Chauuffeurdriven tour to the Cliffs of Moher with Dave Hogan and Dovechauffeurdrive.

This morning we finally left Killarney behind, as we began our journey to the awesome Cliffs of Moher.

 Our first stop was in the renowned town of Adare, often spoken of as the most beautiful town in Ireland, and famous for its majestic Adare manor, which is now a five star luxury hotel. The Manor is closed for renovation works at the moment, but the town of Adare is open to all. There is also the fine old Fitzgerald castle on the outskirts of Adare, and that also is worth a visit. The old Trinitarian Abbey, in the center of the town, is a fabulous church, and has become a much sought after church for weddings. In the picture above, we have, from the left, Peter, Jan, Annika, and Iren. Jan looks like he is doing his impersonation of River Dance, with a little help from Peter.

 The interior of this wonderful church in Adare.

 Another of the many attractions in Adare is the thatched cottages, which you will find along the main street there. 
Once again, here we have, from the left, Iren, Annika, Jan (in hiding) and Peter.

 It was cool at the cliffs today, but that did not deter my friends, who enjoyed their climb to the top, and their wonderful views of the Atlantic ocean, and the Aran Islands offshore in the ocean below. Here we have Jan, going solo in this picture, at the mighty cliffs.

Now he is joined by his lovely wife Annika, who looks well wrapped up, and nice and warm.

 And finally, all the group together, happy and smiling.

Although our time together was limited, we managed to pack in a whole lot of exciting places, and also discovered all that Peter could have asked for with regard to his ancestral past. 
This was a really nice time for me with my new friends, and i hope that they enjoyed their time with me as much as i enjoyed my time with them.
If you wish to contact me just send me a message and i will do the rest.
Take care for now.

Dave

holidaysireland.blogspot.com

Chauffeurdriven tour of Dingle with Dave Hogan

After spending the night in Killarney, we were on our way today to tour the magical Dingle peninsula. Dingle is one of my own personal favourite areas, and it is a major attraction on the Wild Atlantic Way. The sea views, the rugged mountains, and the offshore islands, blend together to bring you back in time to the days when the people who lived here had to survive in really hard conditions. They were sheep farmers and fishermen mainly, and they had very little, compared to what people have today. They spoke the Irish language, and their entertainment consisted of Irish dancing, story telling and music. 

 Peter and Jan, pictured together at Inch, with the lovely Inch beach in the background. The land mass in the background is the Iveragh peninsula, better known as the Ring of Kerry.

 We visited the home of the late Maura Houlihan, a dear friend of mine, who passed away a little over a year ago. Her home, pictured here, is over five hundred years old. A second story was built on to the house,which originally was a cottage.

 How would you like to cuddle a lamb? well most people do just that, and here at Maura's you can enjoy that treat. In the picture above we have, from the left, Annika, Jan, and Iren, with their two beautiful babies.

You can visit the ancient Beehive huts on Maura's land. These were stone dwellings, inhabited by ancient farmers and fishermen, and the monks of old. There were literally hundreds of these in this region, many of which were destroyed, and the stone used to build new houses and walls and roads down through the years. In this picture above, you can see one of the bigger ones, and a smaller one to the left of that. They had no windows, and just an entrance door. They lit their fires in the middle of the floor, and cooked their food there.

 

 At the tip of this peninsula you can see the Blasket Islands offshore in the Atlantic. They are no longer inhabited, as they were finally abandoned in the mid nineteen hundreds, as life on the islands was no longer acceptable. The vast majority of the islanders emigrated to Springfield Mass, and to Hungry Hill, where many of their relatives had emigrated down through the years.

Today was another really interesting and enjoyable day and we all had a really nice time together. Later we returned to Killarney for our final night in this area.

My friends spent time today at Muckross House in Killarney. This was the house Queen Victoria stayed in when she visited Killarney, and the gardens here are a real treat. The rhodendrons, and many other species of beautiful flowers, are in full bloom at the moment, and what a lovely place to spend some time, if you do get to Killarney.

Tomorrow we are off to the Cliffs of Moher,.

 

Chauffeurdrive tour with my new friends. April 2017.

My new 2017 season began this past week with my new friends, Peter and Iren Nelson , and their Swedish friends Jan and Annika Ericsson. 

