THE COCKTAIL HOUR: St. Pete Pub Crawl, Part Two

Last week, we took you along for our warm-up pub crawl in St Petersburg, Florida. Today, we delve in a little deeper, hitting four pubs and a pizza joint. All are within a block from our hotel, in fact, we just walked across the street, went up one block, crossed over to the next one, and walked back to the hotel...all in one square block.

Easy walking and easy drinking.

Watch the Video!

Another good thing about the bars along this route is that they seem to be in a perpetual happy hour during the daylight hours. I know, but we're beyond our nightlife days and enjoy an earlier party life now.

First stop, the Del Mar Gastro Lounge.  Almost all the bars on our walk had $2 beer specials on select varieties. Here, one of those varieties is Rolling Rock so it's a little better than the usual Bud or Coors Light specials you see. They're also 16 ounce tall boys, which went well with the pulled pork sliders we got to go with them.

The sliders and beer were delicious, cheap, and the cold beer really hit the spot in this Florida heat.

Next up is Mastry's, which is the alcohol pouring outpost of Mastry's sportfishing not far from here over on the bay. According to the signs inside, this is the city's oldest bar...and also voted the best dive bar in St. Pete.

I'd have to conduct a much deeper investigation to see if that's true but it is a nice, dark, cash-only spot where we get a shot of whiskey and some wine...served in disposable plastic cups.

Back out into the light and up the block, it's the Five Bucks Drinkery. The name says it all, although my drink...a Captain Morgan on the rocks...was considerably less at $3.

Letty met a couple of friendly dogs here, too.

Coming around the corner into the home stretch,  MacDinton's Irish Pub has just opened for the day. Inside, to the strains of AC/DC and Led Zeppelin, we have some beer and Jameson shots while having a lively discussion with the bartenders.

Lastly, it's Pacifico and slices of cheese pizza at Joey Brooklyn's about 100 feet from the hotel lobby. the Pacifico is good as always, the pizza...well...it'll do.

Cheers!

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved

THE COCKTAIL HOUR: St. Petersburg Pub Crawl, Part 1

We can't come to a fun, Florida city like St. Pete and not try some of the local watering holes. This city is full of places to go have fun and that included their purveyors of adult beverages. 

Watch the Video!

It took a couple of days and we really didn't stray much more than a block from our hotel so we could walk, with maybe a stumble or two, the entire way.

We're starting off in what in no way can really be called a pub. The Annex 400 is a lunch counter, plain and simple, but they do serve beer and wine. We're starting here because we can get some of their great, inexpensive food in our stomachs before we start.

It's a nice, fat mug of cold Blue Moon with the requisite slice of orange in it to get us started.

Just around the corner is the Thirsty First Lounge, a day drinkers delight morphing into a loud, live music joint later in the day. It's just this side of the nice side of being a dive bar but the bartenders and locals are a friendly bunch, not to mention their prices are unbelievable...$3 well drinks and select  beers are also $3 until 7:00pm.

Some whiskey sours and Shocktop beers set us on our way.

On the other side of our hotel, on Central Avenue, we end up at Caddy's, one of those ubiquitous Florida joints with the live band playing outdoors like you'd see in Key West.

Their three dollar Moscow mules will put us in the mood to finish the day back on the waterfront at the sunset happy hour at the rooftop Canopy bar overlooking Tampa Bay.

Cheers!

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved

THE COCKTAIL HOUR: Denver Pub Crawl, Part 2

Last week, we started the crawl with three pubs on or near the 16th Street Mall.  Today, we'll finish it with a couple of joints in LoDo and then move onto our last stop on Colfax Avenue, just east of downtown.

Watch the Video!

Going upscale for our first stop, it's the Denver Chophouse and Brewery which is adjacent to Coors Field in the old Union Pacific building.

This is no ratty dive bar. It's a very nice restaurant, with great food, that happens to also brew beer...as you do in Denver. The food is awesome.  We have a lobster club sandwich, Cesar salad, new york steak, fries, sweet potato fries, and a bacon-cheeseburger for Tim.

The beers are all in-house brews.  We have a Dortmunder lager, a crisp refreshing German style beer, and their wheat ale, which is filtered unlike most of your wheat beers and has a clear, clean look.  Both were very good, the bitterness of the Dortmunder just right...even Letty liked it...and a very crisp taste to the wheat ale.

