Orlando

May 13, 2025

First Class All The Way WIth Irish Tourism

First, I want to start with our tour coordinator, Nuala Sheedy of Irish Tourism. Nuala listened to what we thought we would want to see and made sure that many of our wishes and hopes were incorporated within the tour we chose. She did not disappoint us! In Addition, Irish Tourism provides a no fuss no worries travel itinerary. Everything is clearly mapped out with clear and concise directions. We opted for a 12-day rail tour which included Cork, Killarney, Galway, Dublin, and Belfast. We arrived in Dublin the first day and got right on a train to Cork. We were met at Dublin airport by John Lamm and driven to Heuston railroad station. Irish Tourism truly knows and understands the importance of first impressions and John Lamm is the perfect choice to meet you and introduce you to Dublin and Ireland. My only regret is that we did not have more time to spend with and learn from him. Irish Rail is amazing. The reserved comfortable seating & the ability to purchase snacks onboard was great. The Trainmen ensured our comfort and enjoyinment of our trip. Upon arriving in Cork, a quick taxi ride to the historic Imperial Hotel. Check in was easy and although our room was not quite ready, they sat us in the beautiful Fredrick Douglas lounge where we ordered our first pot of tea and scones. Once we settled into our spectacular room, we walked all around pedestrian friendly downtown Cork. We Had our first taste of Irish Fish and Chips at the Clancy Pub which is the oldest Pub in Cork. The next morning, we took a prearranged tour to Blarney, Blarney Castle, Fort Charlesworth, Kinsale and Cobh. Simply amazing countryside and cityscapes. The following morning, we traveled by rail to Killarney to the International Hotel. Another historic hotel with spectacular accommodations. We were right across the street from Killarney National Park with opportunity to ride in horse drawn buggy's or just walk around and smell the wonderful fragrance of wild Irish garlic. While in Killarney we took two tours, one to the Ring of Kerry and one to the Dingle peninsula. One of our favorites in the Ring of Kerry was to watch how Border Collies herd sheep. An amazing demonstration and a must-see for all. On Dingle peninsula, we met a local dog who is famous for sitting on a burro and posing for pictures, saw amazing cliffs and coastlines and had a delicious lunch in the Dingle Bay Hotel with a dessert of ice cream at Murphy's, a tradition for all who visit. The next morning there was a private car chauffeured by Michael to Galway with stops in Adare and Bunratty/Bunratty Castle, both of which were amazing and well worth the time spent. Once in Galway we stayed at the Hyde Hotel, another Historic hotel in the middle of downtown Galway. The restaurant in the "Hyde", Jekyll, is a seriously spectacular restaurant. Reasonably priced with incredible decor, service and amazing food. Their pizza is a must try and that's coming from a Brooklyn NY born pizza snob. Galway is also very pedestrian friendly and lots of fun to walk around and explore the shops and dining. We took a tour to the Aran Islands Inis Mor. This was our favorite place to visit on the trip. Inis Mor has a population of approximately 800 and our tour guide, Bertie Mullen Kilronan was so much fun. He took us to see so much and truly experience the lifestyle of the Inis Mor residents. While in Galway we did our own pub crawl and enjoyed dining which was very convenient and delicious. From Galway we traveled back to Dublin for a quick overnight in the Spectacular Camden Court hotel. We treated ourselves to another pub crawl, browsed "The Last Bookshop" and totally enjoyed the pedestrian friendliness of Dublin. We ate in the Bleeding Horse Pub and off the next morning to Belfast and the Titanic Hotel which is in the Titanic Quarter. We did hop on hop off bus touring throughout all of Belfast visiting the murals and the peace wall which I did get to sign; a bucketlist item. We toured the Titanic Museum and the SS Nomadic. Truly a sobering historical accounting of the events surrounding the Titanic. After two amazing days in Belfast, we went back to Dublin for the last two days of our tour. Again, hop on hop off bus tours, tour of the Guinness Warehouse, upper and lower Camden Court, amazing dining experiences and just lots of fun at our own pace. We toured numerous castles, The Royal Botanic Gardens and many churches throughout our 12-day rail tour. Irish Tourism Structured our trip so that we had many choices and opportunities to pick and choose what we wanted to participate in and what we wanted to opt out of. We were so busy by our own choice and could not wait to get to the next event on our itinerary. Again, Many thanks to Nuala Sheedy and all of the folks at Irish Tourism that made our trip one that we will never forget.