September 23 – Rome

Tonnarello At Da Enzo

Another very warm day of sight seeing in Rome. First, we took the bus to St Peter's Basilica. We decided to skip the Vatican Museum this time. The line to get into the basilica was very long, but it moved fairly fast. Because St Peter’s can fit up to 60,000 people in it, the crowd that we were in did not feel oppressive. We spent about an hour inside.

Our next bus trip was to Trastevere where we had lunch at Da Enzo Al 29. This is one of our stops on our food tour Saturday evening. Ann had a salad and the pasta shown above. It’s home made noodles with pecorino cheese and black pepper. I had grilled eggplant and peppers along with pasta sugo di coda – large tube pasta with a tomato and oxtail sauce.

Needing to start digesting our lunch, we walked around Trastevere. We found the bakery that we also visited Saturday evening and I bought some macaroons with hazelnut filling.

We took the tram to the end of the line and transferred twice to buses that brought us back to the hotel to rest. The heat and the crowds seem to tire us and an afternoon rest feels good.

For dinner, we had Roman style pizza at Pizzeria Da Baffetto which is near Piazza Navona. We had different styles of vegetarian pizza on very thin wood fired crust. This is my favorite kind of pizza.

This is the end of our trip. We head home tomorrow morning.

September 22 – Rome

Granita di CaffeCon Panna

We spent the day touring Rome using our transportation pass to ride the bus and Metro. In the morning we walked from Campo dei Fiori to the Spanish Steps stopping along the way to see the major sights and to have some granita (see the photo above). We had lunch at Di Qua on a side street near the steps. A salad for Ann and spaghetti-like pasta with pecorino cheese and black pepper for me. We took Metro back to the hotel after a short walk.

Dinner was near the hotel at Ristorante Cotto. I had pasta similar to the one I had for lunch while Ann had pizza. We then took buses to and from Piazza Navona for dessert and to see the night life.

It was a very warm day in Rome. Being Sunday, there were a lot of people wandering around the popular sights.

September 21 – Donoratico to Rome

We reserved a mini bus with Dave and Marilyn Raymond to take us to the train station in Donoratico. We got there in plenty of time for our train. I finally figured what data to enter to get our ticket printed. It didn’t really matter because we didn’t see a conductor on board to check if we were paying riders. We switched trains in Grosetto. Our train to Rome arrived 30 minutes late. We didn’t mind because we had no more connections to make.

We arrived in Rome and wandered around until we found our hotel. When we checked in, they routed us to their “new” hotel – a sister hotel called Hotel Opera Roma. It seems OK and was rated well by Rick Steves. We dumped our thing in our room and walked down the street to a trattoria for lunch. We had bruschetta and pasta,

Our focus for the day was a walking food tour with Eating Italy Food Tours. We took the Twilight Trastevere Food Tour. You can read about it on their website. We really enjoyed it and recommend it as a “must” for anyone who spends more than a couple of days in Rome. Our guide, Bo, was very knowledgeable about to food in this area. She also gave us good information about the history of the area. By the end of the 4 1/2 hour tour, we were very full and very happy. I would like to say more, but it’s getting late and I have to go to sleep.

September 20 – BAC Tuscany On The Med Day 9

Populonia

Baratti & Populonia

Our final ride for this tour took us directly south along the coast to Populonia. The weather was a bit cool at the start and I had to circle back to the hotel to pick up and put on my arm warmers. The sun was out, though, and the blue sky sparkled. The first 15 miles were dead flat until we reached the beautiful harbor town of Baratti. Then we climbed a very steep grade up to Populonia which is “noteworthy for its Etruscan remains, including one of the main necropoleis in Italy” according to Wikipedia. The small town was very picturesque and the view from the castle’s tower was fantastic.

After wandering through town, I had my mid-ride cappuccino and banana. I rode back down the hill and did a quick tour of the harbor. Then it was time to return on the flats to our hotel.

I stopped in Donoratico to the train station to print our tickets for tomorrow’s ride to Rome. The ticket machine would not accept my input data. Because I have printouts of our confirmation, I expect no trouble.

Here is a link to today's ride.

Ann and I had a wonderful lunch at a cafe on the beach. After our bruschetta, she had a salad which I can’t describe. I had black tagliatelle pasta with mixed shellfish and a little spice in the sauce. It was delicious.

