Ireland

After a long and exciting day of travel we pulled into the driveway of the delightfully modern Ballina Townhouse that is ours for the night and met Christian, our host who suggested that Crockets as a nice spot for dinner. He steered us in a great direction, a...

On Main Street in Ardara, County Donegal we met Eddie Doherty and his wife Evelyn. Donegal Tweed has been the heart and soul of this area in the north of Ireland for many generations. Eddie Doherty went to work in the mill at 16 years of age winding bobbins for the...

While we were waiting for the chance to order lunch at The Jolly Farmer we learned that we were less than a quarter mile from the world famous Belleek Pottery. Once we realized we weren't likely to get served soon, we paid for our tea and moved on. We started our...

Just after leaving Enniskillen we spotted an opportunity and followed the signs to Monea Castle built for Scottish born Malcolm Hamilton in 1618 about five years before he became the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Cashel. We had an absolutely delightful time...

Today’s route from Cormaddyduff, Co. Cavan to Ballina, Co. Mayo could have been an easy two and a half hour drive but instead we decided we wanted to go by way of Donegal! That route took us into the the western part of Northern Ireland. Along the way we stopped to...

The four of us have been up for a few hours now, since day dawned here at The Granary. We’re in what was once probably a barn. Very comfortable but with a challenging spiral staircase!  We really enjoyed doing snacks, dessert, and libations last night and tea and...

Back in 1998 our son Dave was a part of an archeological geophysical survey project here at Monasterboice, the site of a 5th Century monastery founded by St. Buithe. The tower here predates 1097 and the church ruins are 14th Century. The cemetery was established in...

The Frank Delaney book, Ireland, A Novel opens with a traditional Irish storyteller's tale of "The Architect of Newgrange" inspired us to want to start our journey through Ireland with a visit to this 5,200 year old Neolithic monument to the ancestors. What we didn't...

After successfully surviving the trans-Atlantic flight in tourist class, making our way through Irish Immigration, and procuring a rental car complete with a wifi hotspot, we headed out on our first day of exploring the countryside. Our plan is to carry enough food...

The four of us are finally aboard our Chicago to Dublin flight. We've had our challenges with seat assignments and boarding passes not to mention a delayed flight out of DFW that had us sprinting through O'Hare airport. Then three of us were seated in Row 26 in three...