Our trip to Dunquin Cottage
on the Dingle Peninsula,
Ireland, April 11-21, 2007
This trip was my 50th birthday present
BEFORE I GO ANY FURTHER, I HAVE TO SAY:
THIS WAS THE BEST VACATION KC AND I HAVE EVER HAD!
The cottage was a dream come true and each day seemed to be better than the one before.
I didn’t have a migraine for the entire time we were gone which is very unusual.
This is page 1 of 6. If you would rather see all 6 pages together, press
here.
(The smaller pages are the only ones with maps of the places we visited.)
This is the first trip for which we kept a journal, so we wouldn’t forget anything, and I’ve included most of it here. A lot of the commentary is personal so skip it if you aren’t interested in the minutia.
When the page was ‘finished’ KC was dismayed that I hadn’t included EVERY picture we took, because so much of what we saw was spectacular, but there was too much to include it all. I may be adding pix in the future if I find that I’ve missed something special.
NOTE ABOUT MOVIE CLIPS:
Links below some of the pictures are movies taken with my small Lumix camera.
If you press the button for the clip, a new window will open.
It could take up to five minutes to load (and you will need QuickTime).
The clips are worth watching because you hear as well as see what’s going on.
However, some of them are dark and there might be some ‘garbage’ at the end of each clip because I couldn’t figure out how to turn the recording mode ‘off’.
THE MOVIE LINKS HAVE A BIGGER FONT THAN THE OTHER LINKS.
Maps of where we were:
The cottage in relation to Dublin and Shannon:
The Dingle Peninsula where the cottage is located:
We had been to Ireland in April last year and, in love with the climate at that time (yes, we LIKE the overcast, misty weather), we wanted to return in April. The cottage is rented from Saturday to Saturday and we booked our week early to make sure we got the one we wanted.
We had planned to stay an extra couple of days at the end of the week but, when we booked our flights, we discovered that there was NO availability at that time, so we added the extra days onto the beginning of the trip. We flew into and out of Shannon, with a mandatory stopover in Dublin on the outbound leg, as that was the only route American Airlines flies. We had hoped to spend the extra two nights at Ashford Castle.
When I tried to reserve a room at the castle, they told me they were full – someone had booked the entire place for a private function – so we started looking elsewhere and found Kinnitty Castle, in County Offaly, halfway between Dublin and Shannon. Unfortunately, ownership had just changed hands and the travel agent assisting us was unable to get them to commit to a rate so we changed our plans and arranged to say in Dublin, at the hotel owned by U2’s Bono.
When I tried to change our flights to eliminate the Dublin-Shannon leg I was told I would have to rebook and, at the current fare, it would cost us an additional $1660! So, we reserved a first class train from Limerick back to Dublin, 2 hours after our arrival in Shannon. Note to self: plan the WHOLE trip before booking the airfare….
Fortunately, the trip over was uneventful (although I was unable to sleep on the plane), and we left on time, in spite of the blizzard at O’Hare. We arrived in Dublin at around 4pm.
The Clarence Hotel in Dublin, owed by U2’s Bono
Link: the hotel’s website (a new window will open).
The feedback we read on the hotel was mixed, so we were a bit apprehensive, but our fears were unfounded. Although it was a bit stark compared to the opulence one usually associates with luxury hotels, the restraint was consistent with the 1930’s Arts and Crafts style of the building and it was beautiful in its own way. It was a bit worn in some places, the wood floors and some of the upholstery should be replaced, but it was immaculate and the bed was very comfortable. We had a king room with a balcony overlooking Temple Bar. Temple Bar is the main street in the ‘trendy’ area of town. The hotel is also right on the river.
The pictures below move around the room counter-clockwise.