We saw the bicycle rental crew pulling into tow as we walked back to the hotel. I retrieved my bike and turned it in. My rental bike was a very heavy hybrid with an eleven-speed Shimano internal hub. The gearing saved my legs, knees and back but I was very slow going uphill.

Happy Hour was special with Syd giving out rewards to his staff and to volunteers. After that, we took group photos of the Valley Spokesmen group. Dinner was outside in the patio area. Here is the menu:

September 19 – BAC Tuscany On The Med Day 8

Our Morning Wake Up

I did an easy ride today. It was a repeat of the first day’s ride to Bolgheri for cappuccino. The weather was perfect – sunny skies and temperatures in the 60’s and 70’s. I rode with Francie, Jim, Clay and Craig from the Bay Area and members of Valley Spokesmen. Most of the ride was on the local wine road. We saw some activity in the vineyards – mostly mechanical trimming of the vines. We also rode past olive groves.

On the way back, we stopped for lunch in Donoratico and had a feast. Crostini, mixed seafood antipasti, pasta and fritto misto. We also consume a few bottles of wine and some beer. On the way back to the hotel, we took a bike path to stay away from traffic.

Here is a link to today's ride.

After Happy Hour, I was in charge of taking group photos. There were too many people for one photo, so we broke into several smaller groups. Dinner was after the photos. Here is tonight’s menu:

September 18 – BAC Tuscany On The Med Day 7

Petra Vineyard Tour

We had a tour scheduled at Petra Vineyards late this morning. To make sure that I got there in time, I started out early. The sky was clear, the temperature was cool and the wind was calm. I followed my GPS route due south to San Vincenzo to the first roundabout. I rode 1 1/4 times around it and the GPS got confused. I didn’t know that it was not sending out turn signals because the route was straight along a wonderful separated bicycle lane next to the road. Fortunately some of my riding friends caught up to me at a left turn that I would have missed. I followed them and soon a lot of other riders caught up to us. I fiddled with the GPS a couple of times to try to get it to route me again, but I was not successful even after rebooting. So my upload to Strava and RideWithGPS shows me riding four rides today.

I got to the vineyard in plenty of time. I recognized it from a previous BAC ride from Massa Maritima to Elba and back. The winery has a very unique and recognizable design by a famous architect who also designed SF MOMA and other buildings in various locations including Tel Aviv. Our tour was led by a young woman who spoke perfect English. She took us through the whole process. We were lucky that they were crushing grapes today. At the end of the tour, we were offered tastings of several wines along with samples of salami, lardo, what looked like uncooked bacon, bread and olive oil.

Fortified with the wine and the snacks, I headed out and continued on the designated route non-stop until I reached our hotel. I had restarted the route on my GPS so I was comfortable with its directions. The temperature had warmed up to the high 70’s so it was very pleasant riding on the ridgeline above our village.

Snacks and gelato kept me happy until our Happy Hour where I had more snacks and wine. Dinner was good as usual. Here is tonight’s menu:

September 17 - BAC Tuscany On The Med Day 6

Castello di Segalari (Ginepri Olive Grove) And A Bicycle Ride Too

Scary weather this morning. The sky was black and boiling. The surf was pounding and running up to the beach chairs. The wind was blowing at gale force. So what did I do? I went on a bicycle ride.

The focus of today’s ride was lunch at the hotel owners’ house in their olive grove way above the marina plain. To get there would have been a fairly easy bike ride, but that would not have been a challenge. Instead, I left at 8:30 to beat the pack riders. I followed the directions from my GPS which was working perfectly today. I managed to meet Tom and Frank. We rode together until lunch. Our route was in forests, next to vineyards and alongside farm land with big rolls of hay. We even passed an area where tomatoes were being grown for the local populace.

After a couple of climbs with some good descents and easy flat roads, we stopped in Monteverdi for cappuccino. Then we continued on to lunch.