Next, it was a quick hop over to Blake Street for one of our favorite stops on the tour, the Falling Rock Tap House.  Not a brewery but what a selection! Their slogan is "No Crap on Tap" and it's fitting.  You'll not find the likes of Bud, Bud Lite, Miller, or even the state's biggest beer, Coors.  Like sitting in someone's converted garage, we relaxed on worn leather chairs while the fresh air wafted in from the large doors.

 Tim and I had New Belgium's Mothership Wit, a wheat beer very similar to Hoegaarden, and Letty had the La Folie, also from Boulder's New Belgium, a tart, sour ale which turned out to be her favorite of the trip.  A bit too sour for me and way to sour from Tim (be sure to see his reaction in the video above, it's priceless).  Letty, always a fan of the sours, really seemed to like it.

Our last stop was supposed to be our first stop last week.  We had trouble finding it but found I had transposed a couple of numbers on the address.  The Cheeky Monk on Colfax, about 4 blocks east of the capitol, is a Belgian Cafe with a large number of great Belgian brews on tap.

We were lucky to get there between 11 and 2 when almost everything is half price and there's a great selection of delicious lunch plates for only $5.99.

To eat, Letty and I had a penne with a gorgonzola cream sauce and bacon, while Tim had sliders with a side of fries cooked in truffle oil.

Our first round of beers was two dubbels...Maredsous for Tim and La Trappe for me.  Both had a musty, yeasty, and smooth taste that were almost identical.  Letty had a Bacchus sour ale, which she liked, but it just had an initial jolt of sour, which quickly dissapated.

Next, I had a St. Bernardus Quadrupel, which had a banana taste and weighed in at a hefty 12% ABV.  Tim had an Ommegang Rare Vos, which again was quite smooth and delicious, while Letty had a Kasteel Rouge, another Flanders sour ale but this one was actually way more sweet than sour, tasting like a fermented Dr. Pepper.

 And that's the end of the crawl, be sure to check out the video embedded above to follow our exploits across the pubs and breweries of downtown Denver.

-Darryl

THE COCKTAIL HOUR: Denver Pub Crawl, Part 1

Colorado bills itself as the "Napa Valley of Beer." With over 100 microbreweries and a couple of major ones...including the massive Coors complex in Golden...the nickname is apt.

Kind of like Munich, you're never going to hit all the spots you want but we'll make an effort all the same.  We did hit enough bars and breweries that we'll have to split this into two parts with the finale coming next week.

Watch the Video!

Our first stop was actually not a planned stop.We couldn't find the first one (we rectify that with next week's episode) and the second, Pint's Pub, has no wheelchair access.


Walking along 16th Street Mall, we step into the first bar we see that doesn't look like a chain. That's how we ended up at the Paramount Cafe, the bar and restaurant attached to the Paramount Theater.


It's dark with a lot of red lighting inside.  It's also Happy Hour so we're able to get a little break on the price.  Letty has the house beer, a Big Nose Brewery Wheat ale that is brewed next door.  Tim and I have the New Belgium Trippel.  You might be more familiar with this Boulder, Colorado's other beer brand, Fat Tire Ale.

Both are very good and as a bonus, we get to meet Denver Robo Mike, a fixture on the 16th Street roster of street performers.  He's taking a break and we get to have a beer with him and chat about the NBA.


Next, we walk over to the Brown Palace Hotel, an absolutely beautiful, century old hotel that features a stained glass roof, its own artesian well, wrought iron railing, and the clubby Ship Tavern tucked into a corner off of the lobby.

In this dark little wood-paneled room, we try a Warsteiner from Germany that tasted a little skunky, the Avalanche Ale from local Breckenridge Brewery, and a glass of 10 year old port from Graham's.  See the video above for some more from the hotel, which is an amazing place.

Our last stop this day is another Happy Hour at the Apaloosa Grill back on 16th Street.  Here, all Colorado brews are only $3 a pint during Happy Hour, so I try a New Belgium Blue Paddle Ale, Letty gets the house merlot, and we share a shot of Casa Noble Crystal tequila.  All very good.

That's it for today, be sure to watch the video above for much more detail about the pubs we visited and come back next week as we dig a little deeper into the local beer scene here in Denver.

-Darryl

The Cocktail Hour: Halifax Pub Crawl

We were told that Halifax has more pubs per one thousand people than any other city in Canada. I guess we should try a few while we're here.

Let's start with the 2 Crows Brewery, which is right next door to our hotel. Beers a bit overhoppy for us but it's fun to go next door with a couple of beers and throw axes at the wall at Halimac.

Watch the Video!

Another stop we enjoyed better was the Stubborn Goat Beer Garden, on Halifax's waterfront. This is a nice place with good beer to enjoy the activities on the water when the weather is nice although I'd call it more of a patio than a beer garden.

