I recently completed a short trip to Ireland and Northern Ireland. Here is my report.
Day 1: Dublin suburbs - Dublin Airport is growing every time I come. Just a few short years ago, it was a sleep one terminal airport, small for a capital city’s airport. Now it is buzzing with activity. However, it is still fairly easy to navigate and well signposted. Once I collect my luggage, it is just a stroll through the "GREEN" channel of Customs (nothing to declare, arriving from an a non-EU country) to the meeting point area. Here, there are a few well dressed meet and greet drivers standing, waiting for passengers, all holding signs with passengers’ names. They are not waiting for me - I am heading toward the car rental desks directly behind them. There are no lines at the Avis desk, and within minutes I am given my car keys and instructions to the car rental lot (across the road, through the building and out the other side, follow signs).
Ireland is unbelievably sunny and HOT!!!! The sun is bright, even at 8AM. It’s a beautiful day as I head along the motorway to City West, a suburb southwest of Dublin, about a 45 minute drive.
Everything looks gorgeous in this type of weather, even the City West Hotel, my destination. I have stayed there on a previous trip, and it certainly looks better now. It is a huge low-rise property, with extremely long corridors (not for the frail or those with walking difficulties), built by property developers, and not designed by hoteliers. It shows. I nearly needed a map to follow the circuitous route to my room. The room was large, with a king sized bed, with all the amenities including a plasma tv and spacious bathroom. One unusual style item - the toilets are all those Victorian pull chain types, but modern.
It was too nice a day to waste napping, my usual cure for jet lag. It was a beautiful day, with brilliant sunshine, so I headed off to Mt Usher Gardens, a 45 minute-1 hour drive through the county of Wicklow, south of Dublin. I think I got a sunburn driving to Mt. Usher Gardens. I met Philomena O’Dowd, who oversees the office at Mt. Usher. We took a walk through the gardens, along the river, and then had lunch in the garden café. The gardens were very pretty in a casual, Robinsonian way. At the entrance is a small group of stores, all with colorful, traditional shopfronts. These include a bakery with home made goods and kitchen supplies, a classic clothing/horse supply store, furniture shop and a potting shed. Philomena and I drove to her brand new spacious home, and we also went to Avoca, known for its handweavers and as the setting from the PBS show , "Ballykissangel". The village is small, but recognizable from the tv series. The handweavers are in traditional mill buildings and cottages along the river. The shop offers a wide range of beautiful goods in heathery shades, and a café with home made food. Afterwards, Phil too me to see her daughter’s new baby, Phil’s first grandchild. In Ireland, new mothers are given 6 months off from work at full pay, with no obligation to return to the job once the 6 months is up.
Tonight our dinner is at Goff’s, known the world over for the fast paced bloodstock sales. The thoroughbred horses that are sold here in the Fall are world champions and are winners in races in Arabia, the US and elsewhere. No, we did not have horse meat for dinner, but a variety of good food served while we had a "night at the races"
Day 2: Dublin suburbs. It's beautiful and sunny again here. The fountains on the golf course on the grounds of the City West Hotel look appealing, but we are en route to the convention center. I spent all day inside at a workshop, talking about hotels and attractions in Ireland. I did an interview today for the Irish Times newspaper today. Now I know what it is like to be a star.
Tonight, traditional Irish "diddly do" music, and rock were part of the entertainment.
Day 3: Dublin suburbs and to Derry, Northern Ireland
We had a full day of the workshop today, and when it was over, we drove to Northern Ireland. It's still bright and sunny - no rain!
We arrived at the Beech Hill Hotel in Derry - a 3 ½ hour drive from Dublin. I drove up with three friends - all competitors in my car. I have a Toyota Avensis, like our Toyota Avalon. It’s very nice. However, we could not get 4 large bags and assorted briefcases in the trunk. One of the bags was over sized and just would not fit in. Three of us supervised while one loaded the car. Two taxi drivers saw us struggling to load the car in front of the hotel and came over to help out, after we were packing and unpacking for 10 minutes. They unpacked the whole car, and then repacked it for us, but still could not all 4 bags in. A third cab driver joined in the discussion of logistics. One even offered to follow us with the 1 bag in his taxi, but he thought we were only going as far as the airport. We wound up with 1 bag in the backseat between two of the guys. It was not uncomfortable, but then, I was in front.