We had a wonderful four-course meal – antipasti of meats and cheeses, salad, sliced veal with a yummy gravy and biscotti for dessert. The food was accompanied by table  wine, dessert wine, limoncello and coffee. After our meal, we had a tour of the olive grove by the grandfather. There were some olive trees over 100 years old. He explained the irrigation system and the harvesting procedure. The whole experience was wonderful – from the food and wine to the tour to the owner’s house where it all took place. The staff was very accommodating to Ann and another non-rider by driving them back and forth to the event.

After that, we got back on our bicycles and wove our way back to the hotel. It’s a good thing that there were no sobriety checks along the way.

Here is today's ride.

Of course, we had Happy Hour and dinner as usual. Here is tonight’s menu:

September 16 – BAC Tuscany On The Med Day 5

Val di Cecina

George Hall led us out this morning on a maze of one-lane roads. These were not on the normal route which caused some aggravation with my GPS. It started to rain, so he took us in an opposite direction to a stop to wait until the showers passed. We turned around a retraced our route and then did another of his variations. Soon we were back on route.

The ride took us up to the hilltop of Montescudaio. The grades were to very long but they were pretty steep. A lot of our riders were already there having taken a different route. I had a yummy cappuccino.

My GPS was still confused when we left and was not beeping me to make turns. I managed to stay on route though. I began riding solo at Bibbona when the others decided to take a different route back to the hotel. My route went down The Wine Road. At that point, my GPS decided to stop registering cumulative distance. So I am not sure how far I rode. I think it was close to 50 miles.

I stopped at a restaurant near our hotel for gnocchi and beer and then wove my way to our room. I will not port my stats because they are incorrect.

We had our Happy Hour and then dinner. Here is tonight’s menu and wine:

September 15 – BAC Tuscany On The Med Day 4

Advanced Rest Day

The weather prediction was 70% chance of rain. Syd decided to cancel the ride for today and replace it with our rest day. This was good news for me because I could rest my tired legs, or so I thought. I suggested to Ann that we should walk into Donoratico. When we reviewed this tour before we left home, we were a bit confused about which town we were staying in. When we got here we found that the official name of our location is Marina di Castagneto Carducci. The reason that I am telling you this is that the walking distance into Donoratico is about 4 kilometers. This is why I didn’t rest my tired legs.

The area near the beach paralleling the coast is covered with pine trees. We walked under these trees alongside the road and over a path for the first half. These second half was past olive groves.

We ended up at the train station. Along with three other BACers, we stopped at a cafe to have drinks (I had a cappuccino) and to use the facilities. We toured the town going onto some side streets to look at the houses and yards where we saw lots of beautiful flowers. After stopping at the grocery store, we split up. Ann and I walked back to the hotel along the same route.

Ann and I had lunch at Sole Luna. Deep fried shellfish and vegetables for me and pasta for Ann. We shared a mixed salad.

The rest of the afternoon was at leisure.

Happy Hour was outside on the terrace overlooking the sea. We had a discussion about which island that we were looking at was Elba. Katy Strain, Gary Hsueh and the desk clerk set us straight. It was the big land mass on our left, not the little one in front of us. (You had to have been there to know what I am writing about). Dinner was back in the main dining room. Several people were missing from Happy Hour and dinner because they took train trips to explore other cities. They all wandered in when we were eating dessert. Here is tonight’s menu:

September 14 – BAC Tuscany On The Med Day 3

Jean Smoot And Her Girls in Monteverdi

Colline Metallifere

This was another wonderful day riding in the Tuscany sun. A large group of us started out with George Hall, one of Syd’s helpers. Instead of following the prescribed route at the beginning, he took us over very narrow roads weaving through vineyards and farm land. This was a very picturesque and traffic-free route. We eventually met the main route and continued on the local Strada del Vino – The Wine Road.

The temperature was rising and those who had on arm warmers or jackets were taking them off. We headed north to Bibbona, then northeast and south to Monteverdi. There were a couple of significant climbs in between. I stopped a few times to take photos and found myself riding either solo or with various small groups. While filling our water bottles in Canneto at the top of a climb, we met another cycling group going the other direction. They were on Andy Hampsten’s Cinghiale Cycling Tours. A lunch wagon was set up for them.

I was going to get a panino in Monteverdi, but it was too crowded and too hot in the store. So I rode on with Christy and Jim back to our hotel.