Onto actual pubs that we visited, we start off with the Split Crow Pub which sits at the entrance to a small pedestrian mall on Granville Street at the north end of downtown. It's a bit tight inside with the wheelchair so we sit in the small patio out front.

It's happy hour so we take advantage to get cheap glasses of Molson Canadian and Garrison Red along with Letty's wine. I like the red, Tim likes the Canadian.

Up the hill across from the Citadel is the Halifax Ale House. It's an ancient looking bar but it's only been in business since the 1960's. The building is indeed old (1893) but it used to be a church for the Salvation Army.

Keith's Red is my pour while Letty gets a giant mug of Hoegaarden and Tim goes with a Leffe blonde. We each think our selection is the best.

Next, we'll pop back down to the waterfront and visit Halifax Distilling Company. On our outing to Lundenburg, we missed out on the rum distillery there because of Hurricane Dorian related issues (basically the staff used it as an excuse to take an extra day off). Luckily, there's a good rum maker right here in downtown Halifax.

We taste a selection of their rums going from light to dark and including spiced varieties. It's all good and we take a bottle of the black and another of their chocolate rum to take home.

Next it's up to the lively climes of Argyle Street and Durty Nelly's which has a nifty side entrance for wheelchairs to avoid the old steps built into the main door. It's another Keith's Red for me and wine for Letty. Tim's going back to Coke at this point.

We're finishing up down the block at The Pint Pub, a much larger facility that includes a rooftop patio (that's not wheelchair accessible, unfortunately). We finish with a forgettable Olan lager, Fireball and Captain Morgan shots.

That's it from our drinking tour in one of Canada's most pub friendly cities. 

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2019 - All Rights Reserved

THE COCKTAIL HOUR: The Calgary Pub Crawl

It took us a little while to find where the pubs and bars of Calgary were but Stephen Avenue in downtown was filled to overflowing with all the watering holes having extensive happy hours there.

Watch the Video!

While we didn't have time to partake in the beginning, we finally got around to doing a crawl before we left but then we found out why the pubs were so crowded on the preceding days...the weather was gorgeous, fall, "perfect temperature", outside weather and Calgarians were spending what would be the last of that great weather on their patios.

Patios to Calgary are what biergartens are to Munich...great, outdoor drinking spots where local go to mingle and imbibe.

Our day was decidedly chillier and most of those Calgarians seemed to be home in front of a cozy fireplace.  No worries, we're still out and about, let's go see what we can find...

Starting off nextdoor to the hotel, we're at a popup beer garden put up by the National restaurant chain at evJunction, a container park with little shops in each shipping container and entertainment via a local hip hop group.

The selection is a little limited, a blonde and a berry based brew are the canned choices here, and Tim and I lean toward the blonde while Letty likes the berry beer.

The C-Train gets us over to Stephen Avenue where we hit three more pubs, all within a block of each other.

Our first stop is Bank and Baron, a huge pub in a former bank. The bartender invites us to go to the basement to see the old vault and take pictures.

Tim and Letty go with the mimosas which are on special this day while I get my Molson Canadian fix. 

Yeah, it's a cheap beer but it's better than most of our cheap beers back home.

Across the street, we visit the James Joyce Irish pub. 

Here, we find a little privacy at a wheelchair-accessible nook near the entrance (while their 'secret' wheelchair accessible bathroom also comes in handy mid drinkathon).

Tim goes fruity with a strawberry colada, Letty goes with their special Moscow Mule, while I have a reserve Canadian Crown Royal whiskey shot with a Shock Top beer chaser (picture at the top of this post).

We end up around the corner at the Palomino Smokehouse where we have the best, juiciest brisket we've ever had. Seriously delicious food here.

As for drinks, Letty has a Rock Creek cider and I go for a local craft brew, a Big Rock Traditional Ale.

From here, it's not a long walk back to the hotel. Wobbly, maybe, but not far.

Cheers!

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2017 - All Rights Reserved

Photos by Letty Musick
Copyright 2017 - All Rights Reserved

CLASSIC TRIP: England, Ireland, Belgium 2005 - Part 3

Brugges

Just a quick word about the classic trip series of reports here, they are presented just as written on our old site, so the information...such as prices and such...may be dated.  They are accurate as of the date in the title.  This is the case in the story below...in 2005 Hoegaarden was a boutique and hard-to-get beer here in the states.  Since then, the company bought out Anheiser-Busch and is now the largest brewer in the world and you can find Hoegaarden in just about any supermarket now...

