The best information I have found about the VAT tax is by Patricia Preston on her Q and A forum. http://www.irelandexpert.com/abcs_vat_7-16-99.htm I just have a few points to add to her already thorough explanation. The European Value Added Tax is basically a sales tax. However, the refund for visiting tourists has been contracted out to private companies. Pat mentions these and their advantages and disadvantages. However, at any given store, they will probably have a form from only one of the two or three main companies. You don’t have a choice. So we just tried to collect as many refund forms we could (when we remembered). When you get to the airport, you go through security and in the area with the Duty Free shops, you have to hunt down the offices of the companies that match the company name on the forms you collected. Some give you cash. Some refund your credit card. When it's all said and done. It is still quite confusing.

Trim Castle

Wow. Our last day in Ireland. Hard to believe that over two weeks have flown by already. Over some feeble objections from the womenfolk, Aaron lobbied for one more castle stop. Trim Castle in the town of (you guessed it) Trim is one of the largest
Anglo Norman castles that was founded around 1100 and continued to be enlarged and adding more sophisticated anti-siege technology through the 1300's. We took a guided tour,which is really the only way to see these places. The guide was a sharp contrast to the John Connely style. He had a memorized spiel and sometimes struggled to remember names or dates. The more striking thing was his biting comments about the Anglo Normans that built the castle. It was a sharp reminder that Ireland only pried themselves free from English rule in 1922 and 800 years or so of grievances won't go away any time soon.

Our last night in ireland was at the competent Bewley hotel at the Dublin Airport . After wading through the VAT tax refunds (I will add one more post on this topic for the one or two readers who might be inteterested, it does apply to all European union countries)

Trow Away de Close

We did get trapped in the commercial net of the duty free shops. A friend had told me to look for "Midleton Very Rare" whiskey as the best of Irish whiskey. We saw it at the Jameson distillery for a very high price. It was on sale here for 30 Euros less, which was still a lot. I certainly wouldn't spend that much without tasting it,so asked the clerk if I could get a taste and he ran around the shop and found me a sample bottle. We were bemoaning the fact that we would have to cram it in our checked luggage when we got to the JFK security. The clerk has a simple solution. He said we'd just have to "Trow Away de Close and keep de whiskey" I think I will end with that.

One more post to follow for those interested in VAT tax refunds.

Kilronan Castle

Sadly we are winding down the trip. One of the required tourist stops is to spend a night in a castle, so we are heading to Kilronan Castle tonight on the way back to Dublin. It is a lot of driving today , some on expressway through countryside in the middle of the country that looks like Michigan countryside. The coolest of the hotel castles such as the Asheford Castle cost $600 a night, so we opted for Kilronan, which has only been open as a hotel for a couple of years. Arriving at the castle is impressive. The main part of the castle was built in the 18th century. It has been restored and modern amenities have been added. All interiors are regal complete with carved oak everywhere. The rooms have modern climate controls, pillow top beds and luxurious bathrooms. There are a few interesting inconsistencies. The gardens are in need of weeding and don't appear to be thriving too well. Some of the elegant finishing has little workmanship shortcomings. However, overall, the facilities are really elegant and a bargain for the price.

Dinner at the Castle

We went down to dinner without huge expectations . We booked the room under a great midweek special which included dinner and breakfast in the price. We really expected a token dinner with one or two choices. Instead, we were greeted by a formal but friendly waiter and a free choices off the menu for an appetizer, main course , dessert and coffee. The menu also said we could choose one of the several after dinner cognacs including 32 euro shots of cognac. Shockingly, that turned out to be a typo (wry grin).
I started my dinner with unique appetizer comprised of bacon and lentils and a fried quail egg and a couple other things I can't remember. This was followed by a small hors d'oevre of brie cheese on a bed of something fresh and crunchy, compliments of the chef. This was followed by a sorbet to cleanse the palette, although I really didn't think mine was dirty.
I had not had a steak all trip , so I ordered a flavorful Fillet steak (which came with the unavoidable mashed potatoes). Aarons tofu entree was the best he had had all trip. Everyone's dessert choice was the trio of chocolate: white chocolate mousse, dark chocoate truffle and chocolate ice cream. Oh wait, Aaron ordered the chef's selection which was Tiramisu and two other wonderful little chocolate options. This long and beautiful meal was finished up with very good and very strong coffee. All we had to pay for was the glasses of wine we ordered (Camp Nuevo Tempanilla from Spain) and the tip.