Here is today’s route:

When I got to our room, Ann was there and ready to eat lunch. After cleaning up we walked over to Rosticceria Da Reno and sat at its outdoor tables right next to the unbusy street. We watched some of the riders go past. I had a very good mixed seafood grill with jumbo shrimp, octopus, squid and white fish. Ann had a mixed salad along with grilled egg plant.

There was a wedding reception in the hotel this evening, so our group was relocated. Our Happy Hour was in the bar area in front of the hotel. It was a little tight to fit 70+ people in it, but we persevered. Dinner was a real treat. We ate outside in the garden area. I had not been in this area yet. It was beautiful and the temperature was just right. The noise level was several decibel levels lower than the dining room. We could carry on a conversation without shouting.

 

Here is tonight’s menu:

September 13 – BAC Tuscany On The Med Day 2

 

Parco Forestale di Poggio Neri

We had a good ride today – temperatures in the 60’s and 70’s. scarce fluffy clouds and tolerable wind. We found a few hills, but they were not very steep. I started out with the Valley Spokesmen slower group led by Syd. We soon split up into several groups. I mixed in with other groups of riders during the day, but part of the time I was riding alone. We had a lot of scenic vistas overlooking the hills, vineyards and the Mediterranean.

Our first major stop was in Suvereto, a village with steep narrow streets and very old buildings. I bought a banana here. Our next stop after a long, gradual climb was in Sassetta where I bought Gran Cereale Classico cookies to snack on. It was close to lunch time. Our last stop was in Castagneto Carducci where a horde of us ate pizza on an outdoor terrace overlooking the Med. Then it was a race back to the hotel.

 

 

 

 

Woman Shelling Beans In Suvereto

Here is today’s ride:

At Happy Hour, the agenda had us introducing ourselves. For a group of 78, this would take a long time. We got through it though when some of our group decided that they didn’t want anyone to know who they were.

Dinner was very good again. The menu follows:

September 12 – BAC Tuscany On The Med Day 1

Today’s Coffee Stop In Bolgheri – Jacqueline Clements and Jeff Herman

We had a typical hotel buffet breakfast at Hotel I Ginepri with unexpected scrambled eggs.

Our Day 1 ride was a basic orientation ride to get us oriented to the area. Because there are so many people on our tour, we started out in groups. Our group was led by George Hall. He is a very considerate leader, keeping a casual pace and stopping at all of the major turns so that we could regroup.

The weather was partly cloudy, warm and a little windy. The terrain was rolling with a couple of short, steep pitches. We rode past vineyards, olive groves, fields of dying sunflowers, Cyprus trees and natural unspoiled land. We walked through a market in Donoratico and stopped for coffee in Bolgheri. I was pushing a heavy hybrid bicycle and struggled up the few hills. On the next few rides, I will go at my own pace so I don’t slow anybody down. Here is today’s ride:

On the way back to the hotel while passing through Donoratico, I stopped at Cyclo Sport to pick up our cycling jerseys that were given to us as part of our tour. Then I proceeded to the hotel and met Ann. After cleaning up, we went to a restaurant across the street for lunch. Ann had a salad while I had risotto with octopus. We walked around the hotel area to get oriented so that we could find all of the grocery stores, restaurants and gelatorias. Then Ann took a swim while I did my internet thing.

We had a Happy Hour at 6:00 on the Garden Terrace. Syd was the MC and went over today’s route, tomorrow’s route and several miscellaneous things.Tommy Glendinning told a joke and sang the national anthem of Scotland. (Did you know that the national animal of Scotland is the unicorn)? After that we had our dinner. The menu follows:

September 11 – Pisa to Donoratico

Italian Beans On A Pedestal

I am falling behind on my blogs, so this one will be short.

We had a meager (compared to Ireland) breakfast at the Hotel Royal Victoria. Jim Duncan and Francie Cushman were there finishing their breakfast and we sat with them, talked about our adventures prior to arriving in Pisa, and planned to share a taxi to the airport that afternoon.

Ann and I checked out of our room and left our luggage with the desk clerk. Our overnight at the hotel was noisy. Although we had a wonderful view of the Arno from our window, the wall along it was popular with teenagers who were acting silly and talking loudly. In addition, the wind was blowing hard through our window and making a lot of noise. No mosquitoes, though.