It took awhile, but we finally found the Ireland we came for.  Now, it was another trip across the sea, this time to Belgium.  Here's the final segment of our trip.

DAY EIGHT – The first half of this day is taken up with travel.. A 7:30am flight is schedule from Cork back to Heathrow. Again, it’s Aer Lingus time. It starts off well enough when a friendly worker is assigned to escort us to the gate. It soon becomes apparent that this was the only thing the airline had done. As this worker is frantically trying to find someone to help us board, the plane is loaded. The door is closed. The jet is ready to go. We’re still in the terminal – even though we arrived 2.5 hours early.

Finally, the food service truck is called back and commandeered to lift us up into the plane. The flight only leaves 1.5 hours after schedule.

We’re lucky in one sense, that’s just about how much our next flight at Heathrow has been delayed so we didn’t miss that flight.

I will not willingly fly Aer Lingus again.

The next flight is British Airways to Brussels. This is a short, uneventful flight with a professional and courteous staff.

It’s Tuesday and we’re in Belgium!

We pick up our rental car and head out. Our first stop is a mecca for beer drinkers, at least a number of American drinkers, the little village of Hoegaarden, about 40 minutes east of the airport.

Having a Cold One in Hoegaarden

This pretty and neat village of brick houses makes one of the best beers around, Hoegaarden Witbier. It’s a rare treat to find this delicately flavored brew back home and that treat will cost you big time ($9.00 on tap at the Yardhouse here in L.A.)

It takes us awhile to find the old brewery (a very large modern one sits at the edge of town) with it’s charming courtyard pub. The villages’s signage is very low key but we eventually make our way in and enjoy the best beer I can remember having. Along with the Witbier (which is as pervasive in Belgium as Budweiser is here), we enjoy the splendid dark Grand Cru that is not available in America.

I grab a pack of the Grand Cru to take to the hotel for later when we leave.
We have come here to Hoegaarden straight from the airport. It’s now time to head back to Brussel’s and find our hotel.

The arrival in Brussel’s puts us right on the street where the EU headquarters are located at the peak of rush hour. I have no idea where we are or how to get to our hotel. When I get a chance, I duck onto a side street where I can pull over and study our map.

I’m armed with several street maps of the city, none of which show the city as a whole. They all come in two parts. I seem to be on one side of the map and our hotel on the other. The big problem is that Brussels’ streets are a real labarynth. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to how the city is laid out.

St. Catherine's Cathedral and Plaza

With my wife navigating and several stops to pull over and study the map, we finally find our way to the hotel about an hour and a half later. The hotel is the Citadines St. Catherine’s, located on a time-worn but beautiful plaza dominated at one end by the St. Catherine’s cathedral and the other with a large fountain.

The Citadines is an apartment hotel, meaning a suite. We get a large suite on the third floor with a bedroom apart from the living room. It also includes a small kitchen and dining room. The bathroom has a bathtub only and is not accessible. It is separate from the toilet which is minimally accessible. The Citadines also has smaller studios which are accessible (I do not have details) but we wanted the larger suite and are willing to adapt.

Our room has three large windows, two in the living room and one in the bedroom, which offer spectacular views of the city. Parking is at an underground garage for an extra charge. There is a metro station in the plaza across the street but it is not accessible. According to the map in the station, I could only find four accessible stations on the metro system. Every bus I saw was accessible.

I go to the small market at the end of the block where 2 Euros gets me enough eggs, ham, coffee, and milk to make breakfast in our room for the next couple of days.

It’s still relatively early and the sun goes down very late this time of year, so we walk over to the Grand Place, Brussels’s old plaza. It’s about a six block walk from our hotel.

Brussels is a beautiful city with many old buildings, plazas, and cafes. It reminds me a lot of Paris with all the winding lanes and alleyways. It does have a kind of dingy glamour like a fading movie star. It’s kind of hard to describe. I really enjoyed this city, more than I did Paris, but you will be stepping around streetwalkers and junkies sleeping off their last fix. I guess this city just feels more real.

The late afternoon sun makes the Grand Place shine. This plaza is surrounded by intracately detailed buildings, each one created by crafts guilds hundreds of years ago. The guilds would be equivalent of our unions today. The ironworkers guild is in one building, the printers in another, and so on. Restaurants line the perimeter.

About two blocks beyond is Brussels most famous sight, the Mannekin Pis. Remember those cheesy fountains you see at your local garden center of the little boy relieving himself? Well, the original is here. Erected a few hundred years ago, the Mannekin Pis is just what the name says. A statue of a boy urinating into the pool.

