Ruth Etheridge, owner of Village Travel in Damariscotta, recently returned from a four night familiarization tour of Southern Ireland with Celtic Tours. Celtic Tours offers vacation options in Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Europe. They are a family owned and run company since 1972 with headquarters in Albany, New York.
A group of 28 travel consultants, two business development managers and a driver departed Dublin for a tour of the southern part of Ireland. On the way toward Galway they made a stop in Tullamore, for a hotel inspection at the Bridge House Hotel. Tullamore is famous as the home of the Tullamore Dew Distillery since 1829.
Traveling west across the Irish Midlands, they made a stop along the Burren, a karst landscape located in County Clare and from there they visited a local area of Galway and overnighted at the Menlo Park Hotel.
On to the Cliffs of Moher, rising 700 feet above sea level and extending along the coast for a spectacular view of the South Cliffs and Hag’s Island along with the O’Briens Tower.
After an overnight in Killarney, they traveled east to Cobh (pronounced Cove) to the Cobh Heritage Center.
Cobh is an Irish port on the southern shore of the Great Island rich in history. Between 1848 and 1950, six million adults and children emigrated from Ireland with over 2.5 million of them from Cobh. Annie Moore and her two brothers left Cobh for America and were the first immigrants processed through Ellis Island in New York.
Cobh was also the last port of call of the maiden voyage of the ill fated Titanic in 1912.
Proceeding east to Waterford, Ireland’s oldest city, they were given a guided tour of the Waterford Crystal Factory with first hand access to all areas of traditional crystal production. Then on to John Meads Pub, established 1705, for a real Irish wake (without a dead body).
After an overnight at the family owned and run Dooleys Hotel, on the waterfront in Waterford, they had a walking tour of the city by local historian Jack Burchaell including the Christ Church of the Holy Trinity, ancient monuments and a full size replica of the 9th century Woodstown Viking longboat, used by Viking sea pirates in 914 A.D.
Returning to Dublin for the last night, they did a guided tour of the Guinness Storehouse with an opportunity to learn how to pour the “perfect” pint and experience the 360 degree view of Dublin from the Gravity Bar.
For more information on visiting Ireland, including many photos of the countryside, call Etheridge at 563-8747 or visit her new office located in downtown Damariscotta in the Damariscotta Center on the lower level.