We took the walk suggested by Rick Steves and soon arrived at the Field Of Miracles. The crowds were there but not as large as we expected. We didn’t want to spend a lot of money climbing the tower, so we went into the duomo for free.I took lots of photos which I will post on our website later.

Next was lunch at a paninoteca where we each had a panino. They were pretty good with fresh warm crusty bread and lot of mayo to make them moist. Moist sandwiches are rare in Europe.

We walked back to the hotel stopping for gelato on the way.

Jim and Francie showed up around 2:15 and soon Christy Simpson and Jim Van De Vreugde joined us. We took two taxis to the airport to meet our group.

It was bizarre to see so many people that we know meeting in a foreign country. Everyone arrived and we boarded our bus at 4:00 for our ride to Donoratico for the BAC Tuscany on the Med bicycle tour.

When we arrived, we checked into our room. Ann stayed there to look at the beautiful view of the Mediterranean at to go for a swim in the pool. I walked up the street with all of our group who reserved rental bikes. There were a lot of us and it took a long time to get fitted and on our way. I have a hybrid that has an 11 gear Shimano hub. I wanted to try a bike with a more comfortable fit. Hopefully this will work.

Dinner was at 8:00. The food was good. The wine was good. The company was good. The noise level was out of sight.

Bedtime was late. Thus no blog yesterday.

September 10 – Dublin to Pisa

View of the Arno from our room at the Royal Victoria Hotel in Pisa

We said good-bye to Dublin this morning but not before we had a yummy breakfast at the Queen of Tarts. If you are in Dublin at a hotel that doesn’t include breakfast, go there. We both had orange juice, the best coffee in Ireland and outstanding scones. Ann had porridge with strawberries, rhubarb and maple syrup. I had granola with fresh fruit and yogurt. There are delicious choices on the menu, but this is what we chose.

Taxi to the airport with our three large bags was only 22 Euros. The bus would have been 10 Euros less, but we didn’t want to deal with lugging our bags.

Our flight was with Ryanair. In spite of what we heard, our experience was good. If you follow its rules, you will have no problems with them. Our bags were under the 15 kilogram limit and we carried on only one additional bag. Seats are close together so there isn’t much leg room but the seats don’t recline. This saves the knees. The flight was right on time and landed in Pisa early. The only negative thing I can say is that everything that you want to eat or drink has a price, even water and coffee.

In Pisa, we went through passport control, picked up our bags and got on the train for a 10 minute ride to the central train station. Then we wheeled our luggage for a half mile to the Royal Victoria Hotel. Our room is on the second floor and faces the Arno. This is a very old hotel. The rooms have been upgraded in the last century, but not by much. The ceilings are at least 9 feet high. The floors are old oak parquet and show some wear. The floor in our foyer is marble as is the floor in the rest of the building. Our room is long and narrow with twin beds. The weather here is warm and humid, so we are keeping our large window open. Hopefully, the mosquitoes are gone for the year.

  

For dinner, we wandered over to the market area just behind our hotel and found Antica Trattoria il Campano. We started with crostinni – four pieces of toast, one with Tuscan beans, one with bacon and cheese, one with pate and one with garlic, tomatoes and basil. Our main course was two kinds of pasta. I can’t describe them but I know that they were delicious. We were happy to find a good place to eat without advice from Rick Steves or TripAdvisor. On the way back to the hotel, I stopped for gelato – licorice and coffee. It was outstanding.

Now it’s approaching bed time. Internet is expensive here, so I will publish this blog tomorrow.

September 9 – Dublin

Trinity College

We had breakfast in our Harding Hotel restaurant. Eggs were our choice today.

After breakfast we walked down the street to Trinity College and took its 30 minute student-led tour. We got a good overview of the history of the college and some of its buildings from a student’s perspective. Our guide was very personable and sprinkled his delivery with humor to keep our attention. Students are trained for guide talks. During the tour, they must wear loose fitting ugly brown academic robe. To our surprise, one of the buildings that we saw was the Berkeley Library. Ann was please because she was a librarian at our Berkeley Public Library. At the end of the tour, we were routed into the Old Library to see the exhibit of the Book of Kells. We also walked through the Long Room Extension where thousands of old manuscripts were shelved. Ann was aghast at the books’ organization. Small books occupied the top shelves while the larger book were on the lower shelves. No Dewey Decimal or Library of Congress catalogs.

