Part one – Dublin
Part two – Leenane
Part three – Doolin and home

Thursday, September 19
We set off around noon for our next destination, Doolin, about two and a half hours south of Leenane. We planned to drive about an hour and stop for lunch, then go to the grocery store. I found a pub called Tom Sheridan’s on the west side of Galway. It was ok. Then we drove about 3 minutes to the grocery store where we got a few groceries and some wine. 

About an hour and a half later we arrived in Doolin, at our house, the Castleview House. Right in the middle of Doolin. Our view.

The town is not much, rather scattered with pubs, restaurants and shops as well as a harbor. We met our landlady, Darra, who, with her husband, own four houses which they rent out here. This one is quite luxurious. It’s new so everything works, unlike Stoneacre in Leenane. I like both places for different reasons. Leenane, because it was the owners home, was more cozy and cluttered. Also older and it needs renovation quite badly. In Doolin, the house was austere. It had a nice outside deck with hot tub and a view of the ruins of the Doolin castle. It had three bedrooms with en-suite baths. 

We settled in and took naps. The day was fine so we had a chance to sit outside on the deck and take in the castle view and have a glass of wine before dinner. Then we walked just down the street to Ivy Cottage for dinner. It was recommended by our landlady. She was quite opinionated about which places were good, and which not. Ivy Cottage didn’t disappoint. Our server was Polish, and I think one of the owners Asian. We noticed a lot of hospitality workers are from other places.  The food was delicious. I had a Thai curry with prawns. Yummy. 

Friday, September 20

Cindy had booked us on a boat trip to Innis Oìrr, a small island, a member of the Aran islands, only 15 minutes from Doolin harbor. We were advised by Darra to arrive early for good seats. While waiting in line we met up with some fishermen quite excited about their weekend. They recommended a pub on the island called Tigh Ned.

It was super windy and not terribly warm. Many people took the horse drawn carts on a tour. The farmers all have big draft horses. They looked healthy but really dirty and unkempt. We took off on a walk around the island village. I snapped some photos; a church being readied for a wedding; A lone horse in front of the silhouetted castle.

Then we headed for the Pub. We were lucky we got there early so we got a good seat and ordered beers. Guiness and Smithwicks, pronounced Smithicks, per Peter, the fisherman. I had my first fish and chips.

Then we waited to board our boat back for the sail along the foot of the Moher cliffs. It is the second most popular sight in Ireland after the Guinness storehouse in Dublin. We were excited because we are huge Princess Bride fans (movie from 1980s). These cliffs were the Cliffs of Insanity in the movie. They are inconceivable! We really enjoyed this part of the trip.

Sorry there are quite a few pictures.

These next few are my favorites. They are the Cliffs Of Insanity from the movie.

The weather was still holding. It had been very windy and chilly while on the boat and island but here, inland, it was sunny enough we could again sit outside.

Bill took a walk on the Cliffs trail while we were lazy. These next few photos are his and they are great.

We had booked a unique experience for the evening. There is something called the Music House of Doolin owned by Christy Barry and his partner Sheila. They invite people into their living room three evenings a week – about 25 people – to enjoy traditional Irish music and local lore. It was very intimate. Christy, the host, played the penny whistle, a flute and spoons. There was a fiddle player, and an accordion player. The host did all the talking. He was an older man who had grown up in Doolin. He told stories of all the old musicians and the way the music had evolved from when it was always played in the living room, strictly for dancing, to what is now where they play in the Pubs. Doolin is known for its traditional music. We were served wine and finger food by the hosts partner and a neighbor. In the end the two woman danced the traditional Irish dance. It reminded me of flat footing, the dance my Mother’s family and the mountain people did where she grew up. Two audience members played and/or sung. It was a very fun and unique experience. We left at 8:30 because all the musicians had to go to work in the pubs playing with different bands.

Saturday, September 21
We figured a Saturday would be the busiest in Doolin, but it wasn’t obviously busier. We lazed around in the morning. We had crumpets for breakfast, and coffee. 

Then we walked to the next town over and visited McGan’s Pub. It wasn’t a lot of fun due to the numerous tour busses which stopped and dumped out their passengers for lunch. We were crowded by them even though there is a back room for the bus people.

We had purchased food for a dinner in so this was the day. Pasta Amatriciana.

