, better known as The Ring of Kerry. There are lovely vistas and sea views and we will make a couple of stops including lunch at The Smugglers Inn, an excellent seafood restaurant close to the ocean and the little town of Waterville, where Charlie Chaplin stayed many times. Before arriving back at the Hotel Europe we will make a short stop in Killarney to explore the town. B,L,D
DAY 8
Lying just north of The Ring of Kerry is another spectacular, dramatic seascape drive,The Dingle Peninsula.In 1970 the Academy Award winning film, ‘Ryan’s Daughter’ was largely filmed here.We shall make a stop at the small fishing village of Dingle itself and may be lucky and catch a glimpse of Fungie, the local dolphin who lives in the harbor.Continuing on towards the end of the Peninsula, we shall visit Louis Mulcahy’s Pottery, set in a beautiful and remote spot, and probably the best known pottery in the West of Ireland.We shall have lunch at a delightful small restaurant down by the sea.Our next stop is ‘Gallarus Oratory’, a small early Christian church, exquisitely built of dry stones and dating from between the 6th and 9th centuries. B,L,D
DAY 9
Departing Killarney we head north into County Limerick, to Adare, a pretty little town with some nice clothes/craft shops. We shall have lunch at Adare Manor, one of Irelands finest hotels and where Bill and Hillary Clinton stayed some years ago. Continuing north into County Clare, we cross the Burren, a vast, bleak and highly atmospheric limestone plateau, home to many rare wild flowers and Poulnabrone, a striking Neolithic Portal Tomb, more than 4,000 years old, which we shall visit. Having driven through County Galway, we cross into County Mayo and arrive in the charming village of Cong, immortalized in John Ford’s film, “The Quiet Man”, starring John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara. We are now on the edge of the wonderful lake and mountain region of Connemara. We arrive at the magnificent five star Ashford Castle, consistently voted Ireland’s finest hotel and our home for the next two nights. Dinner in the sumptuous George V restaurant. B,L,D
DAY 10
A highly scenic day in Connemara, driving through beautiful ‘Joyce Country’, not James Joyce but named after a Welsh family who settled there in the 12th century.We will make a coffee/comfort stop at the village of Leenane on the shore of KillaryHarbour, Ireland’s only fjord.Continuing on through lovely scenery, our next stop is the gift and coffee shop at photogenic Kylemore Abbey, which is operated by a community of Irish Benedictine nuns, and then on to the colorful, coastal town of Clifden,where we shall have lunch. Our drive back to Cong passes more lakes and vistas and we shall stop at the small community of Recess with its very fine craft shop.Arriving back at Ashford Castle, we shall have dinner this evening at Cullens, a charming thatched restaurant, owned by and adjacent to the Castle. There is usually live Irish music in the evening. B,L,D
DAY 11
Having checked out of the hotel, we shall have some free time in Cong village and to also see the old Abbey ruins and walk a little by the beautiful River Cong.Boarding our coach we set off for Dublin making a lunch stop on route. We should arrive at Dublin Airport late afternoon and will have dinner and spend the night at an airport hotel. B,L,D
DAY 12
Depart from the airport around mid-morning for our non-stop flight to New York, JFK Airport, arriving in the afternoon where our coach will be waiting to take us back to Schenectady. B