After leaving the campus, we walked over to Grafton Street, Dublin’s famous shopping street. It is a pedestrian mall lined with retail stores, bars, cafes and restaurants. We decided to stop and eat lunch at Bewley's, a well-known institution. My toasted ham and cheese sandwich was forgettable as was the flavored chips that came with it. Ann’s Salad Niçoise was better. As we left the restaurant, I spied the scones and other treats which would have been good replacements.

Next, we walked a few blocks to see the statue of Oscar Wilde sitting on a boulder. This was the more literary part of our walk.

We then hopped on the hop-on hop-off bus. Ann got off at our hotel. I continued to the Guinness Brewery. The brewery has an excellent self-guided tour. Even though there were several hundred people in the storehouse, I was able to move at my own pace and not felt rushed. The tour ended on the seventh floor in the Gravity Bar. This bar is all windows where you can see all of Dublin. You can also drink a pint of Guinness which is included in the tour price.

When I got back to the hotel, Ann was there and reported on her tour of Christ Church which is across the street from our hotel.

Dinner was at the Boxty House. Its specialty is potato pancakes. Along with a pint of Murphy’s stout, I had The Boxty Platter - A Trio of Boxty – Sautéed Boxty Dumplings in a Cashel Blue Cheese Sauce, Pan-Fried Boxty Pancake and Boxty Crostini with a Black Olive Tapenade & Tomato Topping. Ann had the soup of the day – spicy tomato and chick peas. For dessert we split Bailey’s ice cream which had caramelized boxty chunks in it and chocolate sauce on top.

Now it’s time to get organized for our flight to Pisa tomorrow.

September 8 – Galway to Dublin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dublin – Fortitude and Justice

This was a travel day. We left Galway and the Asgard Guest House fairly early after a good breakfast of French toast and bacon for me and cereal for Ann.

We planned our route using Google Maps. After driving for 2 1/2 hours we entered Dublin and took a wrong turn. With our Google Map on my iPad with no internet connection, we had no routing feature. So we tried to find to find which streets we were on by pinching and expanding the map that was static in my iPad. Finally after driving around for 1/2 hour, we pulled up in front of the Harding Hotel. We parked in a no-parking zone and checked in to our room. Getting directions from the hotel clerk to the Hertz garage to turn in our car, we set off again. Following his directions perfectly, we couldn’t find the Hertz garage after driving around for another 1/2 hour or so. We discovered that he sent us to the Avis garage by mistake. I ran into the Avis office and humbly asked directions from them. We finally made it.

It didn’t seem far enough to our hotel to call a taxi, so we used the hotel’s free map to find our way back. We had to ask directions only once.

When we reached the hotel, it was hours past lunch time, so we stopped in at the hotel’s coffee shop and ate. I had a good tuna melt with fries. Ann had a Cajun chicken salad.

Instead of going back to our room we wanted to take a tour to get oriented to Dublin. We bought tickets to the hop-on, hop-off bus. It took us on a 1 1/2 hour circuit. Our tickets are good through tomorrow, so we can use them for transportation to get to the places that we want to see more thoroughly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Temple Bar in Dublin is not a bar, it’s an area of the city right next to our hotel. It is promoted as Dublin’s cultural quarter. It is filled with restaurants, pubs, shops and people. We wandered over to it and had dinner at The Old Storehouse. We had our Guinness, our dinner (Guinness beef stew for me and soup for Ann) and our live Irish music. We sat upstairs in the packed pub and could see the musicians through large TV monitors. It was a good experience.

After dinner, we strolled back to the hotel through the mob of Sunday night revelers.

September 7 – Galway and Inishmore On The Aran Islands

Full Irish breakfast for me and French toast for Ann this morning. We sat in a glass-enclosed porch at our B&B. We were served by the 8 year old grandson of the owner. He had on a rugby shirt with the colors of the home team. They had a big match late in the afternoon.