The Famous Peeing Boy (no, not Tim)

Many stories abound as to its origins, my favorite is that the boy peed on a witch’s house that stood on the corner and robbed her of her powers. A museum stands nearby that houses the many costumes people have made for the statue over the years.

On the way back, we have dinner at one of the many restaurants lining the streets here. A pot of mussels cooked in a garlic broth, accompanied by steak, bread, and fries (which, of course, is a Belgian invention) is what is on our menu tonight. It is all very good. We wash it all down with Hoegaarden, which at 1.5 Euros is less than my son’s coke at 2 Euros. I don’t know if it’s this way everywhere in Belgium, but a glass of water on the side also costs a couple of Euros.

DAY NINE
It’s about an hour and a half drive to our next stop, Brugges. When coming into Brugges, you're directed to one of the many underground parking lots. Don't worry if you end up at an outlying lot, accessible shuttle buses will take you into town.

The old medieval port town of Brugges is a perfectly preserved masterpiece. The heart of the old city is spared much...but not all...of the vehicular traffice due to those underground garages. It's a strollers paradise with sidewalk cafes, chocolate shops, and museums galore.

The centerpiece is the main square where fishermen used to bring their catches via the canals that came in from the sea. The canals now stop about a block short of the square and the fish market has moved over by the city hall. Dominating the square is the tall clock tower with its hand operated carillon.

We start off with a hot cup of coffee at the first cafe we encounter upon exiting the garage and then start winding our way to the center of town.

A special note here for wheelchair users. Brugges is very bumpy. The roads, squares, and many walkways are, for the most part, cobblestones. In the Rick Steves book about accessible Europe, it is stated that there are smooth paths where cobblestones are that make for easy travel by wheelchair. We did not see any such paths, so be aware of this.

There are many chocolate shops along the way so we stop in at one and are offered many tastes of some of the best chocolate we've ever had. Of course, we have to by a few boxes to take home but it's very reasonable here and only sets us back about $20 for a pretty large assortment of sweets.

Market Day in Brugges

Emerging in the main square, it turns out today is market day. Vendors fill up the space with fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, cheese, and flowers. Being lunch time, we decide that our midday meal will consists of whatever we can come up with by walking through the market. Starting at the west end, a vendor is grilling delicious pinwheel sausages on skewers. Next, Tim and I share a bratwurst. Some good Belgian beer is purchased at one of the stands to help wash it down. To make it a little healthier, some plums, peaches, and grapes make a nice side dish. A large sampler buffet of cheeses makes for some great free snacks. Arriving at the other side, a cart is making the most delicious Belgian fries and we finish it off with a couple of orders and a couple of cans of Hoegaarden.

Wandering around the many alleyways, we emerge upon the gold plated magnificence of the city hall. We are looking for a restroom and find one that requires three steps up and then another three steps down. I spot a wheelchair lift at the entrance of city hall and a gentleman standing there says to come on up. It turns out that he is an artist who is having a show of his work in the lobby of the building. Good paintings and nice gentleman but we really need some facilities. He tells us that the bathroom we saw is accessible...and that the Flemish are a forward thinking socially aware people...but I cannot for the life of me see how they were accessible.

We finally had to make do at one of the restaurant bathrooms which at least was level if not fully accessible. I did not find any accessible restrooms in Brugges.

There are many beautiful canals here and many boats to tour on. All of them require the navigation of stairs so that option was out for us.

Later on, we found a restaurant on one of the back alleys that made waffles. I know that many U.S. restaurants serve Belgian waffles but I have never had one like the waffle we had this day. It was slightly crisp, very buttery in its flavors, light, and covered with melted chocolate and cream. Very sinful and delicious.

After Brugges we took a drive through the countryside. It's only a 30 minute drive to the Netherlands so we head north to add one more country to our list. The first thing we notice is when you get over the border, there are as many bicycles as cars...if not more. Every road has a corresponding bike path and many paths go beyond the roads. It's very beautiful and clean in this area.

Ijzendijke

We make a quick stop at a local pub in Ijzendijke, a pretty little town with friendly people, a windmill, and a small cannabis shop. A two hour drive across the Dutch countryside leads us back across the border at St-Niklauss, just west of Antwerp. From here, it's a short drive south back into the maze of streets that is Brussels.

One more night of rest overlooking St. Catherine's square and then we get back on the plane to go home.

Darryl
Copyright 2009 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

CLASSIC TRIP: England, Ireland, Belgium 2005 - Part 2

Blarney Castle

Previously, terrorists had bombed London and transportation was in a chaotic state..