Sunday, September 22
We toured our own town of Doolin this day. I did some shopping. I bought earrings and a pretty green scarf with Celtic designs. Then we returned to Ivy’s cottage for lunch. My seafood chowder was delicious.

We had dinner at Anthony’s mainly for its proximity, right across the street. They evidently had a big Saturday night and had sold out of several items. We still managed to get fed. I had a nice sea bass filet served on top of a bed of ratatouille plus roasted potatoes. It was good.

The house we rented is odd in that each of the three bedrooms has a TV but none of the common areas do. So we couldn’t watch anything together. One night after dinner, we actually listened to a couple of Johnny Dollar radio shows from the Big Broadcast on WAMU our old public radio station in DC.

Monday, September 23
Another gray day but no rain. We had our crumpets for breakfast and left for a visit to a town called Ennis. It was about 30 minutes away. Turned out to be a nice town. A rats nest of streets in its center, you could tell it was an old market town. There was a river going through town and they had nice bridges with flowers on them. Lots of houses and stores had flowers as well as on the light poles and all the buildings were colorfully painted. This seems the norm here, colorful houses and stores.

We did a bit of shopping, and then found a pub, Brogdan’s, for lunch. It was an outstanding pub. Luther and Cindy were happy to finally get IPA beers. Seems almost all bars here in Ireland have just the standard beers and ales. Cindy and I had the bacon with cabbage dish because it was different. It was quite good. It was not bacon, rather it was more like ham. On top of cooked cabbage and a big mound of mashed potatoes and puréed carrots. There was what was called a parsley sauce on top, but it was white, more like a béchamel sauce. Anyway, it was good.

We returned to our town and house and relaxed until evening. We had planned to go to O’Connor’s pub for dinner and to see some Irish music. We had had a beer there the day before and asked about the music which was supposed to start about nine. We had dinner. I had mussels again in a delicious sauce, split with Luther, then a ceasar salad.

After we finished we found an empty table in the room where the band plays. Turns out as we had seen before, the band just shows up and sits at a reserved table. Then off they go. They stop and chat between songs, and get drinks etc. It is all very informal and a lot of fun. Turns out two of the musicians were the same ones from The Music House experience. The accordionist and the flute and whistle player, Christy, who owned the Music House. The music is traditional Irish and we don’t recognize any of it, but it is familiar from bluegrass at home. And from our ancestors who were Scots Irish and brought the music along to the Appalachian mountains, where they settled.

It was a fun evening

Tuesday, September 24
We woke to brilliant sunshine after three days of gray and chill. Always a cheerful sight to see the sunshine. We were leaving our Doolin house and heading for Trim which is not terribly far from the airport. It was hard to say goodbye to the very comfortable house. One of the owners came to say farewell.

We drove on some very tiny roads but Luther had gotten very good at them by now. The landscape was pretty amazing. There were enormous granite hills, almost mountains, totally rock. Gray, maybe granite, or limestone. We finally got on the M6 which was a relief. Pictures from along the way

For lunch we randomly picked the town of Athlone which was on the River Shannon and had a big church built in the 1930s and an impressive castle. The center of town was quite nice. We chose the River View Bistro for lunch. They had home made focaccia. I chose the pulled pork since it was something different. It had very little meat on it. Certainly not the pile we get in the U.S. The focaccia made up for it. It was delicious. 

We arrived in Trim about three. Our house hotel called the Highfield House was very near the famous castle. It is a strange business. A hotel that is self catering. Didn’t matter to us since we stayed only one night but odd. They check you in and that’s it. If you arrive late your key is in a box. There was no breakfast offered. The rooms were quite small. The bed-sheets paper thin. Pretty building and gardens. 

We went right away for a walk to the castle. It was not far. The castle was built in the 1100s by Norman’s. There is an almost intact Keep inside the walls. The movie Braveheart was shot here. The Keep substituted as the Tower of London in the movie. We took pictures and walked back along the river. I got a nice shot of the castle in the distance and the river in the foreground. 

We had chosen Kahn Spices Indian Restaurant for dinner. Supposed to be the best place in town. About six Luther and I were wanting an aperitivo so we walked to the Castle Hotel bar. Just across from the castle. Cindy and Bill joined us a little later. It was a nice bar. We walked to the restaurant. It was a nice place. The menu was very interesting looking. We ordered our appetizers and the main courses with naan and rice. The appetizers were disappointing. The mains were better but nothing to write home about. Not spicy enough for me. The owner stopped by twice. Anyway, it was good enough. 