Ann and I decided to split up and do different things today. I wanted to go to Inishmore, one of the Aran Islands. She looked at the weather and decided to stay in Galway to take a guided walking tour. I walked down to the ticket office, bought my ticket, walked a couple of blocks to a bus stop and caught the double decked bus run by the Aran Island Ferries. The bus was packed. I was lucky to get a seat on the top deck so I could see the marine views on the way out to the pier. The ride took about 45 minutes.

I boarded the bout along with about 200 other people. The trip took about an hour.

When we landed in Kilronan, the closest thing to a town on the island. I got into a mini bus for a tour of the island. There are four ways to tour the island. You can walk, but you would need a few days to do the circuit. You can ride a bicycle, but ou might have to contend with strong winds and heavy rain. You can ride in a horse cart, but you are open to the elements. The last and safest way to tour is in one of the several mini buses. It was very cold today with strong gusty winds and lots of rain showers.

The first part of the tour took us over to Dun Aenghus which is the largest of the pre-historic forts in Ireland. We were dropped off there and given two hours to tour the fort and to eat lunch. To get to the fort, you have to pay a small fee and then hike up a hill. The hike is gradual at first, but the grade kicks up at the end. The steep part has lots of rocks and they were slippery. It had started to rain in earnest on my way up. I got soaked along with about ten other hardy souls. Because of the weather, I didn’t spend much time at the fort and I certainly didn’t approach the edge which is on a sheer cliff with several hundred feet of nothing below except the ocean.

At the bottom, I went into the local cafe. I was told that everything was cooked on the premises and was good. I ordered there hardy vegetable which came with brown bread. As I was waiting, they brought out a heaping plate of freshly baked scones. I couldn’t resist. Then I saw assortment of cakes and had to have a piece of butterscotch cake. This was a very good lunch.

Our driver picked us up on time and we toured the rest of the island. I got on the 4 o’clock boat and hopped onto the bus for the ride back to town. I met Ann at the hotel a little past 6:00.

We walked down to the pedestrian mall for dinner. We peeked into a couple of pubs on the way to see if we could combine food with music. No luck. The pubs didn’t serve food. We ended up at Martine's Restaurant for another good Irish meal. Ann had a salad with goat cheese and risotto. I had deep-fried sardines and smoked BBQ ribs. We were happy. Here are photos of the first half of the meal. I was too focused on the second half to take any pictures.

September 6 – The Cliffs Of Moher

We said goodbye to Dingle this morning. The weather was partly cloudy and cold. The rain that fell overnight left the road wet and the fields sparkling. We drove north through Tralee and caught the Tarbert-Killimer Ferry. This cut off a long drive via Limerick. We stopped in Lahinch for lunch at the Shamrock Hotel. It wasn’t very good but it was fuel. Another few kilometers took us to The Cliffs Of Moher.

This is a real professional tourist stop. There was ample parking and when we paid our fee, it included entrance to the cliff area. Since nobody checked our tickets, I suspect that hikers and cyclists could enter without paying. We walked through the visitors’ center, past the large cafeteria and then out to the cliffs. There were lots of people there, but not as many as I expected.

The weather turned blustery with strong gusts of wind and short showers with some light hail. This is just what I expected in Ireland. We had on double layers of jackets with our rain jackets on top. The views of the cliffs were spectacular. We walked along the edge as I took lots of photos.

Back at the car, we turned on the heat to warm up as we continued north and then east to drive through The Burren. This is a desolate, rocky area of Ireland that is an extreme contrast to the green fields in the rest of the country. There were places to stop to see ring forts and other interesting things to the Irish and geologists, but we were getting tired of driving and wanted to make tracks to Galway.

The narrow roads and the heavy traffic getting into Galway made the rest of our drive tense. We sort of got lost coming into town, but we circled the area and finally asked directions. We were then very close to our B&B. We checked in at the Asgard Guest House, cleaned up and took a short rest.

We walked a few blocks to dinner at Sonny's and The Front Door Pub. It is located on a pedestrian mall in the old town. Galway is a college town and there were lots of lively people out on Friday night. The pub was filled with soccer fans watching the match between Ireland and Sweden. Seating was at a premium. We were lucky to get a table in the crook of a stairwell. Sitting on high stools, Ann had cider and a lamb burger. I had a pint of Smithwick’s Irish ale and a huge plate of roast pork loin.

Our walk back to our B&B helped settle our stomachs.