I collected my party in Cove, where they had been staying the night before. The above picture is of the river Lee at Cove (Cobh).

Here, we have, from the left, Annika, Iren, Jan and Peter, seated at the memorial statues of Annie Moore and her two young brothers, outside the Heritage centre in Cove (Cobh). Eventhough my friends looked all wrapped up against the weather, it was actually really lovely for the full duration of our time together. Not bad for April.

Our mission on this trip was to try to discover as much as we could about the birthplaces of Peter's ancestors, and as it turned out, we had a most successful few days, and could not have asked for more. Peter did have a lot of useful information from research done before he came over, and this was most helpful.

Our first destination today was the town of Castletownroche, a small town not far from Mallow in County Cork. Peter's great grandfather lived and worked on an estate there called Annesgrove, before emigrating to the USA in the eighteen nineties, and to the Boston area.

We had no great difficulty in finding the church which was located nearest to Annesgrove, and which would have been the most likely one that the family had attended. The church was still the original one, and dating back into the eighteen hundreds, and the baptismal font was also the original one, and possibly the one where family members would have been baptised. Pictured above, we have Peter, standing behind the font.

Another stroke of fortune today was the arrival of the parish priest, Fr O'Brien, while we were there. He was most helpful, and felt that we were correct in deducing that Peter's family would have attended this church. The next closest church would have been Ballyhooley, which we also went to see.

Here we have Peter, pictured outside the church in Ballyhooley.

It is possible that the Ballyhooley church played a part in some of the ceremonies for the family, and here we have Peter posing at the baptismal font there.

Then it was on to Annesgrove , but unfortunately renovations and restoration work are being carried on there, and it was off limits. Here we have Peter, pictured at the entrance gates to Annesgrove. Peter is determined to return here and visit this estate in the not too distant future. The gardens here were famous and it is good to know that they have been protected, and will now be in the hands of the state, and become a national treasure once again. It was here that Peter's Great grandfather spent his young working years before making a new life for himself and his family in the USA.

Now we were off on the second leg of our family history discovery road, as we made our way from East Cork to West Cork, and the town of Ballyvourney. It was here that Peter's great grandmother was born in a place called Dangeanuisalach, adjacent to Ballyvourney. Nobody seems to know how Peter's Great grandfather and Great grandmother met, but they did travel to the states together, and were married over there.In the picture above, we have Peter and Jan outside the Mills Inn in Ballyvourney, where we enjoyed a lovely snack.The family, the Kelleher's, also have strong connections with the town of Ballymackeera, which is actually a connecting town with Ballyvourney. Kelleher seems to be a very common name in this region, and Peter has much information available now which will surely lead to him locating more family relatives.

This area has a strong connection with one of our most famous saints, Saint Gobnet. She had a settlement here, and her own old church, and a holy well, and this place is a most popular place for pilgrims, who come here for help with all kinds of illnesses. Many cures have been claimed due to the intervention of St Gobnet. In the picture above we have, from the left, Peter, Iren, Annika, and Jan with St Gobnet's ancient church in the background.

Finally, on this day, we visited the church in Ballymackeera and once again had the good fortune to find the Parish priest there.He was also most helpful, and a very nice man indeed.

 i can only add that we seem to have been guided by Peter's ancestors today, as we had such good fortune, and discovered so much. Maybe Saint Gobnet had something to do with it also, but it was a great day for all, and i do know that Peter will return home feeling more Irish than ever before. 

Later today we made our way to Kilklarney which was to be our base for the next couple of nights.

More to follow.

If you want to contact me you can write to me at dovechauffeurdrive@gmail.com

Chauffeurdriven vacations in Ireland.

 One of the tunnels you pass through on the Ring of Kerry road.

The statues of Annie Moore and her two young brothers outside the heritage centre in Cove in County Cork. They were the first people to register on Ellis Island in 1892.

If you are planning on taking an Irish trip this year please contact me as soon as possible as spaces are running out.

Regards for now

Dave Hogan

If you are Anne Marie Hennessy with a Boston e-mail address please write to me again at 
dovechauffeurdrive@gmail.com
 as i have replied to the address you sent, and it does not seem to be working.