We walked back to the Castle hotel bar for nightcaps. They had a man playing guitar and singing. I loved his Irish ballads. He had a nice voice. Luther and Bill finished with a shot of the Red Breast Whiskey. 21 years old. I got a taste and it was about the best I have had. Outside of Middleton which is way too expensive nowadays for us. 

Wednesday, September 25
We got up early to get Cindy and Bill to the airport. The traffic is known to be very bad getting to the airport. The estimate by Google was about 50 minutes. We took small roads to avoid the M1 traffic. It went smoothly.

Luther and I didn’t fly out until 7:40 in the evening. A lot of time to kill. We went to the nearest town called Swords. It was nice with a pretty center and shopping. We parked and then parked our butts in a coffee shop for an hour and a half. I had a tasty home made scone with butter and jam. The coffee was good too, and that is saying a lot from Italian coffee lovers.

We took a walk and explored the castle. It wasn’t really a castle but was the Bishop of Dublins home in the 1200s. It had a pretty chapel. Then we perused the shops on the Main Street. Many off track betting parlors, lots of barbers, a few pubs and cafes. We explored a hotel and checked out the menu. And decided to go there for lunch. We went back to the coffee shop. It had begun to rain. We had another cup of coffee and then went to lunch. The bar didn’t have the usual beers for a change. He tried a bitter and an IPA. I had a white wine and then we both had curries. Not very good but we were fed. 

Off to the airport and dropped off the car. We had a scrape from the mishap with the wall from early on, so we were charged the €250 deductible. Oh well. We  arrived at the terminal at 2:30. We were around 5 hours early so they would not allow us to check our bag.  We had to wait two hours until they would allow it.  Finally at 4:40 it took the bag. We did the fast track security and then went to the Lounge which we had paid to use. 

It was OK. A bit crowded, but we found a table. We got two complementary drinks and then we could eat dinner. I had the Guinness Irish stew on mash. Luther had a sammich. It was a good place to kill the rest of the time.  We arrived in Bologna at about 11:30pm. Took a taxi and spent the night. Then drove home the next morning.

Best and worst
Since we only did 2 hotels The Mont in Dublin won that contest 

Best Dublin breakfast – for me it was at Tang in Dublin, the wonderful middle eastern dish called Shakshuka.

Best Dublin dinner – Luther liked Note. I guess I agree but I was not that impressed.

Best rental house – can’t choose. They were so different. One was someone’s home, so it was cozy, the other was new and purpose built. Both were comfortable.

Best views – from Stoneacre in Leenane.

Best outing – tie between the two cruises, one on the fiord, and the other to the Aran islands and the Cliffs of Moher.

Most unique outing – The Music House in Doolin. But the last evening in Doolin where we sat next to the musicians and listened was also very special

Best dinner – Ivy Cottage in Doolin

Best Lunch – Hamiltons restaurant, Leenane, my mussels were the best I’ve ever had and that I could see the mussel farms from the restaurant made them even more special.

Souvenirs – I bought fingerless mittens from a nice older lady in Letterfrack. She knitted everything she sold. Two books, a scarf, and two coasters. Also bought two blocks of cheddar because it is scarce in Italy. 

Cindy brought me some knives I ordered and had sent to her. She also brought me a beautiful hand made scarf from Virginia. I love it. I gave her olive oil. Not very adventurous of me.

Observations: it was odd to me that they don’t plant anything near their houses. No shrubs. Even odder that many pave the entire yard. They love to paint their houses and buildings bright colors. The pubs almost all serve the same beers. Very few craft brews. Might be the overpowering Guinness influence. Many people say youse. As in “can I get anything else for youse?” One of our favorite experiences was the cab ride from Roe & Co distillery to our hotel. The driver was amusing to say the least. His favorite word was fock or focking. In hindsight we spent five nights in two places and it would have been better to do three places with fewer nights in the two we visited. We did it this way so we didn’t have to pack and unpack but the two places didn’t have that many things to do. We still had great fun, and it turned out more low key which was fine since 3 of us got colds.

Part one – Dublin
Part two – Leenane
Part three – Doolin and home