~ Ireland Vacation Rentals ~
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About Ireland Jeanne has gathered a great deal of information about Ireland and traveling in Ireland.  Some comes from Jeanne's research and some comes from comments of our clients.  The collection is so voluminous that we will present it serialized and add installments weekly.  This week we look at The Connemara Area of County Galway.  Check back often as we will begin again at the beginning when we reach the end of the prodigious file.  I'll start off each week's installment with three books we recommend, dealing with Ireland past and present.  - Scott We recommend three books that you might enjoy.  None of these is dry - all are informative and very enjoyable. Ireland in Mind - edited by Alice Powers    A compilation of excerpts by Irish writers How the Irish Saved Civilization -  by James Cahill     A serious subject splendidly told Honey from Stone -  by Chet Raymo    A brilliant personal essay on Irish culture and history and nature - fabulous writing We think that Eyewitness Ireland is the best of the regular tour books - lots of photos! Go raibh mile maith agat!!! (A thousand thanks) THE CONNEMARA AREA OF COUNTY GALWAY: The Connemara is a wild, gorgeous area of at the top of County Galway.  The people extend a hospitality that is the essence of Ireland.  Man has inhabited the Connemara coastline since before 5000BC.  Standing stones and megalithic tombs dot the Connemara landscape.  Stone alignments (maybe calendars) date to the Bronze Age.  Later, defensive dwellings like Crannogs were built as well as Cashels, stone rings.  The Celts arrived and many saints set up their monasteries along the Connemara shore or on lonely islands off the coast.  Many of' these ruins remain today. The Connemara Pony Show takes place in Clifden on the 3rd Thursday in August and is the most important festival in town.  One of the nicest ways to see the countryside is on the back of one of these famous ponies. Boating trips can be arranged to the nearby islands,  Inishbofin, Inishturk and Clareisland (where Grace O'Mally, the woman pirate of Ireland, lived during her reign of the Irish seas).  Sheltered harbors offer safe anchorage for yachts and the fresh Atlantic breezes provide excellent windsurfing and dingy sailing.  Divers can enjoy wonderful underwater scenery.  A series of regattas are held throughout the summer in most fishing villages. These colourful events invite locals and visitors to test their maritime skills against each other make for a very enjoyable day out. Explore some of Galway's unspoilt beaches.  Enjoy walking, swimming or lazing about on the beach. There are many good rock pools where one can discover a wealth of marine life and pick some beautiful shells.  Walking on an Irish beach as the sun dips into the sea an experience The Connemara contains some of the last surviving bogs in Europe.  The acid nature of the bog means that only a few plants can live there.  The harvesting of the turf from the bogs takes place in the late spring and continues through the summer. But we go to Ireland twice yearly and always to Kerry and Galway.  Scott and I love the Connemara and we've come to know it rather well.  Here are some of the things that we particularly enjoy.  Your family might like them too. You can do your main food shopping in Galway City en route to the Connemara.  There's a big Tesco on the lef, just past a Dunne's  where there are several roundabouts in a row.  You can't miss the Dunne's and Tesco is right after that (accessed from a roundabout). In Cashel Bay, there are two country house hotels near each other, the Cashel House Hotel and the Ballynahinch Hotel, both of which are beautiful, offer afternoon tea and meals and have large, exquisite gardens. Roundstone is a great village with a very nice used bookstore (the owner looks like Glynnis Johns - do you know that actress?) and two excellent restaurants, neither of which names I can remember.  One is across from the bookstore (it has a pub in the front and restaurant in the back) and the other is on a different street - it has tables and chairs set up on the sidewalk.  There is a shop near the bookstore that sells ice cream that's very tasty.  A little shopping area just outside of the village -  can't remember this name either - has a pottery, a jewelery shop and a music shop.  Everyone will know what that is.  The music shop sells traditional instruments. The back road from Cashel Bay to Clifden is a gorgeous drive.  That's the R341 and R341.  Clifden is terrific. The pubs are grand.  Be sure to go to Guy's Pub and say hello to Rachael and/or Shane because we love them.  The food there is very, good - better than the usual pub fare.  Mitchell's Restaurant is the best in town and the most expensive, but it's worth it.  There are other excellent restaurants as well.  There's a nice grocery store right in the middle of town that has very good, high-end items and excellent produce and fish. If you take the N59 toward Mayo, stop in the little villages along the way.  This is a beautiful drive.  Visit Kylemore Abbey near Letterfrack.  The Connemara National Park is in Letterfrack, clearly signposted.  It has walking and hiking trails, a very good interpretive center and a nice cafe.  Come back to Cashel Bay on the  R344 (from the N59) for an alternative gorgeous drive. You can't go wrong in this area.  You will not ever be bored here. Some of our clients wrote to us: We drove around Connemara, following our noses. The highlight of the trip! Connemara ponies wandering in the road, Connemara marble quarries. Peat bogs. Traveling down a small dirt road just as Mass concluded and the entire town spills out of the church and walks home! What a day. The scenery is heavenly and the hiking is wonderful if you can find dry areas. A friend suggested a walk on the cliffs where it was just us and the sheep for the whole morning.  Clifden is lively enough though for some night life, at least on the weekends. Connemara is different from anywhere - spectacular, desolate coastlines, rocky, barely inhabited islands, green bogs, farmland. Having our own house meant that we could slow down, see less and stop in pubs and experience the magic of Ireland. Next installment - Dublin City and Newgrange FERRIES: There are various routes between the UK and Ireland: Stranear (Scotland) - Larne (near Belfast). Holyhead (Wales) - Dun Laoghaire (just beside Dublin) Fishguard (Wales) - Rosslare (Wexford - 2.5 hours from Dublin) The ferries from Wales leave from Fishguard (Stena Sealink) and Penbroke (Irish ferries). http://www.irishferries.com GENERAL COMMENTS: This includes a compilation of messages we've received from clients over the years.  Client comments are italicized.  We are going to Paris this time and I am a little sad about this, missing Ireland. Of all the places we have visited, Ireland was the best. The Irish folks are so very nice. The thrill of travel is discovering bits of big wide world out there and realizing how much there is to learn - if you're looking for guarantees that you'll be wildly entertained wherever you travel then you are bound to be let down no matter what.  Ireland is not a theme park - it's an ancient country with a rich history and that's populated with folks with a truly unique view of the world.  I never understood the term "a terrible beauty" until I traveled to Ireland - the Dingle peninsula - the Cliffs of Moher. What is spectacular in Ireland even more than the often breathtaking sights, is the people. Never have I been somewhere where strangers WANT to spend time talking with you and helping you with absolutely no gain for themselves. I have been to Ireland 3 times. I have seen all of the sites. I will return for the people. We pulled up to the pub in Doolin, got out of the car,and three older men working on a fence greeted us with,"And where would ye be from then? How long will ye be stayin' in Doolin? What else are ye goin' to see?". The reception throughout Ireland was the same; people genuinely glad to see you and eager to hear who you were and where you were going. Thank you.  That house was lovely and we now feel we have an extended family there. We were treated to home-made bread, tea cakes, wine.  There is nothing like those green mountains covered in mist! We went for the history and were delighted by each bend in the road and the people. We stopped in a pub for lunch in Dingle. The proprietor told us that we had missed lunch. We stayed and had a pint, he disappeared then came back and told us the restaurant next door was still serving and had a table waiting there for us. We were amazed at the roads. One gentleman at a pub told me "Ah, darlin, if we made the roads better, more people might come!!" Tractors are all over the place slowing traffic to a crawl. It's all part of driving in Ireland and is charming (unless you are trying to get somewhere by a certain time).

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