Martina, the B and B proprietor is pleasant, but not very talkative. Hospitality seems to be more necessity than passion. However, the coffee was great and the full Irish breakfast was good.

The-Burren

The objective today is The Burren. It is a remarkable area that is completely covered with rock. It is maybe a ten mile by ten mile area. We decided to take another walking tour. A young man named John Connelly conducts expensive but highly recommended tours of the mountain side that has been in his family for 250 years. John has the infectious personality and sense of humor for which the Irish are famous.

In a casual, conversational style, John tours you up the mountainside at a fairly good pace. He explains that the stone fences that run straight over the mountain are " famine walls". The English gentry had the poor Irish build these walls to keep them occupied and provided a penny a day or a bit of food. John thinks it was to prevent them from developing infrastructure and organization to resist the landlords.

We had read that The Burren has a wealth flora and fauna, but looking up at the rocks it is hard to imagine until you walk there. It has so much grass growing between the rocks that they put the cattle on the mountain tops in the winter after letting the grass grow all summer. Remember, it almost never gets below freezing.

There is also a wealth of archeology on the mountain side. Watch towers of Celtic chieftans, burial rock piles, holy wells and more. John is a gracious host as well as a tour guide. He brings an Irish invention called a Kelly Kettle and quickly boils water with a fire under the kettle and serves coffee and tea on the mountain side !! It was an enjoyable 2 1/2 hour tour. In chatting with John, I was shocked to learn that he holds down a 40 hour job on the afternoon shift in Galway plus does one long plus one or two short tours a day, every day at least in the summer months. Kind of a bummer. Oh yeah, and he and his father still manage 50 cows that they breed for beef. They receive subsidies from the European Union to keep the small farms alive.

Back in Doolin, Aaron the vegetarian rebelled against another night of pub food and we stopped a tiny Italian restaurant right next to the pub. He and I both got Aubergine Parmagiana after Linda informed us that Aubergines were eggplant. It was actually very good, but did not come with any pasta. This place also took casual European service to a new level. A couple times, I could swear the owner/waiter slipped next door for a Guiness. After we finally coaxed the check out of him, we left money on the table and walked out. If not we might still be there.
We made up for no pasta that by getting dessert at the pub. We are back at McGanns pub for a second night. The atmosphere was good. We stayed later tonight and found out things to pick up later. There was a little five year old English girl visiting with her Mom. This little girl was learning Irish dance and loved to be center of attention. Soon a couple of young adults were dancing "River Dance" style. Apparently the guy was somewhat famous in Ireland. Lots of fun, famous or not.

We did our now traditional late start again today. Not a bad tradition, really. Stella is not a morning person, so she was happy to make breakfast around 9. This morning it is potato (that stereotype of Ireland is accurate) pancakes and homemade applesauce. Truly Lovely.

Sadly, it is a day of long driving today. We were unwilling to pay the big bucks allow a second driver, but one of us is paying in another way. We are taking small detour to pass through Shannon. With Shannon. So Shannon can bond with the city named after her and the river named after her. The guide books don't say much of anything about Shannon and now we know why. There isn't much there. We did stop for lunch at the Irish version of a strip mall and had the best Indian food I have had in a long time at a restaurant called Saffron. If you fly into Shannon you might consider eating there before running off. However, I should warn you, they do play the theme from Love Story over. And over. And over.
In any case, off we go again, headed for Doolin, the purported traditional music capitol of Ireland. We are getting close at 3 in the

Cliffs of Moher

afternoon and the sun is still out, so we decide to visit the Cliffs of Moher on the way. Turns out this was pretty good decision. An hour is plenty of time to see them. Of course, Aaron and I had to have our turn at looking over the 600 foot cliffs edge. I thought the guidebooks were exagerrating about the wind, but was pretty incredibly windy. A few people have been blown off, but I suspect the wind had some help from seriously poor judgement and maybe even a little alchohol.

So we tooled into Doolin, a tiny little stretch of road with three pubs and a whole passel of B and B's strung along the road. We picked the most likely looking one, called Suantrai B and B, asking the two important questions: Do you have WiFi and how much is a room yielded a yes and 60 Euro per room. We're in.

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We randomly select McGann's pub for dinner and music. Ok, not so random. It was the closest one and we were walking. We had some great Guiness Beef stew and watched Germany whooping Australia in another world cup match. Music started around 9 and was very good. This pub has the friendly atmosphere you would expect. An amazing thing was that three people ran the whole place with three small connected rooms. they took food orders at the bar, did bar tending , delivered the food to your table and bussed. Wow.