September 5 – Dingle Peninsula

 

We were light eaters at breakfast this morning. Instead of ordering from the menu, we had cereal, fruit and yogurt from the buffet. With plenty of coffee, we were fortified enough for our trek around The Dingle Peninsula.

The weather was partly cloudy as the rain from last night moved on. Temperatures were in the 50’s and never reached 60 all day. It was very refreshing.

Traffic was light, and it was moving a lot slower than on our tour of The Ring Of Kerry. This was nice for me as the driver although I am getting used to driving on the left and judging the edge of the road on my left. The road is very narrow in places. The busses that we encountered had to go very slowly around some of the hairpin curves.

We pulled of the road a couple of times in the first few kilometers to take photos of the incredible scenery. I tried to make sure that I looked inland as well as toward the sea to try to capture the views. Our first prolonged stop was at the Great Blasket Centre. This is a fascinating heritage centre/museum  honoring the unique community who lived on the remote Blasket Islands until their evacuation in 1953. We watched a video, toured the displays, had a scone and took some photos.

Blasket Island

A few kilometers up the road, we stopped for lunch at Tig Bhric Pub. It was a little early after our scone, but it would have been real hard for me to pass up some local brew. We were a bit reluctant to go in because there was a “For Sale” sign in front. It was open, though, but nobody was inside. The pub looked like a pub should look. We roused the bartender and asked if he had some of his craft beer. He poured a draft from the tap, tasted it, didn’t think we would like it, poured me a sample and I agreed. So he went next door and brought back the last of his bottled porter. We split one. Ann liked it a lot and wanted to take some home. I wasn’t real happy with it and would have taken some back in the car, but I didn’t think that it would travel very well. So we had our soup and sandwich and drove on. This brew pub was in the middle of nowhere. I don’t see how it could be successful.

Our last stop was at the Gallarus Oratory which is an ancient Christian church. We got there by driving up a very narrow one-lane road, parked in a small free lot and walked down a footpath lined by fuchsia bushes and swarms of bees. The oratory is a small stone building shaped like an upturned boat. That’s appropriate because there is a good view of the harbor. About a dozen monks would sit inside for services. The bus load of French tourists that we met there would have to take turns praying.

That was the end of our tour of the Dingle Peninsula. We drove only a little over 30 miles, but it took most of the day. A bicycle would be a good way to do this tour if you had no fear of vehicles passing closely.

Instead of heading back to our room, we decided to drive west on a narrow lane to walk up to the Eask Tower. We had our first encounter of meeting wide vehicles on a one-lane road. We had to back up three times to let some large tractors go by. When we reached the trailhead, the friendly lady gatekeeper met us, took our two Euros and gave us directions. We walked straight up through sheep pastures for a short while and then zig-zagged through sheep pastures the rest of the way. We saw lots of sheep and lot of sheep muck (that’s what the gatekeeper called it). A group of Americans coming down the trail warned us to watch our step. One of the girls was walking bare footed because she had shoes that were too hard to clean. Well, the climb was worth it. We had wonderful views from the top. The photo at the top of this page is one of them.

At the end of the walk, we stopped and talked to the husband of the gatekeeper. He was mixing mortar and repairing the stones on his small gatehouse. He was a friendly elderly gent about our age. Ann got him into a discussion about the types of sheep and what they are used for today. He said that the rams wool was used in WWII to line the inside of fighter planes as a shield from bullets. He also said that the wool business is bad today because everyone is using synthetic fabrics. He was very chatty, but we had to break it off in order to scrub the bottoms of our shoes before we got back into the car. The hose and scrub brush were part of the entry fee.

Back at our room, we took a break. At 6:00 we walked down the block to The Chart House. Our dinner was very good in this highly rated restaurant. We have discovered that Irish restaurants have special early bird menus. They are two or three course meals priced lower that you would pay if you ordered ala carte. They are still expensive – usually €20 - €25. My meal was fish chowder (local fresh fish), chicken breast (Irish free range with special sauces) and lemon cheese cake with orange sorbet. Ann had their special salad with very fresh vegetables, salmon on polenta and dark chocolate terrain with berries and praline ice cream. We took a long walk after that to settle our stomachs.

Now it’s bedtime.