Free time - where and how much?

Peregrinator

We are starting to plan for our "Best of Ireland" trip in a few months. We try to take advantage of any free time, and have found that it helps to plan our options in advance.

Can anyone give me some idea of the towns where the tour schedule lends itself to independent exploration?

Thanks in advance!

ndvb

Just off of the top of my head, I remember some free time in Belfast and the first day in Dublin. Another time was in Dingle, after visiting the church. In fact, as you leave the church and move down the hill, there is a small crystal shop (Dingle Crystal Company--imagine that) run by Sean Dalys. He was a master artisan for Waterford and left the company when the Chinese bought it. He opened his own shop and we stopped in to look at some of his work. He is very impressive. We bought a couple of beautiful vases and they were shipped home. We negotiated a good price and once we compared his work to the Waterford factory we realized we had much better pieces--although my wife had to buy something from Waterford to add to her collection. One of his pieces broke when being shipped and he replaced it immediately.

In Dublin we were looking for a place to have lunch on our free time and some guy saw us and told us to go to a pub right around the corner. He even walked us there; telling us they had the best food in Dublin. When we sat down we asked for a menu and the owner said, "We don't have food here." I think we had the town drunk, or practical joker, as a guide.

The Guinness factory was a great place to spend a couple of hours too--especially if you want to tip a pint. It is a mile or so walk if you are looking for a nice little hike, or you can take a cab.

You'll get a couple of chances for a round of golf at Mt. Juliet and Lough Erne (they have club rentals). We had a drink with Nick Faldo who is one of the owners of the resort. The course is top notch and the resort is fantastic. Rory McIlroy is the resident pro for the club. Mt. Juliet was a nice course to play also. Mt. Juliet is similar to an American course--long, water and trees and more trees, while Lough Erne is a long and difficult links course. The Economic Summit was held there last year. The golf pro is a great lady and she was very helpful in setting up a tee time.

At Mt. Juliet you have some choices during your free time other than golf...I think it was horseback riding and falconry. I played golf.

Enjoy the trip. It was very enjoyable.

Peregrinator

Helpful information...thank you!

schnapshi

ndvb,
I am wondering when did you take your tour of Ireland? Looking at the itinerary for the 2014 tour, it doesn't look like we go to Dingle. I am on the August 30 tour this year, and had added the Dingle Crystal Company to my list of places to visit based on your comments. I even called Tauck to see if it just wasn't in the information they had provided so far, but they said it didn't appear that Dingle was included in the tour this year.

Would appreciate if anyone who has taken the 2014 tour could respond to Peregrinator's question. Like Peregrinator, I am trying to research free time activities and places to visit.

Thank you.

ndvb

2012. I pulled out the itinerary for our tour and compared it to the one online. There are 3-4 days where it looks as though some significant changes have been made. Visiting the Dingle Peninsula on day 3 seems to be one of them. I enjoyed walking around the town of Dingle. As I said, the Dingle Crystal Company was a great find. My wife collected crystal, especially Waterford, until Waterford was sold to the Chinese and the quality dropped off of the table. When it was bought back by its original owners, the quality went back up, but not to its previous standards. Even so, she "had" to buy a piece at Waterford, which she did.

The two pieces from Dingle are far superior and the equal of the old Waterford pieces. Who knows, you might still get to visit the town and it just might not be on the written itinerary. Talk to your Tour Director. We had Mary and loved her. She is an "old timer" (please don't tell her I said that or at least tell her it was said in respect) and has a great understanding of the history of the area. If you do have her, tell her you talked to the man who told the "Irish story" (using a "very good" Irish accent--her words; not mine) at the farewell dinner about the "O'Ryan" twins getting drunk in the Irish pub in Boston. I think she'll remember it. If you don't mind, you might tell her that my wife, who was with me on that trip, died last September and this was the last trip she took. My wife was very fond of Mary, too.

OK, enough of that stuff. Enjoy the trip. It is a great one!!! I hope you get to visit with Shawn at the Dingle Crystal Company and see some of his great pieces. He does great work. Oh yea, do haggle.....one thing about a small shop of any kind is that they have product on the shelves they need to get rid of.

Happy Trails.

LeeM

schnapshi,

We, too, are on the 8/30 trip. Four of us will be traveling from Northern CA. Where are you from? If you would like to conact me directly my e-mail is: lbmilo@comcast.net. Looking forward to hearing from you.

schnapshi

ndvb,
My condolences on the passing of your wife. If we have Mary, I will definitely pass your message on to her.
This will be my first tour with Tauck, although my parents went on many trips with them and always enjoyed them. I am very much looking forward to it. I had planned a trip 20 years ago, but then relocated to Hawaii and am finally getting to take it.

LeeM - we have already connected, I am the single traveler flying in from Sacramento, but I live in Hawaii.

ndvb

Thanks. You'll enjoy this trip. We had a great time and saw some fantastic places. We tagged it on the the England, Scotland, and Wales trip, so we had double fun.