The road from Dublin - the N2 is a new road and pretty easy to drive. We stopped in Carrickmacross, a town known for its lace making. It was 3PM, and we found the only pub in town which had run out of most of the food on the menu. We had burgers without "baps" (baps are rolls), and chips (fries).
The Beech Hill Hotels is a country house hotel, well removed from the center of the city of Londonderry. It is run like a comfortable country home, with perhaps 30 rooms. Our keys had our names on them when we arrived and we found our rooms. The cleaning staff helped with our bags. The hotel does not have an elevator. All of the bedrooms are decorated individually, and ranged from pretty suites to charming, stylish rooms with claw footed bathtubs. Londonderry was a base of the US forces in WWII, and re-enactors were dressed in army uniforms at our reception this evening. We had a ceili (barn dance) next door.
Day 4: The center of Derry is a half hour ride away, and that’s where our workshop for Northern hotels was held. An afternoon tour of Derry was led by an award winning tour leader (best in Ireland) who explained the long history of Derry, its religious differences, and current day peace. Derry is the only walled city in Europe with its city walls still intact. A visit to the Tower Museum told the story of Derry with costumed re-enactors. A dinner at the Guildhall followed. The Guildhall is known for its medieval stained glass windows depicting the tradesmen of the day.
Day 5: I drove back to Dublin via Cavan and Meath, a slightly longer journey than the ride up. It was overcast, but not raining. I stopped in Fermanagh at Enniskillen, a town on its on island. Unfortunately, I did not have time to visit White Island, known for its pre-Christian sites, or Devenish Island. A fish and chip shop was crowded at lunch time, but worth the wait.
Belturbet, at the end of the Shannon Erne waterway had many boats moored, waiting for guests to hire them for a week. It is a popular, relaxing way to travel, living on board and stopping at pubs and villages along the way, opening and closing locks, and watching the world go by.
I passed the Hill of Tara, the ancient seat of Irish kings, and the megaliths of the Boyne Valley, all of which I had seen before. They are well worth a visit.
I had an early flight the next day from Dublin Airport, so my hotel choice was the Carlton Hotel at Dublin Airport. All I can say is "wow"! The Carlton at the airport far exceeded my expectations. I have become accustomed to bland, soul-less places, those chain hotels at airport locations, but the Carlton was none of those. The staff were helpful, the room spacious and well-designed, and even the food was good.
Does this sound like Irish food?
Al dente penne pasta in a parmesan cream sauce with slivers of ham, chunks of chicken, topped with green spinach and roasted red peppers? Irish strawberries - nothing like them. Ripe and luscious.
It seemed a favorite place for families celebrations. I saw one group enjoying a communion dinners. Only in Ireland in May would you see girls in communion dresses and veils, complete with ruffled satin umbrellas - just in case.
Details:
My flights: I flew Delta from JFK to Dublin. Their terminal at JFK is a disappointment. It looks like a 60's leftover, with aging equipment and check in desks. There were no crowds. In fact, I thought I had entered the wrong terminal, because barely a soul was around. I checked in two hours in advance for my international flight. The check in process was easy - no weighing and tagging of the luggage, and then a trip, lugging your bag, to have it scanned (like Aer Lingus employs). It was a one-step process at the Delta check in, with the luggage going right on the conveyor belt.
I was flying business class, so I was directed to the Crown Lounge, another disappointment. Low lighting, a food buffet which needed replenishment, and no wi-fi, unheard of in this day and age. However, the Diet Coke was fine.
Without question, Delta’s business class was the BEST flight I have had to Ireland, and I have flown them all. The seats were comfortable, reclining about 160 degrees. The staff were helpful and friendly, and the food good. I was asked more than once if everything was okay. I slept most of the way on the 5 ½ hour flight.
My return flight from Dublin was on Continental, economy class to Newark. With a 9AM departure, the check in was at the ungodly hour of 7AM, way too early, in my opinion. The check in was painless, though I was told to sprint to the gate because I was already late! At Dublin, it is necessary to go though security, through the duty free area and to US Immigration. This is done in Ireland, rather than in the US, which greatly speeds up the arrival process in the USA. (NOTE: This pre-immigration process is done for all airlines flying to New York and Boston.) When I approached the boarding gate, the flight was 75% boarded. The flight was about 60% full, so a flight attendant told me that I could move anywhere I wanted. I selected a row that was empty and I had 3 seats across to myself, perfect for catching up on lost sleep on the way home. Again, a very pleasant flight crew, almost tasty food, and an overall nice experience.
Ellen McNulty is President of www.lynotttours.com
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