A Wildly Wonderful Trip for Alice Blankenbeckler & Friends

By

Wednesday September 6th

Our Airport Liaison Officer will be awaiting the Blankenbeckler Party on the airside in Dublin Airport, and will arrange for the luggage to be loaded onto trolleys and be brought out to their guide.

Our diver will take you to Howth Harbour where a RIB powered by twin 150-horsepower outboard motors will skim across the waters of Dublin Bay to the city centre dock where a vintage amphibious DUKW awaits you to take you to your hotel.

After the long flight today will probably be a light day - a visit to an amazing private garden, and coffee with the owner in the 18th century home, or a light lunch in a private Regency house in the heart of Dublin, with an introduction to the city from an expert who is also amusing!

Or maybe a familiarisation tour of the city centre by horse drawn buggy.   

We would suggest Dinner in the hotel, or if something lighter and more informal is preferred, then in Ely's Wine Bar or in Pearl, both nearby.

Thursday 7th September

Dublin has long been a centre of art and culture. Stroll through the elegant Georgian streets of Merrion and Fitzwilliam Squares, shop in the elegant emporiums of Grafton Street and Powerscourt Townhouse, explore the collections of the National Museum and National Gallery, the Irish Museum of Modern Art, and many fine small private collections. The range of art and artefacts is enormous, and you will have no problem spending many hours enthralled.. The city is over a thousand years old, and many of the towns and settlements that surround it are equally ancient. Successive centuries have left their distinctive overlays of character and architecture which means that Dublin has a wealth of historically significant and fascinating sights to explore such as Dublin Castle, where the Normans ruled from the 12th Century, St Patrick's Cathedral, of which Jonathan Swift was Dean, and Trinity College, famous for The Book of Kells and for its alumni who include Oscar Wilde and Oliver Goldsmith. And no visit to Dublin could be complete without visiting either the Old Whiskey Distillery or the Guinness Storehouse!

A Tour of Dublin's Fair City

Bank of Ireland , College Green
The prestigious offices of Ireland 's national bank began life as the first purpose-built parliament house in Europe . Completed in 1739 it served as Ireland's Parliament until the Act Of Union in 1801  
Trinity College
Founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth. Among many famous students to attend the college were playwrights Oliver Goldsmith and Samuel Beckett. Trinity's lawns and cobbled quads provide a pleasant haven in the hearth of the city. The major attractions are the Old Library and the Book of Kells, housed in the Treasury. Exit form the front of the Trinity complex and walk from College Green to Dame St and Continue west passing:
The Olympia Theatre - Dating back to the 1800s, this Victorian music hall-style theatre has a capacity of 1,300. It presents an eclectic schedule of variety shows, musicals, operettas, concerts, ballet, comedy, and drama. As a variation, for the late-night crowd, live bands are often featured after regular programs.  A brief diversion here will bring you into the trendy Temple Bar area. Across the Street is  
City Hall 
Erected between 1769 and 1779, and formerly the Royal Exchange. It is a square building in Corinthian style, with three fronts of Portland stone. Since 1852, however it has been the centre of the municipal government. The interior is designed as a circle within a square, with fluted columns supporting a dome shaped roof over the central hall. The building contains many items of interest, including 102 royal charters and the mace and sword of the city. Adjacent to City Hall is:
Dublin Castle
Built between 1208 and 1220, this complex represents some of the oldest surviving architecture in the city, and was the centre of English power in Ireland for over seven centuries until it was taken of by the Irish Free State in 1922. Highlights include the 13th-century record tower, the largest visible fragment of the original Norman castle and the State Apartments, once the residence of English viceroys and now the focal point for government ceremonial functions, including the inauguration of Ireland 's presidents. At this point Dame St takes on the name Lord Edward St , and leads to  
St. Patrick's Cathedral
 Ireland 's largest church was founded beside a sacred well where St. Patrick is said to have baptised converts around 450A.D. A stone slab bearing a Celtic cross and covering the well was un-earthed at the turn of the century(20th). It is now preserved in the west end of the cathedral's nave. The original building was just a wooden chapel and remained so until 1192 when Archbishop John Comyn rebuilt the cathedral in stone. Much of the present building dates back to work completed between 1254 and 1270.  Cut back to  

