05_175927 ch01.qxp 11/12/07 2:44 PM Page 4 1 The Best of Ireland At first glance, Ireland presents a familiar face to American visitors. The language is the same, only more lyrical, the faces are familiar, the food recognizable, and even the beer is well known. Many visitors, notably Irish-Americans, experience it as a kind of homecoming. It takes awhile for this superficial impression to wear off, but it will, because this is a unique country in its own right, a fact that becomes clearer the longer you stay here. The impenetrable Gaelic language is increasingly prevalent, and in some counties, road signs are exclusively in that language. This creates a kind of distance, a feeling of foreignness, that it seems many Irish do not mind cultivating. Once you overcome that feeling, though, you’ll find so much to love here. The sheer number of sights, villages, charming pubs, and adorable restaurants and shops is overwhelming— you always feel that you might be missing something. For visitors this is an ideal country to traverse, and with its varied and extensive offerings within a compact frame, it’s visually addictive. Within a few miles, you can travel from rugged coastline to smooth pastureland to towering mountains to gloomy peat bog. You can spend the night in ancient castles or modern spa hotels, dine on fine Irish cuisine or skimp on fish and chips. The country’s varied offerings can be a bit dazzling, so it’s nice to have somebody help you focus. That’s why we’ve put together this list of some of our favorite places and things in Ireland. We hope that while you’re here, you’ll find a few of your own. 1 The Best Picture-Postcard Towns • Dalkey (County Dublin): This shops, cafes, and pubs, and its other charming south-coast Dublin suburb draws include a scattering of good has just enough glorious freedom eateries. See chapter 6. from that city’s traffic snarls and • Inistioge (County Kilkenny): Nes- frenzy. With a castle, a mountaintop tled in the Nore River Valley, sur- folly, and lovely beaches, there’s a lot rounded by undulating hills, this to enjoy. Dalkey is an upscale bed- riverfront village with two spacious room community for Ireland’s rich, greens and a host of pubs cries out to so it’s unsurprisingCOPYRIGHTED that it also has be photographed. MATERIAL Its rivers and lakes fine restaurants and welcoming pubs. are swimming with fish and attract This is a tempting town to settle into. hosts of anglers. See chapter 7. See chapter 5. • Dingle/An Daingean (County • Carlingford (County Louth): Up in Kerry): Dingle is a charming hilltop quiet, lazy Louth, little Carlingford is medieval town. Its stone buildings a draw. A tiny medieval village with ramble up and down hills, and its castle ruins on the bay, its pedestrian- small population is relaxed about friendly lanes are filled with colorful visitors. It has lots of little diners and 05_175927 ch01.qxp 11/12/07 2:44 PM Page 5 THE BEST NATURAL WONDERS 5 picturesque pubs, and a lovely, his- • Ardara (County Donegal): On the toric church. See chapter 10. southwest coast of County Donegal, • Kinsale (County Cork): Kinsale’s the tiny town of Ardara looks as if it narrow streets all lead to the sea, were carved out of a solid block of dropping steeply from the hills granite. Its streets undulate up and around the harbor, although the down the rocky hills, and are lined crowds of visitors teeming on the with little boutiques and charming sidewalks every summer attest to arts shops, many selling clothes made the fact that the Kinsale secret is of the famed Donegal wool. You can out. The walk from Kinsale through wander its entirety in a few minutes. Scilly to Charles Fort and Frower It’s a bite-size place. See chapter 15. Point is breathtaking. Kinsale has the • Athlone (County Westmeath): Sit- added benefit of being a foodie town, ting at the edge of the River Shan- with no shortage of good restaurants. non, its streets curving around a See chapter 9. sturdy, fortresslike castle, Athlone is a • Kenmare (County Kerry): If you’re charmer. Houses are painted in driving the Ring of Kerry, this is the bright hues, and with its small, funky best base you could wish for at the boutiques and spirit of fun, it has the mouth of the River Roughty on Ken- feel of a busy university town. Good mare Bay. The town is picture-perfect restaurants and lively pubs add to its with stone cottages, colorful gardens, charms. See chapter 13. and flowers overflowing from win- dow boxes. See chapter 10. 2 The Best Natural Wonders • The Slieve Bloom Way (County the strangest landscapes you’re likely Laois): Slieve Bloom, Ireland’s largest to see. Its vast limestone grassland is and most unspoiled blanket bog, rises spread with a quilt of wildflowers gently above the peat fields. Its from as far afield as the Alps, all soft- beauty—gentle slopes, glens, rivers, ening the stark stones jutting out of waterfalls, and bog lands—is subtle the ground. Its inhabitants include but persistent, and it is comparatively nearly every species of butterfly untouched. You can have it more or found in Ireland. See p. 375. less to yourself, apart from its deer • Cliffs of Moher (County Clare): Ris- and foxes, and an occasional frolick- ing from Hag’s Head to the south, ing otter. these magnificent sea cliffs reach their • MacGillycuddy’s Reeks (County full height of 214m (702 ft.) just Kerry): A mountain range on the north of O’Brien’s Tower. The views Iveragh Peninsula, MacGillycuddy’s of the open sea, of the Aran Islands, Reeks not only has the best name of and of the Twelve Bens mountains of any mountain range in Ireland, but Connemara (see below) are spectacu- also the highest mountain on the lar. A walk south along the cliff edge island, Carrantuohill (1,041m/3,414 at sunset makes a perfect end to any ft.). The Reeks are among Ireland’s day. See p. 380. greatest spectacles. See p. 326. • Croagh Patrick (County Mayo): • The Burren (County Clare): We can Rising steeply 750m (2,460 ft.) above guarantee this: The Burren is one of the coast, Croagh Patrick is seen as a 05_175927 ch01.qxp11/12/072:44PMPage6 Ireland 0 100 mi 6 Malin Head North SSCOTLANDChannelCOTLAND 0 100 km Rathlin Tory (U.K.)(U.K.) Island NNORTHORTH Giant‘s n Island w Causeway lto CHAPTER 1 AATLANTICTLANTIC To Campbe SSCOTLANDCOTLAND Lough r ae OOCEANCEAN Foyle Ballycastle n CCreesloughreeslough M a tr S North CColeraineoleraine O & Donegal H U n Sea G N a EA y Airport V T r NNORTHERNORTHERN Y A n RR B y Aran E . A26 I r DERRYVEAGHD TS a N i IRELANDIRELAND MTS.M N13 n a Island S C LLondonderryondonderry . n Letterkenny S O o BBelfastelfast T F T . 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