Another fabulous sunny day.

After a tasty breakfast of pancakes and sausages (nice to have a break from the standard full Irish breakfast), We are off to conquer Mount Brandon. It is reportedly an easy walk-up mountain and is the third tallest in Ireland. We had an interesting time getting to the base. Turns out there is a race today where they

Mount Brandon

bike 17 miles over Connor pass and then on to the base of Mount Brandon. They "trek" up to the top and back, then run back to the harbor and sea kayak across dingle bay. We passed runners while driving up and trekkers while walking up. The cute young girl at the tourist office told us there were 12 white crosses marking the way, but then admitted she had never actually hiked it herself !! She said it was tough enough she had to speak gaelic to get the job, much less climb a mountain.
First of all the crosses don't start until you are a ways up the mountain. We got to cross six and Linda's knees threw up the red flag. I decided to be a good husband and keep her company while the young'uns (Aaron and Shannon) set their sights for the top. About the time they reached the top (turns out there are 15 crosses!!!!), a cloud completely covered the top of the mountain, obscuring their rewarding view. No sooner were they a third of the way back down, and the top was completely clear again. Bummer. They had legs like jelly when they got down. Still not sure why it took so long. The peak was around 3000 ft and we probably only gained 2500 ft from where we started walking.

Did a partial drive of the Dingle peninsula, but were pretty tired so we took a one lane road over the top of the hills as a shortcut and headed back pretty quickly. Overall, I think I really like the Dingle peninsula a lot more than the Ring of Kerry.

We split up tonight. Aaron and Shannon wanted a quick meal at a vegetarian restaurant and then went to Saturday mass. Turns out they made the better meal choice. We went to the Global Village restaurant. Pricey, fancy, but nothing great. Even the restaurants that do more creative dishes stick to the traditional sides of mashed potatoes or chips and vegetables are invariably carrots and broccoli. We headed to the pub to watch the nearly miraculous world cup match where the US tied England 1-1. Amazing. Met up with Aaron and Shannon later at Murphy's pub for a bit of music and headed back a bit early. Not all of the pubs live up to the reputation of the friendliest places on earth. Off to Doolin tomorrow.

Stella made a lovely (pronounced loov-lee) breakfast of scrambled eggs and smoked salmon with bacon. We are a bit road weary, but decided to follow Stella's advice again and take an archeology tour of the peninsula. It's raining today. Only the third day of the trip out of ten!! The tour guide of Sciuird tours.

Gallarus Oratory

The guide was an energetic, brusque, strongly opinionated man of about 40 years old. He seemed to think that hanging on to Irish/Celtic culture as distinct from Anglo culture was a fruitless task. He was definitely a fount of knowledge and the tour of archeology sites was fascinating. This included stones with Ogham (pronounced oh-wam) alphabet markings to mark a chieftains territory, the 6th century Reask monastic settlement and the Gallarus Oratory, the oldest standing dry rock built (chapel) in Ireland. And when something is the oldest in Ireland, its OLD !! Again, if you have to be in the rain, archeologic sites are the best place to be. Or in a pub.

One thing I find a bit disturbing is how pagan beliefs were incorporated or even appropriated by Christianity. For instance, there are holy wells all around Ireland that are supposed to have specific healing virtues. They are not used for water, but you must drink from them on a certain day and follow certain rituals to have your eye problems or some other specific problem healed. These sites are now part of the church system and considered Christian (by some, but not by me).
We had the tour bus (15 passenger) drop us in town and stopped for a seafood lunch. I tried steamed mussles for the first time. They are rich tasting like clams, but these did have a bit of seaweed overtones. It think they would be great in something with a sauce.
I spent the afternoon in a vegetative state, but Linda was off shopping around Dingletown.

Early Bird Special

Food in Ireland is expensive. Aaron spotted a menu at the Old Stone Bar and grill that had an early bird menu until 7PM . Two courses for only 15 euro (just under $19). That is amazing. It is alos amazing that we find it amazingly cheap. I started with a ground lamb kebab. We all had Various pasta dishes that were quite good.
No pubs tonight.

Skellig Michael

Another full Irish breakfast and we are off to an early start to drive the Ring of Kerry. Aaron prevailed (with a little backing from the driver) and we decided to visit an island called Skellig Michael today. At the tip of the Iveragh peninsula (Ring of Kerry), boats leave from Portmagee at 10:30 AM. We had to hustle. Hustling down narrow Irish roads lined with rock walls or 200 foot drops is always interesting.
Skellig Michael is an incredible rock jutting over 600 vertical feet out of the sea 8 miles off the western coast. This amazing place was the center of a monastic settlement for a few hundred years in the 1000 to 1300 AD time period. It is dedicated to the arch angel Michael and was a holy place of pilgrimage.

