Pilgrimage Tour of Ireland Day One Arrive into Dublin Airport, where you will be met by your private taxi for the transfer into central Dublin. Check-in at your accommodation and this will be your base for the next 2 nights. The remainder of the day is at leisure to relax after your flight. Day Two Today take an Open Top Bus Tour of Dublin, taking in the main sights and an opportunity to hop on and hop off and visit the various sights, to include a visit to 16th century Trinity College, founded by Elizabeth I and now home to the famous illuminated manuscript, the Book of Kells. This will be followed by a visit to St Patrick’s Cathedral and traditionally the place where the Cathedral lies today, was the place where St Patrick baptized the pagans to Christianity in the 5th century and there has been a church there since. Overnight Dublin. Day Three Depart Dublin for the drive to Kildare to visit the Pilgrimage sights and before St Brigid founded her religious complex on the Hill of Kildare (Cathedral site), the oak-covered hill was a centre of pagan religious worship. Priestesses met there, lit their ritual fire and, encircling it, petitioned the pagan goddess, Brigid, for good crops and herds. St Brigid took over the custom of this fire and set up a rota of nuns to maintain it, saying Christian prayers. This fire was kept alight in the Fire Temple there, day and night, until the 16th century when Henry VIII expelled the nuns and demolished the convent and Fire Temple after a thousand years of existence. The foundations of the Fire Temple survived and they have been restored and an explanatory plaque has been put in place and there will be an opportunity to view this. A visit will also be included to St. Brigid’s Cathedral and the present restored Norman Cathedral most likely occupies the site of the original pagan shrine to the Goddess Brigid and the later early Christian foundation and Church of St Brigid. As the 8th century document states, St Brigid was born into a Christian family in 453AD. The present Cathedral was built by the Norman Ralph of Bristol in 1223 and continued to serve the people of Kildare through centuries, though after the reformation it gradually fell into disrepair and by 1641 it was totally ruined. It was restored to its present glory in the 19th century and has in recent year’s undergone further restoration. There will also be an opportunity to climb the Round Tower. You will also stop at Brigid’s two holy wells, which were focal points, for prayer in Celtic pagan theology. Priestesses gathered around them and prayed to Brigid, the goddess. Such wells were widespread in the Celtic world of Ireland, Wales and Scotland. St Brigid moved in on some wells near her and Christianised them. Ultimately all such wells, however distant, became associated with Brigid the Saint, and attracted pilgrims. Check-in at your accommodation in Kildare and this will be your base for the next 2 nights. Day Four After breakfast depart for drive to Glendalough in the valley of two lakes and site of the 6th century monastic settlement of St. Kevin. On arrival visit Glendalough Visitor Centre for a video on “Ireland of Monasteries” and a visit the museum. This will be followed by a Pilgrimage walk to St Kevin’s Monastic City to see St Kevin’s Church, Kevin’s Well, the 10th Century Round Tower, St Kevin’s Cross and St Mary’s Church. There will be time for some personal meditation and retreat before returning to your accommodation in Kildare for overnight. 1 Day Five Depart your hotel for a visit to Castletown House, Ireland's largest and earliest Palladian style house, built between 1722 and 1729 for William Conolly, speaker of the Irish House of Commons and the wealthiest commoner in Ireland. The façade was almost certainly designed by the Italian architect, Alessandro Galilei, while the Irish architect Sir Edward Lovett Pearce added the wings. The house remained in the hands of the Speaker's descendants until 1965, when the house was purchased by a property developer Major Wilson. Fortunately the house was saved in 1967, when along with 120 acres of the demesne lands it was purchased by the Hon. Desmond Guinness, founder of the Irish Georgian Society for £93,000. The house was opened to the public in the same year and restoration work began, funded by the Irish Georgian Society and private benefactors. In 1979 care of the house passed to the Castletown Foundation, a charitable trust which was established to own, maintain and to continue the restoration of the house. In 1994 the house with the exception of the contents, was transferred to State care and it is now