| Click here for information about our escorting Chaplin, Father Graham Keep |
Saturday 23 June 2007
Day 1
Early morning arrival in Dublin Airport.
Meet our Driver/Manager in the arrivals hall at Dublin Airport.
Transfer to City Centre Hotel.
Later in the day a guided tour of Dublin including visits to St. Patrick's Cathedral, St Michan's, Christ Church Cathedral where the remains of the Anglo-Norman conqueror of Dublin, Strongbow are buried and Trinity College, home to the Book of Kells. Dinner & Overnight in the Gresham Hotel (4* city centre hotel). |
 |
| |
Sunday 24 June 2007
Day 2
Travel south to tour the Wicklow Mountains
Visit Powerscourt Gardens.
Visit St. Kevin's 6th century monastery at Glendalough. The steep wooded slopes of Glendalough, the “valley of the two lakes”, harbour one of Ireland’s most atmospheric monastic settlements. Sacked time and again by the Vikings, it nevertheless flourished for over 600 years – Requested Mass opportunity at Glendalough.
Return to Dublin City.
Visit the Guinness Brewery at St. James Gate and enjoy a pint of Guinness in the Sky Bar, which is located in at the top of a glass tower that commands spectacular views of Dublin City & County in every direction.
Dinner & Overnight in the Gresham Hotel. |  |
| |
Monday 25 June 2007
Day 3
Depart for Armagh, one of Ireland’s oldest cities which dates back to the age of St. Patrick and the advent of Christianity.
Visit Hill of Tara. Tara was the political & spiritual centre of Celtic Ireland and the seat of the High Kings until the 11th century.
Visit Mellifont Abbey, the first Cistercian monastery in Ireland founded in 1142 by St. Malachy of Armagh. A Visitor Centre houses an interesting exhibition on the work of masons in the Middle Ages with fine examples of their craft on display.
Cross the border outside Newry and continue on the Downpatrick where St. Patrick first landed in Ireland.
Travel on to Armagh City where St. Patrick founded his first See in AD 443.
Dinner & Overnight in the Armagh City Hotel. |  |
| |
Tuesday 26 June 2007
Day 4
Morning visit to St. Patrick's Catholic Cathedral & St Patrick's Church of Ireland Cathedral with it’s 11th century High Cross and the bones of Brian Boru, the High King of Munster who defeated the Viking armies in AD 1014.
Depart for the historic fortified walled city of Derry. St. Columba founded a monastery here beside the River Foyle in 546 and called the site Doire or “Oak Grove”, later anglicised as Derry. The city fortifications are among the best - preserved in Europe and were completed in 1618 to defend the city from Gaelic chieftains in Donegal.
Travel via Cookstown & Coleraine to the spectacular North Antrim Coast. Visit Giant's Causeway, the subject of many legends and where an estimated 37,000 basalt columns extend from cliffs down into the sea.
Dinner & Overnight in Tower Hotel Derry (4* hotel inside city walls). |  |
| |
Wednesday 27 June 2007
Day 5
Depart for Wesport via the Highlands of Donegal & Sligo. Visit Drumcliff & read the epitaph on grave of WB. Yeats, an Irish poet and dramatist.
Continue on via Tobbercurry & Castlebar to Westport on the shores of Clew Bay. Dinner & Overnight in Wyatt Hotel (3* town centre hotel). |  |
| |
Thursday 28 June 2007
Day 6
Visit Knock Shrine in Mayo where in 1879 two local women saw an apparition of the Virgin, St. Joeseph & St. John the Evangelist – Requested Mass opportunity in the Basilica.
Visit Ballintubber Abbey whose history goes back to pre-Christian times. People came from the east through Ballintubber on their way to the holy mountain on the west coast - now called Croagh Patrick.
Return to Westport. Dinner & Overnight in Wyatt Hotel. |
 |
| |
Friday 29 June 2007
Day 7
Depart for Galway via Connemara.
Travel along the southern shores of Clew Bay to Louisburgh before travelling along the Famine Relief Road to Leenane.
See Croagh Patrick, the mountain on which in AD 411 St. Patrick spent 40 days and 40 nights fasting and praying for the Irish.
Tour of Connemara via Killary Harbour, Clifden, Recess, Maam Cross Oughterard & Galway.
Visit to Kylemore Abbey. Kylemore Abbey's greatest attraction is its location. Nestled at the base of Duchruach Mountain on the northern shore of Lough Pollacappul, in the heart of the Connemara Mountains, it is regarded as one of Ireland's most romantic buildings – Requested Mass opportunity in Kylemore Abbey or In Church of Our Lady of the Wayside near Kylemore.
Continue on via Recess, Maam Cross Oughterard to Galway City.
Dinner & Overnight at the Imperial Hotel (4* city centre hotel). |
 |
| |
Saturday 30 June 2007
Day 8
Depart for the Atlantic west coast of Clare.
Travel along the shores of Galway Bay then down the Atlantic seaboard to Dunguaire Castle at Kinvarra then along the west coast to see The Burren (Gaelic for rocky land) and visit the dramatic 650ft Cliffs of Moher.
Return to Galway via Ennis & Gort. Dinner & Overnight at the Imperial Hotel. |  |
| |
Sunday 1 July 2007
Day 9
Depart for Dublin
Travel east via Ballinasloe & Athlone, the centre of Ireland.
Visit Clonmacnoise, the monastery founded by St. Ciaran in 6th Century - Requested Mass opportunity in Clonmacnoise.
Dinner & Evening of Irish music & dance at Taylors Three Rock.
Overnight in the Gresham Hotel. |  |
| |
Monday 2 July 2007
Day 10
Transfer to Dublin Airport. Depart on return flight home. | |
