We are Steve and Lisa Bruns, from Eaton, Ohio. (Click on our names to e-mail us if you have any questions about this tour.) In 2012 we took our first Rick Steves Tour, the Best of Europe in 14 Days. It was a great experience and two years later we signed up for the Paris and the Heart of France tour. (The links are to scrapbooks we did for those trips.) When we started planning another trip to Europe we were sure we wanted to go on another Rick Steves Tour but we had a very difficult time trying to decide which of the many options we should choose. We narrowed our choices after we agreed that we had seen enough cathedrals and museums to last us for awhile and that we wanted to have a more culturally immersive experience. We narrowed our choices to the Village Italy and the Best of Ireland tours. Ultimately we chose the Emerald Isle because we have family friends who live in Glasgow and it would be easy to extend our trip with a short ferry ride from Belfast, where the tour ended, to Scotland.
We really enjoyed Ireland and would heartily recommend this tour to anyone who enjoys music, food, fascinating history, beautiful scenery, and whiskey and Guinness. Almost everyone traveling with us had been on many more Rick Steves' tours than we have, some had taken more than a dozen RS tours, and this tour had the same characteristics that keep us all coming back for more.
The first thing is that we had an outstanding tour guide, Declan Fields, and an excellent bus driver, Dennis. They were knowledgeable, fun, and sincerely dedicated to insuring that we had a great trip. The second thing is that we had very nice hotels that were wonderfully situated in the heart of all the towns we visited. Having a centrally located hotel makes it easy to take advantage of all the available time. Third, we saw and experienced an incredible amount because of the efficiency of the tour. Finally, our group meals were terrific. On this tour, we had the additional benefit of traveling with a wonderful group of people, which made the trip especially enjoyable.
We found it really helpful to listen (and fun) to listen to Irish music before we left, especially the Dubliners, Tommy Makem and the Clancy Brothers, and the Chieftains. Also, reading some books on Ireland will really heighten the experience. We enjoyed Ireland by Frank Delaney, Big Fellow, Long Fellow, a dual biography of the two most important figures of the Irish war of independence, Michael Collins and Eamon DeValera by T. Ryle Dwyer, and Edward Rutherford's historical fiction, Princes of Ireland and Rebels of Ireland. There are a number of films about Ireland that are both good and informative. Make sure you see Michael Collins, starring Liam Neeson.
Music plays a more important role in Irish life than that of most cultures. There were certain rebel songs that were prohibited by Britain during their centuries of occupation of Ireland, which, of course, guaranteed that those songs would be sung and remembered for future generations. I've included links to a handful of some of the songs that we heard throughout our tour of Ireland that we especially enjoyed. One song will play automatically as you go to each page. If you want to hear one of the other songs, just click on the arrow on the left side of the player.
The Dubliners led the renaissance of traditional Irish music in the 1960's and 70's. They were led by the passionate and sweet-voiced Luke Kelly and the gravelly-voiced Ronnie Drew. One of the best things about our trip to Ireland was discovering their music.
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