Winnipeg Free Press Newspaper Archives May 16 2015, Page 113

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - May 16, 2015, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE F3 winnipegfreepress. com TRAVEL WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, SATURDAY, MAY 16, 2015 F 3 Our preparation started six months before our planned departure with a search of a half- dozen Internet sites linking customers with local tour guides. Toursbylocals. com, based in Vancouver, appealed to us — especially after we found a profile of an Irish guide that made us smile. The guide, James Ryan, expressed interest in “ genealogy detective work,” and he noted U. S. President Barack Obama had come to Ireland in 2011 “ to find the apostrophe in O’Bama.”) In our email exchanges, James said he also was intrigued by our quest for the mysterious castle. We signed up with him in August and sent in a deposit, based on his $ 420- a- day rate. He agreed to plan a route that included towns that interested us — Galway, Killarney and Limerick — along with exploration of the Connemara region and the Dingle Peninsula. Having a personal guide online brings early benefits to travellers: inspiring curiosity about what you’ll see and where you’ll stay. James knew of several hotels at our mid- range price target of $ 100 a night, and our preferred location near the centre of town; when we mentioned bed- andbreakfasts, he warned us many of the best ones are closed for the season in late November. For our part, the process of researching and reserving rooms online familiarized us with the trip ahead. That familiarity paid off on Day 1 of our tour. Arriving at the Galway rail station from Dublin, we had only a short walk with our bags to the Park House Hotel, which also was a mere two blocks from the town’s Eyre Square. It turned out to be the day Galway’s Christmas festival opened in the square. We ate dinner that evening with two cousins Eileen had contacted: Kitty Costelloe, a dairy farmer, and her daughter Amanda, a local teacher. Over pub food, they helped us choose a special seafood restaurant where the two of us would celebrate our anniversary the next night. They also arranged a meeting with another of Kitty’s children: policeman Paddy Costelloe, who lived closer to Shannon Airport, where our travels would end a few days later. James, driving the 50 kilometres from his hometown of Ennis early the next morning, had a full itinerary in Connemara ready for us. We started with a look at the area’s offering of distinctive green marble and then drove to the magnificent Kylemore Abbey, a relatively new castle ( built in 1867) that also has seen duty as a Benedictine nunnery and a prestigious boarding school. We passed several other castles, too, but none had the look — or the lakeside setting — of the one hanging in our living room back home in New England. Not to worry, our guide advised as he studied a photographic likeness of the McKnight Irish Castle . James had in mind a ruin that was just outside Killarney that might qualify on the third day of our tour. The morning after our anniversary, James drove us south from the green expanses of County Galway into the starkly lunar landscape of the Burren, a stretch of exposed limestone where it has been said that “ there is not water enough to drown a man, wood enough to hang one, nor earth enough to bury them.” Then it was on to the Cliffs of Moher, where our guide gave us ample time to explore this most spectacular conjoining of Irish shore and sea. The next day, passing through the town of Tralee, we wound our way around Dingle’s charming coast and were treated to a mix of breathtaking ocean and pastoral panoramas. The off- and- on rain showers that greeted us proved fortunate when they brought vivid rainbows — and a set of remarkable photos. After our third night, in Killarney, James took us to Ross Castle, a 15thcentury ruin on Lough Leane — a lake we had seen from a distance, among rolling hills that strikingly resembled the landscape in our Irish Castle serigraph. James smiled, seeing the look of recognition that he’d hoped Ross Castle would spark. Mission accomplished, Eileen and I thought. Then it was off toward the lovely thatched- roof houses of Adare, where James introduced us to a heraldry shop where we ordered some familycrest plaques to be shipped back home. In nearby Limerick we toured the enormous King John’s Castle, which for all its wonders bore no resemblance to ‘ our castle’. Our final night was spent in Ennis, where we made our last family connection, with Paddy Costelloe. With Ennis being James’s town, we took his recommendation of a pub with Irish music. The evening was a hit. And when it came time the next day for James to take us on the short ride to Shannon Airport, we flew home feeling we’d learned much about Ireland, its castles, our cousins — and our guide. All three of us were amused then, when I was able to connect with artist Thomas McKnight and get the true backstory of our Irish Castle serigraph. In an email response from his home in Connecticut, McKnight wrote that he had never been to Ireland, and “ the image of the castle must have come from a book, although I don’t remember which one.” He added, “ To me the position of the castle in a lake epitomized that Celtic land of myth and mystery. Perhaps it’s in my genes; I am part Irish, hence my surname.” Eileen and I assured him that he had captured the landscape perfectly, and suggested he make the trip to Killarney some day. We may just know a tour guide to show him around. — Washington Post Includes tax. Valid on standard rooms. Some restrictions apply. 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Ireland Continued from F 1 Take a load off Where to stay: . Arbutus Hotel College Street, Killarney 0- 11- 353- 64- 663- 1037 arbutuskillarney. com Serves a terrific full breakfast. Rooms from US$ 106. . Old Ground Hotel Ennis O’Connell Street, Ennis 0- 11- 353- 65- 682- 8127 flynnhotels. com The attached pub is great fun. Rooms from US$ 109. . The Park House Forster Street, Galway 0- 11- 353- 91- 564- 924 parkhousehotel. ie A short walk from the train station. Rooms from US$ 106. Finding a guide: . Tours by Locals toursbylocals. com/ Ireland- Tours Approved Tourist Guides of Ireland tourguides. ie/ home . Ireland Chauffeur Travel irelandchauffeurtravel. com . C- I- E Tours International cietours. com/ us/ ireland- chauffeurdrive. aspx Information: discoverireland. ie BOB DOWNING/ AKRON BEACON JOURNAL A cottage for the garden keeper at Kylemore Abbey in Ireland is heated by burning peat. ‘ I envisioned tracking down the mysterious ruins pictured in Irish Castle, a serigraph by contemporary American artist Thomas McKnight that’s been a fixture on our living room wall since 1982’ F_ 03_ May- 16- 15_ FT_ 01. indd F3 5/ 15/ 15 10: 41: 59 AM