Saturday, May 27th, we left County Donegal and drove through the foothills of Benbulben Mountain, which is “Yeats Country”. Our first stop was the village of Drumcliffe to view the final resting place of poet W. B. Yeats.

Next we visited the Lakeside Kylemore Abbey, once a private residence and now a prestigious boarding school for girls (which we did not visit) and a Gothic church and Victorian walled gardens, both of which we visited.

After that, we proceeded to drive through what Oscar Wilde called the “savage beauty” of Connemara, which is a region of bogs, heathland, mountains and shimmering lakes — This is part of the “Wild Atlantic Way”. Finally, we arrived at Ashford Castle where we will spend the next two nights. We were met by an Irish piper!

The Castle has three restaurants. The first photo below is the “Cottage” where we thought we had reservations for our first night. We were wrong, and they sent a driver to bring us back to where we belonged — the Dungeon! We enjoyed it so much, we returned for the second night’s dinner also!

The dish was steak tartare, prepared at the table.

Sunday, May 28th, we drove into Galway for the day. Our local guide John (who was a hoot!) started us at the port to remind us of the roots of this working harbor town, which has grown into a maze of lanes, seaside promenades and remnants of medieval walls.  It has a large student population and a lively arts scene and culinary culture.  Our guide made sure we sampled traditional drinks and food throughout our walk before he turned us loose to wander on our own.

Our first stop was only about 11 am, and drinking didn’t sound particularly interesting, but Guide John introduced us to Galway City Distillery’s Feilire Cocktail, which was remarkably tasty. Its recipe calls for 40 ml of Irish Poitin (basically Irish Moonshine, but now legal) plus 15 ml of Stout Syrup. Top with Cold Brewed Coffee, float lightly whipped cream and decorate with raspberry powder on top.

For lunch, Guide John explained that the Irish don’t eat corned beef and cabbage — that must be a New York Irish tradition. Instead, we had what they call Bacon and Cabbage with Parsley Sauce. “Bacon” is what we would call ham, and even the cabbage (which I usually dislike) was yummy.

After eating all day, we returned to the Castle for our final dinner there. (Clothes are not fitting so well these days…)