For us ordinary Christians, it meant a jump from a heaving boat and a climb of over 600 steps to the restored church and beehive huts. This place is really one of the highlights of our trip, which I suspect our photos will show. The cool birds with the colorful bills are called puffins.

The trip back was into the wind and quite the up and down experience. Thankfully none of us is prone to seasickness. The captain took us past little Skellig, which is home to one of the largest Gannett (sea birds) colony in the world with over 60,000 birds.

Back on dry land, we were not in such a rush and stopped at one of the spectacular ring forts on the ring of Kerry that dated back before the Anglo-Normans butted in and even before the Vikings were pillaging. Dry rock walls 6 feet thick and perhaps 150 feet in diameter, these places are pretty cool. We continued on to our resting place for the night in the town of Dingle.
We arrived at the nicest bed and breakfast of our whole trip (which was was nice, since we plan to stay there three nights) in the home of Stella Doyle a former restaurant owner and chef. She is the classic European intellectual and a charming and enjoyable hostess. She gave us a list of her preferred restaurants and we headed off to try one called the Blue Zone. The Blue Zone is a funky Bohemian style restuarant, with blue lighting and 40's and 50's jazz music playing. We split a wonderful salad (first one in Ireland) and a wood fired pizza. Finished off with some wonderful ice cream topped with amaretto. I don't remember what everyone else had for dessert, I was too busy enjoying mine. Well Ok, Linda just read over my shoulder and claims that I was the only one that had dessert. Seems unlikely to me.

Killarney

One of only a couple/three days of rain so far.
Our hostess Edel's version of full Irish breakfast added homeade German marmalade and subtracted the pudding. Fine with me. Some of us thought the marmalade was too bitter, I think it was the same person that was fine with oversweet American food. That's just silly .
Hoping the rain would blow over , we headed over the mountains to Killarney National Park. You could tell that it would be incredibly beautiful with a bit of sun. There wasn't any.

We stopped to do a loop hike to see Torc Falls and some of the surrounding area. Nice hike. In the rain. At least the falls were in full flow. This area is actually very similar to the Smoky Mountains.
Had a nice lunch from supplies we picked up in Kenmare this morning. Fresh baked brown bread for me, White bread for Aaron, cheeses, hummous , pesto and olives. About this time Mildred broke. Mildred is the name we had given to our SatNav with the British (not Irish) accent. Fortunately, we were now in the town of Killarney and there was a Hertz office at the airport. After a 30 or 40 minute drive out to the airport and back we were able to fire up our new girl Fiona, who was at least as good as Mildred at keeping us on the right road. It was a high risk move, leaving the girls to shop in town while we went for a SatNav replacement, but I guess we are still under our credit card limits.

Ross Castle

On the way back, we stopped at Ross Castle which was a pretty cool place, with the usual ambivalence of the Irish. They love the history but hate the Anglo-Norman domination that came with it.
It was a long day of driving in the rain. we were getting a bit tired and grumpy. This problem was instantly corrected with a great supper. Fish and chips, Kerry beef and Guiness pie over colcannon.
As best I can tell, colcannon is made different by everyone, but is basically mashed potatoes, cabbage and ham mixed. Aaron's vegetarian dish this time wasn't very good.
Rehydrated and restocked with calories, we forced ourselves to head back into town, because several places that didn't have anything last night, listed traditional music for tonight. This time we wisely chose a place called the Wander Inn. A man and his wife played and sang. The music was quite good, but the passion with which they sang raised the level to great. We still had to leave early due to an early morning tomorrow to beat the tour busses around the ring of Kerry.

On a more positive note, I will digress to describe the full Irish breakfast provided at many bed and breakfasts. It starts with yogurt, fruit and cereal, then proceeds to eggs, bangers (sausages), rashers (like canadian bacon), white and black pudding. White pudding is a mixture of sausage and herbs and who knows what else that fries up to the consistency of the softer german sausages. Black pudding is similar with different ingredients that includes blood. Blood of what, I don't know, but we "gave it a miss". Usually there is a grilled tomato and occasionally mushrooms. This all topped off with toast or the ubiquitous irish brown bread. I love Irish brown bread.