Powerscourt Town House Centre
The townhouse of a famous Georgian family. Today the building houses one of the cities nicest shopping centres. In the 1960's major restoration turned it into a centre of specialist galleries, antique shops, jewellery stalls, cafés and other shop units. Carry on to Grafton Street down the narrow Johnson Court Alley  

 
Explore the Great Georgian Squares and Doorways.;  Visit the famous Phoenix Park, Home of our President Mary McAllesse;  See the delights of the city of Roddy Doyle, James Joyce, Brendan Behan, Sean O' Casey, Oscar Wilde and Nobel Prize winners W.B Yeats, George B. Shaw and Samuel Beckett.; See Guinness Brewery, O' Connell Street;  The U2 Wall, The National Museum & Gallery

Our Graffiti Artist will train you in the art of doing a "piece" with spray can and nibs on the U2 Wall

 

 And of course Molly Malone herself

"In Dublin's fair city, where the girls are so pretty, I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone
As she wheeled her wheel-barrow, through streets broad and narrow, Crying cockles and mussels,
alive, alive o!"
Tea in the Kildare Street & University Club, Ireland ’s most exclusive gentleman’s club

 

This evening a literary pub crawl to create an appetite for dinner. 

 

 

Friday 8th September

Shopping & Racing

Your vintage Rolls Royce awaits to take you on a private viewing of the ateliers of the top Irish designers including Mairead Whisker, Louise Kennedy, John Rocha and Lainey Keogh.    You will be advised and accompanied by the fashion editor of the Irish Times.  An alternative is to visit the antique galleries and decorators' shop with one of Ireland's antique experts.  Leave Dublin in the late morning to visit the private stud of the Aga Khan or Kildangan, the private stud farm of HH Sheikh Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum.  Kildare is the home of horse racing.  So on to the racecourse, where you will meet your own horse, leased for you for the day, running in your colors.     A professional jockey will be on hand to advise on the most likely winners, though it has to be said that many an Irish pauper blames his misfortunes on slow horses and fast women.     After presenting the prizes there will be a private party in your honor with vintage champagnes, culminating in a fireworks display.      Later, visit the cellars of Berry Brothers & Rudd, wine merchants to royalty, for a private tasting of vintage Château Pétrus & Domaine de la Romanee-Conti with dinner in their board room.

This evening you will be the guest of honor at The Gate Theatre with Michael Colgan, the artistic director, meeting the actors afterwards.

 

Sat September 9th

 

An eco-safari in a Land Rover to the Wicklow Mountains where an army of medieval re-enactors will appear with displays of jousting, falconry and archery and then through Carlow to Kilkenny. In Kilkenny one should first explore the city, full of medieval laneways, inns with tales of witches, a great castle and of course lots of shops. Follow the valley of the River Nore to Bennetsbridge, with its many craft workers studios, Thomastown with the Cistercian abbey of Jerpoint and childhood home of Bishop Berkley. Stay at Dunbrody House, a small luxury hotel that was the seat of The Marquis of Donegall. This evening a  horse and carriage will take everyone to the pub for a pre- dinner drink.

 

Dunbrody House

Dunbrody House

 

 

Sun September 10th

 

 

A special VIP tour of Waterford Crystal.   Visit the  Dunbrody, a replica of the type sailing ship that brought immigrants from Europe to America in the mid 19th Century.    Lunch with The Countess Bernstorf at Berkley Forest (associated with Bishop Berkley after whom Berkley, Ca is named). The Countess is an internationally successful artist and has a wonderful collection of 18th century clothes.   The Kennedy homestead is just south of New Ross.  Further down the peninsula are the gardens of Kilmokea at Campile, Dunbrody Castle, Tintern Abbey and The Lighthouse on Hook Head.  