On to Ireland. From our hotel, it’s a quick bus ride to Fullham-Broaday Underground station. The District Line takes us two stops to Earl’s Court station where we change to the Picadilly Line to Heathrow.

At the airport, we just change to the Heathrow Express train to get to Terminal 4, home of Aer Lingus. Everything at Heathrow involves a very long walk and this is no exception. On top of that, security barriers placed about 24 inches apart block entrance to the train platform. There is no signage for wheelchairs as to how to proceed.

We find an employee who uses a key to remove a security barrier allowing us to proceed to the train platform. A quick ride and we’re at Terminal 4.

Heathrow is one of the world’s busiest airports. This is made obvious when you enter the check in area and thousands of people are milling about. We find the Aer Lingus check-in counter and proceed through the process. After this, we head to security to go to the departure hall.

One thing I don’t like about Heathrow is that you are not told what gate you will be departing from. You must watch the departure monitors and about a hour before your flight, the gate number will be posted there. Until then, you wait in the departure hall.

At Heathrow, this is really just a very crowded shopping mall with very limited seating. If you want to shop, I guess it’s ok. If you just want to rest until your flight, you’re pretty much out of luck.

As our luck would have it, our flight was delayed. It wasn’t until two hours later that the departure gate was listed and then it was another very long walk to the gate (forty minutes). By the time we arrived, boarding was commencing and the helpers were no where to be found. Of course, this made us last to be boarded and the crew insisted that our son Tim have a window seat (in the back of the plane) which turned out to be just impossible to accomplish due to the very limited room between the seats and his weight (145 lbs.)

A stalemate developed between the crew and us. They wanted us to take another flight that wasn’t so full where the seating could be more properly arranged. We didn’t. This flight was already two hours late and counting. The captain had to come out and give his ok that Tim could have an aisle seat instead.

Once we pushed back and took off, it was about forty minutes to Cork in southern Ireland. Cork, at this point in time, has no jetways (construction is under way so this will change soon). Instead, we had to wait on board until the food service truck arrived. We were deplaned on the food service truck.

This was one of the worst flights, with matching service, that I’ve ever encountered. In addition to the previous, everything on board…from peanuts and soda to wine and beer…has to be purchased at high prices. Luckily, it’s a short flight.

Everybody has a bad day, and I’m hoping that’s the case this time, but this whole experience will be repeated almost exactly in three more days.

Finally, off of the plane. The airport personnel, including customs and immigration, are very competent and friendly. We quickly clear the passport control (Ireland uses a cool green ink for their stamp) and pick up our rental car from Hertz. It’s a nice SEAT wagon with room in the back for the chair, CD, radio, and A/C. It has a manual transmission which means that I will be doing all the driving (auto costs an extra $100)

For this portion of our trip, we’ll be staying in Limerick, about an hour’s drive north of Cork. More on that later.

After leaving the airport and finding our route with only one minor misdirection, we head north on the motorway to our first stop, Blarney.

The motorway to Blarney is a modern superhighway but once we exit, we get our first taste of typical Irish roads. Wow! It must be a real adventure to be a passenger while driving on these roads. I wouldn’t know because for a driver used to American roads, it’s just terrifying.
Most of the roads here are very narrow, maybe one to one-and-a-half of a lane wide when compare to U.S. roads. About 90% of these roads have no shoulders, only tall hedges or stone walls block all view around turns. Oh yeah, they are two-way roads that have many large trucks, tourist buses, and farm equipment using them. When arriving in a town, the hedges and walls are replaced by vehicles parked on both sides. Usually, these vehicles are parked half on the sidewalk with the other half in the road. Some towns we encountered also had festivals or flea markets that also took place in these still open roads.

So, for the remainder of this report, we’ll just boil the above paragraph to the above code when encountering the Irish roads: Irish road…AAHHH!

Blarney is our first Irish village (Cork is a large and modern city). It’s a pretty as you’d expect. Once through the town, you drive down a small driveway to the car park for Blarney Castle. The castle is located in a large park, which has a nominal entry fee of 7 Euros. There are not a lot of facilities here for wheelchair users. Consequently, disabled and one care giver (carer) are free so we ended up only paying one admission.

From studying up on the castle’s web site, it seemed that the famous Blarney Stone was up on the second story. Just maybe, I thought, I could man-handle Tim up there so he could kiss it but reality is much different.

Actually, it’s about ten stories to the top of the castle…a long, arduous climb up worn, slippery, small, narrow, circular stone staircases with only a rope dropped down the center to steady yourself. There is no way to get someone who cannot walk up ot the top.