Our room:
The balcony:
Desk (with broadband connection in drawer):
Entry door and hallway to room:
Closets (with mini-bar and safe):
Door to bathroom:
Another view of the room:
Looking down on Temple Bar from our balcony:
Although the weather forecast was rain for the entire trip, it was bright and sunny when we arrived. We washed up, (Barb watched an episode of Poirot on the telly!), and then did some reconnoitering. We chose the Irish Restaurant for dinner since it was the only one offering fish-and-chips! KC had coddle, which was quite different from the one that we prepared from Darina Allen’s cookbook, but he inhaled it so it must have been good. My fish was delicious as were the roasted vegetables I ordered on the side. For dessert, we shared a bread and butter pudding, warm, with custard sauce. They also had Banoffee Pie but the bread pudding won out.
The Temple Bar area where we had dinner Thursday night:
We had a drink in the Temple Bar (the pub) after dinner and listened to the group of musicians playing there but were not impressed: the fiddle was too subdued for my taste and KC was fading fast so we left early. I went to bed while KC took a work-related conference call. As soon as that was over, he hit the hay as well.
Friday, April 13.
We slept late the next day and missed the hotel breakfast. It was another sunny day so we decided to walk up to the pedestrian area north of the hotel and, on the way there, stopped at a café on the river for a latte and an organic oatmeal cookie.
KC enjoying his latte:
View of Dublin from the cafe:
At the entrance to the pedestrian area there was a HUGE spire! I did some research on it and found that it’s called ‘The Dublin Spire’ and is one hundred and twenty metres tall. It is three metres wide at the base and tapers to a 15 centimentre wide beacon at the top. The top section is perforated and lit by small LEDs. It was built to provide a replacement for Nelson's Pillar which was blown up in 1966 by former members of the IRA.
The Spire:
Link: write-up on the spire (a new window will open).
The pedestrian area was lots of fun! No pictures, however. We bought a few things and walked back to the hotel to drop off our bags.
KC had another conference call, earlier this time, so we went for dinner, planning to return for his call and then look for a better music venue. We chose Gogarty’s, also on Temple Bar. Oliver Joseph St John Gogarty, the guy the place was named after, was an amazingly colorful character. An accomplished throat surgeon and renowned poet, he was also a practical joker who did things like selling an inebriated friend’s body to a local medical school for ‘research’!
Press here for link Gogarty’s website (a new window will open).
KC had bacon and cabbage and learned that ‘bacon’ meant ham. Again, he inhaled it so it must have been good. My smoked salmon plate was very good. When we paid the bill, with a credit card, we were surprised to discover that they had converted the euros to dollars, at an exorbitant rate!
Halfway through dinner, KC realized his Treo had miscalculated the time of his conference call so we skipped dessert and rushed back to the hotel. Fortunately they had a broadband connection but by the time KC logged in, the conference was almost over. We were both disappointed. The speaker’s topic was alternate energy and I was interested in it as well.
There was no point crying over spilt milk so we headed back to Gogarty’s. We got there early enough to snag a seat right in front of the musicians. The music started much later then expected but it was worth the wait. They were wonderful! Guitar, banjo, and fiddle. They played several of my favorite tunes and even managed my request, Sylvest.
Here are several movie clips of that evening:
The people in the pub:
MOVIE: people in Gogarty’s (a new window will open).
The musicians playing “Sylvest”:
MOVIE: Sylvest (a new window will open).
We stayed at Gogarty’s until the music stopped, around 11:30. We wanted to leave at 8am the next morning (wishful thinking) but packing and taking care of last-minute internet obligations (we were pretty sure we wouldn’t have access in the cottage) meant we didn’t get to bed until after 2am.
Saturday, April 14.
Once again, we overslept, but we did get up in time to catch the end of the hotel’s breakfast. They served it in a gorgeous room that must at one time have been a music venue probably where Bono and his pals hung out in the early 1970s. I ordered coffee with cream and sugar and learnt that, if you want cream instead of milk with your coffee, you must request it and, when it arrives, it will be full cream not half-and-half. In fact, we didn’t see half-and-half in the grocery stores either.
Link: the hotel’s tea room (a new window will open).
The drive from Dublin to the cottage:
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Last Revised: May 2, 2007
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