 

 

 

 

 

Mon September 11th

  

 

Head south along the coast to Midleton Distillery, where the master distiller has a special bottle with your name on it (it is already lying in a dark cellar, preparing itself for you!).  A possible tour of the Cobh Heritage Centre, which traces the history of emigration from this port to the United States. Then drive to Blarney where you may climb to the battlements of Blarney Castle to kiss the famous stone. Leave the farmlands of Cork for the hilly countryside of Kerry.  Head straight to Kenmare and arrive by late afternoon so that you can enjoy some leisure time to look around the town.

  

Tues September 12th

 

Today step back to a more elegant time and travel the Ring of Kerry, the most beautiful area of Ireland, in a vintage 1930s car, with a few lessons on herding sheep with a sheep dog from a mountain shepherd en route. A day tour of constantly changing mountain and coastline scenery with plenty of stops to admire the lovely views. Travel through Caherdaniel and Waterville at the western end of the peninsula and enjoy the bracing Atlantic breezes. Lunch at an International Art Gallery in the wild west of Kerry.  Continue your drive through the colorful village of Sneem and the vantage point of Moll's Gap. Take a tour of the gracious 19th Century Muckross House that is filled with antiques and memorabilia. Return to Kenmare in time to relax or walk around the town before dinner

 

      

 

Weds September 13th

 

In Kenmare itself there is a charming cruise known as the Seasafari down Kenmare Bay taking in the ecology and wild life of the bay, as well as the myths and legends.   Another day of romantic nostalgia - travel in a 1930 Buick to a wooded glade where a luncheon picnic will be presented.

In the afternoon another lovely tour is to follow the Beara Peninsula by way of the Marquess of Lansdowne's gardens at Dereen;  Or head South to Glengarriff and cruise a short distance through Bantry Bay, passing families of seals en route to the magical island of Garinish and its splendid gardens and Martello Tower 

On return to dry land head on to Bantry House, the once stately homes of the Earls of Bantry.

 

Return to Kenmare by way of Manning's Food Emporium, where Mr Manning, an inspiration to the "Slow Food" movement in Ireland, will offer some local canapés. 

 

  

 

   

 

Perhaps supper tonight at one of the local pubs.

Sheen Falls

 

Thurs September 14th   

 

From Kerry you'll head up through Limerick, passing Rathkeale and Adare, a very pretty village and well worth a stop. There are three abbeys here as well as the Desmond Castle and the Trent Jones golf course surrounding the neo-gothick Adare Manor Limerick is a busy city and has several major attractions - the Hunt Museum in the 18th century customs house where lunch has been arranged with the curator, King John's Castle, St Mary's Cathedral and the Georgian House on Pery Square. After Limerick head out towards Shannon, stopping off at Bunratty Castle and folk park on the way.   Arrive at Dromoland Castle where the hunt will meet them.

 

 

Fri September 15th

 

Explore the Burren. See Dysert O'Dea near Corofin, the sulphur Spa at Lisdoonvarna, St Bridget's Well at the Cliffs of Moher, the Doolin Craft Gallery, the internationally renowned karst limestone habitat of the Burren, with its orchids, gentians and ragged robin, and stop for a drink in Kinvara, home of the Galway Hooker and of King Guaire the Generous, whose right arm was longer than his left from so much giving. return via Gort to see Coole Park with its autograph tree and Thoor Ballylee, home of the poet WB Yeats.  Cocktails with Lord Inchiquin, direct descendant of Brian Boru, the High King of Ireland in the 11th Century and followed by a medieval banquet.

 

 

 

 

Sat September 16th

 

Depart Shannon

 

Click here for a map of the route

 

 

RUDI STEELE TRAVEL, INC.
100 Highland Park Village, Suite 300
Dallas, TX  75205-2721
214-522-2777