managed by the Office of Public Works. The transfer to State ownership has paved the way for a major programme of restoration and conservation work of the house and demesne lands. Through restoration, conservation, acquisition of parkland and development of visitor facilities, the long term objective is to preserve for future generations one of the most important houses in Ireland and one of significance in terms of European architectural heritage. This will be followed by a visit to the Rock of Cashel, one of the most visited sites in Ireland. This is a spectacular group of medieval buildings set on an outcrop of limestone in the Golden Vale including the 12th century round tower, High Cross and Romanesque Chapel, 13th century Gothic cathedral, 15th century castle and the restored Hall of the Vicars. There is an audio visual show entitled "Strongholds of Faith". Take the drive to Killarney, to check-in at your accommodation and this will be your base for the next 2 nights. Day Six Today you will take the Ring of Kerry tour, a journey through some of the country’s most outstanding scenery around the Iveragh Peninsula. Stunning mountain and coastal scenery combined with colourful towns and villages will make this one of the highlights of your tour. Your journey will include the attractive village of Sneem and a pause at Moll’s Gap for a panoramic view of the three Lakes of Killarney. Following the peninsula drive, you then arrive at Muckross House for a visit to this magnificent Victorian mansion, completed in 1843 for Henry Arthur Herbert. The location of the house is spectacular, close to the eastern shore of Muckross Lake and set beneath the impressive backdrop of Torc and Mangerton Mountains. Return to your accommodation in Killarney for overnight. Day Seven Depart Killarney and take the drive to Tarbert for the car ferry to Killimer and then the drive to The Cliffs of Moher, one of the most outstanding coastal features of Ireland and they ascend to over 700 feet (213 metres) stretching south for nearly five miles (8km) to Hags Head. On arrival enjoy a visit to the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience, which is set into the hillside. The centre is a unique cave like structure which minimizes the visual impact on this fabulous scenic location and uses a range of energy saving and eco-friendly features including geo-thermal, solar energy and water recycling. Continue to Doolin, now renowned world-wide as the traditional music capital of Ireland and rumour has it, that it was Doolin that J.R.R. Tolkien got his inspiration for ‘The Lord of the Rings”. Check-in at your accommodation and the evening is at leisure to spend time in one of the music pubs, which are McDermott’s, McGann’s and O’Connors. Overnight in Doolin. Day Eight Depart Doolin for the drive to Galway, known as the City of Tribes for some time to explore before driving along the coast road to Spiddal and to view the splendour of Galway Bay. You will then take a tour of the beautiful Connemara region, just west of Galway, situated on the most western seaboard of Europe and this unspoilt region boasts breath taking scenery. The characteristic features of Connemara include its rugged, unpolluted coastline, dramatic mountains, numerous lakes and rivers and woodlands and the renowned Connemara National Park. The drive will take you through Maam Cross, the Connemara "crossroads", there is a replica of the cottage used in the 1950's John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara film "The Quiet Man" filmed locally. 2 This will be followed by a visit to Ballintubber Abbey and stretching out to Croagh Patrick is Tóchar Phádraigm the ancient Pilgrim path. Originally it was the chariot road that went from Rathcruachan, the seat of the Kings and Queens of Connacth, to Aughagower and Cruachan Aille, as Croagh Patrick was called in Pre-Christian times. After St Patrick's time pilgrims began to traverse that same road to the holy mountain and over time it became known as Tóchar Phádraig or St Patrick's Causeway. After the pilgrimages to Jerusalem ceased in the 13th century, due to the taking over of the Holy Places by the Saracens, the pilgrimages to Croagh Patrick became even more important. When Ballintubber Abbey was built in 1216 a hostel was also put in place to cater for the many pilgrims. This hostel, the remains of which can be seen today in the grounds, incorporated a place for both ritual washing and actual cleansing. It is called Danchara or the 'Bath of the righteous'. After 1588 it went into decline as a public road and in Penal times it ceased to be used as a pilgrim path.