Tweeting about Ireland

 

 

I’m not sure how many, if any, people are looking at this blog and are not actually going along to Ireland with us. For anyone who is not going along on the trip and is interested in keeping up with what is going on over there, you can check in with us, leaandjay, on Twitter. Our friend Fitz, fitzsongs, will be tweeting as well. Check it out!

Pre-Wedding Weather

euro = $1.30

Sunday April 19                               60F/46F*********Partly Cloudy

Monday April 20                               55F/48F********Mostly Cloudy

Tuesday April 21                               53F/48F********Mostly Cloudy

Wednesday April 22                          57F/46F********Rain

Thursday April 23                              50F/42F********Rain

Friday April 24                                   50F/39F********Partly Sunny

Saturday April 25                               53F/44F********Partly Sunny

Sunday April 26 (Wedding Day!)  55F/46F********Partly Sunny

BBQ on the Battlements

Thats Right!!! For our rehearsal dinner we are hosting a BBQ on the battlements. Please join us on saturday april 25th at 7 pm at Cloghan Catle for a fun pre-wedding BBQ! Weather permitting (thats a big caveat for Ireland) it will be outside-otherwise it is inside the castle. Face it…there are no losers here!

Fleadh na gCuadh

The Cuckoo Festival will take place on May 1st through May 4th in the town of Kinvara. While you are visiting the Galway area, you may want to check it out! It is a hugely enjoyable and successful traditional music and community-based arts festival and is now in it’s 16th year. A well-established and richly deserved reputation has ensured that the Fleadh has become a showcase for the best in traditional music, attracting musicians from all over the country and beyond.

And more April Showers……

euro=$1.32

Sunday        4/12  53F/41F  Partly Cloudy

Monday       4/13  57F/41F  30% Chance of Showers 

Tuesday       4/14  55F/42F  40% Chance of Drizzle

Wednesday  4/15  53F/42F  50% Chance of Drizzle

Thursday     4/16  53F/42F  Windy

Friday          4/17  50F/42F  Mostly Cloudy

Saturday      4/18  52F/41F  Mostly Cloudy

Tour of the Burren/Cliffs of Moher

We are very excited to say that we’ve contracted with the Galway Tour Company to take us on a private tour of the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher on Friday April 24th. The tour will depart from the Park House Hotel at 10 am. They will take us around the Burren, to the Cliffs of Moher and to many sites along the way. Lunch will be in one of our favorite towns-Doolin. At 5:30 pm the coach will stop at Dunguaire Castle where we have reservations for their mediaeval banquet. At 7:45 the coach will take us back to the Park House Hotel in Galway. Quite a day! Should be loads of fun. The Galway Tour company is rated #1 in “Attractions”  for Galway on the Trip Advisor site. Cost for the tour is 32 euro per person.

On Saturday April 25th, there are no events on the itinerary until that evening when we will be holding a rehearsal dinner-time and place will be announced soon! The Galway Tour Company also conducts a top rated tour of Connemara, an area just north and west of Galway city. Take a look at the description on their website. This could be a fun day activity for Saturday!

April Showers….

Here is your weekly weather/ euro exchange rate updates.

1 euro =$1.35

Sunday 4/5         52F/39 F ***cloudy

Monday 4/6        52F/43F ****50% chance of rain

Tuesday 4/7        50F/43F ****40% chance of drizzle

Wednesday 4/8  53F/43F ****mostly cloudy

Thursday 4/9      50F/41F ******rain

Friday 4/10         48F/43F ******rain

Saturday 4/11     50F/43F*******40% chance of drizzle

Dingle

 

On Monday April 27th Jay and I, along with various guests will be leaving Cloghan Castle and traveling down to the town of Dingle, located 30 miles south south-west of Tralee in County Kerry on the Dingle Peninsula. It is one of our favorite places to be in Ireland. The scenery is spectacular as you can see from the various pictures we have taken on previous visits. Originally founded as a town in the 13th Century by the Fitzgerald and Rice families, it became the second largest port on the west coast of Ireland and conducted extensive trade with France and Spain.  Today it is still a fishing port and many of the town’s inhabitants make their living from fishing and farming, though there is definitely attention paid to tourism now. To us, Dingle still retains it’s small town charm, yet has plenty of good shopping,  great restaurants and many pubs in which live music can be found every night. Some of our favorite pubs are John Benny’s, Dick Macks, O’Flaherty’s and An Driochead Beag.We are excited to be staying at the Waters Edge House in Dingle. This is a new self-catering apartment which looks quite nice. However, if you’d like a full breakfast cooked for you, a traditional B&B might be the way to go. I’ve listed several good B&B’s on our accommodation page.

 While in Dingle, we have planned for us all to go on an archaeological tour of the peninsula with Sciurid Tours. The tour will depart at 10:30 view four or five archaeological sites and return us to Dingle town at 1 pm. The cost is 20 euro per person.The Dingle Peninsula has been continuously inhabited for 6,000 years and has an impressive archaeological heritage with over 2000 preserved monuments. If you are interested in reading more about Dingle’s history and archaeology and would like to get a preview of some of the sites we’ll see on the tour, take a look at this article written by one of the owners of Sciurid Tours.