My wife and I took turns going up while the other kept Tim company at the bottom. If you can get to the top, what you’re rewarded with is a grand view of the park and countryside and, of course, the right to kiss the stone.

Darryl Kissing the Blarney Stone

Legend has it that this stone was the pillow that Jacob layed his head on when he had his dream of the ladder going to heaven. It is supposed to impart magical powers upon those who kiss it. Specifically, you’re granted the gift of eloquence, or the “gift of gab.”

You cannot just go up and kiss it. You must do it properly. This involves laying on your back, staring up to the sky, and bending your head back to kiss it upside down. There is about a one foot gap (protected by iron bars) to stretch across the void to the ground far below. A gentleman there will steady you. It is good form to leave him a Euro or two for a tip. A photographer will snap that instant of the kiss and you can buy a copy on your way out. You can also bring your own camera for free.

Almost as daunting as the climb up is the climb down, against traffic. I really felt for the dad whose son got to afraid to continue and had to carry him down.

We also noticed about this time that it was really warm here. No, not just warm, hot.

Accompanying this was heavy humidity. It really felt like Charleston in August. I have been assured that this is very rare for Ireland and we just happen to hit it during this heat wave.

Gingerly, I drive back toward the motorway to continue to Limerick. Maybe ten miles later, the motorway fades into a two lane road for the rest of the way.

Following the hotel’s directions, we end up on the west side of town driving along the River Shannon into the city. We eventually found our hotel but with difficulty. I think the directions could have basically said the hotel was in the heart of the city next to the bridge and it would have been easier.

We are at another Jury’s Inn. This room is not as big or luxurious as the one in London. The accessible room could only sleep two but, to their credit, the management gave us an adjoining room for no extra charge so it was like having a suite. The only amenity missing from this room as compared to London was air conditioning. I’m told this usually isn’t a problem here but there is that pesky matter of the hot and humid heat wave we’re currently experiencing.

Location is great, right in the middle of the city, across the street from the river. There’s a nice pub, Schooner’s, next to an excellent Italian restaurant right on the river, across from the hotel.

Having Drinks at Schooners

In the summer, the day ends after 10:00pm so sundown drinks at the pub last well into the night. We had dinner, drinks, and came back to bed. At 11:30pm on this Sunday night…right outside our open (due to no A/C) window…road workers commenced jack hammering in the street. Oy, what a racket. They finished around 2:00am. At 4:00am, a group of drunks started singing very loudly on the sidewalk.

DAY SIX
With but a few hours of sleep under our belt, we make our way north heading for the Cliffs of Moher along the coast south of Galway. Along the way, we get into a big traffic jam in the town of Ennis. The bad thing about traffic jams here is that there is usually no alternat route. There is one road through town. In it’s defense, it appears that Ennis is building a bypass that will alleviate this in the future.

The reason for the traffic today is because there is a big hurling match going on. What is hurling? Haven’t got a clue, but a bit more on that later.

After we edge through the jam, we make a stop at Knappogue Castle. According to my pre-trip research, this is the most accessible castle I could find in Ireland that allows visitors. We pass through the very pretty village of Quinn, home to some impressive church ruins, and pull into the castle’s grounds just beyond.

It’s a quiet day here, I think only two other groups of visitors are here. We pay the entrance fee and a groundskeeper deploys a ramp so we can get in the front door. Being over 500 years old, access wasn’t included in the original build out so only the first floor is accessible. On this floor, you get to see the main hall with it’s large fireplace, the large banquet room, and a view of the chapel. Upstairs, there is a personal chapel and another ballroom.

Knappogue Castle

It is dark and smoky smelling in the main entry hall. Eerily, my camera won’t work in flash mode and I can’t get a good picture. As soon as I’m out of the castle, it works. Take it back inside, no flash. I have no explanation as to why this is.

The groundskeeper takes us on a little tour of the first floor and then accompanies me up to the top of the castle to show me some of the features up there. There are picture-postcard perfect views from the top of the surrounding Irish countryside with emerald green rolling hills dotted with cows.

After spending an hour or two here, we hop back in our little rental car and continue on arriving at the seaside village of Lahinch.

Due to the unrelenting heat wave, it seems that everybody in Ireland does just what we’d do in America on a hot, humid day…head to the beach. There is jammed traffic with cars parked everywhere restricting the already narrow roads. Gingerly, we make our way through it and continue on the short drive to the Cliffs of Moher. Massive crowds, many tour buses and not a parking spot to be found greet us. We also note the long, unpaved trail up to the top of the cliffs and reluctantly come to the conclusion that this just won’t be possible to see. It takes another five miles until we can find a spot wide enough for us to turn around.

Not wanting to completely waste the trip, lunch is had at the village of Kilconnel, overlooking Liscannor Bay and Lahinch. The food, pasta mainly, is very good.

Remembering the intense traffic in Ennis for the hurling match, I opt to take the coastal route instead. Lazily, we wind around the western Irish coast until we make it to the River Shannon. It’s not long until we reach the ferry crossing at Killimer. A twenty-minute cruise across this beautiful waterway and we alight in Tarbert, just a short drive along the river’s south bank back to Limerick.

DAY SEVEN
Adare proclaims itself the “prettiest village in Ireland.” That’s quite a claim considering the many charms of every Irish village we’ve been to. We have to take a look and it’s only about an hour’s drive from Limerick.

It’s an early start today and we decide we’ll get breakfast when we get there. Just after the massive Adare Manor hotel (looks like an awesome place to stay), we cross the river next to the castle ruins, and – just like that – we’re in the heart of Adare.

It is indeed beautiful with its block of preserved thatch-roofed houses and pretty park with the creek running through it. It seems we’re about half-an-hour early for anything to be open though.

The only place we find for breakfast is a little counter inside the visitor’s center that serves good food but not with the smiles we’ve so far encountered on our visit.

After eating, we walk through the town shopping and snapping pictures. That’s about the gist of it. Once the place opened up, it was pretty much taken over by the tour buses and the hoards they dispensed. We were now two for three with major Irish sites we wanted to see; loved Castle Blarney, disappointed in Cliffs of Moher and Adare.

We continued on to drive through the nearby countryside with a minor goal or reaching Tipperary. It’s not so much we wanted to see the small city of Tipperary, just that on the map it seemed like there was much Irish countryside to go through along the way. Indeed, in this case it was not the destination that mattered but the journey.

This was the best decision of the Irish leg of our trip. As soon as we let go of the recommendations of friends, guidebooks, and travel web sites, Ireland opened up to us as it had so far eluded us.

Village upon beautiful village greeted us as we went along. Castles, ruins of castles, ruins of abbeys, and little Irish rivers greeted us around every turn devoid of other tourists. A stop in a random pub was an invitation to make a new Irish friend. Finally, we’d found the Ireland we’d come to see.

Bruree, Ireland

Not long before we’d reach Tipperary, we crested a hill and had to pull over at the absolutely breathtaking vista that greeted us. Thankfully, the townsfolk here had built a small parking area and picnic tables at this very spot.

Words cannot describe this but I’ll give it a try. Black draft horses with shiny coats grazed on the grassy hillside in front of a sparkling river full of rapids and a tiny little canyon (maybe fifty feet long) full of little waterfalls. On the far bank, small houses painted in many colors faced us. At the east end of this village was the remains of an ancient castle, a turret covered in vines. At the other end was an old stone millhouse, its large water wheel long since retired but resting peacefully on the side of the building. The river makes a lazy, horseshoe turn around the old mill, cascading over the rocks as a local boy dips a line in to see if he can catch a fish.  This is the village of Bruree.

Idyllic Scene at Bruree

I just wanted to stop and stay here the rest of the day. As we were sitting in our little grassy spot, a local stopped by and invited us to the town’s little museum. We didn’t make it there but whiled away the time talking to the local gentleman before moving along.

In Tipperary, a pretty large city by Irish standards, lunch is gathered up at a collection of stands surrounding a parkling lot just off of the main street. Our plan is to head generally back toward the direction of Limerick and find a lonely castle to picnic at. It’s not long before we find it along the side of the road sitting in a small, grassy field net to a cow pasture.

Our Picnic Spot

This is the Ireland we’ve come to find. Picture postcard villages and ruined castles to lazily snack in front of. Friendly locals and lively pubs. All devoid of tour buses and hordes of people.

Back in Limerick, we visit St. John’s castle, an imposing fortress over the River Shannon. About half of the castle, really more of a fort, is accessible for wheelers but a major obstacle is the large courtyard which is covered in loose gravel. A lift takes you to the museum on the second floor and docents bring inaccessible exhibits out to disabled patrons. In our case, a docent brought out the exhibit on minting coins which is located in the basement of one of the turrets.
The evening is spent again having drinks at schooners while a local band entertains the pub crowd. This was our perfect day in Ireland, and also our last

It's not over yet, come back and have a beer with us as we travel to Belgium for part 3.

-Darryl
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